Life in Russia's COLDEST CITY - Yakutsk ｜ Yakut habits, heatwave(-35 C°), my walrus-friends

Welcome to the far north of Russia. It's a territory with extremely harsh climate which occupies about one-third of Russia's total area. During the whole winter I traveled to the northernmost and remotest parts of the country to satisfy my curiosity. How do people survive in these places? Why do they go ice bathing in winter? Do they struggle in this climate? Or are they happy to be here? Let's meet an ethnic minority of Russia, the Yakuts, who live in the coldest city on the planet, Yakutsk. Russians know how to do the cold but Yakut people take it to a whole new level. It's mid-February in Yakutsk and everyone here keeps talking about the heat wave and that it feels like spring. What's the weather now? It's currently snowing. My phone died. It's minus 32 today and it's the heat wave in Yakutsk. Yakutsk is the capital of the biggest republic of Russia, Yakutia. It's the coldest city on the earth with average temperature in winter minus 40 celsius and here everything ordinary becomes something special. Warm water here immediately turns into ice crystals when you throw it in the air. Any fruits freeze to stone. You can even hammer a nail with a banana or an apple. If you don't have a hammer you have a banana. And this is the kind of adventure that I had when I decided to wash my t-shirt. One day I even experienced a temperature of minus 54 celsius in this region but now as the so-called heat wave came in the city the locals invited me for so many activities as for them it was a very nice warm day. Let me introduce you to my health Russian health Yakut friend Arseniy. He loves winter swimming but at first he has to build an ice shelter. Well, we will come back to my walrus friends and that's how we call people who swim in cold water. We will come back to them later when they finish building that warm ice house. Meanwhile let's see how people adapted the city Yakutsk to extremely low temperatures. Look at the way this city functions. All the gas, water, electricity pipes are above the ground because Yakutsk is located on permafrost which is ice and soil frozen together for one kilometer deep to the ground. And even all the pipes are covered with a special insulation material because otherwise they would be frozen. It is quite expensive to own a garage so this is how people keep their cars in winter. They have this special cover which is by the way named Natasha because of the first producer of these covers and it keeps the car warm otherwise it would be just frozen like this car. The cover like this costs around 15-20 000 rubles and sometimes people steal it because it is not attached to a car anyhow so the owners of the car usually put the number of their car here so no one steals it. The houses in Yakutsk are built on stilts which are about 15-20 meters deep in the ground otherwise the heat from the house would melt the permafrost and when this happens the house would dip in the ground and be destroyed. The drivers also leave the engine of the cars on when they leave for several minutes or even hours because if you turn it off you might be unable to start it again. That's why you will see a lot of cars with the engine on but no one inside. Any steps in the city are covered with a carpet so that you don't slip on ice. This is the entrance to the park for example. Because of the permafrost it's complicated even to bury people on the graveyard. The ground here is as hard as rock and it's difficult to dig a grave. Jackhammers or machines that warm up the ground allow you to make a grave but it's quite expensive. However the orthodox church doesn't allow other ways of burial. I've spent about three hours outside and you know I'm being frozen. I start feeling the cold in my bones like my jacket doesn't save me anymore. I need to find some place to warm up. Guys meet my local friend Maria. In all the cars in Yakutsk they use two layers of glass otherwise everything would be frozen. What are the winter fun activities here? In winter children ski, play in the snow, make snowmen. At what temperature do children skip school? They start from minus 45 degrees. All 11 grades? No, from 1st to 5th grade, then 48 and from 1st to 8th grade and from 1st to 11th grade. They don't go to school, but they go ice skating, right? Yes, and eat ice cream on the street. I did it when I was a child. What do you like about life in Yakutsk? Here is my homeland. All my relatives live here. Beautiful nature, clean air. There is even a permafrost. It seems to me that this is a unique object on Earth. Because, well, few people can survive in such conditions. But we live and live happily. Guys, I'm very happy to continue to audition on my channel to hide Matryoshka dolls with a note from me and 100 rubles in places that I go to. And this time I leave it at the bar Parabakalov, owned by my friend Maria. She is a sommelier, by the way. Just tell anyone from the staff of the restaurant the name of my channel, and they will give it to you. I hope some of you will find my souvenir and try delicious food and drinks in Maria's bar. Why is everyone saying today that spring is coming? First of all, the sun shines very brightly in spring. The mood rises and the feeling that spring is coming soon. And such weather is considered warm, right? For