2am on the rough road south from Yakutsk

After having vacillated about hitching or bussing, we left Yakutsk by mini-van on the evening of our third day there. Even though our luck hitching up had been extraordinary, we couldn't count on the same luck going back and there were few seats on trains subsequent to the one we'd booked.
There are few official buses south of Yakutsk, but small operators run kind of shared taxis in mini-buses, which run once they've filled every place. So, off we were in the mini-bus on the 15 hour overnight drive to Neyungri, the station where we'd boarded the last of our three trains to Yakutsk. Despite wanting to go by train as much as possible, we would have had to spend an extra 24 hours travelling if we went by train, so Neyungri it was.
I find travelling by bus a very uninspiring way to travel – it is a means to get somewhere else and nothing more. A mini-bus has all the same negatives, but is smaller and lacks even the limited opportunities of movement of conventional bus! As the roads are so bad, I was prepared to get no sleep on the trip, so, perhaps due this mental preparation, the trip wasn't as awful as it could have been. It was just some sort of meditation on patience, sitting upright, not expecting comfort, being jolted around and watching time pass, waiting for it to be over. (And, towards the end of the trip, I did even get some light sleep!).

This is what much of the trip was like - bumpy!

The only pleasant bit was again crossing the enormous Lena river by car ferry: -

Anyway, it was finally all over and we were dropped at Neyungri station just after ten, left our bags there and went wandering into town. Despite almost no sleep and a very uncomfortable trip we were both feeling remarkably well and spent an absolutely lovely day wandering around friendly Neyungri. It's a smallish town with nothing particularly remarkable about it (except perhaps that it was only established – as a mining town – in the early 1980's, but already looks much older, in that Soviet way!), but everyone we had contact with was friendly, the sun was out, the spring flowers grew in the grass, we ate well and just had a nice, lazy, contented day wandering around then returned, had a hot shower at the station – oh joy! - then boarded our evening train bound for Severobaikalsk.

A Neryungri side street

The Soviet Bar in Neryungri. There seem to be a few ironic/nostalgic Soviet-themed cafe-bars in Russia, like this one, decked out with old posters and newspapers, showing old tv programmes and films, but aimed at a hip, young crowd.

My poor translation – 'Person to Person. Friend, comrade and brother!'

The outside section of Neryungri's central market

Waiting for the bus back to the station that never came. A sympathetic passerby called a taxi for us after we'd walked on and failed to hitch a lift

Needless to say, once we got to sleep that night, we slept well and we slept late – then we slept again after lunch, in that lovely rocking motion that only a train has.
All the while we passed yet more beautiful country, rivers flowing with melted snow through green forests of pine and birch, thickly wooded, straight and narrow, the land rolling at first, then, by the second day, bigger hills and longer views until there were ranges of big snowy mountains in the distance, then closer by; and, on the third day, we skirted the northerly end of Lake Baikal, or more correctly the wetlands to the north of the lake proper, and looked across vast stretches of water to the high mountains across the way.

Travelling through the bush, two hours south-east of Neryungri

Watching country pass by with a cup of tea

We arrived in Severobaikalsk at 8:00am and walked down to the hotel we were hoping would have space – and it did! From the balcony we could see across the lake to the snow-covered mountains in the distance.

Looking north back to Severobaikalsk station – the design is based on a sail. Behind it is a long avenue, the pleasant main street of the town.

The easterly view from the station overpass

Some more photos of the trip to Severobaikalsk


To see notes on each photo click on the link to the album, otherwise just scroll through the photos above.