The Road Of Bones - Hitchhiking Russia's Most Dangerous Road "Kolyma" (Magadan - Yakutsk)
In summer 2021 I went to Far East the second time in my life. I began my journey in Magadan - the capital city of Kolyma. This area has bad reputation in mass mind. Magadan is often associated with prisoners because it used to be one of the biggest GULAG distribution centers in USSR. Magadan in connected with the mainland of Russia by Kolyma Highway, also known as The Road Of Bones - one of the most dangerous roads in Russia. In this video, my comrade and I hitchhike from Magadan to Yakutsk by Kolyma Highway, explore abandoned ghost towns on the road of bones, meet people and experience various aspects of the most empty state of Russia.
Key moments:
00:00 - Introduction to Kolyma
01:18 - Magadan
03:19 - Cost of living in Magadan
06:33 - Ghost fishermen village of Novostroyka
11:33 - Grocery prices in Magadan
13:48 - Mask of Sorrow monument
14:07 - Oligarch's village
16:58 - Ghost village of Karamken
20:07 - Kolyma Highway
21:18 - Recently resettled Atka village and difficulties of local life
23:22 - Ghost settlements on the road of bones, glaciers and forest fire
24:27 - Emergency life support station
25:10 - Creepy walk around ghost village and spending night there
31:39 - Kolyma river
31:51 - Urban locality of Sinegorye: hydroelectric power plant and empty houses
33:44 - The village of Debin
34:14 - The town of Susuman
36:24 - Funny talk with a truck driver
37:54 - Ghost town of Kadykchan
41:36 - Truck surfing by Kolyma Highway
43:18 - Long day in Ust'-Nera - half of the way
45:10 - Experience accident hospitality
45:42 - Sanya, the truck driver
46:34 - Hitchhiking with Sanya on his truck
47:24 - Crossing river
49:37 - Cuba: the gas station you can't drive by
50:08 - Time zones border
50:29 - Fixing the truck in the middle of nowhere
51:08 - Exploring glacier
53:17 - Black Squeeze - the deadliest place on the Kolyma Highway
55:00 - Khandyga - we are finally in civilization
55:32 - Aldan river and ferry
55:50 - Burned-out forest after the fire
56:56 - Russians are just made different
57:48 - Fell yourself a cowboy
58:06 - Nizhniy Bestyakh (Yakutsk)
59:10 - Map (without side trip to Novostroyka)
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You slept alone in that abandoned 5 story building and used ear plugs for the creepy sounds at night? big respect man, i would not have closed one eye in there
Same here. It made my skin crawl even through the screen - seeing and hearing all those doors creaking and moving and slamming cuz of wind (supposedly wind and not ghosts 😬).
IIRC he wasn't alone at that point, that other guy was with him. Someone had to tell him about everything lol (He couldn't hear.).
There's a calmness to abandoned buildings. I love to sleep in them when I travel. Knowing that there are no other people around is a feeling of security.
@@blacksunapocalypsekool
Without the earplugs, neither would he.
Discovered this video at random. Born and raised in Magadan, now live half the world away, haven't been back for 22 years. I am shocked how empty the region got... This video was absolutely surreal trip down memory lane. Your production style is off the hook!! ✌
I like instead off the hook, "off the rail!" I cook nuts, and I once had that statement expressed about my Honey Cashews. Maaate, they are off the rails..! As they should ne, Love it..
yeah since you were there, the countries population has gone from 183k in 2000 to 113k today
Where do you live now buddy? How harsh was it back then when you lived there? I can't imagine.
@@wombat5252 In the 80s the region was booming. In the 90s- everyone survived how they could. My parents weren't getting paid for months. Luckily there's fishing/crabing/hunting, berries, mushrooms, etc. Something year around, so we got by ok. I'd do it all again in a heart beat. Live in Alaska now.
@@skytrailwarrior8326 You moved from Magadan to Alaska. Magadan looks like Russia's Alaska. Or would that be Vladivostok? Are Magadan and Alaska similar to you? Salut from California!
It amazes me, the generosity of ordinary people with not alot, but still share and help strangers,
That’s how many Russians are.
