RUSSIA and
MONGOLIA OVERLAND #5
Kazan 28-July-2004
Since
arriving back in Russia,
from Mongolia, we have
travelled a further 4000 km and are now in Kazan. Kazan is considered part of European
Russia so we have finally left Siberia. A few
days ago we passed through Perm, another closed city during
the Soviet era, which is in the
Ural Mountains,
and divides Western Russia (or European Russia) from Siberian Russia (Asia Russia). Being back in Russia is a stark contrast to Mongolia. Russia is so much more well developed compared
to Mongolia.
It is was quite a culture shock to be back on sealed roads, albeit full of
potholes and often very rough. The GERs have been
replaced with wooden and concrete buildings, supermarkets stocked with an extensive
range of food products, luxury vehicles as opposed to Russian jeeps and
Mongolian horsemen, more rubbish everywhere and the regular police check points
are back. In Mongolia
you pay for fuel after filling your tank, just like in most other countries of
the world. In Russia
you must pay for fuel before filling your tank. We miss the peace, tranquillity
and simplicity of travelling through Mongolia.
Having crossed into Russia we entered the Altay Republic
which is a very mountainous area straddling the corners of Southern Siberia,
Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan.
We drove for many days following the M52 Russian highway through the mountains
which follows one river system after another. Often the road took us through
narrow gorges flanked by tall pine forested mountains. The road started out at
over 6000 feet above sea level, crossed a couple of mountain passes and finally
dropped down to 200 feet above sea level near Barnaul. The scenery was breath taking, some of
the best we have seen since leaving Vladivostok.
We had some delightful camp spots by the river shaded by pine trees. This is a
very popular area for Russian holiday makers so we were not alone. The rivers
through the Altay area are fast flowing so white
water rafting is very popular. We saw many families and school groups on
rafting and camping holidays. We had some interesting conversations trying to
talk to other campers who were quite envious of our travels through Russia and Mongolia.
To date we have seen very few
overseas tourists. Near the town of Ortolyk
we saw three Kawasaki
motorbikes coming towards us. Knowing that these were obviously other
overlanders, we stopped to say hello. We were both quite surprised but
delighted when the bikers said G’day mate in an
accent we knew was fair dinkum Aussie. Shane, Don and Phil are all from Melbourne and are riding from London
to Vladivostok.
All three were on long service leave. We had a great time sharing about our
experiences of travelling through Russia and both learnt more of what
to expect ahead.
We turned off the M52 near Gomo Altaysk and headed for Lake Teletskoe. This lake is popular with Russian tourists looking for a place simply to relax and enjoy
picnics, walking, horse riding and water activities. We had hoped to take a
ferry to see the Korbu waterfall however the ferry
was fully booked out. So after having lunch and looking around we left and bush
camped on the way to Biysk. It is a requirement to
register one’s visa within three business days of entering Russia. This
can be done either by registered tourist hotels or at a government visa
registration office. We had tried to do this at various towns along the way
however none of the hotels were able to register our visa. On the 5th day in Biysk
we could not find a hotel that would register our visa so we tried going to the
government visa registration office. This proved futile as they would not
register our visa without a letter of introduction from our Russia host
organization which issued our visa invitation. We spoke to a travel agency in Biysk and they suggested that we
may have a better chance of getting registered in Barnaul.
On leaving Biysk we were
stopped at a police check point. They pointed out to us that we had not
registered our visa. The police officer let us through when we assured him that
we were on our way to Barnaul to get our visa
registered. The road from Biysk
to Barnaul
was very good and passed through fertile farming country. We arrived in Barnaul
at 1pm and were very relieved when the Hotel Tsentralnaya
registered our visa on the spot, no questions asked. After having camped for
many weeks it was nice to catch up on a hot shower and sleep in a bed. This was
a small price to pay in order to get registered. Barnaul is a very
prosperous industrial city with a few trendy cafes and great restaurants. We spent an afternoon and morning looking around Barnaul and then headed north to
Novosibirsk.
Novosibirsk began as a major city to service the trans-siberian railway. It has since become an industrial hub for
the coal fields to the east and mineral deposits of the Ural
Mountains to the west. Novosibirsk
is the ‘unofficial’ capital of Siberia and is the largest city in Siberia with a population of over 1.5 million. The city is on the Ob River which starts
in the Altay mountains and
flows all the way to the Artic
Ocean. We had hoped to
stay with some friends of Hazel Barker however they were away on holidays so we
ended up staying at the Hotel Novosibirsk, which is in the heart of the city
opposite the very grand and refurbished railway station. We tried to stay at
the railway station hotel however all the cheaper rooms were full. We spent two
days looking around the city. Unfortunately it rained most of the time. We had
hoped to see a performance at the Opera and Ballet Theatre but it was closed
for renovations.
