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01:00These are the Diomede Islands, in the centre of the Bering Strait.
01:05Over behind me is Greater Diomede, an uninhabited Russian island,
01:09and the one I'm on, Little Diomede, is American.
01:13About 50 miles to the north is the Arctic Circle.
01:16Behind me, in that channel there, runs the International Date Line.
01:20On Greater Diomede, it's already tomorrow.
01:24From these narrow straits, the Pacific Ocean stretches southwards
01:27to cover one-third of the Earth's surface.
01:30The journey we're beginning today will take us all the way round this vast ocean,
01:3450,000 miles of travel through 18 countries.
01:38If all goes well, when we return here in a year's time,
01:41we shall have been full circle.
01:46A late August sun shines for our departure,
01:49making light of the harsh life in this remote Eskimo village,
01:52battered by the elements for nine months of the year.
01:58The 180 inhabitants of this windswept rock live by fishing,
02:01and always have done.
02:04The Arctic Circle is one of the most beautiful places in the world,
02:07and one of the most beautiful places in the world.
02:11The 180 inhabitants of this windswept rock live by fishing,
02:14and always have done.
02:31The oil-rich government of Alaska has done much to make life here more comfortable.
02:35There's a state-of-the-art school, satellite television,
02:38electricity, and abundant fresh water,
02:41and the island has voted itself alcohol-free.
02:51But they still hunt beluga whales in boats made from walrus skin,
02:55and it's in one of these that I shall begin my Pacific journey.
03:04The locals are frankly unimpressed.
03:07They've seen many travellers here before,
03:10trying to cross the ice bridge between Russia and America,
03:13or on their way in and out of the Arctic.
03:16This is just one more crazy departure
03:19for a people who wouldn't exchange diomede for anywhere else on Earth.
03:37Farewell, diomede.
03:41See you in a year.
04:00It's good to be on the move,
04:02out on the ocean on a wing and a prayer and a walrus skin boat.
04:07What more could I ask for, except a helicopter like the rest of the crew?
04:31130 miles south of diomede lies Nome,
04:34a doughty, resilient community of 5,000 souls
04:37clinging to the dry, hard shores of western Alaska.
04:42The spirit of the last frontier survives in Nome.
04:45They're proud of the fact that the nearest tree is 75 miles away.
04:49In Nome, real men drive pick-up trucks and never wash them.
05:0490 years ago, these bleak, grey beaches were called the Golden Sands of Nome.
05:0930,000 prospectors camped here in search of a fortune,
05:13and they still come.
05:19Excuse me dropping in, but I was passing through Nome
05:22and I was told I must see the Golden Sands of Nome,
05:25see if it's true.
05:27That was three hours' worth of work, maybe $100.
05:32That's three hours this afternoon?
05:34Yeah.
05:35Maybe $100.
05:37I'll make it disappear and I'll suck it right out.
05:41Am I you together?
05:42Yeah, this is my son.
05:43Your son?
05:45So is this a hobby?
05:47This is a hobby.
05:48What I do with the gold, I invest all the gold money.
05:51I don't have to live on it, I don't need it for expenses.
05:53I'm buying a new Corvette with this year's gold.
05:56Last year I bought a...
05:58Two years ago I bought a Corvette.
06:00Last year I bought a house.
06:02I've got five homes now.
06:09With gold prices at $350 an ounce,
06:12there's still money to be made on the shores of the Bering Sea,
06:15but everyone has his own way of making it.
06:24Stan Cook is an Englishman.
06:26Not for him, the nit-picking delicacy of the gold pan.
06:29Stan is slowly and systematically washing away the beach.
06:34Why do you do this?
06:36Why?
06:37Yeah.
06:38So I don't die from lack of activity.
06:41It's fun.
06:43Do you have to get special permission to pan on the beach here?
06:47No, just from my wife.
06:49My wife is the only one I have to ask.
06:52How much does she pay you?
06:54I mean, how much do you have to pay her?
06:56Sorry, I goofed.
