From Kazan to Omsk and on to Novosibirsk (part 3)

So I just rechecked what I had reported and realize I stopped in Votkinsk. I forgot to mention that the tip for the hotel there I had gotten from an excellently German speaking teacher who walked by 'Datcha'. The museum was quite interesting and eventually I'll upload the pictures, but I need time that I presently don't seem to have as I am under constant hospitality and sightseeing stress. But now I can say I ave been at his birthplace and his grave.

Today I arrived about 10 am in Novosibirsk (after again going through smoke from the various forest fires) and was received by the local area manager Andrei Pochesnev. He is responsible for the whole area from Omsk to the Kamchatka. For those of you who don't have an atlas at hand: that's an area covering 5 time zones and about double the area of Australia... And from here to Irkutsk it's almost 2000 kms and I want to be there in 2 1/2 days. So that will be strong driving...

But back to Andrei: It was like we had each other known for years. When I told him that I needed a locksmith or similar to fix my broken motorcycle carrier he went with me to a 'treasure shop' (for boys) to get the parts/materials and then we proceeded to the bank's own workshop in the basement where at times 4 people worked to get the parts I needed produced. After that he showed me the branch, the town and his house where he kept his toy (similar to me), a 1965 GAZ light army transport in excellently restored condition. His garage also was similar to mine, only a little tidier... Naturally I couldn't avoid being treated for 'tea' including quail's eggs, a kind of turkey egg and 'normal' eggs plus cucumbers and tomatoes all from the premises supervised by his mother. 

For 'dessert' (of course it was lunch) we went to a steak house where Gerhard Grund hosted a lunch for 2 collegues from Raiffeisen Investment Moscow and Andrei's deputy Pavel Losev before they left for customer visits in other places in Siberia... It' really amazing and highly enjoyable at which places on this trip I meet friends from the bank... Then we briefly got back to the place in front of the main bank office (there are 8 in Novosibirsk, almost 300 people) where I wanted to repair the carrier when everything had been put right already... I was embarrassed...

Then I got a special tour of the 'Town of the Academics', a town founded about 50 years ago to be Russia's answer to Silicon Valley, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Columbia together. I might exaggerate a little but certainly not much. It is the brainpower of Russia, set in a park-like environment very much like in the USA and the newer buildings most likely even match the build quality you find there. Andrei had studied and graduated there. Nearby is a little town that specializes in space technology. And very close is a huge lake (the 'sea') formed by an also about 50 year old dam of the Ob river (remember you crossword puzzle?). So again, half the evening was gone when we arrived back at my 'Datcha' where I'll spend the night in comfort after this will have been done.

So now I want to fill you in on all the geography between Votkinsk and here... So my next stop was Perm. I arrived in the evening and after a round around town to get a first view I found a guarded parking right behind our branch to spend the night. The next morning I met Roman Nebabin, the branch manager and after a brief tour around the branch Victoria, his charming assistant showed me around town whereby due to time constraints we looked at the sights from outside... Perm is principally a modern city. Not very much is left from the old Perm but what there is, is nicely presented and explained, even in English. But I had to go on to Yekaterinburg which was about 400 kms further...

But Roman told me that I have to stop by Belaya Gora, a monastery on top of a hill which according to him was a very special place. On the way there I also stopped by a little church that was being in process of restoration. An old man was there who, as he saw me, walked towards me, stretched out his hand and seeing that I was driving with a German license plate greeted me in German. He apparently was a retired lawyer who had learned a little German in school. He told me everything there was to know, but unfortunately in Russian, so I can't reproduce it here...I got the impression that the village was also one of those villages where Stalin had sent people of German origin as quite a few houses were abandoned, most likely people had emigrated.

Belaya Gora was about another 20kms but already visible as it really has a commanding position. I arrived late afternoon and had spectacular light and views. I saw that church I mentioned and much further. I guess the visibility must have been over 40 kms and I really 'felt' the vastness of Sibiria. Also this monastery was in terrible shape after Communism but is in process of being restored/rebuilt. Eventually I'll show some pictures. In the church I also found some documentation of the murder of the tsar's family in Yekaterinburg.

