These incredible images offer a glimpse of far-away land that looks like another planet - but it is actually the 'coldest city on earth".
Imagine living in a city where -45C temperatures are the norm that is the reality for more than 250,000 residents of Yakutsk, Siberia.
Above the frozen earth, buildings dripping with thick - and potentially deadly - icicles stand looking as cold as its inhabitants.
Venturing out into Central Square could be a fatal decision because of the slippery ice and deep snow that covers the entire city, a major port.
Yakutsk is located on the banks of the Lena River, around 280 miles south of the Arctic Circle - meaning the climate is permanently extreme.
However, in the crippling cold life goes on as if it would in any major city in England.
A local man sells fish in the market with a smile on his face like a cheeky trader in London's Old Billingsgate Market or Camden Town.
He chats to customers, wrapped up warm to stave off the bitter cold, which causes the main highways and roads to become inaccessible.
If it wasn't for a rail network the city would be completely cut off from the rest of Asia.
That is probably why criminals were exiled there in the 1600s and the region became known as the "jail with no doors".
But today, it is in an area boasting astonishing wealth because of its seemingly endless supply of diamonds and gold.
Thankfully, there is also a large supply of oil and gas beneath that frozen ground which is in demand to keep frost-encrusted houses warm.
No comments:
Post a Comment