YAKUTSK, Russia

                                           

I spent my first day in Yakutsk just catching up on regular life stuff.  Doing laundry, and washing each piece of our riding suits one by one.  Two hours in the machine for each piece, so 8 hours all up just for Walter and my suits.  Then I needed to do regular laundry as well. It sounds boring but when you live on the road, an opportunity to spend quality time with a washing machine is a wonderful thing...  ;-)

While doing so, Walter went out and met with some friends and contacts. One of them is Tatiana, his French friend Arnaud’s wife.. as well as Yulia and her husband Ivan.

He came back late that night and said they have asked us to visit a traditional Yakut village festival area the next day.

They have this huge festival in June for summer games etc., which we obviously missed.  But there is no question by the size of the place and all of structures left behind that it is quite an event!  So much emphasis on each of the 12 months, seasons, and shaman culture.

We later learn that Yulia’s grandmother is a Shaman, but Yulia didn’t want to pursue that path for herself due to the strict codes of no marriage, children, etc.

However, the connection explains her passion for fixing up one of the totem poles!

And enlisting her husband to help!  Smart woman..

I enjoy having a look around the property and imagining what it must be like in June.

I think some contestants must have left their horses behind!

We are then invited to another section of this park to see what the traditional people are up to this day.

There is a gathering and celebration, and they allow us to watch.

First up, this gorgeous man caught my eye… hey, isn't this the guy on the totem pole shown above?

Gee whiz he is good looking in a Yakutia elder sort of way!!  I can just imagine him with grandchildren singing a traditional song to put them to sleep at night..  I wonder if I can adopt him.

He certainly has a ‘presence’ about him.

We enter - women on the left, men on the right.. as we are blessed with horsetail cleansing.

The traditional dressed women gather…

And a small ceremony begins.

I don’t understand a word, and not sure what it’s about. And Walter is good with Russian language, but he’s not able to interpret, so I just enjoy and get what I can from it.  For me, I love their dress. Has an American Indian feel to it, yet distinctive to their own.

We are treated to lunch brought by Yulia and Tatiana.. just gorgeous, simple good food.

And I thought interesting when I was walking past a day tent brought by a family, which just happened to be filled with Reindeer skin..  Sure!  Don't you lay skins in your tent when you go for a family picnic?

After lunch, Mr. Gorgeous man, comes up to me and wants me to follow..

He takes me to this temporary structure, I look inside and it’s filled with ice! Certainly didn’t expect that!

Must be left over from last season.  (Don’t mind the drunk having a sleep in the hay there.. every family has one, that's just part of life.. ;-)

It was a warm day, so I took advantage of what he showed me!

The women are still singing away.

We get ready to go, but not until we make an offering.  Yulia had saved some of our lunch, and she takes us to a tree.

There is a traditional horse milk drink, and some of the little pancakes. She says some words, and we all contribute bits of food around the tree.

Respect and thanks to the land that has provided for us I would assume!

Later, Tatiana has us over to her house for dinner that night.

We got the greatest surprise.. Pumpkin soup!!  I never would have expected that!  And it was so darn good.. As was the rest of her meal. Stuffed peppers, eggplant and capsicum salad. all sooo good!

We enjoy hanging out with her. She is very kind, a very special lady. I look at her and I think of Pocahontas.  She also seems to have the "presence", very calming.

Tanya has arranged for Walter and I to meet with a friend of hers who has a new Yakut beauty magazine.  The next day we meet at her office for an interview.

This lady also speaks good English as she has had a few years in America, selling cosmetics for Mary Kay of all things!

And then Tatiana gave me a wonderful present.  A necklace with the symbol of Yakutia.  I love it so much.  After so much time spent riding through and really getting to know this region, what a thoughtful and perfect gift that I will treasure!

Later that night, Yulia and her family have invited me over for dinner at their house, followed by a traditional Russian Banya (sauna).

Walter had already done it, and I knew it would be hot. But not sure what else to expect.  I didn’t take my camera along, because I thought it was not going be a place for a camera! But I do have some iphone images to share.

What a beautiful meal.. again!!  That large piece of pasta is folding up many times into a bowl, and then her veggies and meat go on top. It was divine!

Can we just discuss the cuteness of their puppy!!  It’s name is Strike.. another Russian dog with an English name.. striking!

Into the sauna we go..  Yulia doesn’t speak English, I don’t speak Russian but we had an excellent girls night!

I get what she is trying to tell me most of the time.. through sign language, books, symbols, etc.  We get there!

She gets me all set up in my robe, and we go in and she points to the temperature… 120!!!

Lord have mercy, what am I in for..

She pours water over the hot rocks to make really thick steam, and then she comes in with these branches and beats me all over my legs and my back!  Walter told me this is to improve circulation. Okay Okay, I’ve got good circulation!

We are in for only 2-3 minutes, and then out for a rest. She says we do this 5 times.  Oh dear…  in between we have Russian beer. She tells me this is better than water, not sure why… and we eat little forest berries they have been hunting and collecting.