@@LKA-si7lnthey also put people in gulags
If the truck driver ever reads this, you are a good man and I wish you the very best with your profession. Helping your fellow man is one of the most honorable traits of humanity. I wish we could learn more of the people that have helped you on your journeys. You should write a book when you retire from traveling. I would buy it, be safe my friend and God be with you.
Absolutely. God bless the truck drivers. They keep society together, running.
This guy deserves a way more subscribers. I have seen people making videos of abandoned houses in the center of fully crowded city and they tend to show it as haunted exaggerating the sounds made by birds and animals. Here is our guy sleeping in fully abandoned building far away from the city in the harsh weather with ear plugs on. True legend. I am not sure how could he even do all these things. One of the best travel channel in the KZhead. You have my respect sir.
Yep. Just imagine all the down time and struggles on this trips. Camping in the middle of nowhere eating buckwheat. He's in his element. It must be so peaceful at the same time.
@@default123default2and waiting 8 hours for hitchhiking
He is Russian, they are real men.
18:20 That was very kind of those strangers to give you a warning of danger.
Found your channel through recommendations. Really good journeys you've taken. Having born disabled I can only dream of such adventures but thank you so much for showing me this part of Russia!
@locusf2 .. How's your life, buddy? I'm disabled in Canada. I'd like to know more about disabled people in different countries.
@@bimmjim All good here, apart from the winter coming to Finland (although its going away as we speak since the temps got back up). Been independent for most of my life and going through regular school and university and work life. Overall, I'd say my disability has only limited my ability to go through stairs :)
I was also born disabled and dream of having this kind of freedom to travel.
Не грусти. Интернет тебе даёт возможность попутешествовать глазами. Это не тоже самое, что личный опыт, но лучше, чем ничего. Do not be sad. The Internet gives you the opportunity to travel with your eyes. It's not the same as personal experience, but it's better than nothing
After watching your videos, I have a new and profound respect and admiration for Russia and the Russian people. I wish we could all get along, and live our lives in happiness and peace.
Fantastic mate - great to see Siberia again. I hitch-hiked from Dublin to Beijing via Siberia and Outer Mongolia in 1993 (and back) - great memories - people along the way were so kind that in Russia and Mongolia I did not have to sleep outside a single night, such hospitality I could never have even imagined, they took me out and showed me everything. With thanks and respect to the wonderful culture and hearts of the people of Russia and Mongolia - they showed me a humility I hope I will never forget, and hope it will never be forgotten to this world.
Did you speak the languages or what?
@@geoffrey111995 I do now, but at the time I didn't. People were so very friendly and I was always able to find students, KGB people (very decent and friendly types) and others who spoke at least some English or German or French - and where there's a will, there's a way, with such good people :)
I would trade my left testicle to visit Russia in 1993.
@@gurglejug627 that sounds like a story that you should tell, sounds really fun! how old were you then? did you go by yourself? what made you do this?
You made such a great effort to share this adventure with the world, the least I could do was leave a comment letting you know how much I appreciate this. Best travels from some guy in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
yeah ,now get off yer arse and do something,,,,,LOL
As a youtuber I can say this is a hell of a job!
In Mother Russia, comment leaves you.
A very fascinating video! Thank you for taking us on this incredible journey.
"There is attractions like this monument to the truck" This guy is a fucking legend
What an amazing journey. Premium content once again! Thanks for sharing it!
I really enjoy this kind of content. Lots of exploration in the middle of nowhere. Keep it up!
Woww, those grocery shop prices are crazy.... almost the same prices as here in Germany.... tho the reasons are obvious - Magadan is in the middle of nowhere so everything has to be transported there from far far away and on top of it it has a harsh, cold climate with a really short - almost non existent summer, so almost nothing can be grown locally.... a really bad combination for the inhabitants of the area....
Sadly it is still way cheaper than groceries in southwestern Ontario, Canada. For two people it is an average of $160-$200 per week.
Very similar to America's prices too.