Due to this excursion I wasn't able to make it to Yekatrinburg that evening but I met a Dutch guy with his microvan on the way and shortly before it got totally dark we stopped at a truck stop about 120 kms before, had dinner and went to sleep. 

The next morning I got up early and left and arrived about 10 am at our branch where the branch manger's deputy Anatoly Sosunov and his assistant Yulia Yakimova who proceeded to help me with my Mongolian visa which now proves to be a little more complicated than I was told by the Viennese embassy, but in Irkutsk I should be able to get it now... (also thanks to Matin L-W's contacts). I was treated with lunch and a short city tour and the most interesting bit: the tour through the museum dealing with the murder of the imperial family in 1918 in the building next to the church built on the site where the events happened. All these buildings were raised over the past years with private funds and quite a few artists are employed to re-paint frescos and icons. Finally we went up to the 53rd floor of a newly erected skyscraper and enjoyed a wonderful view over the city. As it was Friday evening almost 8pm we bade farewell and they went to their datchas not without Yulia first accompanying me to a bookstore to get some better maps.

Before looking for a place to park for the night I made a visit to the local railway station where, as I stepped onto the platform the train from Irkutsk to Moscow just pulled out. It must have had over 20 carriages... The idea occurred to one day doing this again by train...

The next morning I went on to wards Tyumen which is an oil area where we also have a branch. The town itself doesn't offer much but I at least had to inspect the branch from the outside (it was Saturday) and take a picture. On the way in I had my second police check since I entered the country but this one apparently was because of boredom. The policeman came to my car, introduced himself with rank and name, asked for my documents with a smile, checked, asked where I was going and sent me off with a 'bon voyage' (in Russian, of course). Later, when leaving town I had my third one: an unmarked 4x4 cut me off at a roundabout. got out of his car with drawn smart phone, smiling and asking if I would mind him taking a picture of my (then still ok) motorcycle carrier. Obviously I didn't and it appeared to me that he was one of the guys checking me earlier... 

And off I went to my next stop in Omsk about 300 kms to the east (for details, pse refer to part 1). And now again it is after 1am, but at least you (and I) are literally 'up to date'

From Kazan to Omsk and on to Novosibirsk (part 2)

I am afraid there will have to be a part 3 and you'll understand why: It's midnight and I arrived about an hour ago here, 130 kms from Novosibirsk. The day started harmless with the intention of some 'house keeping'. I was picked up and escorted to the bank when I checked my motorcycle carrier and noticed some 'play'. Further investigation revealed that one of the straps holding the front wheel had snapped and, what was much more serious, the main holder had broken and the motorcycle only was kept on the carrier by the bicycle! If I hadn't had that bicycle the motorcycle would have fallen off... Well, within half an hour I had it provisionally fixed as in some foresight I had hardware on board that was suitable for a repair. However, didn't last and just now I had to redo it again (the road was again, say, mediocre). So tomorrow one task will be to find a locksmith who can make a more durable part (shouldn't be too difficult). The original was made from aluminum which simply isn't strong enough under these conditions...

Then I was guided to a tire change place where I had them rotate my tires. Then Lev Yaneev and his wife took me to take passport pictures and get a haircut and then took me to an excellent and sumptuous lunch which I couldn't even finish and even now I'm not yet hungry.... Russian hospitality...

And then I drove off and Lev insisted that I get a guide from the bank. Well, when I was almost an hour into my trip I realized I had forgotten to pick up my laundry... so back again to my hotel. I only superficially checked the laundry which turned out to be a mistake as one of my t-shirts had been mixed up...

About 3 hours into my trip my phone rings and the other end is Gerhard Grund from RCB. He had just arrived in Novosibirsk! What a pleasant surprise so I drove a little longer to be there tomorrow morning for a reunion...

Which is the reason why you'll have to wait for part 3 until tomorrow... good night!

From Kazan to Omsk (part 1)

Yes friends, I made it to Omsk! Now I'm in Asia and another (time zone) hour away from home and only one hour from Beijing. So that's the good news, the bad one is that I'm having a bad conscience because I'm terribly delayed with my photos and also it's 0115 in the morning and I'm tired. I 'lost an hour today and I drove 7 hours basically non-stop from a place about 500 kms from Omsk. Don't ask me for the name, it was a truck-stop 60 km after the previous one and about the same distance from the next one... So now not only am I in Asia, I am in deepest Sibiria.

