Sakhalin

Page under Development…

Name of island – could come from the Mongolian ‘Saghalien-angahata’ meaning ‘The Cliffs of the Black River’, probably in reference to the crags or the cape of the Amur River, on the mainland. In 1710 the Chinese Emperor commissioned a map be drawn of the Tatary, (a geographical term used during the Qing dynasty as a blanket term used by Europeans to refer to the lands between the Urals and the Pacific Ocean, marked in purple in the map.). Explorers attempting the Tatar passage noted shallow water as they passed the mouth of the Amur. Believing it was an isthmus that connected the mainland to a peninsular, maps were drawn representing this isthmus. The Japanese apparently knew it was an island, but the rest believed it was a peninsular. A map representing it was a peninsular made its way to France in the 1700’s and was included in the atlas compiled by the geographer d’Anville. (By 1799 it was shown as an island).

I worked on the far-east Russian island of Sakhalin from December 2011 until July 2015. This was a very special work and life opportunity as the island, the organisation and the people set the scene for some amazing life experiences and created many treasured memories.

(Talk about time in Scotland, needing a change, spoke to colleague, brief chat, job offer (things different now-a-days), pre-view trip, fell in love with the place, very excited to get across, great people, interesting town)

From a work perspective the role gave me exposure to the full LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) value chain, running brownfield modifications on three ice-class offshore platforms, an Onshore Processing Facility, a very long gas pipeline and an LNG terminal. From a life perspective it put me in contact with special people with whom to enjoy snowboarding, hiking, camping, nights out in the clubs, barbeques by the beach and other adventures.

Train journey up to Nogliki, then the helicopter flight to PAB. LUNA, Molikpaq, and the 4×4 journey to the OPF.

Sauna Tent, Cape Velican

Skiing – Backcountry skiing, Snowboarding at Gorney Vostok, Cross-Country skiing at (T…). The tri-fecta, snowboarding on the first run of the morning, catching up with Peter for cross-country by lunchtime and back by 4pm for the indoor rugby in the hall.

Hiking – Chekov Peak, name the other hills

Travel around the island, Ogligorsk, Val, Khabarovsk

Barbeque and camping by the beach (tasty Khabarovsk beer poured into 2 liter plastic bottles). View of a loading LNG tanker from a barbeque site.

Cat charity with my travelling companion