Mongolia to Novosibirsk Russia

After a good sleep in my wooden yurt, I take off early again to get back to Novosibirsk.. and back to more familiar faces.

First stop,  a big drink of  much needed fuel!

I still waited to eat though. Hungry as I was, I could have found something in this town, but I knew I wanted to go back to the café at Aktash… Back to the same place I had been before.  I had my order prepared in my iphone translator.  Borscht – of coarse!!  Plus mashed potatoes, which I can not say for anything in Russian, Goulash, tea and bread.  An absolute feast!  Eyes too big for my stomach as expected, but I didn’t care.  I gave it a darn good try!  Stomach may have shrunk a bit over the last few days, so I gave it a good stretch out.  

Through the Altay mountain range again..

Such a pretty road.. well worth the trip even if you don’t venture into Mongolia.

I see trees again..  I was wondering where the trees in Mongolia go.  I love fall, and it’s a gorgeous time of year to be riding a motorcycle in Russia.

The weather gradually took a turn for the worse.

It was drizzling and then came full on rain for the rest of my 500 km ride.  I knew where to go though.  To my next familiar stop, Ust Muni.

Back to the wonderful mini hotel and the family who fed me once before.  I must be like a cat.  Returning to the home that feeds you..  ;-)

The gate was shut.  I knocked and no answer.  Why would a hotel gate be shut and locked?

They finally came out in the rain, opened the gate and welcomed me in.  Turns out they are closed.  I don’t understand fully, but what I am thinking is that they are only open on weekends, or they had just had their final weekend and closed for the season.

Doesn’t matter, she is happy to see me, and they gave me my same room back.  Took me straight into their very fancy house and let me take a nice big warm shower.  As soon as I came out, as history repeats itself, she had a big bowl of borscht waiting for me and some home made pastries just pulled from the oven!!  Lucky lucky me!!!

Next morning, my next 500 km’s are uneventful.. Rain and flat highway..

My previous Novosibirsk house host Mark has invited me back as well.  From my gps settings, I ride right through the city and up to his garage.

Park the bike and time for welcome home celebrations!!  (I know, it's not my home.. nor my family.. but beggars can't be choosers ;-)  It's just another great example of extreme Russian hospitality.

The night includes a welcome surprise, Australian wine!!

Mark on guitar and his good friend Alexander “Sasha”.. They are University mates and I get to hear many of their uni songs.  Marks wife is missing, she is in Moscow and returns Monday.

Novosibirsk in a young city, only around 100 years old, with the first bank opening in 1906.  I ask what is the main industry to the 3rd largest city in Russia and they tell me #1 is Intellect!  Intellect an industry? This explains why there are so many universities in that town. And no surprise that Marks 14 year old son Gleb, is a physics major.

As I stayed for the weekend, that young boy studied Friday night, out at 8 AM on Saturday and again on Sunday!  Who studies all day on Sunday!!?? (I obviously didn't..)

I asked Mark if this is required with work from his special school, and he said no, he and his mates really just like studying physics!  I was impressed.

And younger son Ilya “Ilushka”, was just too cute.. we had such a good time.

Okay, kids to bed, we bring out the serious alcohol - and more serious songs.  I loved listening, even though I don't understand the words, it really really sounds good.  Had nothing to do with the drink I just had!

Next day, Mark takes me all over Novosibirsk running errands.

One goal is to find a way to get help my freezing toes on these cold days.  We went to the market.. completely run by Russian mafia!  Or at least used to be..

I don’t doubt it though.  While Mark is negotiating my heat pads to put in my motorcycle boots, this guy is not happy about me taking photos.  Mark told me after how he had to convince the man I am an Australian tourist.

This next guy totally looked the mafia part.  But angrily turned away quicker than I could take the photo.

A massive market, you could walk for days in there.  I’m glad I’ve got Mark with me. It's clearly a rough place, with serious business.

Time to get Ilya from school.. I’ve never been in a Russian school before!

And then drop Ilya to “Babushka’s” Grandma’s house.  Mark's Mom, a wonderful lady, who I also stayed with one night before I left.   I've had to stay in one spot longer than I would like, but what I enjoy so much is seeing real life in Russia and being part of it.  Really get to know the lifestyle, custom, etc.  Noticing so many similarities and differences.  

At one point, I ask Mark if he preferred their lifestyle during Communist times or now.  He actually preferred the old times, saying that the people were far more of a community than they are now.  He does like having a mobile phone, but other than that, people were closer back then.

And the remainder of the day on tour of Novosibirsk!

Next job is to get the first of 2 ice creams for the day.  Spoiled… I am spoiled, I will be the first to admit!!!  ;-)

I found this far too cute woman on a park bench…

And then for a lovely stroll along the Ob River.

Not quite the quality as an Australian beach, but it’s the company that counts!