06:58Yeah.
06:59How pay much she her you do?
07:01Pebble number one, three.
07:03Bering Sea, ocean sky.
07:05Pale in here, very cold.
07:06Chill, chill, chill.
07:08Nosey dribble and soon...
07:10Terrible temperature, fluey fall over,
07:11deadly no more, Pacific rimming.
07:16I'm deteriorating fast, and it's only the second day.
07:25This may be the frozen north,
07:27but no one lives on a dog sled anymore.
07:31They know how to treat a star.
07:33Airport, please.
07:58There are no roads connecting Nome with the rest of Alaska.
08:01From here, there's only one quick way out.
08:28Our circle around the Pacific will follow the Asian side first,
08:33so we must make our way across to Russia as soon as possible.
08:37The US Coast Guard has offered to take us
08:39on their monthly supply flight
08:41from Kodiak down the Aleutian chain to the island of Attu.
08:45They leave from their Kodiak base in two days' time.
08:58BELLS RING
09:03130 years ago, the American government bought Alaska
09:07from the Russians for $7 million, less than two cents an acre.
09:13But at the Orthodox Church, Kodiak still feels firmly Russian.
09:17CHOIR SINGS
09:47BELLS RING
10:03As we have two days before our plane leaves for Attu,
10:06there's time to see the sights of the island.
10:09The greatest of these is the huge Kodiak brown bear,
10:12which can be seen in the wild on an overnight trip from the capital.
10:18The only way to get there is by floatplane.
10:21These workhorses, the one we're in is 33 years old,
10:24are the equivalent of motorcars on a rugged island like Kodiak.
10:41The weather is good as we land 60 miles away on Karluk Lake,
10:45so we set off straightaway to look for bear,
10:48with Scott the ranger, Siggy and Rosie,
10:50two incorrigibly enthusiastic Germans,
10:52and a few thousand black flies.
11:04We're in luck. Somewhere beyond the flies is a bear.
11:08Yeah, this is one of our cubs right here.
11:11He's OK.
11:14He's OK.
11:16He's a year old. A year and a half old, this one.
11:21Are they aware of us now?
11:23Mm-hm, that little cub.
11:25His mom picked up on that when he jumped and made a few sounds.
11:29So what are they thinking now?
11:31She's more interested in pushing this other bear out of the area.
11:36Shallay and Olga have these little disputes all the time.
11:40Usually, none of one of them gives in.
11:59The bears scour the river for migrating red salmon.
12:03A full-grown female will eat 30 fish a day.
12:07Where are the males?
12:09That's a good question sometimes.
12:11They come through in the evenings or late at night,
12:14early, early morning.
12:16We don't see a high population of males right here.
12:19They're scattered around in the area.
12:21Are they much bigger than the females?
12:23Yes, it can sometimes run 300 or 400 pounds more.
12:27You can only see the bears now.
12:29Swarms of flies.
12:31That one up there, she's just sort of now hunkered down.
12:34Looks like a huge boulder.
12:57Next morning, the weather has turned.
12:59We've cleared our huts and are packed and ready to go.
13:02All we need now is an aeroplane.
13:07When it doesn't come, we resign ourselves to an unscheduled second evening here.
13:13Very nice. Lucky you.
13:15Where are you going to next?
13:17Oh, baby, can I?
13:19Oh, look at this. What a feast.
13:21What a feast.
13:23Rosie and Siggy are relaxed about the delay,
13:25but they, quite sensibly,
13:27do not have to worry about circumnavigating the Pacific.
13:30Has this happened before? People have been stuck here for a bit.
13:33That can happen.
13:35We've had a few people this year that have spent up to four extra days here
13:39from their normal schedule.
13:41But that's extreme conditions where the town was fogged in solid.
13:44It was mainly fog conditions in Kodiak.
13:49Well, it's now 24 hours
13:53since we should have been airlifted from Karluk Lake
13:57back to Kodiak and off to Attu,
13:59but we're still here.
