Hi, my name is Marina

and I live in Yakutia.

It is the largest republic of Russian Federation. It’s territory is more than territory of France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Great Britain, Finland and Greece all together.

Our region is famous for the most cold and long winter in Russia.

;

The average temperature here is -45-50°С in winter, but in summer it is hot up to +45°C, and our days are very long because of white nights.



Yakutia is the richest territory in natural resources not only in Russia but also in the world. There are oil, gas, precious and rare metals and, of course, diamonds here.



One of the largest diamond deposits where mining was conducted by open way is kimberlite pipe "Mir" (“Peace”).



And “white gold” of Yakutia are mammoths’ bones and tusks, that are found in large quantities at the territory of republic.



There is only one in the world Museum of Mammoths in Yakutsk.



The most wonderful showplace of Yakutia is its nature. There are tremendous multikilometer vertical pillars of the Cambrian era along of the Lena and Sinyaya rivers banks.





The town where I live is named Lensk and located at the picturesque bank of the Lena River. Its foundation date is back to the 17th century – the time of active exploration of Russian North when Vitus Bering’s expedition went to find the ways to Japan and North America.



The symbol of my town is monument to yamschiks (coachmen), who paved the first transport paths through harsh terrain.



“The gate of diamond region” is the symbolic name which was given to the town, when diamond deposit was discovered and began to develop. The town became an entrepot for diamond miners.

Now Lensk is a major transport junction and a river port.

 



 

As the Lena is among the ten largest rivers of the world, sometimes we have very strong floods. The last two were at 1998 and 2001.

 

Water in the Lena is so clean that you can drink it directly from the river, and we have a wonderful fishing.

 

Traditionally we eat fish so.

   

Fish is a very important part of our cuisine.

David, on your birthday I have cooked

 



a snack of salted fish.

The fish from our river called the grayling. It lives only in the crystal clear water.

And a few pieces of juicy trout are not redundant on the table.

And certainly enjoy the fish with our Russian black bread and boiled potatos!