I know three good websites selling air tickets for flights within the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia’s Far East.

One of them belongs to the agency called GAVS (a short name for Glavnoe Agentstvo Vozduzhnyh Soobshenij). Two other online shops to local air companies, Yakutia Airlines and Polar Airlines, that conduct regular regional flights.

Links to air ticket online shops:

www.travelshop.yakutia.ru
GAVS Air Ticket Agency Website. In Russian only.

The payment system accepts all major credit/debit cards issued by Russian and international banks. I use this website mainly to check all air carriers’ flights schedule. Actually, you can use it to purchase tickets for all Yakutia-related flights provided by different air companies.

www.ticketshop.yakutia.ru
Yakutia Airlines Ticket Shop. Available in English as well.

Yakutia Airlines is the biggest air company in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). It conducts international, national and regional flights. A year ago website users reported that the payment system didn’t work with cards issued by abroad banks. Currently, it seems to be okey. Regular the company provides discounts. Air tickets might be also booked and purchased directly from the front page of its official website www.yakutia.aero.

www.flyshop.yakutia.ru
Polar Airlines Air Tickets Online Shop. In Russian only.

Polar Airlines is the second air company based in Yakutsk, Russia. It operates domestic (regional) flights to all major settlements in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The company has a separate online service for ticket sales. The official website PolarAir.ru does not provide online booking.

As you noted, all three websites are hosted as subdomains to Yakutia.ru that belongs to YakutAvia LLC. This is a Yakutsk-based IT company that services local airlines. So, if you forgot above-listed URLs, you might visit Yakutia.ru directly and see banners of all mentioned websites on the front page.

Have high safe flights, friends!

Note: Majority of last questions is related to what I have already written and posted on this blog. My reply preparation work is mostly about finding related posts and giving links to them in email answers. It might be one of reasons I don’t update AskYakutia.com often. So… what do I want to say? Feel free to use the search box on the left sidebar freely. That’s what I do…

The above note is not related to a question received from Singapore:

Hi,

Im from Singapore and I’m visiting Russia this summer.

I was told that Yakutsk is a city of a strict passport control and to visit this city, I am supposed to have an invitation issued by local migration authorities. Can I check if this is true and it’s necessary for me to get the invitation? I am actually intending to stay with a friend and Im flying in to Yakutsk from Ulan Ude.

As i am currently trying to prepare to get my visa, do i need to include this invitation from Yakutsk before i can apply for the Russia visa?

Thanks.

My answer is right after the link:

Indeed, local migration service does love to check foreigners for available correct Russian visa.

As I see, the mentioned visit purpose is private. You are going to stay at a private place, it means you must have a private Russian visa, where the purpose will say “гостевая” (guest/private). This visa might be issued on basis of the invitation issued by a local migration service at the request of your inviting person.

Just ask a local friend to not be too afraid and apply for a Russian guest invitation.

You can have also another option. It is a tourist visa, but in this case you would need to purchase a tour from a travel company or stay in a hotel. The visa is issued pretty fast.

Here in Yakutsk, one travel company www.planetyakutia.com can issue such invitation (in the form of travel voucher & confirmation). Ask your friend to address this mentioned company as well. In Russian it is called NTK “Yakutia”.

Actually, if you see a travel company that offers tours to Yakutia, you can get a tourist visa support from that company.

Just be adviced that your visit to Russia must correspond to its real purpose.

From March 28, 2012, oneWorld member S7 Airlines (Sibir) is launching 1 weekly Yakutsk – Beijing service, and increases to 2 weekly from May 24, 2012, with Airbus A320.

Yakutsk – Beijing Flight Schedule:

S7527 YKS0130 – 0410PEK 320 35
S7528 PEK0450 – 1105YKS 320 35

Service operates Day 3 only from March 28, 2012, to May 23, 2012. Operational flight number is S7525/526.

Chernyj Prizhim on the Kolyma Highway, so-called Road of Bones, in Yakutia, Siberia, Russia

I have written a lot about ways between Yakutsk and Magadan, Yakutsk and Oymyakon. Actually, both are the same. They are on the Kolyma Higway, known also as the Road of Bones or M56. I thought it’s time for requests to stop coming. All posts on this theme are filed under Kolyma Highway and Road of Bones.

Instead, I started receiving very specific questions. Love them all. They are specific as their authors are not regular people. Last two messages arrived from companies that focus on extraordinary expeditions. One was from explorers, who do so-called cold climate journeys. Another from the TV show, that arranges and broadcasts breathtaking off-road driving.

Two requests are related tightly to Oymyakon and the way to this place. Actually, questions sound the same.

1. Will the road from Yakutsk to Oymyakon be open in November?

The road will be open, but everything depends on the condition of ice roads on rivers. There are three rivers on the way to Oymyakon from Yakutsk. The Lena River near Yakutsk, the Aldan River before Khandyga, and the Kyubyube after the turn from the Kolyma Highway to Oymyakon. The last will be frozen for sure. About the rivers Lena and Aldan read below.

2. Will the rivers be frozen in November so that we can safely drive across?

October is the period when rivers start freezing. Ferries on the Lena and Aldan might work till the end of this month. In Novermber ice cover on rivers is getting thicker. Last 10 days on these rivers are safe for cars, however, they are not as such for heavy trucks. Officially ice roads are open in December, it means the ice cover is thick enough for any kind of transports, including overloaded lorries.

