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.
As far as you know, I decided to organize a road trip to Oymyakon, the Pole of Cold, from Jan. 17 till Jan. 21 for my friends. Today we, trip participants, gathered and had lunch in Yakutsk at the Chicago Bar.
There were alll of those mentioned in travellers list, including a German photographer Bjorn Steinz and a US student Tilden Smith. Bjorn arrived yesterday by plane from Vladivostok. Tilden came this morning by a car from Nerungri.
A very good news. I will go with my friends. By the last minute I wasn’t sure, whether I will go. There were a lot of works to be done. Read more…
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. Read more…
Amazing! I received questions from an American lady, whose given name is Summer. It’s like “Hello from summer to winter.” She was asking:
I found some amazing stories about people who were there lately as tourists and I was wondering: Somebody on a web site who was there suggested highly the North Face Himalayan suit and couldn’t recommend it enough. But I read a few other things about how high tech parkas just don’t compare to reindeer skins etc…. What would you suggest about how to dress/what to bring if I ever decide to go there? And also any other tips for being outside in the middle of winter?
Thanks to Eva Krečová, I’ve eventually watched the Long Way Round episode dedicated the Road of Bones. So many years past, but it happened now only. If you weren’t lucky to see it, just do it and consider your traveling this way. Must be a lot of fun and adventure stories.
Btw, Eva Krečová & Tomáš Holman are the Czech travel motorcyclists, who repeated the same journey along the Road of Bones in August 2009, but alone on one BMW bike and without local truckers’ help. Check their set of Kolyma Highways photographs.
Watch other parts of the episode. Keep in mind that Ewan and Charley’s biking took place in June 2004. May and June is the period, when local rivers tend to be furious and full of high waters. The safer period is August. Read more…
I have been reading the last report about Norwegians’ accident [in Yakutia/Siberia], and I want to ask you something… Is this a recent story? I haven’t found the piece of news relating to this.
Nowadays I know some people who want to make the journey to Oymyakon [the coldest place in Yakutia and the whole Siberia], only as a wish, without nothing to take it seriously. I’ve been reading different articles, and AskYakutia’s reports and I think it is not a thing for not taking it seriously. It’s very funny to see -60ºC, but another thing is to go for them.
What do you thing about this journey? It is a little dangerous, isn’t it?
Today’s top local news is totally dedicted to Norwegian adventure travelers lost allegedly in the Oymyakonsky region by the Embassy of Norway and found by the Russian rescuers. They were okey.
They appeared to be very naive travelers. They thought they would be the first who made it to Magadan by the old route of the Kolyma Highway in winter. Even experienced local drivers know that driving from Tomtor directly to Magadan that way is impossible, because it is impassable, it is covered with thick snow. Now they are forced to say they got stuck due to the breakage of their Mercedes Benz off-road vehicle. That’s the myth! Read more…
A few weeks ago I received a question from an UK backpacker, who is coming to Yakutia in January 2010. He asked “Is there an ice road to the Lena Pillars? Is it possible to make it there in January?”
Btw, a request was sent via the Facebook group “Ask-Yakutia-Today,” everyone is welcome to join us.
Frankly saying, the Lena Pillars (located a few hundreds kilometres south off Yakutsk) is visited in winter less than in summer. The main reason is the ice road that was asked about. Read more…
One of the first questions I hear from new non-Yakutian friends of mine is “What are your traditional meals?” I started my answer from the short sentence “We love frozen horse meat and frozen Arctic fishes.”
Well, I decided to start publishing posts about traditional cuisine in Yakutia. The one is dedicated to stroganina.
Stroganina is the traditional cold dish in Yakutia.
Stroganina is the first traditional dish that will be offered you to try in Yakutia in winter. It is thin long slices of frozen fresh Arctic river fishes, i.e. broad whitefishes, whitefishes, and white salmons. Read more…
As far as you know, there is no bridge over the Lena River at all. Therefore, to cross the river, locals are forced to use ferryboats from June till October and ice roads in winter, officially from the midst of December till early April.
Late April – May and late October – November are considered to be dangerous periods for crossing the river. Nevertheless, some people take the risk and as result we can periodically read news about accidents, precisely about sunken cars and trucks.
It is a must for local drivers to know ice roads requirements, and travelers are recommended to keep them in mind as well. So… Read more…
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. Read more…