@@d.w.1113 prices look about the same as midwest usa except russians are making lot less money per month so this is like hawaii prices or alaskan remote area prices
Quite cheap compared to Australia.
actually i don`t think that 3 months of summer could be considered as "non existent summer" and also average temperatures of the winter there are pretty warm.
Once I started watching, I could not stop. Thank you for making this video and sharing your experience with us. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Bravo!
Amazing Journey. Jawdropping Russian Landscape and Culture! Such an HUGE country.
I can't believe you found a traveling partner doing the same thing as you and that people brought you food, gave you rides and that man in the truck drove you so far, camped and ate with you. Like you have known each other for a long time. That you wouldn't find here in the U.S.A. only maybe in the mountains. But here you would never get into a strangers car...you might never be seen again! Thank you for sharing your journey!
I wouldn't risk spicy noodles with a lack of a toilet nearby. You're braver than me.
As a westerner, I often think of the enormous country of Russia and how absolutely little I know about it. I would love to spend 10 years exploring Russia, I wouldnt even know where to start. With rising tensions between the west and Russia it really bothers me that as one of the most hopeful times I've lived through was the destruction of the Berlin wall and promise of peace. I used to have a small piece of the Berlin wall but upon Bush Jr's invasion of Iraq after sept 11, felt it no longer had the feeling of hope it represented and I discarded it unceremoniously buy dropping it in a storm drain. I hope we can continue to live and explore this beautiful earth while it is out short time here. I love what you do Vaga Bond. These are the places and stories that are the most interesting. The stories of the common and forgotten . Love and Peace to all .
Great stuff, camera, editing, audio, scenery and history. Thank you for taking us along on this epic journey. Godspeed, Bsafe. Отличные вещи, камера, монтаж, аудио, декорации и история. Спасибо, что взяли нас с собой в это эпическое путешествие. Удачи, будьте в безопасности.
Amazing journey, i’ve done some hitchiking in the remote areas of the Pamirs in Tajikistan, where the truck drivers were amazing. I really hope i will have the opportunity do so in Russia as well, the far east is undoubtedly amazing. Thank you for sharing this journey with us, can’t wait for the sequel!👏🏻👏🏻
As a German, I was very impressed to see a quote from Goethe in this school at minute 40:40. Considering that this school was established in Soviet times and it was Germany that invaded the Soviet Union, then it speaks a lot for the decision-makers at the time to still choose a German poet. The Russian soul can not forget. But she can forgive.
Probably funded by Germany.
Goethe had nothing to do with Nazis so why not
Well, Marx was also a German.
Yeah - Russia has always had a very complicated relationship with the west. They have characteristics of east and west but up until recently I think they always looked west.
The funny thing about this quote is that some of the N's are flipped, strangely not all tho
I was born in the Czech Republic and now I am living in Canada. I can appreciate this journey, it reminds me of Northern Canada.
Great video and footage,very informative.glad you met a friend on your journey. Camping and cooking on your way,plus hitching living the dream you are. You will look back at this chapter of your life, with nothing but great memories and adventures.
I eat the same spicy noodles here in Alabama, USA. We are of the same heart…I spent my youth walking alone and exploring abandoned places. Much love, much respect..Tom
That is amazing trip, I am a New Zealander living in Australia. Wish I could visit one day. Beautiful country.
Anything is possible bro..
"He, who does not know an other language, does not know his own!" by W. Goethe. Stated the Wall at 40:40min
What a hell of a trip. Once again a very interesting video of the more unknown areas of Russia. This is better than most documentations in the TV. I really enjoy your content. Go ahead and stay safe!
Please contact us
You've got some balls going hitchhiking in one the most remote region of the world. I'm surprised there was that much traffic. I see there are as much as flies as in the Canadian wilderness.
Hundreds of thousands of people died there, and it's just a remote place to you. Your comment and everyone elses are just shallow, dry, and oblivious to the horror that went on here.
@@ursusursidae3527 I would have made a comment about the type of trees growing there and that would have offended someone somehow. That's the world we live in today...
@@lajya01 😂😂😂
Thank you for taking the trip, and making the video, it was amazing to "tag along" with you virtually. Picturesque sights and really informative content. I hope I can organize and afford a similar trip one day...