In again, and again, I am bright red and sweating like crazy. She says, “Harasho, harasho!!  (Good good), Need to sweat!! If I understood her right, many people don’t sweat well, but I’ve got plenty of good sweat! 

Finally we finish, and I get a big drenching of freezing cold water.  Whew!  I get dressed and go outside into the cold air, and I continue to sweat.  Surely after a big washdown of the cold water, plus standing outside in cool air I would stop sweating at some point.  I go into the house to get my things to leave, and I continue to sweat. I am embarrassed, but she keeps saying “Harasho!”

Say good bye to kitty cat, who’s resting on…. A bear?!

  

Old Road of Bones (Old Summer Rd.) Part 2

I’m coming!!  That little spot headlight down the road, is slow Sherri Jo!

I’m slow, but I get there..  There are times where I can speed up, but I don’t get too crazy about it, as this road is completely un-maintained and unpredictable… There are serious hazards everywhere – and they love to surprise me!  Sometimes they have these little creeks, with wood laid out as a make shift bridge.  You don’t see it coming and when you pass over it, look down and it’s broken with this massive deep hole!  Plenty big enough for the bike forks to go down.

I was lucky to miss most of them.. I don’t know how honestly.. As each move I make on those roads is all over the place.  Trying to get the best traction on one side, or avoiding ruts on another side, etc etc.  The one big sink hole I did eventually hit, was an “Oh SH_ _” moment as it happened, but it was a rare moment in time that I was going rather fast, and bounced right over it.. Close call!!

Interestingly enough, they do have caution signs out there.  This road used to be maintained, but they built a new road around this stretch 3 years ago. It appears it’s been longer than that since they did any upkeep.

I am grateful for the little warning about the road taking a turn.. but why don’t they warn me about super size sink holes, or broken bridges!!

Walter says that once this last wooden bridge shown below goes, there won’t be anyone getting through the Old Road of Bones…  and it’s not looking too happy at the moment, it’s only a matter of time..  Only makes the trip and the struggle more special knowing that very few people in the world go there, particularly on a motorcycle.. and a kind of cool little knotch on the belt in personal history, knowing not many more will ever travel this road in the future…

I can not tell you how scared I was crossing this bridge. It was much farther down than it looks on film, and if there’s one thing I know, it hasn’t been checked by a safety officer recently!!  You can see from the icy blue/green color, that water is deep!  And moving seriously fast!!  I go slowly, having kiniptions all the way.. I think Walter is enjoying my panic.. In my mind, I wouldn’t dare speed up because like I said before, there could be broken bits and holes pop up, and if I fell over, I could go over the edge!!  This would look good in the movies, but we don’t have a camera crew and rescue helicopter on stand by….

Well I made it.. I was able to breathe again…

Along the road I came across a special treat, a little Road of Bones Reward..  Look at these gorgeous wild horses..!!

What I should’ve done was take a photo of their poo.. Traveling along, I saw these massive mounds of poo..  Looked like horse poo shapes, but little mountains of the stuff along the way..  I wondered, is that Elk poo?  Reindeer poo?  Moose poo?  I never considered it was horse poo due to the massive size of the mounds!  But then when we came across the horses and you see how fat and happy they are, I now understand..

In all of the wilderness we have been travelling, I have been surprised not to see any wildlife.. only birds.  I know our motorcycles make a noise enough to scare anything away, but when I have a little stop and look into a large valley, I have my eyes peeled out for any movement at all – nothing!!

So the horses made my day…

And then… to the next deep muddy puddle, Walter spots something..

Bear tracks!! So they ARE here!  Where??  Can I see one?  Everyone says, I don't want to see one.  But I do.  I can add that I don't want to see one up too close and ready to attack me, but that is just so unlikely... I think the sound of the motor as well as the horn would send it running.

Walter says he worries about bears all the time, particularly when he gets off the bike to take a photo.. He feels he is always looking over his shoulder.

I have to admit it is in my mind when I take a pit stop behind a bush, but in general, it’s not like a bear is going to be standing by the road waiting for a motorcycle to pass by so he can “SWAT!!” you down! 

We are seeing lots of interesting tracks now. Definitely large dog if not wolf tracks..  mud can be good for some things like seeing tracks, but I can’t say I like riding through it much..

We were even perplexed to see pushbike tracks!!  We saw them a couple times, but the road conditions change a lot and they were not consistent.

They looked fairly fresh, but we have definitely not passed any cyclists on this track, I think we would notice.

Road conditions start to improve considerably...  and then we start to see proper vehicle tracks. We’ve turned into such trackers, I think we could give Daniel Boone a run for his money!

Then we come up to a truck.. and people!!  What a sight it was to see people after all we had been through!  It hadn’t been but a day and a half  since we started the Old Road of Bones, but it felt like we had been on it for at least a week!

What a good looking family!  I was surprised at their appearance.  Walter explains to me later that these are Yakut people.. not completely sure of their origin, but theory suggests their ancestors were pushed north from the Genghis Khan era.

Walter has a good chat to them.. I notice the older boy is standing on 2 rifles, as if to hide them from us.  I ask Walter to ask them what they are hunting.  He said they denied they are hunting..

