Post: #1

Anyone want to drop a data sheet?




The Ultimate Industrial Shithole?

Quote:This is Norilsk city. Located in Russian Siberia this city hosts the biggest in Russia factory producing “rare” metals. It is even can be called a world leader when speaking about the worldwide production share it contributes. That’s like 35% of palladium production, 25% of platinum, 20% of nickel, 10% of cobalt that are being made in modern world come from Norilsk, which makes it having number one of such kind factories in Russia. The price they pay for this is that 2% of total world CO2 production is coming from this city too. The area of 100 000 hectares (50,000 acres) around the city is consists of burned down forests. It was widely recognized one of the worst ecology city in the world and the average life expectancy is ten years less than the average values across the Russia. Those photos were made there this May, and as you can see that’s not a warmest place in the world too. It’s common to have the snow in May out there. But life is still going on. More than 160,000 people live there today, and children of the city still think that their place is the best place in the world, as we all someday thought back in our childhood.

http://englishrussia.com/2010/05/30/all-...ngs-to-us/

Post: #2

Nice!

Isn't Norilsk a 'closed city' though and hence nigh on impossible to go to? Also with the high industrial output it probably has very high employment rates and above average salaries. Workers probably get hardship payments as they did in the CCCP days. The city which ticks all the boxes is Vorkuta,check that place out.

Post: #3

I've always been curious about the Soviet Union and Russia in general and have read a lot about their political aspects, but I've never been able to understand why many of their cities are so...shitty looking. I hear St. Petersburg and Moscow are relatively cosmopolitan (aka western influenced), but why was this not carried over their other cities?

Can anyone knowledgeable illuminate why they designed/built these cities to be so unaesthetic? I'll rep for any good answers.

Post: #4

(06-25-2012 11:42 AM)Jackhammer Wrote:  I hear St. Petersburg and Moscow are relatively cosmopolitan (aka western influenced), but why was this not carried over their other cities?

St. Petersburg was an imperial city, and the tsars valued beauty and greatness. By contrast, these industrial shitholes were built by the Soviets, who valued mechanization (of machines and people) and productivity above all else.

Post: #5

Wow.

Are there women?

Post: #6

Found two relevant pictures:

Post: #7

Only thing that looks to have been dropped on that place is a nuclear bomb. I expect there are people jumping off that hill daily

Post: #8

Charming.

On the plus side, your status would be through the roof there as a foreigner -- the first they have seen in decades.

On the negative side, those people look hard, way harder than me. I wouldn't want to tango with a vodka chugging siberian miner and his crew after I fucked their high school sweethearts. It just look like one of those places you may never escape from, where you could disappear and never be heard from again. Who the hell is going to go look for you there? Did they even get the memo that the cold war is over? I doubt it.



Fuck that. I am sure that any Norilsk hottie who can escapes to Moscow anyway.

+1 Giant Rep Point to the first intrepid traveler who posts a data sheet from Norilsk.

Post: #9

(06-25-2012 02:32 PM)durangotang Wrote:  Charming.

On the plus side, your status would be through the roof there as a foreigner -- the first they have seen in decades.

On the negative side, those people look hard, way harder than me. I wouldn't want to tango with a vodka chugging siberian miner and his crew after I fucked their high school sweethearts. It just look like one of those places you may never escape from, where you could disappear and never be heard from again. Who the hell is going to go look for you there? Did they even get the memo that the cold war is over? I doubt it.



Fuck that. I am sure that any Norilsk hottie who can escapes to Moscow anyway.

+1 Giant Rep Point to the first intrepid traveler who posts a data sheet from Norilsk.

That's if they will allow you in.

Post: #10

(06-25-2012 10:32 AM)Vorkuta Wrote:  Nice!

Isn't Norilsk a 'closed city' though and hence nigh on impossible to go to? Also with the high industrial output it probably has very high employment rates and above average salaries. Workers probably get hardship payments as they did in the CCCP days. The city which ticks all the boxes is Vorkuta,check that place out.

Now there's a challenge to the most adventerous traveler.

http://static.iftk.com.br/mt/2007/03/vor...ity_2.html









Whole host of Vorkuta pics here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/4004690100/

Here's a photostory from some dude. Just click forward from here on in and there's some great shots of Vorkuta.
http://www.stephenhudson.net/Ru07/034_UlitsaLenina.html

Who's up for it?

Post: #11

That's a fascinating pic to look at, Canuck!

Post: #12

(06-25-2012 02:32 PM)durangotang Wrote:  Charming.

On the plus side, your status would be through the roof there as a foreigner -- the first they have seen in decades.

