Travelling in Russia

Both the GPS units we had on our trip failed eventually.

Oddly, the 2610 with European mapping did routing as far as Ekaterinberg (major roads only). My 276c with City Nav 2008 didn't. Anyhow, don't rely on a GPS for two reasons -

1. the roads are hard on kit and it might well fail
2. it'll display the info in Anglic & the signs will be in Cyrillic

I strongly, strongly urge you get a good Russian map. I took this one. Don't be tempted to get the English version, you really need the Cyrillic place names.

Russia for beginners...

..is to go to Kaliningrad oblast!
In August 2008 my friend Ed (who rode a Jawa CZ, two-stroke, 180ccm) and I (the Scarver) rode Klaipeda (Lithuania), south to Kaliningrad oblast and Zelenogradsk. Bring roubles for the border as this small office do not take visa cards (plastic money).
Then we rode north to Sovetsk (Tilsit), south to Gusiew, east and out of Kaliningrad and in to Lithuania again, and south to Poland. The rest of the tour was in Poland.

All signs by the road was in Cyrillic letters, but you'll recognize some of the names and figure out where to go.
All people was nice!
But they seemed to be afraid of me when I was wearing my riding gear, off or on my Scarver. Ed had no problem like that, so I guess it was most because I'm a girl, and some because of my bike. (Girls are wearing some make-up and look very feminine and delicate, I had helmet-hair and I was wearing mens clothes, if you ask them.) Ed & bike look more like the locals!

If you try to speak in English to people on the sidewalk adults seem to be afraid and walk faster. -Ask kids as they love to try to help, and they speak English too!

Pay for a secure parking at night -my friend has been in ''real Russia'' not just Kaliningrad several times, riding a two-stroke, and he strongly recommend this! (He has been to the Ural factory in Irbit, and the Minsk factory in Minsk, Belarus.)

At petrol stations they not always let you use the toilet, and air for your wheels you get at a garage.
Petrol stations often sell vodka and sweets, but not food. Eat when you se food!
Every day we had one (sometimes two) meals at a cafe / restaurant who played music loud - not the type of music I love!


Liv.

mylovelyhorse said:

Some thoughts:

It'll be hard to get into Belarus (their customs were difficult and we had an interpreter with us when I went) and from Belarus to Russia is supposed to be another hard crossing.

Cheers

M

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Strange ... we had nooooo problems!

Belarus into Russia again no problems

mylovelyhorse said:

Moscow is supposed to be a great place, however it's also the most expensive city in the world (£20 for a hamburger anyone?)

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is that you kidding now?

GBP20,- you pay for a lunch of 5 persons in McDo here.

Great Tips

What fantastic advice.

Our plan (at present) is to skirt around to the North of Belarus. Basically France - Germany - Poland - Lithuania - Latvia and cross the border at Zilupe. I am now armed with information regarding visas etc which I will get from www.waytorussia.com. They were very helpful and for £130 do most of it for you.

What I now need is a bit of advice about road surfaces/ condition. I have heard that most of the roads en route to Moscow are pretty grim. Certainly in Latvia and past the Russian border anyway. I will need new tyres before the trip and need to know whether I will need to go extreme with a Conti TKC80 or whether something like a Tourance or Anakee will do.

If anyone with experience of riding in Eastern Europe and Russia could help with this I would be very grateful.

Thanks very much.

macpants said:

What fantastic advice.

Our plan (at present) is to skirt around to the North of Belarus. Basically France - Germany - Poland - Lithuania - Latvia and cross the border at Zilupe. I am now armed with information regarding visas etc which I will get from www.waytorussia.com. They were very helpful and for £130 do most of it for you.

What I now need is a bit of advice about road surfaces/ condition. I have heard that most of the roads en route to Moscow are pretty grim. Certainly in Latvia and past the Russian border anyway. I will need new tyres before the trip and need to know whether I will need to go extreme with a Conti TKC80 or whether something like a Tourance or Anakee will do.

If anyone with experience of riding in Eastern Europe and Russia could help with this I would be very grateful.

