From the last episode, the journey opens with chaos: water seeping into a car, shouts for help, and confusion about whether it’s or some other hotline to call. Once the car had been rescued, Jeremy and his convoy pushed on toward the ferry terminal, guided by kind local officers. The weather is cold (hovering around 0°C) and the ferry looks like something straight out of a winter apocalypse movie. Trucks and cars jammed into a “makeshift” jetty. Jeremy had to fold his side mirrors just to squeeze on board. Everyone sits tight, sandwiched together like sardines in icy metal cans.
With all hotels full, the travellers ends up sleeping in their car under Yakutsk’s arctic sky. By dawn, frost covers everything. The town, eerily bright at 5 a.m., slowly awakens to reveal a Lenin statue and a stunning mix of old Soviet charm and stubborn permafrost resilience. Eventually, they manage to find accommodation. However, it’s an overpriced room at the Azimov Hotel.
As Alvin’s car had issues due to the river crossing (check out the previous epsiode), they had to find a workshop to diagnose and repair the issues.. A friendly local come to the rescue, guiding them through a maze of hardware shops and workshops. They even help to find workshops to craft Jeremy’s Singapore license plate which was lost during the previous episode of river crossing.
The trip takes a breathtaking turn when the team explores the Kingdom of Permafrost, a surreal underground maze where ice sculptures, frozen bars, and Soviet-era storage tunnels meet. Things wrap with a visit to the Mammoth Museum, home to preserved Ice Age marvels, including the stunningly intact baby mammoth Jana.
Between ancient remains and frosty landscapes, it’s a bizarrely poetic ending to a journey carved literally from ice.