I thoroughly enjoyed watching this journey as I continue to learn more and more about your amazing vast country. Also it is heart-warming to know there are good people everywhere you go who are willing to give you a ride, donate food and supplies and so many other generous gestures.
Sanya the Truck Driver was an amazing help to your journey. Thank you for sharing with us.
Mad Max would be so proud of that truck;)
Great documentary mate. This is a trip I'm sure you will not forget soon. And with good company from Vova (though heavy smoker) and a nice driver Sanya who even let you sleep in his truck. When the video started out with people warning you of dangers I had differenet expectations.
Thank you for taking us for a walk around the ‘road less traveled’! The people appear kind with travellers and restores my faith in humanity! Living on-the-road creates life long memories, if you can survive the challenges and unavoidable scarcities, and these memories are true treasures in a world of impermanence and change. Wishing you strong health and abundance for the New Year!
Please attend me
Incredible adventure! Thanks for taking us along. 👍👍
Extraordinary journey! Thank you for taking us!
Great video, and thanks for taking the time to make content in English! My only familiarity with this region before was from foreigners traveling through it, and it's really cool to be able to see it through a Russian's eyes.
Thank you for taking me along on this journey with you! Wonderful video footage and really enjoyed your personality. I will be watching your other videos now.
The beauty and the ugly, contrasts in Siberia are amazing. Probably the best road trip from out that area! Deserves way more views!
Thanks so much for sharing, this was amazing to watch. Wish you luck on your other adventures!!
14:02 What an ideal monument. I can instantly relate to the sorrow of the head translated into tears falling from eyes. (I am American. That art speaks to the heart. It matters little which culture we develop in our life experiences.) May peace trace your footsteps.
Your channel is amazing and provides an extremely rare and invaluable insight into remote Russia!
I hate that I am just now discovering your channel. What you are doing is so awesome! Showing us all what most of us, will most likely never have the opportunity to see. Love it, keep it up, and safe travels!
Dude, your content keeps getting better and better! Awesome job!
Born in Magadan, left for the US in 93. Thank my parents every chance I get that they had enough courage to start a new life.
My iPad chose your channel randomly and I’m glad it did. I have travelled many times like you. One can truly see and experience so much more then if you were on an airplane, train, or automobile speeding from place to place. Meeting like-minded people was what I will always remember most fondly. Looking forward to more adventures from your channel. Peace and love from Canada.
This is now one of my favourite KZhead channels ever. Your videos are such an inspiration, I wish to venture to those areas myself one day.
This was a pleasure to watch, your editing is becoming smoother!
Man this content is amazing, the journey is fascinating
Thanks for posting these videos. I have been working in a hospital for the past couple of years and they really keep me going. Russian hospitality and generosity is amazing is my book!
Cheers mate superb video. Thanks for taking the time and showing us the beauty and vastness of Russia. Stay safe.
My goodness! What an extremely great vast huge land! Fascinating! Quite interesting of all those abandoned villages or communities.
An amazing experience! Thank you for sharing with us! There is so much to see in Russia, I hope I can come and see one day.
Great content. Not only you showed us your adventure but gave history of the places as well. Wishing you safe travel.
one of the best videos on the whole of youtube, i come back to rewatch parts of it every couple of months
Nov 1/23 Hello from Edmonton Alberta Canada. It is always interesting to see what things are like in other countries. I am 65 yrs old and I also have done allot of hitchhiking in my youth and even worked for a trucking company who hauled pipe for the oil field up in northern Alberta Canada! I just wanted to say hello and that there are allot of people here in the west who do not support the war against Russia, and that I am one of them! One of the YT channels that I enjoy watching also there in Russia is (SURVIVAL RUSSIA). May God bless you and keep you safe!
What a great adventure. Thanks for your efforts 👍
Very cool trip! Much appreciated for bringing us along!
Thank you for taking us on this journey.
Damn what an incredible video, easily the best so far. I can see this channel is headed for greatness! Loved everything about this from the people you met to the slow transition from civilization to wilderness and abandonment.
