Contributer Thomas Beck and his Singaporean girlfriend Magdalene Tan

The night we reached the North Pole wasn't sunny. Even in arctic summer when darkness never falls, there aren't many sunny nights north of the 80th latitude, or days for that matter.

But neither was it a very cold night, just barely sub-zero. Only the wind cutting through our parkas and the bleak bluish-white landscape that showed no sign of life reminded us that we had entered one of the most hostile environments on earth.

Our expedition vessel, the nuclear ice-breaker Yamal, had reached the North Pole the evening before - just one week after leaving Murmansk in northern Russia.

Flying in from Frankfurt, my Singaporean girlfriend Magdalene Tan, an executive secretary, and I had joined the other 86 passengers in Moscow on July 31 last year for a trip arranged by Russian agency Poseidon Arctic Voyages.

We paid US$17,800 (S$27,260) per person, not including the cost of return airfare from Singapore to Frankfurt.

From Moscow, a charter flight took us to Murmansk. The plane was a Tupolev 154, at least 30 years old and extremely uncomfortable.

During the Cold War, Murmansk was home to the Soviet arctic fleet and off-limits to all foreigners. Today, its strategic importance has dwindled and it faces problems typical to many isolated towns in Russia, such as unemployment and an ageing population.

After a lengthy identity check, we entered the port section reserved for the ice-breaker fleet.

Here, we saw the Yamal that was to be our home for the next 12 days.

It looked good in the afternoon sun, strong and invincible in its red and black coat with shark teeth painted on the bow.

We were greeted at the gangway with salt and bread, the traditional Russian welcome, by staff members, including Victor, our expedition leader.

The Yamal, built in 1994, runs on nuclear fuel - 200g of uranium a day. It has a flight pad with a helicopter on board.

At 8pm, it headed for the Barents Sea. After our welcome dinner, we had our first briefing.

The schedule called for a wake-up call at 7am.

In between meals, there were lectures and slide shows on subjects such as ornithology, biology, geology,or history of the polar expeditions.

The lecturers were scientists with many years of travel experience in the arctic regions. But most of all, we initially just liked to be on the deck, to breathe in the fresh air, watch the birds and enjoy the calm, and as yet, ice-free sea.

On the third day, the first islands of Franz-Josef-Land - one of the most isolated archipelagos in the world - came into view.

On Aug 3, we approached Cape Flora where, in 1896, two of the most famous early explorers met.

Norwegian Frithjof Nansen had failed to reach the North Pole while Briton Frederick Jackson had spent the previous winter there.

We were told that chances of visiting this island by helicopter were slim because of the usually foggy weather. As it turned out, it was a clear and sunny day.

Since the helicopter had a maximum capacity of 22 passengers, five sorties were necessary to transfer all passengers plus the staff. As a precaution against possible attacks by polar bears, four guards, armed with Kalashnikov rifles, came along.

Maggie and I were in the first group to fly out. That proved fortunate because, 15 minutes later, the fog rolled in.

Instead of spending two hours on the island as planned, we had just time for a quick stroll along the beach. When we returned to the ship, visibility was next to zero.

At night, I heard a new sound, as if someone was softly knocking against an empty oil drum. I knew that we had finally hit the ice cap.

The ice didn't appear very thick yet and the Yamal could still make good speed. I woke Maggie and we watched in fascination the never-ending stream of ice cubes floating by after being carved out by the ship's hull.

But the highlight of that day came when we had our first encounter with a polar bear. A guide spotted him with his binoculars and the captain changed course. When the engines stopped, everyone's adrenaline was up. We waited.

Polar bears are curious, always hungry and incredibly strong. And they aren't afraid of anything.

It wasn't long before he approached our ship. He probably weighed over 600kg. He came closer and closer, until he was right beneath us. He didn't look dangerous; the head with the murderous jaws seemed too small in relation to the rest of the body.

For a while, he wandered around the bow of the Yamal as if he was trying to figure out how to take it apart. Then, he apparently realised that he had to look for his dinner elsewhere and walked away,with dignity and without haste.

The Yamal started moving north again.

The ice became gradually thicker, slowing it down significantly. Instead of 20 knots in the open sea, we were making just 10 to 12 knots.

In the following days, the average speed dropped to 4 to 5 knots. But we also crossed huge patches of open water that I had not expected that far north.

I wondered if that was a sign of the climate catastrophe that many scientists have talked about. There is no doubt that the volume of arctic ice has fallen dramatically in recent years.

Whether that is part of a normal cycle of our climate or due to an irreversible man-made process of global warming is open to discussion.

Even the scientists aboard the Yamal were split on that question.