We always
feel a bit tense
driving into unfamiliar cities however to date we have had no problems. Before we left on our trip we found GPS
maps for all of the major Russian cities. These maps can be downloaded into the
GPS and viewed on the GPS colour screen. Also, with the GPS connected to the
laptop, our position is drawn on the city maps in real time. This has made Kienny’s job as navigator much easier and as a result
we have not had any problems driving through the heart of any Russian cities. This has
worked so well that we have not purchased any printed city maps. We have also
found the Russian road signs to be quite good. Most of the major roads go close
to the city centre. There are usually signs pointing to the city centre, which
for most cities is Lelina Ulitisa
or Prospect (Lelina
Street or Avenue). One of the best things Kienny did before leaving home was to learn the Russian
Cyrillic alphabet which is vital in order to be able to read the Russian street
names.
We have constantly been amazed
at how friendly and helpful everyone has been. Many people, including the
police, stop to talk to us and want to know where we have come from and where
we are going. Most people cannot understand why we would want to do such a trip
and why we would choose Russia.
They seem quite bemused when we say that we have been enjoying our time in Russia. Some
people have given us chocolates and water melons or even refused payment for a
meal. We have been asked on quite a few occasions if the police have given us a
hard time. We have heard from other travellers who have had problems with the
police but this has not been our experience (to date!). On one occasion we
suspected that a police officer was going to give us a hard time and solicit a
bribe but when Kienny started to talk to him about
our trip in Russian he shook his head in amazement, wished us a good trip, and
waved us on.
On leaving Novosibirsk we once again joined the Russian
east west highway (or track or road depending on where you are). The first
thing we noticed was that we rejoined the convoys of second hand Japanese
vehicles being driven from Vladivostok to the
cities in Western Russia and Central Asia. For
the first time we started to see European made vehicles such as VW, Peugeot,
Audi, Mercedes and BMWs. It has been interesting to
see the cars change as we travel further west. In the East, nearly all cars are
from Japan
and are right hand drive. In Central Russia
there is a mix of Russian, Japanese and European cars. The further west we go the
ratio of European to Japanese cars increases.
Western
Siberia is also
very agricultural. Just about everywhere there are crops of wheat, barley,
oats, corn, canola, sun flower and potato being grown. The soil looked very
fertile. In one field you can see wheat being harvested and right alongside you
can see a new crop of wheat being sown. Unlike Eastern Siberia where much of
the farm machinery is old and on small plots, farming in Western
Siberia is done on a large scale with more modern equipment. This
is a relative term. Compared to Australia
or the US, the equipment
looks quite outdated but for Russia
it looks quite modern. Many of the tractors are large and articulated. On many
occasions we have also seen bull dozers pulling a scarifier. Everywhere people are making hay. All
the hay is cut from the natural growing grass. Some people cut hay along side
the road using a sickle and then load the hay into the boot of their car. Some
hay is cut, gathered and piled by hand into a large hay stack. In other areas
hay making is done on a very large scale and rolled, some even covered in
plastic just like home. Hay is obviously a very important commodity in the
harsh Siberian winter.
The countryside west of Novosibirsk was rather
flat and only a few hundred feet above sea level. For the first time the
countryside was not as picturesque as other parts of Siberia.
It was not until we reached the Ural Mountains
that the countryside once again took on a more scenic nature. With the
exception of the M52 in the Altay Region, most bitumen roads we have driven on in Russia have been substandard and
quite rough. It was quite a
pleasant change to find a 400km stretch of new concrete road linking Novosibirsk to Omsk. After Omsk we had to turn off the M51 highway and take
the northern route to Yekaterinburg via Tumen as the
M51 now passes through Kazakhstan
(formerly part of Russia)
for a short distance. This meant that without a Kazakhstan visa we were not able to
continue on the M51 highway.
On the way to Tumen we were flagged down by two white 100 series Toyota Landcruisers with Russian number plates. At first we
ignored them but then heard someone yelling ‘we are Aussies’ so we
stopped to talk to Duncan and his wife and their Russian companions. It turned
out that Duncan was managing an Aluminium
smelter in Krasnoyarsk but was just finishing a
two year assignment and driving to Moscow before
returning to Australia.
