Had a great nights sleep and woke up in a lovely forest to the sounds of the birds. I was up about 8 but then took my time to get on the road. I had an internet signal and so as I have been out of contact with all of my friends and family for a while I spent some time catching up. 
I was on my bike by about 10.30. It was a lovely sunny day but extremely windy. The ride through the mountains all day was absolutely beautiful. Over all it was downhill and followed a huge river all the way but it was rolling. There were some good climbs in there as well. However, it was extremely hard work! I only did 80km today but it felt like much more. The wind was so strong that I had to pedal to go down a 10% decline! It took all the fun out of it. 
I took this photo of the grass to show how windy it was but I am not sure that you can really tell from this photo! 
Like the Mongolians there are spiritual mounds made from wood or stone at the top of mountain passes. These were draped in white cloth rather than the blue cloth of Mongolia. 
For most for the day I could see snow covered mountains in the distance. I was biking at about 2300m so these must have been over 3500m. It was very pretty. I had no idea that I would be traveling through such a lovely area of Russia. The reason I was biking in this area is because that is where I could cross from Mongolia into Russia. It turns out that this is considered to be one of the most beautiful parts of Russia and where many Russians come to spend their holiday time. This is why there are so many other people camping and so many cars on the road. I had no idea that the Altai region was so special until I actually arrived here! I always seem to land on my feet on this trip. 
It was really nice to see several teams from the Mongolian Rally pass me on the other side of the road. Even though I am on my own in Siberia it is lovely that there are fellow Brits here too! Most of them did not stop to say hello but a couple of Ambulances did. One of them was a team of 3 girls from South Africa. They were really lovely and bubbly. They had flown from Jo-burg to London to then drive an Ambulance to Mongolia! Awesome. 
We stopped and chatted for about 1 hour. It was really nice. Girls can be so much fun with silly photos etc. They told me about the fact that men in certain countries can't understand how just girls can travel such long distances on their own. In the Ukraine they had a huge crowd of guys watching them as they were fixing something under the bonnet of the Ambulance. The men could not understand how girls could do this. We swapped stories about different countries and took silly videos and photos. It was a lovely break in the day and some time off the saddle out of the wind. 
I arrived at Aktash about 7.30. I wanted to find a hotel to stay in rather than camping purely because I needed to register my Visa. It is a pain that in Russia you have to register your visa with a hotel every 7 days. I was all worried about it because I did not want to get into any trouble again after being detained for camping too close to the border! I was getting close to 7 days in Russia. I biked round town asking for a hotel and a lady I asked gestured that the hotel was full and that I could stay with her.
When I had got into her house and unpacked my things and seen that there was no bathroom inside and that I was going to be sleeping on the sofa, she then gestured to me that I should pay £10 for the privilege of staying the night. I have no problem with paying for accommodation to people that have very little but the only time I wanted to pay was in hotels when I could get my visa registered. Russia is very expensive and so I do not have the money to pay for expensive hotels and also to stay with people. When I camp I have the freedom to come and go as I please, I don't have to be polite and make an effort with people that don't speak the same language and I can spend time updating my blog (which I am behind on yet again). I tried to leave so that I could go and camp. She said "no no" and gestured that I should buy diner instead. That seemed like a good compromise to me. I wanted to see how people live in Siberia and so it was good to stay with her. I supposed I can camp anytime but it is not every day that you are invited to stay with a Russian lady.
The lady took me to a shop to buy dinner for the evening. Like all shops in Siberia it seems they use an abacus for keeping track of the total cost of the purchases. At the end they showed me the total on the abacus. I remember being taught how to use one when I was about 6 but I can't remember now... I think I just look like an idiot when I point at a calculator and ask them to type the figure! Perhaps I should look up how an abacus works?
I bought some smoked fish and water melon that the lady asked for and some other vegetables and bread etc.
When we got back to the house I enjoyed cooking myself a healthy meal of cous cous, veg and fish using her kitchen :-)
I was very glad that I had managed to pick up a Russian phase book from James and Tim (motorcyclists doing the Mongolian Rally) at the Mongolian/Russian border. It really makes communication very much easier with people that do not speak the same language.
I was not quite sure what the situation was when a man turned up later on in the evening and shared the fish with the woman that was putting me up for the night. He was rather distant and cold with me and would not look me in the eye and so I was not sure if he was angry that I was staying. As the evening went on I found out that both of them work as cleaners at the local school.
The toilet for the property is a hole in the ground surrounded by a shed about 1 minutes walk from her flat. Mongolia has the advantage that because the people are migratory the toilets do not get so such a state as the ones in Siberia. The smell was so bad that I could not spend more than 30 seconds in there and so did not end up going to the loo.
The decor in the houses reminded me of films I have seen about the 1960s. I remember making dens when I was a kid and decorating the walls in the same way. I found it all very cute - obviously in a non patronising way! 
I thought that this chair made from a tree trunk was awesome! 
At about 10.15, just as I was getting tired and ready for bed, she guested that I should follow her and we walked several doors down to where the man that had visited had a flat.
I waited in the living room for 15 minutes not sure what was happening but was then shown to a small room with a bath in it. There was no pumping or running water to the room through.
Bless them! They had heated loads of water for me and poured it into the large container perched on a shelf high up towards the ceiling. From this container there was a make shift shower held up with metal wire to the wall. It had taken them about 1 hour to prepare the water. It was the kindest shower I have ever had (and probably one of the funniest)!
I was knackered by 11.30 when I eventually got to go to sleep. It had been a hard days biking against the wind and in the mountains.
No comments:
Post a Comment