TBT - Back to Sakhalin

After our first visit and the presentation of the proposal, the decision was made to keep a representative on the island to maintain the brand name. Back in 1991 there was no easy way to get into the former Soviet Union. We flew into Frankfurt where we could catch a Lufthansa flight to Moscow. Then we had to take an Aeroflot flight to Sakhalin. While in the business class lounge in Frankfurt, we stocked up on free snacks and small canned drinks as we knew they would be scarce in Russia. The Aeroflot flight was am IL 76, the Russian jumbo jet. All aircraft were designed to be used for troop transport and the seats we had were simple canvas which were about as comfortable as you can imagine. We had to stop for fuel on the way so we put down above the arctic circle. I think it was Dudinka. The temperature in early December was -40 (F or C, it makes no difference) and we had to deplane and walk to the terminal. The ground was covered in ice and my colleague and I decided to run and slide on the ice. We stopped after about two times because the cold air was burning our lungs.

Our objective in Sakhalin was to keep the brand name in front of the public so we carried a large amount of items with the company logo. We found that most people appreciated pens, office supplies and other giveaways. They simply were not available in the FSU. We also scouted the area for logistics and construction capabilities of the locals. We even did a couple of TV interviews. The local station was happy to interview the western oil people but you had to bring your own video tape and "donate" it to them.

One day we scouted out an abandoned ski slope and hotel above the city. Our idea was to use it as an overnight hotel and office for the construction. We were inundated with people wanting to work with the new oil folks. We had offers of free land for our plant location. We even had one offer of the use of a nuclear powered aircraft carrier for use in housing construction crews. It was difficult to tell which offers were legitimate and which were bogus but we listened to them all.

We were joined in the hotel by the folks from competing oil companies and we all gravitated together in camaraderie. We gave mutual support where we could and socialized in the evenings.

After the incident with a broken tooth, our medical department gave us small first aid kits which included hypodermic needles and prescription pain killers. The pain killers came in handy when one of the other oil guys had a toothache and I was able to share my codeine with him.

One night we were gathered in a room having a few beers when the phone rang. The guy answered it and then handed the phone to me. My wife was on the phone. She had heard on the news that Russia was running out of jet fuel and was worried that I would be able to get home. My son figured out to call the marine operator who then placed a radio call to the marine operator on Sakhalin who patched the call to the hotel who knew I was not in my room and connected the call. I think they were spying on us just a little.

When I was due to leave I showed up at the airport and was told I hadn't reconfirmed my reservation and I could not board. We started to complain with the theme that if they wanted western business they had to operate differently. The pilot overheard us and asked what was going on. When he was told he asked how many people wanted to go. We told him one. He looked at the agent and told him to let me board. Another indication of the paramilitary organization of the Russian air industry.

Chernobyl Pictures

One of my side bar people posted a link to this site. It is a collection of photographs taken inside the exclusion zone. Fascinating viewing for those who enjoy ghost towns. Go to Chernobyl Gallery.

TBT - Russia

I've been watching the new HBO show "Chernobyl" and it brought back some memories.

Back in 1990, the Russians had opened a bidding round on offshore leases off Sakhalin Island. I was working for Mobil Oil at the time and the company decided they needed to put in a proposal. They formed the proposal team in early July with the proposal due in September.

We scrambled and had the proposal done on time and Mobil decided we all needed to go to Sakhalin Island and meet with the heads of the government departments for our respective disciplines. Back then, there was no easy way to get to Russia.

Our route was to fly to Frankfurt and then connect to a Lufthansa flight to Moscow. After a night in Moscow, Mobil had arranged a special charter to take us from Moscow to Yusno-Sakhalinsk. We were told that the plane they had charted was the same aircraft they used to ferry their astronauts. The purser on the flight showed us a card that certified that he had served with the helicopter crews that dumped concrete on the reactor at Chernobyl, hence the memory jog.

We had to stop in Khabarovsk for fuel. As we taxied to the refueling point, we passed a long row of Tu-154s that were obviously being used for spare parts. When we got off the plane, we noticed that the tires were almost bald, and this was on one of their most important aircraft.

It was our first indication that the Russian military back before the fall of the USSR was not as strong as we were led to believe.

Book Review - Tatiana

What does the suicide of an investigative reporter, the murder of a mafia kingpin and a missing translator have in common? Arkady Renko feels they are connected somehow and sets off to solve the mystery. His one clue is a notebook written in a personal code by the missing translator. His investigation takes him the city of Kaliningrad, a small piece of Russian territory isolated from the country between Estonia and Poland. It leads him to something bigger than he imagined.