Hmmm, a family on a deserted road dressed in camoflauge.. just a weekend getaway??  Then we see Grandpa in the front seat, he has a large rifle too.  Maybe its protection to keep bears… away…??  ;-/

Car tracks become more and more frequent.  We must be getting closer to the village, the one and only village on the Old Road of Bones, Tomtor.

The road becomes pure loose gravel.  I’m not a fan of the slippery thick gravel.  And as cars begin to pass by, loose gravel coupled with not being able to see through the dust.. after such a long day, I am very ready to see a village, and hopefully we can stop.

Yes, first stop, fuel!  Then into town, we find a kind man who points us to a shop.  We wanted a café to get a nice cooked meal, but not going to happen.  Next to the shop was the café, but it has clearly been shut for quite a while.

The man comes into the shop with us, and is so friendly and curious!

Outside we are being watched by the local children..

  

They don’t get many visitors at all, let alone strange looking ones on motorcycles.  This village is the ONLY village on the Old Road of Bones.  Especially not visited since the new road goes around it.

We had no hope for hot food, but when Walter enquired about finding accommodation, the old man had the 2 boys on a bike take us to a house, where a lady had a key for another house we could stay in. 

And, wouldn’t you know, she was expecting us!!

She spoke of her call from Bolot, Walter’s friend in Yakutsk, hundreds of kilometres away.  He has been following the SPOT tracking service on my website and could tell we were getting close to Tomtor.

How amazing!!

And then for Bolot to know this lady and tell her to expect a couple motorcycles to pull into town soon.

We were so lucky, we have a large house to stay in with a kitchen and bathroom!  We bought some packet noodles, carrots and bread from the shop, I got an apple – an APPLE !!  In a northern Siberian village where there are no fruit trees to be found, and it was my favorite - Pink Lady!

The same kind man showed up at the front door, bearing fresh vegetables from his garden.: Tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley and chives. 

The first job however was to get clean before I could consider making a meal..

There is a bath tub here, but no hot water.  So I got every pot out of the cupboard I could find and filled them with water and started heating on the stove.  As well as the electric kettle. 

One by one, I filled a large bucket in the bathroom that I set in the tub.  Finally got enough hot water and another little pot with a handle to scoop it over my head.

This is my first wash since starting the Old Road of Bones after all the dirt from the bush fire, falling into mud puddles, long dusty roads…

I can tell you that bucket of water was very brown once I finished with it..  But I was clean (somewhat)!!  Hallelujah!!

Now, let’s make a meal!

My warmed the carrots and threw them into the packet noodle mix with fresh parsley, and chopped up the tomatoes and cucumbers onto my bread.

AND a nice big cup of tea.

Ahhhhh

Sorry not to be social, but all I want now is to go to bed.

I had a nice little bed in a girls room.

Fell asleep immediately as you can imagine.. but later on something woke me up.. 

The bed was shaking!!  Takes me a while to really wake up and determine it’s not a dream.. it kept shaking!  I started to get scared, then my brain started working and I figured out it was a small earthquake.  We are in quite a mountainous area, so when I worked all that out in my head, I just laid back down.  The shaking lasted quite a while, I was surprised.  But I did end up back to sleep.

Had a crazy dream.. I was in that room as is..  A young girl came in, and it was her shaking the bed!!  I remember she had short hair, glasses, and a cream covered childrens coat.  She said this was HER room and she had died here in 2001.  Hmmm, a ghost!

When I woke up the next morning, I had to think back and forth about that night.. Did I experience an earthquake or a ghost? Ha!  Doesn’t matter, either one is fine, I was just happy to have a bed and a wonderful home to stay in.

Walter says we have a big day ahead of us.. rest time is over.

He arranged to meet the lady who gave us the key at 9 AM. And they want to show us their town museum. 

No worries, it would be an honor to learn about the region I am travelling through!

Here’s a bear!!  They are a bit larger than I imagined…

This town holds a world record for lowest temperature recorded..  -71.2 degrees Celcius.

That’s pretty darn cold, but they say winter generally hangs around – 40 to -50..

So what surprised me was a list of people in the museum and the long lives they have here!  Sorry for the dreadfully dodgy photos, I was in a hallway and couldn’t get an angle..

I know that's a bit boring, but I just find it incredible that they have so many people in this little village that live in the Pole of Cold; who live off the land with very few modern conveniences, and they manage to live that long.  Whereas in our western world, we have so many amenities, making life warm and easy; as well as advanced modern medicine, and still most people struggle to get to their 70’s or 80’s.  I am really impressed with this culture!

We surely must hit the road.. but I do love this town!

It’s like no place I have ever seen.  I have never been this far north on the planet before, and a chance to experience how these people live is fascinating to me.  When I look at this village I imagine what it must look like in the deep snow..

On the way out of town, we take a quick photo opportunity by the monument of their very low record.

I just noticed that in relation to the globe on top, my bike is parked directly under Australia.. how did it know?? After a very nice morning, it is now time to begin the day…. And keep in mind, I am still not asking questions, and I have NO CLUE what sort of day is ahead of me…. it turned out to be one of the toughest days of my life…