Recently Yakutia was visited by Germans’ Land Rover off-road vehicle expedition “Paris – Moscow – New York: Transcontinental 2009.” Everything went smoothly. Two vehicles entered Russia, expedition members spend a few days in Moscow, gave the press-conference and did much work with cars preparation, then a few weeks on the way to Yakutsk. Eventually they arrived in our city. Precisely, one car reached the city only, another stuck in Aldan after unpredictable accident on the road. The repair took another few precious days.
And, you know, what happened next?.. Instead of forwarding to the Pole of Cold and Magadan, adventurers flew back to Germany in order to get another Russian visas with the new period of the visit to Russia.
How much time the visa procedure will take, nobody knows exactly. Two weeks (including flight time), for sure or maybe. So… To avoid such sitautions, when you didn’t manage to fit to the restricted visit period, and any problem with Russia’s Federal Migration Service in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), you must keep in mind a very important thing. That’s the importance of obtaining appropriate visas. Read more…
This is incredible. A Swiss backpacker asked me about homestay possibilities in Yakutsk. I started thinking. At my place no free space is available. Kids, you know. His question seemed to stay without a positive response. But I went another way Read more…
Accepted a lot of questions from Marie, of windy Chicago. Three dozens, maybe. All of them about Yakutsk and its dwellers’ way of life in the winter. I had two attempts to answer and, sorry, made Marie waiting for the reply a few days, because I was sick and busy later. Read more…
It’s now, actually. If to be more accurate, the best period for such visits is from the midth of December till the end of January. It is the very time to feel -50°C and less even in Yakutsk. Check out the table and my recent photographs. Read more…
We, I and other Yakutians, are often asked about Oymyakon. The last time we forwarded received questions to a local resident. His name is Nikolay N. Krivoshapkin, 50-year-old driver, who was born, grew up and live the whole life in Oymyakon. Nikolay tried to describe what life in the coldest place on Earth looks like. He says: Read more…
A Swiss, who plans to travel across Yakutia and go back to Moscow by train, asked a few questions about availability of railroad stations in the region. My answer is following: Read more…
A scientist planning expedition next summer to the Lena River delta, asked about possibilities to charter a helicopter from Tiksi and who he should be in contact with. Read more…
Yeee, we are in the midst of intensely cold weather. December is prominent here for minus 40 degrees Celsius (-40F). The first day with registered -40C was December 5, 2008. Praise God, there were no strong winds, otherwise we couldn’t stand it. Read more…
Real winter arrived in Yakutsk. Fog, cold, slow driving became a part of our daily life. Watch the 30-sec video shot on Dec. 7, 2008. That’s the view on the intersection from my window. Read more…
Today I was interviewed by a RussiaToday TV Channel reporter. The channel has the program “Russia Close-Up”. It’s a unique series on RT, travelling to hard-to-reach places, revealing the answers to your questions. Last 20 days a RT team was travelling across the region and has aired many videos. Some of them are available on YouTube. Check it out. Read more…
