Hi! My name is Bolot. I am a journalist. Based in Yakutsk. Ask me a question about the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Siberia / Russia, and get the answer.
Often I was asked, if I have the updated information on business and investment opportunities. Yes, I have one, but in the form of the official Republic of Sakha-Yakutia investment guidebook.
Follow the link “Read more” to find the updated region economy information with infographs and photographs taken by Yakutia-Sakha News Agency and, certainly, download the English version of the investment guidebook with the full list of available regional investment projects.
Dimitri Kieffer (http://nexusexpeditions.blogspot.com/) is the Franco-American adventurer, who is listed in NYC-based Explorers Club. He is doing an NEXUS expedition around the world using human powers only. Some call such a journey human powered circumnavigation.
It was him, who walked with Karl Bushby from Alaska (US) to Chukotka (Russia). By foot. On the sea ice. Through Bering Strait. It was him, who gave me a great info on the route from Chukotka to Magadan Oblast, as he walked that way with a sledge in last winters. Check the post Dimitri Kieffer’s ultimate description of Russia’s Chukotka – Kamchatka – Magadan route. From Uelen to Anadyr, Omsukchan and Magadan.
And here is what he says about cycling together with his lady, Gulnara Miftahova, from Omsukchan to Yakutsk in August-October 2011.
A great fellow! A great explorer to follow!
I was pretty happy to follow, help a little and meet him and make the above video. Further, please, find his current expedition facts and, certainly, 40 travel photographs! Read more…
As you know, Yakutsk, the capital of the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia in Russia’s Siberia, is based on the frozen ground known mostly as the permafrost. What’s that? It means the ground the city stands on is penetrated by ice. Actually, it is the mixture of dust, soil and ice.
See the above video made inside the undeground tunnel used by Yakutsk Permafrost Institute (the only one alike in the wold) and get an idea of what I am trying to tell. In this vid I like most of all those huge frozen snowflakes. If you had be lucky enough to go down inside, please, do not crush snowflakes, as it took decades for them to became so awesome :)
Previously, I wrote much about Yakutsk Permafrost Institute. Read more…
Yesterday I said bye to the Scottish travellers, who are making the MAD Expedition from Magadan (Pacific Ocean) to Scotland (Atlantic Ocean) on their own Landrover Defenders. They drove the Kolyma Highway through Ust Nera on September 13-18, 2011.
They are a group of friends from the Scottish city of Glasgow. Stuart, Richard, Gaven, Graham. They do long-distance driving travels regularly. Last time they made it from London to Kazahstan. This time they are here in Siberia on the way home.
Their mission is not just to have fun on the road, but also fundraising for charity. Check the list of charity funds they are supporting. Good friends with good intentions!
Ilya Kovyakin, the host of AskMagadan.com, helped them with cutsom clearance at the sea port in Magadan, Russia. Check out his website later to learn more about the specifics of custom paperworks.
The Scottmen’s travel delayed for more than a month. Initially they planned to start their road trip in the late July 2011, but their shipping company made a mistake in papers, so the cargo with the off-road vehicles stuck in Seoul on the way to Vladivostok and Magadan. It wasn’t the Russian custom service, that postponed their trip.
These four Scottish travellers prepared themselve to ride in the conditions of hot summer weather. In July they asked me, what the current weather was. I said, “+36C and +42C.” They were shocked to hear such news.
After a month, in the early September, the situation was totally different. The temp in Magadan and Yaktusk was already +10C, all trees turned in yellow colors. Moreover, it’s more colder on the road, especially in mountain area. When arrived in Yakutsk, guys said they were camping at -25C… at night.
Ok, no more words about the road conditions and weather reports. Let’s watch travel pictures taken by Scotsmen on the way from Magadan to Yakutsk.
What does biking on the Road of Bones in the late September look like? The answer is in the following video and pictures.
Enjoy adventure! Read more…
Benjy Davenport finally made it from UK to Yakutsk, Russia. He and his Landrover Defender in front of the Government of the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia.
