I had my first opportunity to go to Russia this last week. Not Moscow, not St. Petersburg, but Yuzhno on Sakhalin island. The trip was for business, as we went up to Yuzhno for a workshop and then traveled on up to our Onshore Processing Facility (OPF) that is near the top of the island. (Sorry the map is all grainy)
Here was my schedule:
Monday
- Leave for the airport at 4:40 AM
- Busan to Seoul (7:30-8:30 AM)
- Seoul to Yuzhno (3 hour flight landing in Yuzhno at 5 PM)
- Go to the hotel and get ready to go to sleep
Tuesday
- Meetings went from 7 AM to 5 PM with dinner at 6 PM
- We then went on a walk around Yuzhno until about 10 PM
Wednesday
- Travel to airport at 7:45 AM for a flight to a small town to Noglicki. A 2 hour flight landing around 11 AM
- Took a 120 km ride on dirt road from Noglicki to the OPF, which took us a little over 2 hours
- Took a tour of the OPF
Thursday
- Start at 5 AM in the morning with breakfast and also with meetings.
- Continued tours of the OPF until 12 PM
- At 1 PM started trip back to Noglicki on the dirt road
- Flight at 4:30 PM to Yuzhno and arrived around 7 PM
- Go to hotel and get ready for sleep
Friday
- Go into the Yuzhno office in the morning until 1 PM
- Flight at 3:30 PM to Seoul
- After all of the flights and driving, we were back home around 11:30 PM
I just wanted to give you a flavor for how much travel we were doing with only one day for a workshop, less then a day at the OPF, and a half day at the office.
Upon arriving in Yuzhno (which means "South" and is located on the far south of Sakhalin island), I felt that I could have stepped out into Serbia. The construction, the dilapidation, etc. was very reminiscent of some of the buildings that I had seen in Serbia. I would say that if you took that city and put it into the middle of Serbia that no one would know the difference. Despite the dilapidated buildings, the countryside did look nice (see below).
Another thing that I rather enjoyed was being able to read signs and understand their meaning. I was even able to pick up some of the conversations around me to understand the general topic of the conversation. In Korea on the other hand, I can read the alphabet, but have no idea what it is really saying.
The weather was definitely cooler then Korea, but it was only in the 40s or 50s and was actually quite pleasant. Even when we went further north to the OPF, it was probably a little higher then freezing (which was nice, because Korea is starting to get hot and humid). The story for Sakhalin in the winter is a different story: 10 foot snowdrifts, -40 F, bad winds, etc. And I may just have to be there during such weather.
We also went out to the Temporary Offloading Facility (where we will land the barges with my modules). From the shoreline you can see an oil rig, Orlan, which is about 10 km from the shoreline. Also, note the huge chunks of ice in the water. We are nearing the Arctic Circle, but we are not in it.
The sea has some vicious storms here which have damaged the metal sheet piles, literally dragging them back to the ocean.
More damaged sheet piles with the ocean in the background. (This is pointed east towards the U.S.)
Orlan in the distance.
You can see the loaders working on the Offloading Facility.
The area surrounding the OPF was quite surprising. The trees, even though they were evergreens, did not seem to be carrying a lot of green. And wherever the trees had been removed for buildings and the OPF, the ground revealed quite sandy conditions. Thus making it hard for growth to occur after the ground had been disturbed. I had never suspected that sort of soil to be there. I am not sure what I had anticipated, but I can tell you that it was not sand.
Also surprising was the ride up and back from the OPF. The highway (dirt highway) was heavily traveled ; the road though bumpy and pot holed, was in relatively good repair; I saw one vehicle called a "Kamaz" that is essentially a dump truck with the bed removed and a cabin for passengers in its place. People have told me that the ride in the very back of a Kamaz would rival any roller coaster. (Some of these pictures were taken while we were driving. I did not want to roll down the windows because of all the dust from the roads, so you will have to deal with the dirt on the window making the pictures seem fuzzy).
A Kamaz
The road we were on for 2 hours (and that was because it was good weather).
(Last 4 pictures) Showing the terrain of Sakahlin.
The trip was well worth it. I will eventually be living there when we take the modules up to Russia, so seeing the country, processes for travel, and the OPF has really eased any anxiety that I may have had. Life at the OPF will be camp life, where you go to work for 28 straight days and live and breath work. The brightside is that I will have 28 days off as well. Overall, the food and lodging were fine. I think I could do it for a short-term basis.
But I am also happy to be back in South Korea.
