Shall we talk Russian?: VIA bigpicture

Tuesday, 7 June 2011

Via Bigpicture: Travel in Russia. Altai

Altai seems to be wild and greatly exciting place to visit and to go hiking.
Altai area or in Russian - Krai (Алта́йский край) is a federal subject of Russia in the Siberian Federal District. It borders with, clockwise from the south, Kazakhstan, Novosibirsk and Kemerovo Oblasts, and the Altai Republic. The krai's administrative center is the city of Barnaul.
The Altai Mountains (阿尔泰山脉) are a mountain range in central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their sources. The Altai Mountains are known as the original locus of the speakers of Turkic as well as other members of the proposed Altaic language group. The name, in Turkic Alytau or Altai, means Al (gold), tau (mount); in Mongolian Алтайн нуруу Altain nuruu, the "Mountains of Gold". The proposed Altaic language family takes its name from the mountain range.

Here is a photo report of an interesting trip to one of the Altai villages, Srostki which lies neat the mountain Piket. This place is also famous for that the great Russian and Soviet writer and actor Vasiliy Shukshin was born.

full version of the trip is to be found here