Last summer, I lived one of the greatest, if not the greatest adventure in my life. I spent almost five months working and travelling around Russia. My job took me offshore Sakhalin, and island north of Japan. I actually volunteered to work there. I had, for a long time, wanted to travel to Russia, and this was my chance to travel there for free, and to visit a place that otherwise, would be unreachable for me. I got a year-long multi entry visa, a border pass to be allowed to travel to the north of the island, still a military zone, and I was ready! The trip to get ther from Madrid could take just three days, but thanks to the inefficiency of my company, it takes up to five, as I was force to stay overnight in London before flying to Moscow. Domodedovo airport is quite cool.

This cool Tupolev presides the airport. What happens later is not so cool, though. Russian internal flights are worse than busses. Crammed in a tiny seat, surrounded by drunk russian men who could have showers more often, the flight to Sakhalin lasts 9 hours. I have taken that flight 8 times altogether, and it is something I am not looking forward to next year.

The city of Yuzhno Sakhalinsk is not so bad, altough we were told it is quite dangerous for foreigners.

This was the Glory Square, just accross the street from our hotel, Yubilienaya. And bellow, you can see me with my friend Lenin.

A few years ago, I would have been imprisoned just to see what I saw there, not to mention taking photos of it:

More to come...