Korea, Russia, Stans To East Europe (page 17)

Magadan

The place you only hear about on National geographic, Long Way Round or some wayout movie.

Stepping foot here is my eastern-most point on my trip, I have to admit I am looking forward to getting inland away from the stickie humid coastal climate, the damp aspect giving my Ankylosing Spondylitis and war wounds a wee unwanted hurry-up.

It is a town of pain and sorrows, the monument that overlooks the town has tears in remembrance of all those who died, the climate is harsh and can be inhospitable even in summer months, in winter it gets extremely cold, the further you go inland the colder it will get too with temperatures dropping in the -70’s.

The famous Mask Of Sorrow (маска скорби=Greif Mask) stands in full view of the town, it is the main attraction.

I was lucky enough to get a couchsurf here with Nataly, a diamond in unfamiliar territory for me, Nataly took me around to a few sites in her car.

This included a visit to a local famouse singer statue

Mammoth and it was, steel structure made from floor scraping of engineers shop and extremely well done. 

Nataly’s friend Gali who works for herself took time to show me around Magadan and took me on a great hike on a sunny day to get the vista, again none of this is on Garmin.

Part of our tour was to the "other" bay, there are two ports to Magadan, one is industrial for shipping the other more recreational, in this bay a lot of searun salmon. 

The local biker guys also helped with getting 45 from the shipping yard, I did get a call and Gali did talk to the shippers and I was supposed to pick up my bike 9.30 July 4th but somehow that got changed to 2.00pm same day so I will be in Magadan 1 more night, coupled with locals who are a diamonds it is not the short straw. 

And to finish off, the new BIG church in the hub of Magadan, it is quite a piece of work.