14:01And from where I sit,
14:03I can see the mountains over which the plane should come,
14:05but there's no sign of it.
14:07We've heard there's fog in Kodiak,
14:09so we're still stranded.
14:11There's nothing you can do but sit and wait.
14:23The day passes with no sight of the plane.
14:26There is now a real chance
14:28that we will miss our Coast Guard flight to Attu.
14:31What's so frustrating is that we can't tell the Coast Guard what's happened.
14:35Scott's proud of the fact that there's no phone on the island.
14:38In some desperation,
14:40I ask him if there is any other way out.
14:43You could walk to Larsen Bay,
14:45be there,
14:47and then,
14:49you could walk to Larsen Bay,
14:51be around five miles of walking
14:54and probably six miles of floating.
14:56How do we get down the Karluk River?
14:59Well, I know of an old raft down there,
15:01and I'm not sure about the condition of the raft.
15:03We'd have to check it out.
15:05Are the bears down there like there are up here?
15:07Well, not as thick,
15:09but there's one point along the river on this corner
15:12where they're doing lots of feeding now.
15:14I've watched several family groups and individual bears
15:17catching king salmon, red salmon,
15:19and so you will encounter bears at one point,
15:22I'm sure, along the river.
15:24There may be one female with three spring cubs
15:27that might stay there.
15:33There is one, as Scott warned,
15:35and it's quite large.
15:37Suddenly, the idea of walking out of here loses its appeal.
15:48It comes right out of the blue, or the grey.
15:54For a moment, I don't believe what I'm seeing.
15:58Then, like the rest of us,
16:00I'm running out to welcome our saviour.
16:18Impenetrable fog had grounded all flights
16:20out of Kodiak City for three days,
16:23but for the moment, no-one's complaining.
16:25We've been rescued.
16:28Down to the last pair of underpants!
16:42The bad news is that the Coast Guard flight has left without us.
16:46The good news is that we've managed to wangle ourselves
16:49aboard the last flight of the season
16:51on the only scheduled service between Alaska and Russia.
16:56Morning.
16:58Good morning.
17:00Petropavlovsk, please.
17:02I have trouble saying it.
17:04Do you know what I mean?
17:06Yes, we know what you're talking about, and it is.
17:09Here we are.
17:11Seven of us, please.
17:14How many bags will you be checking today?
17:16Forty-three.
17:18We're going on somewhere.
17:20We're not just stopping in Petropavlovsk.
17:22Well, we have 43 tags here.
17:25If you can go ahead and set your bags right up here,
17:28we'd appreciate that.
17:32We have very comfortable seats.
17:34If there's nobody in first class,
17:36we'll go there and we won't bother anybody.
17:38We won't bother anybody.
17:40Just give us a glass of champagne
17:42and we'll sit there quietly.
17:49Flight 203 from Anchorage to Petropavlovsk,
17:53from America's last frontier to Russia's last frontier.
17:57Kamchatka lies 2,000 miles away.
18:00The contrast is stark.
18:02Alaska is the land of opportunity,
18:05and Kamchatka, until six years ago,
18:07was closed to all foreigners.
18:10But now all that's changed,
18:12and I'm welcomed with a traditional offering of bread and salt.
18:26Unfortunately, it's not for me at all,
18:28although some of the waiting press
18:30half-recognise a star when they see one.
18:33The real celebrities are an Alaskan delegation
18:36from the town of Homa, led by the mayor.
18:39The way he tucks into the welcome bread
18:41makes me strangely envious of the new cordiality
18:44in Russian-American relations.
18:53Let me introduce you to Mr Carroll.
18:56I'm sorry, Mr Carroll.
18:59Greetings over, the Alaskan delegation
19:01is swept away in the official limousine.
19:07But the offerings from the people of Petropavlovsk
19:09don't go unappreciated.
19:15Ah-ha!
19:17Well, I was good.
19:19I was good.
19:20I was good.
19:21I was good.
19:22I was good.
19:23I was good.
19:24I was good.