But… no one knows, what type of surprise the climate may bring. November weather can be abnormal, as it was last time. Warm (between -20C and -30C) in the beggining and extremely cold by the end.

The second half of Novermber is safe for off-road vehicles. By that time, a river in the Oymyakon area might be already frozen. Nevertheless, it is highly recommended to drive very carefully and check the condition of an ice road before driving through.

Related post: Is it possible to cross the Lena River near Yakutsk in November?

3. What temperatures are expected in November?

For instance, in late Novermber in Yakutsk we had -47C, in Oymyakon it was colder. Usually it is between -30C and -40C in Yakutsk and between -40C and -50C in the Oymyakon valley (with three villages, Tomtor, Uchugei and Oymyakon). You should know that the lowest temperature in that area was actually registered in Tomtor.

4. How much daylight do you get during November?

Let me recall. In the beginning of Novermber, daylight last from 9 am till 5 pm, in the end it’s already between 10 am and 4 pm.

5. Is it possible to rent a helicopter to fly along the Road of Bones?

As some says, if you pay, everything is possible :) Unfortunately, to rent a helicopter (MI8) is not cheap at all. One flight hour rate veries between 140,000 RUB and 160,000 RUB. Keep in mind that distances are huge. Flight from Yakutsk to Tomtor airport with one refuel stop at Teplyj Kluch (Khandyga) airport takes around 3 hours on one way. Plus you should pay his way back, that’s additional 3 hours. Total rented time is 6 hours for 960,000 RUB.

IMHO, to rent a heli is not reasonable. You wouldn’t save much time. It’s much, much cheaper to rent a car for the whole trip and one way may take 21 hrs. Besides, you can see more details of the historic Road of Bones.

How to rent a helicopter? There is one company that is always ready to fly with travelers. It is Polar Airlines. Mentioned rates belong to that air company. To reserve the flight, it is required to forward a written request to its office.

Often I receive requests from foreign/international journalists, who are coming to Russia and being confused about the required type of the Russian visa. Their questions usually sound like, “I’ve got an assignment and I plan my travel to Russia. What type of the Russian visa I need and how can I get it?” The last one was asked from the USA, and it said, “Do you foresee any hidden obstacles we may run into while bringing journalists on the trip?”

I know examples, when international journalists entered Russia with business or tourists visas. Those, who were assigned by newspapers or magazines to make stories on travel opportunities, didn’t experience any troubles, because they came as travelers, they didn’t take any interviews with officials, they didn’t go to any restricted areas, and they just kept writing harmless travel notes about hotels, restaurants, tours, lifestyle, and etc. Right, behaving that way, they didn’t attract much attention from migration officers and any other services.

However, I know other examples I’ve heard from local travel companies. Journalists acted in the above described manner, everything looked fine, until they went through regular police checks, and they were found out as journalists on assignment, and instead of showing press/media visas, they displayed their travel/business ones. That was the start of their troubles.

I am very interested in international reporters’ coming to Siberia’s Yakutia and making PR pieces. That’s why I am writing this post with the main idea, “To make the travel as smooth as possible, it will be good to arrange everything in the appropriate way.” Believe me, the procedure of getting the press/media visa is pretty simple.

PREVIOUSLY
I described what types of the Russian visas existed and how to apply for them. Read the post “The Russian visa.” You might also want to check the following related readings:

- Do I need to have special permission to arrive in Yakutia?;
- How to get entry permit for visiting the frontier zone in Yakutia?;
- Tips for dealing with the Russian Migration Service?;
- The cheapest way of migration registration in Yakutsk?.

HOW TO GET THE PRESS/MASS MEDIA VISA
The mass media company (newspaper, magazine, TV or radio station, etc), that assigns its correspondent to travel to Russia, needs to request an invitation from Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The request must be written with the company’s letterhead and signed by its senior official.

The invitation request has to contain assignment description, exact dates of travel, and passport data. It can be sent to Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs directly or via the diplomatic representation of the Russian Federation in the respective country.

Once the request will be approved, the MFA of the Russian Federation will send the visa order (invitation) directly to the Russian Consulate or the Consulate Department of the Russian Embassy saying to issue the press/media visa to the journalist and for the period mentioned in the request. The approval procedure takes up to 3 days.

This is the general way of getting the press/media visas for visiting Russia.

KEEP IN MIND OTHER DETAILS:
- If the report assignment is very specific and affects Russia’s interests, the approval procedure can be extended or shortened.
- In case of the EU entities, another scheme might be applied… in accordance with the EU-Russia Agreement dated May 25th, 2005.
- As far as I know, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs might reply to the media company’s request this way, “In your case the media visa is not required. Other regular visas will be enough.” That’s also good. In any case, such reply might serve as a very useful official paper, that demonstrates your activity permission for any representative of the Russian migration service.

ACCREDITATION
Oh, accreditation procedure is another song. It is described fully and pretty good on the official website of Russia’s MFA (www.mid.ru). Accreditation is required for international journalists’ meeting with any officials in Russia, including the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Without official accreditation, foreign reporters will meet the authority’s total ignorance.

CONTACT INFO

The Ministry’s Press Center
Phone: (499) 244-41-19
Fax: (499) 244-41-12
Email: dip [ at ] mid.ru

ADDITIONALLY
I strongly recommend foreign journalists to consult with the Russian press attache in your country. He/she must know everything!.. To learn contacts of Russian diplomatic and consular missions, please, see this list.