Loved the video! I drove a Toyota Landcruiser along this road two years ago and we had much trouble with punctures to the tyres. Dust was also a problem. It is a fascinating part of the world and I hope to return after Covid whenever that is. Stay safe and well everyone!
Russia and that post-apocalyptic feel seem to go hand in hand. Such beautiful and wild nature littered with the decaying remnants of human civilization. Soviet ruins have a really unique feel to them.
I had my early childhood in Magadan grew up in the US in early 80s, later learned both parents lived in Magadan until they were rehabilitated in late 70s they were given permission to leave USSR because of special national status .
I recently found your videos and they are absolutely wonderful to watch. I love your style, it's very raw and feels so genuine. The interactions you have with folks make these places feel so real, like I'm actually there. Seeing these towns in the state they are in is kind of sad, I don't know if I'll ever have a full understanding of the hardship they have. I'm trying to teach myself Russian too and I try to read along with the signs/placards you read to us. Despite your concerns, your translations are very good. Please keep doing that! Not only is it interesting history, but it helps my pronunciation. One day my Russian won't sound like a 2 year old that just discovered their tongue :D
Great video and safe travels. Amazing how many ghost (abandoned) towns you went through on this journey. Greetings from New Mexico, USA.
Fantastic to see such remote places. Thanks for sharing your journies. Take care on the rail freights!
Thanks for sharing your travels and showing us somr of your country that most don't see 😼
What an incredible journey, thank you for sharing. I enjoyed every minute of this video and was particularly surprised to spot a familiar bag from a grocery store here in Ireland @46:40 - it had travelled a long way from its origins!
Having grown up in Alaska, your surroundings are very familiar to me. Instead of abandoned villages, our countryside was littered with abandoned gold mining machinery!
Your journey and all the adventures it's just amazing. Thank you for sharing.
What an adventure! Thanks for bringing us along with you, makes me wanna go out :)
This is one of the best channels out there! VAGA Bond should team up with Bald and Bankrupt to guide him on a future Siberian Journey.
Brave young man and really good amazing journey..Wish him the best of luck.
Excellent video! I'm from Estonia myself, I know the history of the Gulags and it was so interesting to see how much the place has changed! The derelict towns and buildings I expected but those brand new colourful towns and villages came as a total surprise, so beautiful, so fascinating! Thanks for sharing! And I'm glad you survived the mosquitos :)
Im so glad your video popped up on my homepage. What a great and interesting trip, with such good narration! Stay safe and warm. Best to you from New York City!
What a beautiful landscape. I would love to visit Russia someday. Many greetings from Sweden
This is great, I've been hoping to do that trip the past few years. Thanks for the info.
This is incredible content, thank you so much for making it. The far east is endlessly fascinating
Excellent video, showing us the parts of Russia and it's people that we never hear about. Everyone seems to help each other on your journey and it makes me believe that no matter what your Country or Religion is, the good of people outways the bad. Goodness is God's gift.
The new Mr Bald!! Loved your journey. I know how you feel, I hitch hiked around Australia going back some years. Really, the best way to travel and to meet locals, though you can never guarrantee the time of arriving anywhere. More for the adventure. Thankyou for showing us your country, which is absolutely fascinating.
The original Bald. This guy literally went everywhere first. And didn’t sexually assault anyone like Bald, so on the whole a much better man.
@@RaceBanner_ HA, yes! Now that Bald has teamed up with another mysoginist, Timmy Carter, his sexual habits are coming to the fore .
i learned so much about far east remote areas, hope you keep these videos going
Thank you for sharing this very cool experience of yours. I enjoyed it very much !
Fantastic video! Thank you for showing the beauty of Siberia and its people. By the way, road conditions, scenery and mosquito are just like Dempster highway in NT Canada or Dalton higway in Alaska. Greetings from California.
This was excellent fun! I've read a lot about that region because of my fascination with the Gulag. A beautiful place and a tragic place. Your English is VERY good, a big vocabulary and all articles in the right places. Bravo! 😄 Greetings and happy travels from Oregon, USA.
Heartily recommend Anne Applebaum's 'GULAG' if you've not already read it - very accessible treatment of the topic from a popular historian and journalist. Greetings from Pembrokeshire.