19:25I was good.
19:26I was good.
19:27I was good.
19:28I was good, I was a bit of a mistake.
19:30They weren't for me.
19:31They were from some Alaskan friendship society.
19:36But...
19:37They left me with a cake.
19:39I got the cake in the end.
19:41I got the flowers.
19:42I got the cake.
19:43Very nice.
19:44We shall share it.
19:45Should last us a week.
19:46Next morning, we meet the team who are to show us the wilder side of Kamchatka.
20:01Sergey Alekseev, director of the Kronotsky Reserve.
20:05Sergey, my pleasure.
20:07Cook Svetlana, my assistant Alexander, and interpreter Konstantin.
20:18And for those who may not know, this is Igor Nosov, who is the big man here today,
20:23who's going to guide us through not only Kamchatka, but also all the way down the Russian Pacific.
20:28So, we're all ready. Igor, we're in your hands. Let's get aboard.
20:32Yes, thank you. Please.
20:46Krechet, the name on the side of the aircraft, is one of the myriad private companies
20:50now running these old military helicopters.
20:53The word means a falcon, but for a while this mighty beast feels more like an elephant.
21:16For one moment, I thought we decided to go by road instead.
21:45There are no roads across Kamchatka, and very few people either.
21:49Those that brave the weather and the rough terrain are mostly nomads.
21:54We're looking for a tribe called the Evenks, who move through the mountains and forests,
21:58living off great herds of reindeer.
22:14We locate one of their encampments. It seems remarkably reindeer-free.
22:26Can he tell us where are the reindeer herds?
22:39Do you see the mist over there?
22:40I see the mist, yeah. I don't see anything in the mist.
22:44He said that they are there.
22:46They're there in the mist?
22:47Not far from here, about two kilometres.
22:50Two kilometres away?
22:51Yes.
22:52How many reindeer does he have up there?
23:00One thousand.
23:01One thousand?
23:02Yes.
23:03Well, I think we should try and see them if we can.
23:08So the bird labours into the air again, threatening to blow away the Evenks for a second time.
23:16I miss the Kodiak bears and the cloud of flies.
23:19I miss the Coast Guard flight to the island of Attu.
23:22This time, I'm determined not to miss the reindeer.
23:31By now, the entire crew, including the pilot's young son, are on full reindeer alert.
23:37But there's not an antler to be seen.
23:45Then the weather clears and the landscape changes, and we're over some of the most spectacular scenery in the world.
24:01Tourism is not yet established here, and it's doubtful if it ever will be.
24:06A part of Kamchatka is protected, however.
24:09The 6,000 square miles below us is known as the Kronotsky Reserve.
24:16This is the crater of the Uzon volcano.
24:19There are 25 volcanoes on the reserve.
24:22Most of them are still active.
24:52The Kronotsky Reserve
25:23The Kronotsky Reserve
25:32This is a truly amazing place, the Kronotsky Reserve.
25:35I mean, I haven't seen as much steam since I gave up trainspotting.
25:38It is just the size of the place.
25:41Not only what you see on the surface, like the volcanoes that we've seen and flown over, but what you feel is underneath.
25:48I've never, ever anywhere else felt the sense of the earth sort of bubbling and pulsing beneath me, this energy just pouring out.
25:56And it is really in the middle of nowhere.
25:58I have to remember that we're extraordinarily privileged to be here.
26:02I mean, this is inaccessible, remote land of Kamchatka.
26:18The Kronotsky Reserve
26:28The geysers erupt with clockwork precision.
26:31This one, known as the Giant, blasts 100 feet in the air every three hours.
26:35I persuade Sergei and Konstantin to take me closer.
26:49The Kronotsky Reserve
26:58How hot is that?
26:59250 degrees.
27:00250 degrees?
27:02Yeah.
27:03250 centigrades above zero?
27:06Yeah.
27:10Wait, wait, please.
27:12Come on, you're being an exaggeration.
27:19The Kronotsky Reserve
27:23This is very nice, Igor.