WHY DOES EVERYTHING GO VIA THE MFA?
Imho, it is assumed the initiative must come from the foreign mass media interested in making its own story. On the other hand, any Russian organizations are supposed not to be interested in inviting international journalists, so logically they cannot come to the decision of inviting foreign mass media representatives. That might be one of many reasons.

As you noted by my announcements, I decided to arrange my friends’ roadtrip from Yakutsk to the Pole of Cold, Oymyakon. So… I was forced to come across some technical questions, like visa, air tickets, car rent, transfers, accommodation, etc. Man, so many things are to be done! Praise God, everything goes smoothly so far.

A train in Neryungri, South Yakutia

A few journey participants are already on the way to Yakutsk, they are coming by railways via Neryungri. Yesterday I started receiving urgent questions like “How to order a taxi to Yakutsk in Neryungri? Are there resting rooms at the railroad station?” Well, I immediately provided all the info I had, including those ones in already-published posts “How to get to Yakutsk by train and car?” and “Railroad stations in Yakutia?”

My friend’s next message sounded this way “One more question: Should I order the taxi in advance, or just when I arrive? Is it likely one will depart in the evening when I arrive, or will have have to wait until next morning? OK, that was two questions.”

I said to him. Let me book a cab for you. So I called a Neryungri-based taxi service, asked and… Oh, man! Rejoice, my readers! Everything appears much, much easier than I expected.

That’s what I wrote promptly in my reply:

“No need to order a taxi by phone, when you’ll arrive at the Neryungri train station. There are a huge bunch of taxi-drivers waiting for passengers with every train. Those cabs stand in line and pick up passengers one after another. All of them go to Yakutsk.”

“So you don’t need to spend night at the station or somewhere else in Neryungri. Everything seems to be done quickly. It is the matter of a few hours.”

“Btw, they, station’s drivers, do not allow other’s cabs to join them. A sort of monopoly. A ticket cost, as said, is around 3000-3500 rubles.”

“The regular price in winter, if you go from the town center and order a car by phone, is 2800-3000 rubles (in summer approx. 3500 rubles with the Lena River ferry fee included). In this case you have to go to downtown, order a taxi by phone and wait for it. Have no idea, how much time it can take.”

All a traveler must do, when arrived at the station, is to find the taxi (minivan or UAZ) drivers’ line and get into the first vehicle. That’s it.

Once I published long-distance taxi rates that can be taken into consideration while traveling within Yakutia. But I’ve never written a post about pecularities of using such a ground transport, precisely about advantages and disadvantages of going from Yakutsk to Magadan via the Road of Bones (Kolyma Highway) by taxi.

UAZ is used as a long distance taxi within Yakutia. Photo provided by Slava Mestnikov.

This time I decided to fill this gap. First, let’s recall the route and list “pros”, then I’ll mention some important things to remember.

Route

As far as you know, the route is the following: Yakutsk – Churapcha – Ytyk Kyol – Khandyga – Kyubyume – Ust Nera – Artyk – Kadykchan – Susuman – Magadan.

Remember, Kyubyume – Ust Nera – Kadykchan is the new road that goes through the northern part of the Oymyakosnky region and that is maintained the whole year around. Kyubyume – Tomtor (near Oymyakon, the Pole of Cold) – Kouronakh Sala – Kadykchan is the old route on which the part Kouronakh Sala – Kadykchan is buried in snow and appeared to be impassable in winter.

When you are up to travel by taxi and you are lucky enough, you have to keep in mind actually the name of one location only. That’s Ust Nera, because the perfect itenerary for winter travel must consist of two rides by taxi:

1) Yakutsk – Ust Nera. 1.5 day trip for ~7500 rubles.
2) Ust Nera – Magadan. 1 day trip for almost the same price.

Note: rates here and further are giveng as of 2009.

If you follow this scheme, everything will be okey. You just need to reserve a few extra days for any happenings on the road. But that’s not what travelers usually want.

They want to travel along the Road of Bones with visits to remained GULAGs and Oymyakon (the Pole of Cold).

A big obstacle

Right. A big obstacle is travelers’ wish list. They wanna visit the Pole of Cold and go further to Magadan and make turns to GULAGs. And everything must be done by taxi.

In this case there is one option:
- take a taxi from Yakutsk for Oymyakon (for 4500 or 5000 rubles);
- take another taxi from Oyamyakon to Ust Nera;
- take the last taxi from Ust Nera to Magadan.

If the local taxi service was Greyhound, you would purchase three tickets only, stop worrying and try not to miss the departure of cars. However, the local cab drivers are not as such.

Pros

1. Travel by taxi is cheaper than car rent. If you follow the mentioned perfect itinerary, your maximum expenses will be ~14500 rubles.

Renting a car for your travel from Yakutsk to Magadan with all mentioned stops, turns and visits will cost approximately 60,000 or 65,000 rubles. Plus you need to pay for fuel. Let’s say, in winter, when an engine is running all the day, a car can consume 30 liters for 100 km. The distance between Yakutsk and Magadan via Ust Nera is about 2,200 km. Add 500 km for your driving Kyubyume – Tomtor – Oymyakon – Tomtor – Kyubyume. Add also the taxi’s way back to Yakutsk from Magadan. So the total distance will be ~4,900 km, and consumed fuel is 1,470 liters. One liter costs ~28 rubles. So… your fuel expenses will be around 41,160 rubles. The whole trip will be as low as 101,160 rubles. That’s really expensive. Note, I didn’t even list accommodation charges, 1000-1500 rubles per night.

