The Siberian BAM Guide: Rail, Rivers & Road: North-East Russia's Siberian BAM Railway, Lena River & Kolyma Highway (Trailblazer Guides)

Expanded from the first edition (Siberian BAM Railway Guide) this book now also includes other forms of transport in this fascinating but rarely-visited north-eastern corner of Russia, the Siberian BAM region. Note: this book covers a different area from the Trans-Siberian Handbook (also from Trailblazer).

* Practical information - full details of how to get to the region, where to stay, what to see and how to get around; plus 30 maps

* City guides and maps - Taishet, Bratsk, Zheleznogorsk-Ilimski, Ust-Kut, Lena, Severobaikalsk, Nizhneangarsk, Taksimo, Kuanda, Novaya Chara, Tynda, Novy Urgal, Komsomolsk-na-Amure, Amursk, Vanino, Sovetskaya Gavan, Khabarovsk, Kirensk, Magadan, Aldan & Yakutsk

* BAM Railway route guide - covering the 3400km of mountain railway, closed until 1991, from north of Lake Baikal to the Pacific, with detailed information on how to take the train and what to see

* Lena River route guide - the entire river from source to Arctic Ocean, including the 1988km served by steam-driven passenger boats

* Kolyma Highway route guide - the rugged land route from Yakutsk to Magadan, built by Stalin's political prisoners

Athol Yates researched and wrote the first edition of this book. He has had a long fascination with Russian politics, history and language and has travelled extensively throughout Russia as a student, journalist, and researcher. He has an engineering degree, a Graduate Diploma in Soviet Studies, and a Masters in Public Policy. He studied Russian at Melbourne University, Moscow's Patrice Lumumba University, and Hungary's Egar Teachers' Institute. He is currently a policy analyst specialising in industry, defence and infrastructure policy in Canberra, Australia.

Nicholas Zvegintzov researched and updated the second edition of this book. Born in England, he learned about Russia and travelling from his immigrant father. He has a degree from Oxford University in Psychology and Philosophy, and has studied Russian at Moscow State University. He lives in New York City and is a software consultant and writer, helping in the management and modification of existing software. He practises long-distance travel on the New York City Subway, the Moscow Metro, the London Underground and, of course, the BAM.