27:24Slowly, slowly.
27:25Slowly?
27:26Yes.
27:27I think I'm going to keep under the water to avoid being bitten to death.
27:30Oh, it's very, very nice.
27:31After this water, too young.
27:32Too young?
27:33Possibly 20 years ago.
27:35I feel 52 already, Igor.
27:38I am 52!
27:42Oh!
27:43Very nice.
27:45Is it my imagination, or has this fish soup got vodka in it?
27:49Yes.
27:50Is there vodka in here?
27:51Yes.
27:52Yes, absolutely.
27:53You always put vodka in fish soup.
27:55This is true.
27:56Russian fish soup only with vodka.
27:59It's really good.
28:00Red wine, Moldavian wine.
28:03It's fantastic.
28:04Cheers.
28:05Welcome.
28:07Cheers.
28:08Thank you all.
28:09Cheers.
28:10A fresh rustle of plastic.
28:13Plastic rustle.
28:17You can't even hear rustling in the garden.
28:23Everything froze here until the morning.
28:27If you only knew how dear to me
28:33the Kamchatka evenings are.
28:38The river is moving and not moving
28:43all of the silver from the moon.
28:48The song is heard and not heard
28:54in these quiet evenings.
28:59The song is heard and not heard
29:05in these quiet evenings.
29:10And the dawn is already more noticeable.
29:15So, please...
29:21Next morning, we're brought firmly down to earth.
29:24The rain sets in and we're confined to Olga's hunting lodge
29:27in the suburbs of Petropavlovsk.
29:29It's the perfect weather for learning a cheerful Russian song.
29:33Can you do this into a tape recorder?
29:35Just a little bit.
29:37Then I can learn the whole thing.
29:39Okay, so we're on.
29:41So, in your own time, Igor with...
29:44What is it called?
29:46The song?
29:47This is Polushka Polia.
29:50It's a very traditional Russian song.
29:54Composer Knieper.
29:56Polushka Polia.
29:58It's fantastic Russian.
30:00Please, repeat this.
30:01Two words, I'm okay. On three, I'm rather fucked.
30:03Okay, Igor, live in the studio.
30:31Polushka Polia, Polushka zelyona polia,
30:35Jedut po polu geroi,
30:38Egda krasnaya armiya geroi.
30:54Big and then small.
30:56Loud and then soft.
30:58Manic and then...
31:00This is Russian character.
31:02Good.
31:20The sight of all this water reminds me
31:22that there is something significantly absent from my traveller's kit,
31:25and apparently from most Russian hotels as well.
31:30Bathplugs, bathplugs.
31:34I don't see a plethora of bathplugs.
31:37But one can but ask.
31:41Oh, there's somebody over here.
31:47Please, do you have a toilet paper?
31:52No.
31:53No?
31:54No.
31:55No, nowhere here?
31:57No.
31:58No water in the tub.
32:00No water in the tub.
32:02Thank you, thank you very much.
32:06No bathplugs.
32:14Polushka Polia, Polushka zelyona polia,
32:20Jedut po polu geroi.
32:28Igor?
32:31Next morning, whilst Olga makes potato cakes for breakfast,
32:34Igor is busy negotiating transport to get us out of here.
32:59I'll get you some gas.
33:03From Polius to Polius, Michael Palin.
33:07Tomorrow at 10 a.m. the helicopter should be ready.
33:10And only tomorrow!
33:12You don't understand. I'm telling you.
33:15You'll have gas.
33:17Right?
33:18Right.
33:19That's why I thank you.
33:21Please, three tons of gas will be sent to us.
33:24Necessarily.
33:26Thank you. As the English say, thank you very much.
33:30Yes.
33:38Igor's subtle techniques of persuasion clearly worked.
33:41After breakfast, we find ourselves back at Petropavlovsk airport.
33:47Once again, we're on our way, heading round the Pacific Rim.
33:51Our destination is the sinister city of Magadan,
33:54600 miles away on the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk.
