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.
Received questions from Montenegro’s Round-The-World Motorcycle Expedition (www.theridearound2010.com), that plans to go through Yakutia (Sakha), Magadan Oblast and Chukotka to Alaska. Here is what they wrote:
“Three of us will be traveling around the world on our motorcycles. Somewhere around July 10th we will be in Chita and from there we want to travel to Magadan. Our questions are: 1. We have seen on the maps that there is a road (not the old road) from Yakutsk to Magadan? Is this true or will we have to use the old Road of Bones? 2. Do you know are there regular flights from Magadan to Anadyr? Is there, maybe, a possibility to travel by ship from Magadan to Alaska? 3. Do we need a special permit for Chukotka? In the Russian Embassy in Montenegro we were told that it is not necessary.”
Before clicking the link “Read more”, I would like to let you know that I am always online. I keep answering questions without any pauses. Just not all of questions with answers were published at AskYakutia.com. I am blogging, when I have free time between the family life and work. This is a little off-top remark.
Walter Colebatch, the UK Sibirsky Extreme motor travel expedition leader, informed me about realising the the preview of the DVD with the documentary of the last year journey across Siberia, including Yakutia. In this short video you can see his travelling many Siberian roads. Yakutia is shown with… Read more…
It is February 11th, 2010. I am sitting in Magadan and have time to reflect on my journey so far. It is GMT+11 here, which means I have travelled pretty much halfway around the World. And all without taking a single flight so far. Unfortunately I have to break the ‘rules’ and take a flight to Kamchatka, as there really is no other practical way to reach that place. I left the UK nearly 4 months ago, and have been in Russia for two months exactly today.
Matt in Oymyakon at -54C
So 8 days ago I left the city of Yakutsk in the classic Russian ‘Uaz’ (see the photos- they’re like a VW camper with bigger wheels, and they’re everywhere in Russia, but especially in the east). They’re generally old, and look like they’re on their last legs, but I guess they’re hardy steeds, and seem to be the first choice for people around here. Read more…
GULAGs researcher always asked me whether I had a map of GULAGs located on Siberia’s famous Road of Bones. I answered that I didn’t have. Now I have it on the blog.
The Road of Bones is the part of the Kolyma Highway constructed by GULAGs prisoners between Khandyga and Magadan in Stalin’s time. Many innocent people died in the course of its construction. It is believed that there were one dead prisoner per one kilometer. The length of the mentioned route is ~1700 km. So you can imagine how many people passed away and were buried under the road. Read more…
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…
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…
Yeah, I am pretty much happy to present the list of useful stuff to bring along while traveling on bikes across Russia’s Siberia and Far East. The list was compiled, used and provided by Czech motorcyclists Eva Krečová and Tomáš Holman (the FB fan page OFF Siberia … ОФФ Сибирь Project), who, by the way, made the old route of the Kolyma Highway / the Road of Bones to Magadan Oblast alone on one BMW G800 the last summer. Read more…