Oops, there is only one advantage. That’s the cost. Actually, you can fly from Yakutsk directly to Magadan for 11,000 rubles only, but you won’t see the real Siberian beauty and experience the exciting road adventure.

Cons

1. A taxi doesn’t stop on the route at your requests. It stops at road cafes only. So if you see splendid landscapes worth to take pictures of, you will be forced to enjoy them through a windshield. And no turns from the road to GULAGs.

2. A car will depart for the long journey on conditions that it will be totally packed with passengers. If you will be the only passenger, the taxi won’t go.

So if you plan to go to Ust Nera on Thursday and your order was accepted by a taxi operator for that day, it is not guaranteed that you’ll go on your wished day. On the planned day of your departure, an operator can call you and just say “There are no other passengers going to Ust Nera. Let’s try to send you tomorrow.” He/she can repeat those words on the other day. The same can happen to you in Oymyakon and Ust Nera.

So it is highly recommended to make an order for Wednesday or Thursday on Monday, and for weekend in the middle of the week. The same precautionary measures must be done in case with Oymyakon and Ust Nera.

If you will be the only passenger and, nevertheless, you keep insisting to go, you’ll be asked to compensate the whole amount of the planned revenues. The taxi is able to deliver 7 passengers. One ticket for Oymyakon costs 4500 rubles. It appears that the total earnings are expected to be 31,500 rubles (fuel expenses included.) That’s the sum you’ll be asked to pay.

3. It will be very hard to get from Oymyakon to Ust Nera. A car goes from Oymyakon or Tomtor to Ust Nera very rare. Maybe, once a week. Just the Pole of Cold residents do have little relations with Ust Nera. I rresume that officials of village administration tend to visit Ust Nera mostly.

If you’ll be really lucky, you can manage to get from Oymyakon/Tomtor to Ust Nera by taxi and pay as low as 2500 or 3000 rubles. If you won’t be lucky, you can be stuck out there. Nobody can predict, when enough people will be gathered to go on the same day with you.

Yes, you can ask a local driver to give you a ride on his own car. But he won’t do it for free. No one wants to spend 20 hours (one way takes 10 hours) on the road in the extreme cold. In December – February the highest temperature is -40°C. Usually the temp varies between -45°C and -55°C. Besides, you have to know that every long distance ride affects a car negatively. A car rent price is calculated in the same manner as described above and one way trip might cost around 17,500 rubles. Plus you need to cover his fuel charges on his way back.

From Ust-Nera to Magadan a taxi goes more often. That’s two or three times a week.

Conclusion

1. Reserve more time for your trip from Yakutsk to Magadan. 1 or even 1.5 week.
2. Order taxi in advance.
3. If you got stuck somewhere, in Khandyga, Oymyakon/Tomtor, Ust Nera, don’t hesitate to ask locals for helping you, for instance, to find a car (not a taxi) or truck going to the wished destination.
4. Yeah, find other alternatives like private vehicles or trucks.

Ben Judah’s journey

Two weeks ago I received a message from a Moscow-based Standpoint Magazine correspondent Ben Judah, who also writes news stories for the Associated Press. He asked me some favours. One of them was to arrange the trip from Yakutsk to Oymyakon and then to Magadan. Moreover, he wanted to visit GULAGs and meet GULAG survivors. Actually I didn’t expect that it would be so hard to organize.

First, at that time, as I was reported, winter roads to GULAGs (they are located away from the Kolyma Highway) were impassable yet, because small rivers hadn’t been frozen enough. Second, I wasn’t sure about meeting with GULAG survivors. I’ve heard that almost all of them returned homes in West Russia.

Third, I was staggered with the information received from my Oymyakon contact, Semen Baishev. He wrote his familiar driver asked 25,000 rubles for the ride from Oymyakon to Ust Nera explaining that the distance was 450 km and his total run with his way home would be almost 1000 km.

When I passed this info to Ben, he was stunned as well. He said “Actually I can spend in Oymyakon 3 hours and it will be enough for me to collect the data about the life in the village.” Thus, this first plan (to go to Oymyakon by one taxi, to Ust Nera by the second, to Magadan by the third) was cancelled.

I called the Riksha taxi service in Yakutsk. I asked “Is it possible to take a taxi going to Ust Nera?” The reply was “Yes, for 7500 rubles.” “Is it possible to make turn to Oymyakon, stop there for three hours and continue driving to Ust Nera.” The answer was affirmative “Yes, for 9500 rubles.” I said “Perfect. Accept my order for tomorrow.” “A car will pick your guest up tomorrow, on Thursday, between 4 pm and 6 pm,” said a taxi operator.

It was already promised 4 pm of the next day. No sign of a car. I called the operator. He said “Excuse us, but the car won’t go to Ust Nera, because there are no passengers, except your guest. We can send him to Khandyga.” Damn! “I need to think.” I called another taxi service. Heard “We will have a car for sure, but on Saturday only. By that day we’ll get enough passengers. Can you wait?” “No!” I called back to the Riksha service “What did you say about Khandyga?”