Last Friday Benjy Davenport, who is doing the long trip from London, UK, to Cape Horn in South America, finally made it to Yakutsk. His driving on LandRover Defender to my city took more than one year.
Yes, that’s how long his journey was. He was supposed to come in August 2010, but a crazy drunk driver hit his landy in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov and Benjy was forced to return home for the total reconstruction of the car. He resumed his journey this year’s April.
So, who is Benjy Davenport and why he is doing an epic charity fundraising expedition?
Here is what he says himself:
My name is Ben Davenport. I’m 28 and live in the South West of England in Cornwall. Last year I embarked on a solo expedition in my Land Rover, attempting to drive from London to Cape Horn in South America. My route was to take me through Scandinavia via NordKapp, across Europe, Russia, The Central Asian “Stans”, Mongolia, across the Pacific to Alaska and then down through Canada, The United States, Central America and South America to Tierra del Fuego.
While a fair few people have done such expeditions, what makes my solo trip that bit more challenging is that I’m afflicted by Noonan’s Syndrome… Don’t worry ! You aren’t the only one not to have heard of it !!
In short, he travels to raise funds for Newlife Foundation and British Heart Foundation. If you are active donators, you can help him to help others. Learn more about his charity at Cornwall2Capehorn.com
Meanwhile, he is determined to follow his mission, “40 borders, 50,000 miles, 1 landrover, 1 driver, solo.”
Further, please, see more photographs from our meeting in Yakutsk, Russia. Read more…
The Lena River in Yakutia, Russia
Questions from a guide book writer regarding the construction of the AyAM railway to Yakutsk and a bridge across the Lena River:
In your opinion, when do you think the AyAM train to Yakutsk will be ready? My best guess is not before the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
When the AyAM is complete, it will just go to Nizhny Bestyakh, right?
Somebody told me there will also be a train station in Yakutsk. Why do they need a train station in Yakutsk? Is there another train line being built on the west side of the Lena River, or will there be a bridge across the Lena somewhere?
And here is my reply: Read more…
The Lena River in November. Near Yakutsk, Yakutia, Russia. Photo by Alexander Li, Yakutsk Vecherny Newspaper, Vecherka.Ykt.ru
Often asked, if it is possible to drive roads (ice roads) and crossing rivers in Yakutia in a particular month. Yes, such questions arrive mostly from independent vehicle drivers.
So decided to give description of the conditions of roads, ice roads and river crossings month by month.
Sakha Sire is one of Sakha language websites.
A week or two ago, I received a message from Nikolay Pavlov (he is also known as Halan and Cyber Sakha). He is a very popular person on the Yakutian Internet. It’s him, who works hard together with his like-minded friends on Sakha Wikipedia.
He asked me about a favour. In his email, he said that in the early summer there was one of UNESCO conferences held in Yakutsk (Yakutia / Russia), and there were Japanese speakers Mikami Yoshiki and Tanaka Nakahira, who monitor the Internet in search of websites done in rare languages.
So, according to Nikolay, Mikami Yoshiki and Tanaka Nakahira said an interesting statement. They said that there were websites even in the Yukagir language, but the Sakha language was not represented online…
Nikolay and all other people, who do their best in promoting the Sakha language on the web, were confused a little. How come? There are many of such Internet resources. Maybe, they got words in a wrong way.
When they talked to Japanese speakers, the latter said that they monitored mainly websites in .com domain zone!
So, to render justice, Nikolay asked me to publish the list of the well-known Sakha language web resources. Proceed reading to check the top.
The flag of Yakutia in a bookstore in the 2nd House of the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia
Yesterday, Doug Wothke sent me a text with a quick question, “Where to buy the flag of Yakutia?” Gosh, it appeared to be a hard question.
I don’t know why, but Yakutia flags are something that tend to be ordered specially at local advertising & publishing houses. It is something used mostly and ordered in a bulk by governmental and municipal organizations, NGOs, various parties or companies.
So, the flag of Yakutia must be ordered. I mean, if you wish a flag, you need to contact a company that produces flags, and place the order.
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