33:59Magadan was built by slave labour in the 1930s.
34:03It was the administration centre for the mineral mines of the nearby Kolyma region.
34:10Most of the inhabitants of this bleak city are the sons, daughters,
34:14grandsons and granddaughters of prisoners and prison officials.
34:18This is where Stalin sent the enemies of the people.
34:21Writers, artists, lawyers, anyone on whom his suspicions fell.
34:31In the very heart of Magadan is the start of the long road that led to the camps.
34:36It runs for hundreds of miles.
34:39It, too, was built on slave labour,
34:41laid literally over the bodies of those who perished.
34:45We're taking one of the survivors back to the remains of the Gulag camps
34:49where he once worked.
35:00His name is Ivan Yakovlev.
35:02He's not returned to this harsh wilderness for 50 years.
35:07These are the old uranium mines,
35:09where men worked in grim isolation
35:11to extract the vital ingredients for Russia's first atomic bomb.
35:36It was always officially denied that forced labour camps existed,
35:40but Ivan Yakovlev shows us the remains of a cemetery
35:43on the mountainside, 200 miles north of Magadan.
35:47There is clear evidence here to prove that someone knew
35:50what was going on here,
35:52and that this was the place where Stalin was executed.
35:56It was a place where Stalin was executed,
35:58where Stalin was executed,
36:00where Stalin was executed,
36:03There is clear evidence here to prove that someone knew
36:06who was buried in these communal graves,
36:09for each one is marked with an identification disc
36:12made from an old tin lid.
36:16That's a G, Russian G-24.
36:33What would have been the main cause of death?
36:42He told me that the main causes of death
36:45were overwork, radiation and terrible hunger.
36:53These are the buildings where the slave labourers lived.
36:56Ironically, the best preserved remains
36:58These are the buildings where the slave labourers lived.
37:01Ironically, the best preserved is the camp's prison,
37:04as if one were necessary.
37:06If you escaped from here, there was nowhere to go.
37:11In the shadow of the uranium mines,
37:13there are poignant reminders of those who were forced to work them.
37:17It's estimated that from 1933 until their closure in 1953,
37:223 million Russians were sent to their deaths in camps like these.
37:29I asked Tatyana, the interpreter,
37:32what Ivan Yakovlev's feelings are on returning here after so long.
37:38He says he's quite cheerful.
37:43The generals and politicians who ran the gulags are all dead.
37:49He says that after all the horrors that took place here,
37:53the generals and politicians who ran the gulags are all dead.
38:01But despite everything that he's been through, he's alive.
38:05And as he himself says, I'm smiling.
38:11When Ivan was released from the gulag in 1946,
38:14he was given a medal for services to his country
38:17in the Great Patriotic War.
38:19He treasures it.
38:24HE HUMS
38:30We leave Magadan later today.
38:32Still time for last-minute shopping.
38:43The store is called Things For The House.
38:45Now that reminds me there is something I need.
38:50Ah.
38:53Tweezers.
38:55Brushes. Soap.
38:58Corkscrews.
39:00Bulbs.
39:03Bathtabs.
39:06That looks a bit like a plopka.
39:12Ah.
39:14Um...
39:16Excuse me.
39:18Where is a plopka?
39:20A plopka for water.
39:22You know...
39:26No?
39:28No?
39:34No plopka?
39:38Ah, it's got something like it, I think.
39:43Yeah?
39:46Like a cork, yes.
39:49What she offers me has holes in it, more like a sink tidy.
39:55Want something rubber?
39:58No, I think that would let the water through.
40:07There is still one Russian city left in which I can buy a bath plug.
40:121,400 miles due south of Magadan is Vladivostok,
40:15the capital of the Russian Far East,
40:17where the only railway line across Russia meets the Pacific.
40:22This is a first for me.
40:24The last few miles of my journey into Vladivostok
40:27are along the Trans-Siberian railway line.
40:31The exhausting 6,000-mile journey from Moscow
40:34takes six days and crosses seven time zones
40:37before the train reaches the glorious expanse of the Black Sea.