Well, in the evening of Thursday I sent Ben to Khandyga for 2500 rubles, but a Riksha operator promised me to find a car going to Ust Nera via Oymyakon for Ben at the cost of 7000 rubles. On the next day at 5.00 am I received a call from a taxi driver. He said that the car arrived in Khandyga, he drove for 10 hours and totally forgot what assignment he got from the operator. I explained him that Ben needs a car to get him to Ust Nera and make a stop in Oymyakon for 3 hours.

After the lunch a Khandyga driver called me back:
“There is only one car going home to Ust Nera tonight, and no passengers at all. Nevertheless, a driver is ready to deliver Ben, but for much higher price, 7500 rubles, because Ben is the only passenger.”
“Does the price include stop in Oymyakon?”
“No!”
So I start negotiating about making the turn to Oymyakon. He agreed, but for 10000 rubles plus fuel. It was Friday.

The next time I heard from a Brit reporter Ben Judah was Tuesday. He messaged me via Facebook that he was in Ust Nera and alive, and he didn’t want to stay there for another night, and he needed to get to Magadan as soon as possible. There were no taxi planning to drive to Magadan on that and next day.

Later I learned that he didn’t make it to Oymyakon. A driver refused to go there without extra payment. However, as Ben said, a driver was perfect for his story, his parents survived in a GULAG, and he was so touched by Ben’s attention so he decided to show to a reporter all GULAGs on the way to Ust Nera.

I called the administration of the Oymyakonsky region in Ust Nera, asked the chief of youth policy department to help Ben with a car going to Magadan.

Another message from Ben I received already on the next day. He informed me that he was in Magadan, they managed to find a wild gold miner, who gave him eventually a ride to the final destination. “You’ll definitely like my Kolyma Trail,” he wrote to me in the end.

Another conclusion

Travel from Yakutsk to Magadan by taxi in winter might appear a real road adventure!

I was frequently asked about hostels/small hotels availability in Yakutsk. There are some, and they are different. At long last, I found time and checked a few.

Here is my current pick. That’s Metro Hostel. It is cheap and clean. It has many big advantages. Let’s list them.

1. It is located on one of main streets in the town centre, right on the way from Yakutsk Airport.

Address: 40/5 Dzerzhinsky Street. Based on the 1st floor of the ordinary Siberian appartments building. The entrance is separate, with high stairs and a black metal door. See the pic and map.

2. It has a good reputation. It means that hotel guests appeared to be from other big Russian cities arrived on business or international travelers. That’s really good. To me, good neighbours are one of my big priorities.

3. It’s clean. It doesn’t have modern, highly trendy (more Soviet-like) design, but it’s clean and accurate. That’s what almost impossible to see in other cheap hotels in the city. See the pics I took today.

4. It’s not overcrowded. There are 4 rooms only:
- 1 big room with king-size bed and bathroom (a shower tube is available).
- 1 small room with a couch-transformer and bathroom.
- 1 double room (with two beds)
- 1 three-beds room.

All rooms are provided with TV sets, and other necessary stuff like plates, cups, etc. Guests accommodated in two and tree beds rooms should use common bathroom, toilet. Oh, btw, they’ve got a laundry washer, its use rate is 30-50 min for 150 rubles. The use of a fridge, microwave oven and other kitchen stuff is free. No breakfast served, guests usually prefer to purchase food in stores located in neighbor buildings.

5. It is cheap.

a big room = 1800 rubles per day
a small room = 1300 rubles per day
double room = 700 rubles per person & day
three double room = 700 rubles per person & day

6. Discounts available, if a guest will stay for more than 3-5 days. Everything depends on a guest :) No kidding, you know, good people deserve to have good discounts :) So, it’s all about you.

7. Internationl guests are preferable, because they are more reliable.

8. The hostel is 24hr open for check-in.

BIG DISADVANTAGES:

1. The hostel “Metro” with its 4 rooms is highly demanded. Reservation is required in advance. It can be done by phone +7 (4112) 21-26-65. Paid at check-in.

2. The hostel may say, “We have an available bed, but for 1-2 days. After you need to move to another room, because this was reserved in advance on those days.” Moving from one bed to another is actually not good.

3. The owner Anzhelika and manager Tatiana speak Russian only, but they are very friendly and hospital.

4. Do not provide the registration of international guests at the city migration service.

5. There is a dial-up Internet access, but the work on it is charged on the basis of the used time. Like 500 roubles per one hour. Crazy. Better not to use.

6. Administrators are sensative. They do not know specifics of foreigners’ behaviour. They judge people in the way of they accustomed to judge Russians and Yakuts.

IMPORTANT!!!
- Payment for the whole period of stay is expected to be made on the day of arrival.
- Do not recommend to use hostel’s Internet access. It’s not unlimited, every kilobite must be paid. Expensive, you know. You’d better find an Internet Cafe, for instance, one located in the movie theater “Centralnyj” (кинотеатр “Центральный”) on Lenin Ave opposite the city hall.
- Don’t be rude and rough. The private hostel staff’s attitude to guests is equal to guests’ behaviour. Keep in mind that a private hostel is a private territory and a guest/client is a guest. They might percept guests’ words as personal offends.

Hmm, many precautions. However, I tried to explain the peculiarities of local hostels/guesthouses. Mentality is different, you know.

