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.
Marat Zalyalov, a local mountain cyclist, gave quick tips to an Italian biker Dan, who had written to me as follows:
“Your site is really useful, but I didn’t find anything about cycling… So hope you could help me… I’m used to travel by bicycle in hard conditions, and your country looks amazing… Questions: what do I must focus on? Dangers and problems? Any suggestion?.. I am planning to cycle the Kolyma Highway [the Road Bones] this summer. Thanks in advance.”
Yeah, that’s true. I didn’t write much about cycling opportunities in Yakutia. The last post was “Video & Photos: Winter cycling on the Road of Bones.” I have many local friends of mine, who are big fans of long distance cycling. I asked them very often. I was really annoying repeating “Give me your tips. Give me your tips.” Praise god, Dan’s request was a good reason to torture Marat once again, and finally he did. He dedicated some of his precious time [ :) ] for sharing with quick tips in English. 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…
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…
That’s what I see on my way home in the evening. In the last Friday evening, Dec. 4, 2009, we had -41ºC and fog and no winds. So the frost was almost dry and burning, and my quickly frozen camera was slow to take pictures. Many unfocused shots were just deleted. See the left pics.
That’s a X-mas tree on the Ordzhanikidze Sq. No garlands and decorations yet. We are promised to see its finished beauty on Dec. 9, 2009. Hope it will be so. Read more…
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. Read more…
I have a German friend, Bjorn Steinz. He is a pro photographer based in Prague. Two years ago he visited Yakutsk in November. He spent a few days just walking around on streets and taking pictures of people. Since then I promote his works and website oka2 Photography on every occasion, and I am grateful to him for giving such an permission :)
In March 2007, a few friends of mine, Yakutsk-based adventure cyclists, Marat, Maverick & Scorpion (don’t know why, but they call each others by nicks), traveled from Yakutsk to Oymyakon, the Pole of Cold. A funny thing. They documented the expedition pretty good. They’ve got a lot of high resolutions photographs, perfect videos and… Since the travel they couldn’t find time to make the full report.
Recently Marat promised me to make his report with pictures. Time is passing, but he didn’t finish his text yet. Well… While he is trying to find spare time, I decided to create my own post using some of his photos and the video done by Maverick for friends’ fun and digged out occasionally in the archive. Here is what we have by now.
This is a good question asked by a friend of mine from Fairbanks, Alaska. He is a big fan of photography and off-roading. His Flickr nick is rpiereck. Wonderful pictures he has. So… Frankly saying, it was me who first asked him “How do you prepare your Jeep for the winter in Alaska?” In his reply he gave me the detailed description, afterwards he returned my question back :)
The above picture was taken in Yakutsk on Dec. 11, 2008, when it was much below -50C.
Further, please, find info on how cars are prepared in the world’s cold regions, Alaska and the coolest Siberian region, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Read more…