The last section of the original bridge over the river.  The reason this city exists was due to this first Trans Siberian railway connection between Central Asia and the Caspian Sea to Siberia.

And to finish out this day in the life of a Russian family, I am taken to good friend Nataliya’s house for pumpkin soup… 2^nd pumpkin soup in Russia !! It’s not common here at all, and yet I’ve had it twice.. Remember once at Tatiana’s in Yakutsk, and now!  Yum!!!

Nataliya works for an American man, and she speaks English fluently.  It was great to meet with her as she is a keen world traveller and her house is FILLED with great things she has bought all over the world.  (Makes me a bit jealous, because I can not buy much of anything since there is nowhere to put it on motorcycle).

I ask Nataliya the same question whether she preferred the Communist times or now.. and complete opposite answer to Mark.  Everybody's different, and I'm glad!

I loved my time in Novosibirsk even more the second time around!  However, as a travelling guest, I had out done my 2 night quota as a visitor (by another 2 nights) and was very ancy to get going.  

I had lost a bit of time going to America, and another week behind diverting to Mongolia.  Now I am in a serious race to get out of Siberia before the snow comes AND to get to where I need to go before my Russian visa expires!  Add to that fact that I need to go very far north again into even colder country so I might continue my original travel plan to Finland and Europe.

We did a thorough survey of 10 day weather forecasts on my sites and on Mark’s Russian sites, and the outlook was grim.

Since my next goal was originally to connect through Moscow, and it was all highway and delivery trucks for 1753 miles or 2821 Km, I opt to find another way taking into account the freezing weather ahead.

Decided to take a train to St. Petersburg which was to take 3 days. On the internet I learn they take motorcycles.  Great!  I can cut my time in half and travel through these next few days of freezing rain under the roof of a train!

Turned out through Mark's research it would not be advisable to put my bike on the train, and they are very unreliable and things get "lost".  After many phone calls and meetings from Mark (gee whiz I feel guilty the time he has put into my project), he feels that I must put the bike on a delivery truck separate, and fly or train myself.  This was a big learning experience for me.  I should have just left when I was supposed to and conquered the weather if I had only known that I was not going to make up the lost time.  Sounded good from the start of the plan, but it went down hill from there.. and we were too far in it to back out. (well I could have technically, but the guilt of time spent from Mark would have been overwhelming for me)  I ended up getting rather stressed about the whole situation until Nataliya calmed me by saying that Mark is so professional and experienced, she would advise I stick through it, and what the heck - I get a new experience of train travel in Russia - it's like no other train ride in the world!  ;-)  Too right.  

I chose the train to St. Petersburg because it was the closest point for me to get off and over to Finland where I want to meet one of my sponsors, Rukka.  

MIRNY TO LENSK Russia and Lena River BARGE

Time to leave our good friends in Mirny. Still blown away by how much we were looked after again and again..

Igor had made a connection with a barge in Lensk and we needed to be there by 8 AM. Lensk is 250 km down the dirt road, so Captain Magadan decides we should leave at 3:00 AM to get there on time.

3:00 AM!! Why don’t we go a day ahead? Well because hotels cost too much and you can’t guarantee the barge will go that day…

Not one to argue, I go with the flow… not looking forward to this though.

Flash is a bit rough that time of the morning! Can’t keep my eyes open anyway…

I have trouble with dirt roads still while the sun is up, but when I started on the dirt in the dark, I was like no way is this going to happen…

My big fancy headlights I got were no help at all.. they are not doing anything like I hoped they would.

Walter has excellent head lights, and he came back and rode next to me so I could see.

Even then I was only doing 50 -60 km/hr. And it was freezing cold.. Same issue, I so badly want to use my helmet visor down, but it fogs right up.. so riding open helmet, eyes and lips thought we’d made it to the arctic circle.

The sun started coming up around the 150 km mark so Walter got to ride ahead of me again.. I was so cold… still with tank bag strapped to the back of the bike, I could not plug in the heated jacket.

Then with the sun rising, I found I still couldn’t see. Everything was gray. But if I tilted my head I could see green trees again.. I didn’t understand! What’s wrong with my eyes!

AND THEN! We came into real fog.. So my eyes are foggy themselves - added to driving through fog. I was HURTIN’ !!!

Traffic picking up, we are getting close to Lensk. Fog getting thicker and thicker as we are close to the river.

Walter stops to call the contact, and I jump off the bike hoping to warm my eyes in case that is why they are foggy. Didn’t work with my hands so I started doing laps around the parking lock and warm the rest of my body up. Still didn’t help. Nearly an hour went by and they guy finally shows and takes us to the barge waiting lot. The head barge boss shows up, has a look and decides it’s not going today, not enough trucks yet. I am really worried this problem with my eyes is permanent!

He organizes for our bikes to be locked in his shed and drives us to a hotel.

I have no complaints!

Took a nice hot shower and my eyes started coming good..