Have a good stay in Yakutsk!

P.S. If any help required, just let me know. I can give them a call. For me, it’s really easy. Just let me know the dates of your wished stay and the quantity of people.

The journey along the Lena River from its head evokes much travelers’ interest. Reasons vary. Recently I received another request, but from the U.S. this time. An Orthodox priest wrote:

“I want to travel by river to Yakutsk, June 2010 for a sabbatical project because early Orthodox missionaries to Alaska took this route in 1794. Where is the best location to catch a ferry or the hydrofoil on the Lena? I don’t have to recreate the entire journey. Should I take the BAM to Ust’-Kut and then go by river?”

My answer repeated some previous posts partly, however, I decided to add this reply to the existing data base as well.

Right, the best starting point is Ust-Kut. You can get to this settlement by train from Taishet.

Unfortunately, there is no regular passenger ship going from Ust-Kut to Yakutsk. There was the ship “Krasnoyarsk” that went that route a few years ago, but now it is written off as too old vessel.

There are some options for your travel along the river from Ust-Kut:

1. Go by hydrofoil vessels. The way is very complicated. You need to shift a few hydrofoil vessels. First, you have to reach Peleduj, then to change the boat of the same type and leave for Lensk, next you have to buy one ticket for the route Lensk – Olekminsk –Yakutsk. More info here http://askyakutia.com/2009/06/lena-river-passenger-boats-timetable-osetrovo-ust-kut-peleduj-lensk-olekminsk-yakutsk/

2. Go by a barge from Ust-Kut to Lensk, then catch a hydrofoil vessel to Olekminsk, later rent a motor boat to Yakutsk. Some info about the alternatives can be found at http://askyakutia.com/2009/08/rates-ustkut-lensk-barge-olekminsk-yakutsk-boat/

3. Rent a speed-boat from Ust-Kut to Yakutsk via a travel company. A very expensive juorney it must be. Because speed-boat owners tends to charge much. You know, they want to make money as much as possible, at least, two average month salary :)

Often asked about the tour to the Pole of Cold, Oymyakon. All the time the question sounds different. Some is interested in transfer rates, others in hotel rates, third persons are just wondering what to do and see in the Pole of Cold. So I decided why not just give away the description of the standard tour to the officially acknowledged coldest Siberian place?!

The Indigirka River, Oymyakon, Siberia/Russia. In some parts it is never frozen, even when the temperature goes below -50C.

The tour description was received from a friend of mine, Semen Baishev, an Oymyakon-based travel enthusiast. Actually it is him, who arranges all the travel program in the Pole of Cold for individual tourists and travel agencies’ groups. Oops, travel agencies might “kill” me for disclosing such an info :) Whatever. So… here we go.

The standard tour to the Pole of Cold
(it means no long-distance reindeer sledge riding included)

1st Day

- Departure from Yakutsk for Khandyga by an UAZ car early in the morning. Usually at 8.00. Driving time is 8-10 hours.
- Snacks on the way at road cafes (at travellers’ own expense).
- Arrival to Khandyga in the evening.
- Stay for night at a private hotel.

2nd Day
- Departure for the village of Tomtor. Driving time is 10-12 hours.
- Arrival in the evening.
- Accommodation at families’ places.

3rd Day

- Excursion across Tomtor. Visit to the local museum, the Museum of GULAGs, the Ice Sculptures Museum.
- Lunch.
- Ice-fishing, 2 km off Tomtor.
- Transfer to Oymyakon in the evening.
- Arrival in Oymyakon.
- Night at a guest house.

4th Day

- Meeting with the head of the Oymyakon village. Receiving the certificate of your arrival to the Pole of Cold.
- Excursion across the settlement, including visit to the Indigirka River (the places never frozen in the winter).
- Visit to the Yakut horses breeding farm.
- Visit to the private museum.
- Stay for night in Oymyakon.

5th Day
- Departure for Yakutsk early in the morning. Driving time is 19-20 hours.

6th Day
Arrival in Yakutsk early in the morning.

Expenses (Disclaimer: this is Semen Baishev’s rates)

• Transfer by a UAZ car (Yakutsk – Khandyga – Tomtor – Oymyakon – Yakutsk) = 10000 rubles per person.
• Private hotel in Khandyga = 1200 rubles per night.
• Stay at family’s place in Tomtor = 1500 rubles per day with breakfast, lunch, supper.
• Regional museum = 150 rubles per person.
• Museum of GULAGs = 150 rubles per person.
• Ice Sculptures Museum = 150 rubles per person.
• Ice-fishing = 3000 – 5000 rubles per a group.
• Certificate = 150 rubles.
• Stay at a guest house in Oymyakon = 1500 rubles with breakfast, lunch, supper.
• Visit to the horses breeding farming = 2000 rubles per a group.
• Semen Baishev’s commission = 15000 rubles per a group.

Hope this info will be helpful for all travelers wishing to visit the Pole of Cold. Feel free to get in touch with me via the webform, if any other question appeared, and if you want to know real prices without commissions as well.

The following useful info on accommodations was provided by Sardana Mikheeva via the Facebook group “Ask-Yakutia-Today” (don’t forget to join the FB group.) I added some info, more details and comments. So here we go.