On the negative side, those people look hard, way harder than me. I wouldn't want to tango with a vodka chugging siberian miner and his crew after I fucked their high school sweethearts. It just look like one of those places you may never escape from, where you could disappear and never be heard from again. Who the hell is going to go look for you there? Did they even get the memo that the cold war is over? I doubt it.



Fuck that. I am sure that any Norilsk hottie who can escapes to Moscow anyway.

+1 Giant Rep Point to the first intrepid traveler who posts a data sheet from Norilsk.

This,

I don't think the local gopniks will be that forgiving when they see you playing the field.

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopnik

When i was in far east Russia i saw many of these guys. They are not to be messed with. Seriously.

Post: #13

(06-25-2012 06:59 PM)Neil Skywalker Wrote:  http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopnik

When i was in far east Russia i saw many of these guys. They are not to be messed with. Seriously.

Those guys are all over the place in Russia.

The picture on the link is spot-on. He is in textbook stance.

It would only be better if he was drinking the beer out of a big plastic bottle and had a bag of sunflower seeds (семечки)

Post: #14

(06-25-2012 07:51 PM)Blunt Wrote:  

(06-25-2012 06:59 PM)Neil Skywalker Wrote:  http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopnik

When i was in far east Russia i saw many of these guys. They are not to be messed with. Seriously.

It would only be better if he was drinking the beer out of a big plastic bottle and had a bag of sunflower seeds (семечки)

My kind of dude if he likes beer and sunflower seeds

The city looks like something out of a movie. Real cool pictures. To bad there's so many people on here that say minorities shouldn't even bother with Russia if you're solo. It's such an interesting country.

Post: #15

An eXile classic: Meet The Gopniks (2007)

Post: #16

Nice find Icarus. The Exile has a lot of great content. I'm still traumatized by the Whore-r stories where the writer would drink a bottle of vodka, pop some viagra and then track down the most disgusting prostitute on the track before reviewing the whole ordeal.

Post: #17

(06-25-2012 08:38 PM)Icarus Wrote:  An eXile classic: Meet The Gopniks (2007)

Hahahahaha, this is so true.

Post: #18

(06-25-2012 10:24 PM)Caligula Wrote:  I'm still traumatized by the Whore-r stories where the writer would drink a bottle of vodka, pop some viagra and then track down the most disgusting prostitute on the track before reviewing the whole ordeal.

Not all Whore-R Stories are that depressing. The following one is my favorite:

Masha 4-Everyone (2005)

Post: #19

(06-25-2012 11:42 AM)Jackhammer Wrote:  I've always been curious about the Soviet Union and Russia in general and have read a lot about their political aspects, but I've never been able to understand why many of their cities are so...shitty looking. I hear St. Petersburg and Moscow are relatively cosmopolitan (aka western influenced), but why was this not carried over their other cities?

Can anyone knowledgeable illuminate why they designed/built these cities to be so unaesthetic? I'll rep for any good answers.

Communism dude. In a communist society, no one owns any assets and there is equality right across the community. It was done to remove any sense of greed or envy, not to mention materialistic desire. Its uniform and removes the individual.

What that means is that everyone lived in the same house. Literally designed to be the same size, shape, colour, everything. Drove the same car if they had one, wore the same type of clothes, same shoes. When people got a house, the beds were all the same, the couch in the living room would be the same as the next 15 apartments, same table in the entrance.

As for this town, you mad to go to a place like this. There is going to be nothing there, and having just looked on a map, its one of the most isolated places on the planet. Would be an adventure, but its also mad max type shit going on there too I am sure.

Post: #20

(06-26-2012 02:56 AM)Icarus Wrote:  

(06-25-2012 10:24 PM)Caligula Wrote:  I'm still traumatized by the Whore-r stories where the writer would drink a bottle of vodka, pop some viagra and then track down the most disgusting prostitute on the track before reviewing the whole ordeal.

Not all Whore-R Stories are that depressing. The following one is my favorite:

Masha 4-Everyone (2005)

Good one. Can't find it but there's a hilarious story by Mark Ames about being back in DC and getting a whore; he's disgusted by how poorly she compares to what he was used to in Russia.

Post: #21

(06-26-2012 12:49 PM)Caligula Wrote:  Good one. Can't find it but there's a hilarious story by Mark Ames about being back in DC and getting a whore; he's disgusted by how poorly she compares to what he was used to in Russia.

It was probably this one:

Whore-gia on my mind (2007)

Post: #22

(06-26-2012 03:06 PM)Icarus Wrote:  

(06-26-2012 12:49 PM)Caligula Wrote:  Good one. Can't find it but there's a hilarious story by Mark Ames about being back in DC and getting a whore; he's disgusted by how poorly she compares to what he was used to in Russia.

It was probably this one:

Whore-gia on my mind (2007)

That's the one, thanks!