Gadling

This really breaks my heart.

A massive landslide has completely destroyed one of the world’s greatest natural treasures: the Valley of the Geysers.

Located in Kamchatka, a part of Russia’s Far East, the Valley of the Geysers is, as you might imagine, a valley of geysers–more than 90 in fact. This desolate natural phenomenon was discovered in 1940 and today remains accessible only by helicopter. I’ve been dying to visit for a number of years now and was probably within 12 months of doing so. It never occurred to me that I needed to hurry up before it disappeared. But on Sunday, a landslide more than a mile long and 600 feet wide buried 2/3 of the famous valley and most all of its geysers.

Yes, our world is a fragile place indeed. After all the squawking I’ve done in the last two years about global warming and disappearing glaciers, I never thought that the Valley of the Geysers would be the first to go. And yet, it has happened.

The only good news here is that the landslide has created a natural dam and experts believe that a lake will eventually take form here. In the meantime, we can only gaze upon the above photo, taken by Robnunn, and wave goodbye to a very cool place indeed.

There is a catch-22 in Moscow in which tourists briefly become targets for corrupt cops. Well, I suppose tourists are always targets for corrupt cops but there is a period when they are even more vulnerable than normal.

Foreign tourists must register their passports when checking into a hotel. Often times this process involves having to leave the passport with the hotel for a couple of hours or even up to a day. Normally the hotel will provide a receipt during this time in case you are stopped by police.

Moscow cops are smart, however, and are constantly checking tourists to see if they have their passports on them. If the tourists have nothing more than a flimsy receipt from some local hotel, the cops know how to play this up as though the document isn’t legitimate. Fines, naturally, can be paid on the spot. I’ve seen it happen many times, believe me.

Such scams are so common in Moscow that The Association of Guides and Tour Managers has recently penned a letter to the Kremlin insisting that something be done about it. According to an article in the Moscow Times, tourist guides “regularly face” this problem and as you might imagine, it doesn’t sit very well with their clients.

So, will anything be done? Doubtful. Corruption is rampant in Russia and I’m sure that a sternly written letter from a bunch of tour guides isn’t going to make any impact whatsoever.

Sometimes it takes a single man to completely change a country. Take Cuba, for example. Were it not for Castro, I could visit the country any time I want. But I can’t.

Two weeks ago, Boris Yeltsin died. I guess it would be hard to argue which leader had the most impact on Russia, Lenin (who enslaved) Gorbachev (who freed) or Yeltsin (who let all hell break loose). But I do know that once Yeltsin took over, I was able to freely visit Russia.

The Russia that I visited, however, was a nightmare of post-communism that was made far worse by many of Yeltsin’s horrific policies (or lack thereof). Sure, he did a lot of good for the country, but he also bumbled badly along the way, turning Russia into a car wreck where it is impossible to look away. As a traveler, it has made for some terrific journeys; I’m sure glad I don’t have to live there however–although things have gotten much better in the last number of years.

So, in honor of the semi-crazy, often-drunk leader of Russia, English Russia has complied a collection of videos highlighting the zany antics of the man who helped turn their country into what it is today–be that good or bad.