Khandyga

So-called President’s Hotel
Available: single, twin, de-luxe, living room, dining room and kitchen. With all convinients (shower, toilet and bath). One day stay costs 1000-1500 rubles per person. Meals are not included.

Two hostels
With all convenience. Twin, 4 pax, 6 pax rooms, kitchen, shower and toilet. One day stay is for 600-900 rubles per person, meals excluded. Latter is not a big prob. You can buy food at shops, cook in the common kitchen or just have a dinner at the local bar-cafe (sometimes doesnt work).

Btw, don’t mix up with a shaggy, unheated two-store wooden hotel (gostiniza). The described hostels occupy multi-bedroom apartments in two-store living houses. Once I and fellow-journalists mixed, it wasn’t good at all to spend night with totally drunk guys in the neighbour room. Next night we stayed in the above-mention hostel (in Russian we call them mini-gostiniza/мини-гостиница) and were happy pretty much.

Tomtor & Kuidusun (Куйдусун)
There are a few private houses used as hostels. With 2-3 pax rooms. It’s more like homestay. 600 rubles without meals and 2000 rubles with 3-times meals.

Oymyakon
A private house (hostel) with 2 rooms for 6 persons. There is the Russian sauna (banya). Price: 1500 – 2000 rubles includes 3 meals.

Ust Nera
There is one, but no info on rates and condition yet.

P.S. A little clarification. We call a hostel any building/apartment, that is used for hosting travellers, but wasn’t designed initially as a hotel. We usually say “mini-gostiniza” (мини-гостиница).

There are three options. You can reach Lensk from Yakutsk:
1) by plane,
2) by taxi,
3) hitchhiking (mostly with truck drivers).

BY PLANE

This way of getting to Lensk from Yakutsk is fast, comfortable, costly a little bit and adventure free. Anyway, here is the info.

There are direct flights on every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. In other words, you can fly to Lensk on any day, except Sunday.

2009-2010 Winter Flight Schedule
(October – April)

Monday, 15.30, Yakutia Airlines
Tuesday, 10.15, ALROSA Airlines
Wednesday, 13.40, Yakutia Airlines
Thursday, 16.10, ALROSA Airlines
Friday, 13.40, Yakutia Airlines
Saturday, 16.10, ALROSA Airlines

Fly time: 2 hr 20 min.
Price: approx. 11.000 rubles (one way per person)

BY TAXI

As I wrote in the post “Long-distance taxi rates within Yakutia,” the ride by taxi from Yakutsk to Lensk will cost approximately 6500 rubles in the upcoming winter.

But the journey will be really long. The distance is 1001 km, and the route appears to be complicated, Yakutsk – Vilyuisk (also written as Viljuisk or Viljujsk) – Verkhnevilyuisk – Nyurba (Njurba or Niurba) – Suntar (Sountar) – Mirny (Mirnyj or Mirnij) – Lensk. No direct road along the Lena River, including an ice river track.

The journey can take about two days.

HITCHHIKING

The route is the same as described above. Yakutsk – Mirny – Lensk. Travel time totally depends on your ability to negotiate with drivers.

Tips:
- Drivers can be found at road cafes.
Don’t stand outdoors, it’s risky. The extreme cold, you know, is not worth to play with.
- Preferably to know the Russian way of pronouncing and writing settlements names. Here they are Якутск (Yakutsk), Вилюйск (Vilyuisk), Верхневилюйск (Verkhnevilyuisk), Нюрба (Nyurba), Сунтар (Suntar), Мирный (Mirny), Ленск (Lensk).
- Share food with drivers.
- Give drivers a present, preferably local vodka.
No kidding. That’s a good currency. However, keep in mind that taking a vodka from a foreigner can appear to be offensive. So be careful, everything depends on a driver. I will recommend you to find another way to say thanks to your driver. Locals usually tend to give vodka. But in your case it might be, for instance, whiskey, scotch, schnapps or whatever it is not local.
- The final tip is to be generous.

Journey time? Well, it is up to you.

Hope, all the above-written travel info will be helpful enough to arrange your journey to Lensk in winter.

Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Just wondering… Will the blog visitors, who love travelling and free downloading at the same time, be enough grateful for what I am going to do now? Damn, I am really up to let the world download the Kolyma Highway travel map for free.

Yeah, it’s really happened. I spent much time and efforts on developing this map a year ago. But I love my blog readers. The travel map for the Kolyma Highway is available online now.

Designed for adventurers, who are not afraid of driving the Kolyma Highway, well known as the Road of Bones.

It is the PDF on 7 pages (the A4 format, in English.)

Available maps for:

(1) Republic of Sakha (with Kolyma Highway),
(2) Yakutsk,
(3) Nizhnyj Bestyakh – Churapcha,
(4) Churapcha – Khandyga – Razvilka,
(5) Kyubyume – the Pole of Cold, Tomtor – the border of the Magadan Oblast,
(6) Kyubyume – Ust-Nera – the border of the Magadan Oblast.

It contains information on:
- distances,
- petrol/gas stations,
- tyre repair stations,
- car repair garages,
- pharmacy,
- hotels,
- cafes,
- airports,
- river ports,
- etc.

To download the Kolyma Highway travel map, click here. To download, use all browsers, except Internet Explorer.

Consider also checking out the Czech OFF Siberia … ОФФ Сибирь project’s Google Earth Kolyma Highway (old route) map with the GPS coordinates. To download a kmz file, click here.