Duncan was quite shocked to see an Australian
registered vehicle in Central Russia and asked what we were doing so I told him
that we got lost finding our way to London.
We had intended to stay in
Yekaterinburg however we would have arrived too late so we ended up camping
just before town. In the morning we drove into Yekaterinburg.
At the entrance to
Yekaterinburg there is a monument to a Surface to Air (SAM) missile. This is the
town where Gary Powers' U2 spy plane was shot down in 1960 during the middle of
the cold war.
This is the city
where the Tsar and his family were killed by the Bolsheviks. We thought we
might catch a show at the Opera and Ballet Theatre however we were disappointed
to discover that it too was closed for the summer. In the square adjacent to
the Theatre there was a large crowd of people so we decided to go over and see
what the attraction was. Once again Russia defied our preconceptions.
Performing in a large outdoor amphitheatre were a number of lovely ladies
singing and dancing the famous ABBA hits in English. The atmosphere was
electrifying. We also tried to visit two museums but both were closed for
renovations. We strolled through the city centre and then left after having
dinner at a restaurant and camped not far out of town.
Our next destination was Kazan via Perm
and Izhevsk. The road from Perm
to Kazan
was very scenic, the traffic was light and the road in
good condition. This road crosses the Ural Mountains which divides Europe from Asia. The Ural Mountains stretch some 2000km from the
Arctic in the north to Kazakhstan
in the south. The mountains do not compare in height with other famous mountain
ranges however they are a rich source of metals, minerals and oil which are
vital to the Russian economy. There are oil wells dotted all throughout the
countryside. Small vendors on the side of the road were selling honey,
potatoes, raspberries and blueberries. As has been the case since Biysk,
much of the land is being farmed or grazed. It was on a quiet section of this road
that we were forced to stop because a group of people formed a human chain
blocking the road in front of us. Our initial reaction was of concern for our
safety. Once stopped it soon became apparent that this was a wedding party and
it was customary for passing vehicles to give a small monetary gift to the
newly married couple in return for a small glass of vodka. When the party
realized that we were foreigners we were invited to join them for a photo
session. They offered us pate and bread and vodka (which we politely refused).
The fun continued as more vehicles were stopped and offered vodka in exchange
for a monetary donation.
We finally arrived in Kazan which is on the Volga River.
The Volga River
is the heartland of Russia
and at 3700km in length is Europe’s
longest river. It has 200 tributaries and starts North West of Moscow and flows
into the Caspian Sea. Kazan has a very
Central Asian atmosphere with a nomadic Turkish Tatar heritage. This city flourishes as the gateway to Siberia and the region is rich in oil. We strolled
through the mall and were surprised to see our first McDonalds with very long
queues. Kienny’s first response was to try out
the flushing toilets, soft toilet paper and wash basin with hot water. This was quite a novelty as we had not seen a good
working western toilet since leaving home. The mall was full of people strolling
through the up market stores, eating at the alfresco cafes and restaurants to
the sounds of buskers playing their accordion, guitar, violin and flutes. This
was also the “Day of the North Fleet” and hence there were many
sailors in town. Many had travelled from Murmansk (the home of the Russian
fleet) especially for the occasion. It was also the first time that we had seen
beggars in Russia.
These people did not have a Russian appearance and looked like gypsies to us.
We spent some time looking through the Kremlin and surrounding areas. It was
all very interesting.
From here our plans are to
continue our journey westwards to Nizhny Novgorod, Vladimir, Suzdal and Moscow. The further west
we travel, the more developed everything becomes. The change is evident as
the wooden outhouses at petrol stations are replaced by brick or cement. However this has not made the experience of visiting these
toilets any more pleasant. It is still a deep pit and I dread the thought of
dropping the car keys or money pouch into the quagmire below. The roads are
busier with more traffic and we even see the odd tourist bus. We get the feeling that our
adventure will soon come to an end as we join the main tourist route. We
apologise if we have not responded to your emails as time at internet cafes is
limited. Be assured that we do appreciate them very much.
You can see pictures for
this part of our journey by clicking here.
Our WEB site containing our travels in Africa and Russia is http://overland.dreamers1.com.
Best wishes,
Geoff and Kienny
Kingsmill
Email: gkingsmill@yahoo.com
WEB:
http://overland.dreamers1.com