40:42It's a long journey.
40:44It's a long journey.
40:46It's a long journey.
40:48It's a long journey.
40:50It's a long journey.
40:52It's a long journey.
40:54It's a long journey.
40:56It's a long journey.
40:58Before the train reaches the glorious extravaganza of Vladivostok station,
41:03built in 1912 in the Bavarian Gothic style
41:06and freshly painted by an Italian film company.
41:22The roads of Vladivostok are full of Japanese cars
41:25and the midday bustle in the streets
41:27has an almost European feel.
41:29It's hard to believe that the city was closed to foreigners
41:32as recently as 1992.
41:42It was closed because it was the home port
41:44of the mighty Russian Pacific Fleet.
41:47It remains their home, but the fleet now goes on joint manoeuvres
41:50with its old enemies, America and China,
41:52and is no longer mighty.
41:58My hotel in the leafy suburbs is called the Vlad Motor Inn.
42:02It's a joint venture with a Canadian company.
42:04Could my search be over?
42:07Do the, um, baths have bath plugs here?
42:13Uh...
42:15Here?
42:17Mm-hm.
42:19Here?
42:21Mm-hm.
42:23Here?
42:25Here?
42:27Mm-hm.
42:29Do the baths have bath plugs here?
42:31Yeah.
42:33They're made of rubber.
42:35You don't know how glad I am to hear that.
42:37It'll save me wandering around Vladivostok for the next three days.
42:41So don't worry about that. You can take a deep bath.
42:43I can bath! OK, thank you.
42:45Where's this?
42:47It's the second floor.
42:49OK, thank you.
42:51Ah, the pleasure of retained water!
43:15The Navy wakes early.
43:17I do too.
43:19The Vladivostok fleet has agreed to be my host for the day.
43:49Where the Hammer and Sickle used to fly, the Russian Navy now has a new flag.
43:54Once it's raised, the day's work begins.
44:04I, meanwhile, have been invited to join Vice-Admiral Chirkov,
44:08deputy commander of the Pacific Fleet,
44:11aboard his launch, called Typhoon.
44:15I've one special favour to ask him.
44:18We have ensemble of dancing and song of Pacific Fleet.
44:23Yes, good, that's what I'm talking about.
44:25And admiral, chief of this ensemble.
44:28Really?
44:29Yes.
44:30This ensemble, his son.
44:32Ah.
44:33Does the admiral himself enjoy singing? Does he like to sing?
44:36Yes, yes.
44:37It's his duty, yes, he's subordinate to the ensemble.
44:41I supervise his duty.
44:52Do you like to sing?
44:59I like to listen.
45:07Anyway, I would like to...
45:10If he doesn't mind, maybe I could...
45:12He could give me the address of the choir,
45:14and if they're having a rehearsal or something,
45:16maybe I could just go and pop along and sit at the back?
45:19No problem.
45:21Thank you very much.
45:38Have you met with ensemble?
45:40No.
45:41No?
45:42I would like to.
45:46OK.
45:48OK.
45:50Yeah, but I've been learning this song since we got to Russia.
45:53And we will be Polyushka Polya.
45:56Our ensemble special for you.
45:58Well, thank you.
46:00With you.
46:01Together.
46:02Please thank the admiral very much indeed.
46:04You know, I hope I will do the song justice.
46:07So it is that with permission from the very highest level,
46:10I'm given temporary membership of the legendary,
46:13once mighty, Pacific Fleet Ensemble.
46:23A dream about to be fulfilled.
46:30Ooh!
46:35Two fingers for it.
46:37Hello, sailor, ready to go.
46:39Oh, my God.
46:40There's more.
46:42Do I need make-up? I'm in...
46:52OK. Thank you.
47:04MUSIC PLAYS
47:34MUSIC CONTINUES
48:05MUSIC CONTINUES
48:19MUSIC PLAYS
48:34MUSIC CONTINUES
49:04MUSIC FADES