That was a weird experience which probably has a logical explanation, I must research that. (I have since been back to America after writing this post and had my eyes examined. The doctor told me that I had frozen and killed the cells on top of my eyes and that is why I couldn't see. But she said the eyes are incredibly fast healers which is why I was able to see again after only a few hours. Kruta! One less major worry!)

While walking around that evening looking for a place to eat, I stopped to get some fruit to take with me on the 3 day barge ride.

The lady immediately says, “Oh, you speak English!” She was so excited about this! She explained that her dream was to move to Australia and she had self taught herself English for the exam.. but this was 2 years ago and hadn’t practiced since.

I was particularly attracted to those Sultana grapes! They were just like the ones at home – so sweet!

Her name is Olena and she had recently moved to Lensk from Uzbekistan to work with her brother who owns the fruit stands. Walter explains to me how horrible the economy is in Uzbekistan and why she can make so much more money in a fruit stand than she did at her old job as a Captain for the Customs Border Crossings. Heaps more!

She really wanted to have us over to her home to talk English more and she really got Walters attention when she said she was from Uzbekistan, because he knows they make his favorite Pilaf.

I was really impressed with this lady, her English was very good and to be self taught just to make a better life for herself. My entry into Australia was time consuming and expensive, but it was easy for me. She has done her practice tests for the exam and not gotten a high enough score yet. And since her move to Russia, she hasn’t had the time. I’m surprised though, I feel her English is so much better than many immigrants I have met in Australia, and they got in!

We walk home together along the Lena River..

Even when Walter says something to her in Russian she is determined to answer in English.

She explains that her Uncle is the pilaf maker of the family and he lives in another place. It will be delivered… however it is getting very late and we need to get up early in the morning for the barge.

11:45 PM and the pilaf arrives..

It was really good, worth waiting for..!

Up early I am packed and ready to go to the barge. Walter looks at me and says he feels I don’t have enough food to last me 3 days.. I panic, but all I could find was one more juice and a drinking yoghurt.. that’ll do.. if I run out, then I run out and it might do my body a bit of good if I did..

Nice easy ramp to load the bikes on – that was alright!

Of coarse the truckers had gotten on already and they were gathered for a beer drinking session at 8:30 in the morning! Ick..

They certainly had a lot to say to me followed by a fair few laughs… I thought I might photograph a couple of them while we are waiting for the last few trucks to board.

(Russian-style pose…)

And then we’re off!

This is quite a busy little port town. The Lena River is the main thoroughfare for anyone or anything that needs to travel north. It's how the food gets shipped, fuel, everthing you can think of. The barge not only has truckers, but people who travel by car to get down to Irkutsk and beyond.

Being a barge, not a cruiseliner – they sleep in their car, eat in their car.. and one very scary toilet for all.

Luckily for us, they gave us an empty container to park our bikes and set up camp. I was imagining I would have to set up my tent on deck, but the protection of the container sounded good in case it got very rainy.

Only problem, but not a complaint.. because I am grateful! Is that it’s very dirty.. Have a look at my pants and he hadn’t even started setting up camp yet..

I’ll have to wait to set up camp, I am too excited to see the action..

We pass the “L E N S K” apartment blocks were Olena lives. (Maybe hard to see in the photo, but each building has a letter on top)

It does get rather chilly as we get underway..

Back into the container to get out my jacket and bam! The truckers found me!! I am completely trapped and what a surprise! They come bearing gifts of Vodka!

I do my best to have a little chat with them… but we just laugh at the language barrier.. Vodka is international language of coarse, but I’m not ready to go there at 9:30 AM - if at all.. I’ve had my Russian Vodka experience in Vladivostok and it was not a pretty headache the next day!

So I politely decline.. “Niyet Spasiba” Well actually there were several “Niyet Spasibas” …. And I escaped.

The crew start power washing the barge ramp, and knowing how much Walter likes power washers, I run to the front of the barge to tell him there is an opportunity here.

And sure enough, he comes back, gets the okay and we pull the bikes out of the container for a wash.

Giving them plenty of instruction along the way.. ;-)

Lookin’ good!

All that and still in sight of Lensk! I knew it would be slow, but we are heading south. Which means down river for me, but it’s not.. It’s upriver, the current is going the opposite direction. So this big barge is going to push against current for 3 full days at 10 km/hr.

I ask Walter about it and he says he forgot we would be going upstream.. He came the other direction last year and it was downstream taking them 3 days.. But going upstream he finds will take 4 ½ days. Going to be interesting with my slim 3 days worth of food now!

Might leave the ol’bike in the sun to dry… that was nice of them to wash for us.

Walter spots some wild horses on the shore..

It’s so pretty here!

Uh Oohh, they’re baaack!

I did manage to avoid vodka the entire trip.. they were good guys, eventually heating water up for me for my tea thermos..

So many photos, I will continue on a separate blog, part 2.