"The most remote place in the Russian Arctic Ocean" Tiksi by jorgejuansanchez

Tiksi is located in the delta of the Lena River, up in the Arctic Ocean. It is a very hard place to reach and you need a special permit because of its strategic and military importance since the years of the Cold War.

I bought a ticket fro,m Yakutsk toi Tiksi on board the ship MEKHANIK KULIBIN.

Lena is the tenth longest river in the world (about 4400 kilometres) and navigating along it, from Yakutsk to Tiksi, was a breathtaking experience.
Practically all the passengers were Yakutians, except the captain, who was Russian.

The navigation lasted five days (including one day delay). We sailed the 5fh of August 2009 and arrived to Tiksi the night of the 9th of August.

There were some stops along the Lena River but we were not allowed to disembark. The Yakutians came in their motor boards to collect the cargo carried by the boat. That was an especial moment and practically all the villagers came to the banks of the river to observe the constant movements of passengers and goods coming and going. It reminded me the journey by boat from Belem to Manaus, along the Amazonas River.

In the Mekhanic Kulibin there was a restaurant with basic but acceptable food.

Tiksi is composed by Tiksi I, Tiksi II and Tiksi III.
Tiksi III was the airport and a small village nearby inhabited mainly by soldiers and pilots of the airplanes Tupolev TU-95 (NATO knows that plane as “Bear”).
Then, where is Tiksi II? I asked. And the local people, afraid, told me that Tiksi II was the cemetery. But some others were convinced that Tiksi II is a secret military town, underground, constructed during the times of the Cold War, sheltering secret weapons ready to use against USA in case of war.

From Tiksi III I could observe the manoeuvres and practice flights of the strange, but beautiful, design of the “Bear” bombers airplanes.

Tiksi I was a dreary city. During the Soviet Union times it sheltered 17000 persons, mainly soldiers, but after the Perestroika many military bases were dismantled and the soldiers sent to other destinations. Today the population of Tiksi scarcely reaches the 5000 souls.
Its streets still show Soviet signs and old phrases, such as “Glory to the Work” (Slava Trudu), which reminded me the German phrase in Auschwitz extermination camp of “Arbeit Macht Frei”.

There was only one hotel in Tiksi I (closed), a museum (closed), a Post Office with Internet, a stolovaya (basic cafeteria with some snacks), and several shops selling products, especially beer and vodka.