The Nogliki Camp

Upon disembarking from the train we stood around in the pouring rain! Some adventurous souls, desperate for the toilet relieved themselves when they thought nobody else was looking, and the rest queued up to gain the attention of the security/passport inspectors/agents who were making a pigs meal of organization. I received attention eventually and was told to board a blue bus at the end of the track.

It looks a nice place, sort of like the end of the road and as far as anyone will get. A few buildings, a water tower and a blue bus were all there was around apart from trees, more trees and trees!

The Big Blue Bus - my transport for the day
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2006

I like the blue bus! It was more of a large overgrown jeep or I suppose a squashed mini bus with extremely large tires! I clambered onboard and plonked myself down, half on my luggage half on the seat and contemplated the sign that told everybody to wear their seat belts! The bus had extremely large tires, like on a tractor and I presume would be useful in the snow! The seat belt notice though came into its own! It turned out not to be a frivolous leftover of bureaucracy it was in fact a useful guide to prevent anyone onboard being discharged through the cabs front window! Wow, this is one hell of a pot-holed country road; a fact that I learnt to my detriment whilst peeling myself off the seat in front.

The bus took us to he Nogliki Camp. This is basically were all strays oil workers and unknowns are forced to stay whilst awaiting transit to rigs, ships, boats, platforms, barges, etc! A sorting office and transit area if you may and one that comes with high security and more paperwork than seems warranted for the situation. Upon entering the reception area, we were pointed towards a table at which sat a skinny official and a fat official. The skinny official stood up and told me to open my suitcase. I did this and he then poked around with a pencil (it looked like a pencil) and made muttering noises! He looked at my suitcase and then after having inspected its contents asked me in stilted English if I was carrying any contraband! Only one answer was possible to that sort of question, 'no'!

The fat guy was next! He wanted the serial numbers of my laptop and my camera, he wasn't interested in the phone or the portable hard drive or anything else, just the camera and the computer! So he got that in good order and that was me…………..wait, don't relax just yet! After being allowed past the fat official I was told to leave my suitcase in a roped off area and that I should sit down with all the other 'sitters'! I sat down and then watched the antics of a large Alsatian whose job I surmised was to find drugs (or propaganda against the state) or something like that in our bags! The expression goes that 'owners look like their pets', this saying came into its own here. The large Russian official who was guiding his dog around and over our luggage looked an exact replica of his four-legged companion. In retrospect, whether the dog was doing the sniffing or his master, I know not - it looked like the master was telling the dog where to sniff and showing him by example, but that could have been my over active imagination!

After my bags were sniffed I was free to go! Free to go but nowhere to run to. I was told that I could not catch the crew boat out to my vessel seeing as how I did not have a boarding pass. After much argument and explaining, that I did not need one seeing as how I was joining a Russian flagged vessel, I missed the boat anyway! They gave me a room in the camp, one shared with yet another snoring Russian and so I slept the afternoon away!

At 4pm I was told that I had to get to the docks to catch the crew boat, so back into my blue bus I got and off we toddled and jerked. And that was my stay at the Nogliki Camp over and dusted with - 5 hours of well, waiting but filled up with food (I had eaten lunch, bear stew perhaps, in the camps dining area) and had slept enough for whatever might lie ahead!

Ieuan Dolby
Author and Webmaster of SeaDolby.com
Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 9th September 2006