Received questions from China. A traveller is thinking over the ways of getting to Yakutsk from Beijing.

I wanna know, whether there is the railway in Yakutsk. I know a place Berkakit railway station. What’s solutions from Beijing to Yakutsk?

A very natural request. Air travel from Beijing to Yakutsk, even via Novosibirsk (I wrote about this option a while ago), can be quite expensive.

There is only one route to get to Yakutsk and save money at the same time. It consists of two parts.

1) Travel by train from Beijing to Nerjungri (NERJUNGRI PASS.) through Irkutsk or Ulan-Udeh.

Rates and timetable for trains going to Nerjungri can be found on the official website of the Russian Railways. As far as I know, a train to Nerjungri goes daily.

By the way, about the railroad stations in Yakutia I have already written on the blog here.

In case if you need to spend night in Nerjungri, the station has so-called sleeping rooms (komnata otdyha, in Russian). One night costs 611 rubles (approx. 21 USD / 17 EUR). But I do not recommend to stay in such rooms. They are cheap, but relatively insecure in terms of personal stuff safety.

I recommend to end your journey by train in Nerungri rather than in Aldan or Tommot. First, you will save time. The train from Nerjungri to Aldan or Tommot can take the whole day time. If to go by car, the way will take 4-5 hours only. The speed depends on a driver and road conditions. Second, it will be much easy to find a hotel in Nerjungri, than in Aldan or Tommot. The latter is a small industrial settlement. Even we, Russian-speaking, can hardly understand locals’ direction explanations. The Aldan dwellers tend to say only “Go there!”, and that’s all. Where exactly to go, they always omit to describe.

2) Take a taxi from Nerungri to Yakutsk.

As I mentioned in the post “Railroad stations in Yakutia?“, the car riding from Nerjungri to Yakutsk can take up to 16 hours with a few short stops for snacks at road cafes.

The current taxi rate is 3000 rubles per person. Usually, a long-distance taxi looks like a minivan with 8-10 passenger seats.

You can order a taxi by phone, for instance, dialing these numbers 30715 or 89142437578. You need to say to an operator the day of departure, quantity of passengers, the address of your stay (hotel/apartment). In the course of the mentioned day a car will arrive and pick you up. Keep in mind that gathering passengers across the city can take a few hours. Add these hours to the travel time.

P.S. Have to say thanks to @androsov for giving me info on the current Nerjungri-Yakutsk taxi rate and Nerjungri taxi service phone numbers.

Rejoyce, everyone, who wishes to try the Road of Bones to/from Magadan. Magadan is not the deadend. It is, actually, one of your enroute waypoints.

The only thing you need to know is how to ship your vehicle from/to Magadan by sea. The second thing to remember is that a Turkish driver Ali Eric (www.istanbul2instanbul.com) is really a good fellow. He sent me the precious information on the shipment from Magadan to Valadivostok (or vice-versa) and from Vlad to anywhere in North America.

Further, please, find the info about the shipping company, that helped Ali Eric and two UK moto adventurers Walter & Tony (www.SibirskyExtreme.com) to deliver their 4wd and motorcycles from Magadan to Vladivostok by sea.

Here what Ali wrote in his first message:

FESCO is the name of the biggest shipping company in this part of the world but, they have to contact their agent Transfes. Their contact infos are as follows :

Vladivostok Office:

Transfes Maritime Agency
Address : 1B Nizhneportovaya Str.
Contact person : Dmitriy Rykov
Office :+7 4232 22 96 97
Mobile : +7 914 6968215
E-mail : sales@tma.ru
GPS coordinates : N 43° 06.761′ E131° 53.002′

Magadan Office:

Address : Portovaya street 38
Office : +7 4132 607734, 634986, 631993
E-mail : transfes@magadan.ru
GPS coordinates : N59° 33.831′ E150° 46.646′

They can directly contact to Dmitry in Vlad. He can quote better price then their office in Magadan. They can also ship your vehicle to US (or wherever) from Vlad.

UPDATE:
Today, Sept 30, 2009, Ali sent me the sms saying as follows:

Transfes (FESCO) screwed with my vehicle shipment from Vladivostok to Vancouver and they fed up me at the last minute. I made an agreement with MAERSK last afternoon at 4 pm and we are sealing the container right now. Great service. I’ll give the details.

A day later I received another Ali Eric’s message with the contact information of MAERSK’s Vladivostok Representative Office.

MAERSK is the biggest container freight company in the world. They have their agent in the same building. The GPS coordinates are the same as Transfes, because their buildings are side-by-side.

MAERSK’s Vladivostok Representative Office:

Damco Rus LLC
Address: 1A Nizhneportovaya Str., Vladivostok 690090
Phone : +7 4232 491547
E-mail : VLVDAMMNG@damco.com
URL: www.damco.com
Far East Branch Manager: Mr. Illarions Kurus
Secretary: Ms. Hanna Yermolenko (Ext. 3300)

They are more organized and more professional. Besides, they and their custom broker know their business and are more reliable, much more quick. Just in 24 hours, they found the container, arrange the custom people, finished all formalities and and sealed the container.

CONCLUSION:
- Transfes / FESCO is good with the shipment from Magadan to Vladivostok, but hard with international shipments.
- Damco Rus LLC / MAERSK is the best option for the worldwide shipment from Vlad.