Thanks very much.

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We're about to ride right across Russia to Mongolia and will use Tourances changing to TKC80s in Mongolia.

Tourances will be just fine.

Thanks

Tourances it is then!

I thought that these tyres would probably do the trick but I wasn't sure. I haven't read a bad word about them though.

Not going till August but - well excited. I will post piccys up on flickr when I get back.

Thanks for all the advice and -hey - Mongolia. Fantastic.

For those going to ride M9 Riga-Moscow: from the border on the surface is OK(for GSes at least ) - you would not notice it , but 30 km after Velikie Luki there are several roadworks sites - the road is under capital repair. Nothing scaring just be alert. The part of M9 near city of Rzev(which used to be a real nightmare) is the best part of M9 now(totally repaired).
Just before the roadworks you can use a motel( it's on the right side of the road next to THK gas station in blue colors). You can easily identify it by the trucks parked there. Name of the motel is "Zagorodny Dom". A double room with shower is 900 RUR /breakfast excluded/ and 50 RUR per bike for the guarded parking - they put the bikes in a hangar and lock the door in addition to guards. Food - in the cafe on the ground floor open 24/7.
General advice for travelling in Russia - if you feel about to eat something but not sure where to stop - look for the truckstops. If you see a cafe(sometimes just a small builing not too fashionable for your point of you) with a lot of trucks parked near it - go there, that's the right place. The truck drivers spend a lot of time on the same routes and know best places. And normally it's tasty, fresh and cheap.

easyman05 said:

General advice for travelling in Russia - if you feel about to eat something but not sure where to stop - look for the truckstops. If you see a cafe(sometimes just a small builing not too fashionable for your point of you) with a lot of trucks parked near it - go there, that's the right place. The truck drivers spend a lot of time on the same routes and know best places. And normally it's tasty, fresh and cheap.

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But don't get into a vodka drinking session with the truckers, they'll soon become your best friend and want to shag you

mylovelyhorse said:

Moscow is supposed to be a great place, however it's also the most expensive city in the world (£20 for a hamburger anyone?)

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Moscow IS a great place. I've been here no fewer than 70 times in the past 10 years according to my passport stamps and I am writing from Moscow now. One of the most exciting cities in the world for sure, but the scene changes quickly, and if you are a first time visitor it helps to know people on the ground. By the time any guide book to Moscow is published, its out of date. After all, as they say in Russia, Moscow never sleeps.

It is very expensive here, but not because of the hamburgers. Normal food is normal western prices, as Easyman above said. Hotel rooms will bend your wallet out of shape tho. 18 months ago, before the global crisis really hit town, it was pretty much impossible to get a business class hotel room at somewhere like a Marriott for less than $900 a night. Supply and demand. Every room was full. Now with lower demand prices have dropped, but they are still around $400 a night. A visit to Moscow needs to have accommodation planned well in advance. Upmarket restaurants can be very expensive and wine can be absurdly expensive. Stick to MickyDs (cheeseburger 70p) and you will save squillions.

Its all Bentleys and Range Rovers in central Moscow now ... but here's a pic of how it was when I first visited the big M back in 1994 .... old beat up ladas and volgas, and a yet to be renovated St Basils in red square:

I went through Ukraine into Russia and encountered no problems in fact they were very helpful at both borders.

It's a good idea to try to learn the Cyrillic alphabet because guessing place names etc isn't an option. I stuck a copy of it on my tankbag and spent some of the long hours riding across the countries memorising it. Given my memory I was surprised how quickly I learned it.

petcul said:

...learn the Cyrillic alphabet.... I stuck a copy of it on my tankbag and spent some of the long hours riding across the countries memorising it. Given my memory I was surprised how quickly I learned it.

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Right there is one of the best ideas for learning cyrillic I have ever heard.

I think is is not very hard to cross a border to east European countries. Okay, it takes a little more time than to cross a EU border. But before I went to the east I heared stories that it will take hours.
Look at the movie beneeth. Here is where I crossed the border between Slovakia and Ukraine.