In this novel, Martin Cruz Smith continues the saga of Arkady Renko and introduces us to a little known part of Russia. In reading this series and having spent time in Russia, I can attest that he captures the mood of Russian life with its tones of hopelessness very well. You can almost smell the boiled cabbage and potatoes and vodka.

Be Kind to Dogs

Sabra has a post about an Iraqi dog that was saved by a US serviceman.

It reminded me of the shipyard in Astrakhan, Russia where I worked back in 1999. The yard was over run with dogs. They had been sorta adopted by the shipyard workers but they received no veterinary care and little food. These Russian shipyard dogs led a hard life. Very little food and lots of disease. They were the most miserable looking things I have ever seen. And, like loose dogs everywhere, they bred more of their kind.

The puppies were cute as could be and would visit our construction trailers often. Some of the guys made it a policy not to feed them. "Give them food and they'll just keep coming around", they would say. But I thought about how my favorite niece would feel if her Uncle PE ignored these little critters.

Besides, the breakfast bag the hotel gave us was usually some sort of mystery meat on a bun. Most of the time it was tongue. (There's nothing so tasty as a tongue sandwich for breakfast) So I would open the window, whistle a couple of times and share my breakfast with the puppies.

It is my belief that people that abuse animals are reincarnated as dogs in a Russian shipyard.

Russian Delicacies

Back before the new millennium, I was working on a project in Russia. The idea was to assemble an offshore drilling rig that had been floated down the Volga River in pieces and then take it into the Caspian Sea. The assembly site was an out of work shipyard in Astrakhan, Russia. Astrakhan is in the delta region of the Volga River, about 60 miles before it empties in to the Caspian Sea.

There’s not much in Astrakhan and you can imagine that a construction crew of several hundred European and American men caused quite a stir, especially among the local female population. The other activity of interest, especially after working 12 hours in freezing temperatures, was eating.

Breakfast was provided to us by the hotel. It usually consisted of some sort of mystery meat sandwich (usually tongue or some other cheap meat) and yoghurt. We gave the meat to the shipyard dogs that ran wild on the property and ate the rest. Lunch was mystery meat, cabbage soup and potatoes in the shipyard cafeteria. Therefore, it was no surprise that much time was spent in deciding which restaurant to patronize after work.

We all brought food in our luggage. I carried Tabasco, which should be considered a staple when faced with Russian cuisine. I also packed in chili mix. One day a week, I would send my driver out for ground meat and vegetables and cook up a batch of chili for the engineering staff. They were mostly Finns, and they have an affinity for spicy food, although you would never guess that from their native cuisine.

There was also a crew of Italian instrument fitters that brought their own coffee and espresso pot. As my office trailer had the only hot plate available, I was treated to a fresh cup of espresso every morning. The Italians would also scour the city for groceries and wine and every Friday they would take over part of the hotel kitchen and cook up a pasta feast. Many of us ignored the hotel dining room until they dished out the pasta.

Caviar was cheap there. You could buy a 1 kg tin (that's 2 lbs) of caviar for about $30. We used to buy a tin and then scoop out the caviar with spoons.

But my coup was finding crawfish. I had packed a big jar of Zatarain’s Crab Boil and I was looking forward to a good Cajun crawfish feast. I sent my driver out to buy some. I then scrounged up a big pot and had the welders rig up a cutting torch as a burner. Unfortunately, when my driver returned, the crawfish, duly processed and certified by the government of Russia, had been frozen solid. My visions of a crawfish boil turned into the mush I knew they would become if I tried to boil them.

Victory Day!

Today is Victory Day in Russia. It is their national holiday observing the end of WW II and is celebrated one day later than the traditional VE Day. The senior Russian officer present at the signing in Reims did not have authority to accept the surrender so the Russians organized a second ceremony in Berlin with Marshall Zhukov in attendance. It was 8 May, local time, but 9 May in Moscow due to the time zone difference.

Do not expect ANY stores to be open in Russia today. I have been there over this holiday and it is a day when everything shuts down. There are, of course, parades honoring the veterans. But the Russians take it a step further. Its almost as if they try to honor each and every individual who fought the Germans. There are city wide parties where veterans are fed and feted. The television shows old patriotic movies all day long. The old vets put on their best suits and hang their medals on their lapels. Vodka flows freely. I have never witnessed such an outpouring of appreciation and recognition for old soldiers. We in the US are just now beginning to appreciate them, but Russia has been doing it continuously.

There is another interesting veteran related tradition in Russia. Each company has a large bulletin board at the main entrance. On this board are pictures of the "veterani" who work there.

Being of Finnish heritage, I have a love/hate relationship with Russia, but recognizing veterans is something I have to admit that they do very well.