Though the volume of artic ice has fallen dramatically in recent years, the terrain is still treacherous.

North Pole, here we come

Despite 24-hour daylight, there seemed never enough time. We spent many hours on the open deck. It was much colder now, though by no means extremely cold.

The fresh salty air seemed to make us sleepy and an afternoon nap became a regular part of our daily routine.

On Aug 4, an open-air party was held in the evening. As if on cue, the wind abated and the midnight sun came out for a few hours.

But it was no party for the Yamal's three propellers. It became harder and harder now to push the vessel through the ice.

A few times, it had to move backwards and attack again from a slightly different course. The ice was now up to 3m thick.

Looking from the bridge, one felt that the Yamal was sliding on ice rather than breaking it.

Finally, the hour came that everybody was waiting for: We were approaching the North Pole.

Probably all 88 passengers were on the bridge, eyes glued to one of the three GPS (global positioning system) monitors or watching the pilot navigate the ship towards 90 deg north.

The magic moment came at 8.12pm. For a few seconds, the GPS showed N 90'00'000. It was Aug 6.

The engines stopped, and the screeching sound of the cracking ice was silenced. There was an outburst of cheers - a toast by the captain, and everyone took pictures to capture the magical moment.

But minutes later, we were moving south again, pushed by the relentless force of the ice drift. The crew had to find a suitable place to moor the Yamal overnight.

The next morning, we were awakened by the sound of human activity on the ice. Some of the crew were putting up benches and a flagpole. We knew that the flags of the home countries of all participants were going to be hoisted but suspected that the flag of tiny Singapore might be forgotten.

But there it was, streaming in the icy wind, a bit smaller than the other flags and looking as if it had been stitched together at the last minute. We didn't really mind.

Victor gave every passenger the chance to take 'a flight around the world'. Though it lasted only eight minutes, it gave breathtaking views of the ship and the pack ice.

Viewed from Yamal's bridge, the ice-breaker seemed to be sliding on the 3m-thick ice rather than breaking it.

When we stepped onto the ice, we felt insecure in our rubber boots. The terrain appeared treacherous. There were patches of younger ice that resembled pools and were definitely not safe to step on.

After a while, we relaxed and began scouting the perimeter that had been declared safe.

Later, all the passengers formed a circle and danced around it, symbolically circumnavigating the world in 80 seconds or so.

Due to the cold sharp wind, we could not fully enjoy the barbecue. But that didn't stop some die-hards, almost all of them Russians, from taking a bath in the freezing open waters behind the Yamal.

A few hours later, it began the long journey back to Murmansk.

In the next two days, we saw more polar bears, among them a female with two cubs.

We did three more landings on some isolated islands.

First came Cape Fligley on Rudolph Island, another staging point for early polar expeditions. Part of the island is covered with glaciers but where they have retreated, basaltic rock has surfaced. We were surprised to find such diverse vegetation in a place where temperatures can plummet in winter to below minus 40 deg C.

Next day, we visited Jackson Island and its famous Cape Norviega. Here, Norwegian explorer Nansen spent the winter of 1895 to 1896 with a companion in a tiny hut.

For eight months, they survived on polar bear meat and walrus fat.

Our last excursion took us to Cape Trieste on Champ Island, perhaps the best-known island of the archipelago.

There, its famous "rock balls" can be seen in many places.

On Aug 12, the Yamal docked in Murmansk.

When the bus left the pier and the ship sounded a long last blast while the crew waved goodbye, many of us had to fight back tears.

5 do's

BRRR BLOOMS: There's a wide range of vegetation on Rudolph Island, where temperatures an dip to minus 40 deg C in winter.

1.Be prepared to eat only European food on the Yamal. The menu changes often and the quality of the food is very good. For those who miss their sambal belacan, pack some along.

2.Take along enough film, spare batteries or memory cards. Have your camera or video camera with you everywhere you go, even to the ship's dining room. You never know when you might catch sight of a polar bear.

3.Be prepared for 24 hours of sunlight. Your sleep pattern will become a bit disjointed and it took me a while, even with an eyemask, to fall asleep.

4.Wear dark sunglasses to counter the strong glare of the arctic ice. Bring sufficient winter clothes - it's only when you are comfortably warm that you can enjoy, say, the helicopter rides to islands.

5.Keep an open mind and take everything in your stride because the weather can change and affect what you see, do or visit.

2 don'ts

1.Don't feed the polar bears even if they are bold enough to come close to the ship. This might hamper their hunting skills and make them lazy.

2.Don't litter or trample on the beautiful vegetation. It grows only during the summer months. As the saying goes, take only pictures and leave the rest behind. Let others enjoy the beautiful sights, too.

Photos taken by: Thomas Beck