It's hard to describe, but I get the feeling the further east I get the more hospitality I experience. This in fact is an unfair statement to my previous hosts because their hospitality was incredibly nice, but I'm just trying to make you understand how welcoming everybody I meet is. But for tonight let me just tell you that much: I'm just 'home' from an extremely nice dinner and evening city tour with Lev (our local branch manager) and his wife Svetlana and their son (and some of their friends later on). Yes, and I'm still ok and so is 'Datcha' despite some incredibly bad sections of  road but thank God those were literally few and far in between. Well, and the Russian drivers aren't particularly easy to deal with, but I'm getting used to their Kamikaze attitudes.

But now let me recover as tomorrow I'll have to do some more sightseeing and some 'housekeeping' before I set off for Novosibirsk and Irkutsk which will be long driving stretches...

So hopefully I can get into some more detail about the last eventful week tomorrow... till then stay tuned!

From Moscow to Kazan (Part 2), and on to Ishevsk and Votkinsk

Now I am in Votkinsk which is the birth place of Tchaikovsky. Tomorrow I'll visit the museum. It is 300 m from here. "Here" is a little hotel right on the lake where I could park my 'Datcha' for the night.

I am reading what I wrote last night and here a clarification: Kazan is older than 1000 years and Moscow is less than 1000 years old (first reference 1147).

Now back to Nishny Nowgorod. As you might remember the Communists used to call it Gorki and it was a 'closed city' during the old times like most of the cities I am visiting as they all have military industries. I arrived in the evening of Friday and got a place on the parking lot of the bank. Alexandr Gritsay showed me the branch, took me for an evening tour of the city and then for a very nice dinner. I must say we had an immediate link due to the fact that we both like motorcycling and indeed on my way out of town on Sunday morning Alexandr wouldn't let me leave the city without escorting me on his heavy Harley like Suzuki all the way out of town.

On Saturday I met up with two young Germans who I had met the day before on the road between Wladimir and Nishny N. We walked through town together and had lunch. Like many of these cities it also has a Kremlin as all these towns had to be defendable against the various enemies attacking from time to time. What makes it more spectacular than the others is its location on a bluff above the Wolga. The Wolga is a very big river and it feels more like a lake also due to the various power stations that have meanwhile been built. I was on my bicycle and promptly got caught in a thunderstorm but soon that was over too and I could retreat to my 'home'.

A few words about the driving. The roads so far are generally better than feared. Lots has been re-covered with German equipment so those stretches are great. Other parts are either full of patches or have deep grooves which are caused by the heavy twin wheels of the trucks. The tricky bit comes when you see tractors going on a 4 lane highway and, of course, bicyclists. The worst I experienced yesterday and today in Ishevsk where on many streets I had to go with walking speed as the surface was that bad.

So last night I arrived in Ishevsk after 2100 and after some checks in the internet found a very decent hotel to service my toilet and get some laundry done as I was unwilling to pay EUR 50 for a 2.5 kg load in Kazan. The hotel charged about Eur 13...

In the morning I went to our branch and was received by its head Petr Sychugov who surprisingly spoke some German and Alexandr Baryshev his chief IT manager who speaks excellent English. They gave me a rundown on the business situation followed by a city tour including a highly interesting visit to the Kalashnikov Museum. Kalashnikov is still alive (93) and is the local hero. The museum's presentations are excellent and most of the exhibition has English labeling which is quite unusual. Interestingly, despite this locals and foreigners pay the same.

In Ishewsk also many of the churches were destroyed and the main cathedral was rebuilt between 2004 and 2007 exactly like the previous church. Even the interior and the Iconostasis was painstakingly reproduced. And it was largely financed by contributions of the public.

After an excellent lunch I had asked to be shown a car wash as during the previous days 'Datcha' got very muddy from the road construction. Promptly, less than 10 minutes after I left it started raining again... actually it was predictable, it always rains after washing the car....

But soon it stopped and I went on direction of Perm and the intention of visiting Tchaikovski's birthplace....

So that's it for today and again it's almost 1am again... so till next time...

Here is the first batch of pictures from St. Petersburg