Altai (Central Siberia)

In 1995 I traveled to Barnaul (Барнаул) in the Altai Krai (Алтайский Край) of Central Siberia to investigate a joint program to examine agricultural productivity in this, the "breadbasket" region of Siberia and to plan for the placement of a NASA device for measuring global aerosols at Altai University. This was part of a broader trip across Siberia to install a satellite receiving station in Siberia. My host was Valery Mironov, the Rector of Altai University. We traveled by car through the agricultural regions, down to the boarder with Kazakhstan, reaching a toxic waste dump at a closed ore cracking facility that was a major study site for his team. We spent the night in a former Communist Party House in Kurya (Курья). Kurya was the birthplace of Kalsishnikov, of AK-47 fame, and I received a signed copy of his biography from the "town manager". Most interesting of all was meeting the cook at the former former Communist Party House. She was very excited to meet an "Aмериканский", and she was an excellent cook!