winter. Yes, yes. It's very warm. It's abnormally warm. Last year, at this time, there was a terrible fog. Minus 56. It was very hard. Even for the psyche, you can say. The flower day is very short. Literally an hour or two. And minus 35 is abnormally warm, right? For Yakutsk. Minus 35 outside and spring vibes. You've heard it. Well, let's go back to my walrus friends, who probably finished building their ice shelter. How do you need to prepare? In general, when the temperature is optimal, 25-20 degrees, then you can calmly sit on the street and breathe. You do breathing gymnastics, you do push-ups. This is just to speed up the blood flow. And then you dive. But in general, after swimming, it is also advisable to give a physical load. Because the effect of this is better. When are you going to dive? When you stand in clothes, you start to freeze. Some kind of sluggishness arises. And without clothes you don't freeze? And without clothes, the sensations are different. This sluggishness disappears immediately. What now? Push-ups? Vanya? Yes. How are you? Good. You need to breathe deeply, right? The main thing is calmness. It's still warm today. When it's cold, it's advisable to put on gloves right away. So that your fingers don't freeze. There is also such an effect. When the limbs start to freeze, blood is squeezed here. This body protects more vital organs from freezing. Sacrificial limbs, as they say. Therefore, such movements restore blood supply. And now I'm going to change. How does it feel? Now it seems that it is hot, right? No. How often do you dive? Not much this year. Last year I went three times a week. This year I go once or twice a week. But at the same time I still combine. Sometimes I go out on the balcony and sit on the balcony. About 5-6 minutes in the cold. Just look at this Yakut man. I'm a fan. I was very pleased to meet you. Me too. Come again. Next year, I hope, we will have a tent here. Yes, yes, yes. I'll help you. I agree with the tent. But with such an ice structure, I don't understand how to warm up. It's staying underwater for such a long time. Oh my gosh. And again? This is glottal therapy. Is it warm here? Yes, it's warm. How is it? And how will you warm up now? Now we will dress up. We'll drink tea. Is it more common to speak Yakut or Russian here? Here we have two official languages. Yakut and Russian. In families, we mostly speak Yakut. In everyday life, in shops, in the government, for example, at work, we mostly speak Russian. And with friends, for example, what language do you speak? With friends, well, depending on friends, with friends of the Sakha nationality, we speak Yakut language. Cool. And is there TV in Yakut? Yes, of course. And newspapers, right? Yes, of course. Radio, newspapers, TV. Books, probably, are also in Yakut, right? Of course, yes. And in school, are there classes in Yakut? Yes. Or Yakut goes as a separate language, right? Yakut goes as a separate language, but we have national schools, where the education is completely in Yakut language. Have you ever thought of moving to a place with a softer climate? My husband and I had the opportunity to move to Japan. It was very important for me to raise children on my native land, so that they understand their belonging to the nation, to the place of birth, so that they have their homeland, you know? Therefore, we stayed here and do not regret it at all. Have you noticed a change in the climate, if, for example, take 20 years ago in Yakutia and now? Listen, yes, yes, no doubt I noticed. Our winter has become warmer, above 60 degrees in winter, it was normal. And at the same time, our winter was always dry. Now it is minus 45, it becomes such an average temperature. Two weeks ago I was in the Museum of the Study of the Problems of Eternal Cold. I asked the director about this, and she said that not yet, while nothing seems to be melting, everything is fine, that is, we are constantly conducting research. But in the future, this problem of global warming, it seems to me, it will still be very acute. It seems to me that humanity does not think about changing something in the environment, then sooner or later it will still begin to melt, and this will be a consequence for the whole world. And what consequences? Everything will melt. Already now, as it seems to me, the climate is changing, that is, in the south there are unprecedented snowfalls, these are also the consequences of climate change. It's very wrong to suppose that people can't enjoy their life in such extreme weather conditions. Life never stops here, even when it's minus 60 outside. On the opposite, Yakut people are worried about heatwaves, as it was at the day when I was filming this video, and they don't want to lose the way of life of their ancestors. They try to preserve their language and traditions. I just finished skiing, and the local guys here are going to sing in Yakut language. Hello! What are you singing about? Hello! Yakutsk song. As always, about love. How do you say in Yakut language «I love you»? Travelling isn't about changing your location from point A to point B. Neither it should be a competition to visit more places than others. Travel to prove yourself that you were wrong about other countries. Travel to connect with the locals to understand another worldviews. Travel to break down the barriers between all the people.