Absolutely brilliant, thank you very much. Kind regards from UK.
What a wonderful video, i was on a road trip from Yakutst -Oymyakon - Magadan in winter 2013 and it brought back so many wonderful memories onlie in slight different weather conditions !
Really cool look at a part of the world most will never see! Been looking for more Road of Bones content ever since Long Way Round aired. Awesome!
Hundreds of thousands of people died there, and it's just a remote place to you. Your comment and everyone elses are just shallow, dry, and oblivious to the horror that went on here
@@arcturus9366 Wrong reply? I never said that. Well aware inumerable atrocities took place there. Visiting, learning and understanding the history and stories of the land and people's are part of the reason I wanted to see more of it and why this video filled a small gap of that by showing the communities, history and people of this land. It's true history isn't well known in my little part of the world. Forgive me for wanting to learn and see more.
A fascinating journey into a nearly abandoned and dysfunctional region. Your struggle to keep going despite heavy mosquitoes, lack of decent food, lack of rides and horrible accommodations was extraordinary. At times I thought I was watching a real-life Tarkovsky movie, your version of "Stalker". Your expressions and utter fatigue were as informative as your incisive commentaries. And why all the heavy trucks? Where are they going? Weird. The shadow of the Soviet Union was everywhere. By engaging us more, sharing your perspective moment by moment, you are breaking new ground. Keep it up. This is one of your best and an advance from your visit to Vorkuta.
those trucks are hauling goods, freight, etc.
@@billmassy Thanks so much. Sure, I understand the trucks are carrying freight and so forth. However, seeing them travel through a desolate, almost deserted area lends a strangeness to them. And the lack of filling stations, paved highways and other roadside services shows how vulnerable they are when problems arise (e.g. overheating). Modern trucks depend on having modern services nearby. No such luck in Magadan.
@@peterharrer3261 totally! i'm familiar with a similar trucking practice in the desolate north of canada, it offers quite similar challenges to truckers.
Thanks mate, for sharing this trip!
this is so fascinating! Thanks for sharing this exploration with us. and talking about the towns when you stop in there! so interesting to learn about history of other countries
Thank you for making this video, it was really interesting! My only complaint is that the sound levels are all over the place. Sometimes at different parts i had to decrease the volume because it was way too loud, and then the next segment would be lower in volume again.
Cool video and music! As a sound engineer i have a tip. Try to keep your speech at 0 db and your music at -3 db (max). Make sure there is always at least 3 db of headroom between your music and speech. Keep up the good work!!
I love all your videos. Thank you for posting.
great documentary!
Randomly got recommended this video. This was a truly amazing trip. About 20 years ago I remember watching Ewan McGreggor and Charlie Bormann doing this trip on motorbikes. It did look like they have improved the road a little since then. It truly is a wilderness. You guys are hardcore. Only in Northern Canada do you find the equivalent of such empty wilderness. I would love to do a trip like this to Magadan but sadly seen as our countries are basically at war I doubt I'll ever get to visit Russia which is really sad. I watch videos like yours, Bald & Bankrupt and Survival Russia and I have desperately wanted to explore such an amazing country. God bless.
I’ve been watching Bald since 10k subs. Never seen someone blow up so insanely fast. His subscribers are dedicated.
Love your videos!! Thank you!! Be well!! 🌞❤️✨
I need to go to sleep but can't stop watching. This is what documentaries should be.
Amazing channel brother mad love from NYC keep up the great work , I need to visit russia some day
Interesting to see a Right Hand car in Russia. I thought it was like in the States and Europe where its only Left Handed vehicles allowed. Truck driving in Russia seems to also be an interesting feat.
Whole Far East of Russia uses more right handed cars than left handers cause they had a steady supply of used japanese cars from their domestic market. From 70s to 00s cars, all kinds of JDM cars can be found there. Though russian government signed some custom taxes to sway the balance in favour of local produced left handed cars, making JDM cars quite costly, there are already loads and loads of em there, and they are allowed without that import tax in that special economic zone Vagabond was talking about... and locals still found ways to move said cars in outer parts of Russia without the tax here and there