Travelling in Russia

mylovelyhorse

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A mate is off there soon and I wrote up a few hints and tips on riding in Russia for him. After I'd scribbled it down, I thought it might be worthwhile posting it here as well. I hope it is of use:

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OK, some info that I've learned from riding in Russia:

  • A good map is essential, the GPS will be wrong. The map will be wrong too but not as badly.
  • I found writing the Cyrillic names for the places I was going each day onto a bit of paper stuck where I could easily see it in the top of the tank bag really helped.
  • Road signs rarely quote road numbers.
  • Russian roads vary from brand new and very good to sand or gravel. Not "a bit of sand or gravel" but e.g. 22kms of deep sand where there has never been tarmac.
  • Roads marked on the map as good may not be but roads marked as bad probably will be.
  • Lorries are everywhere & they're very slow.
  • The speed limit in towns & cities is 60 kph & out of town is 90 kph.
  • The Police tend to have signs saying ANC on their cars (well, ДИС or phonetically De, I, Es).
  • The police are on the entry and exit of any big town, randomly checking papers.
  • If stopped by these chaps, give them passport & international driving licence (NEVER give them the real thing) and you'll be fine.
  • Road markings must be read in conjunction with the road signs.
  • Double or single solid white lines mean (a) no overtaking and (b) there's probably a copper somewhere close trying to catch someone overtaking so they can extract a bribe.
  • Solid white lines are usually used with no overtaking signs and you cannot start overtaking until you see a 'end of no overtaking' sign even if the solid white lines have ended.
  • There are only four types of vehicle on the road:
    - lorries (& a few coaches)
    - ladas and equivalent
    - nutters in fast, new cars
    - you
  • Find a not too fast nutter in a fastish car and follow them, using them as a lightning conductor for the police. They'll get stopped before the police see you if you're clever about it and they'll slow down where they know coppers are or might be. 90 kph day after day is very dull indeed. Believe me, it really is.
  • The coppers do have speed guns. And real guns.
  • "Nyet par Ruski" means what you have guessed it does :)
  • If you get stopped, act as if you don't understand a thing. They often have a little booklet with some Russian / English phrases like "you were overtaking" and "I must make a report" but I don't believe "pay me a big bribe" is in there. "The fine is.." may be. On the only occasion I got stopped, I acted like I didn't understand, smiled and was polite and eventually they gave up.
  • Rarely do people speak English, especially once you are over the Urals.
  • If you want to camp on the side of the road, this seems pretty easy to do. Certainly I did a number of times and had no problem.
  • The trucker motels are usually clean and good value. Beware though, they will start filling up around 5 or 6 pm.
  • Petrol is very cheap indeed - as little as 60p a litre.
  • When you want to fill up, park at the correct pump and go to the cashier. They will be inside the hut and behind a screen. there'll be a moving drawer for handing over money. Very paranoid. Write the number of litres and the octane rating on a bit of paper and show it to them. Example '17 -- 95'. They will then write down the amount, you pay & the pump is activated.
  • Cards of any type rarely work at petrol stations - and they aren't that useful anywhere else. Cash machines are particularly bad for not accepting the card even if they have the appropriate logo on them.
  • Russians will want you to use Roubles to pay for things. Dollars are for bribing the cops only.
  • You cannot guess Cyrillic into English. It simply doesn't work. Learning the alphabet doesn't help much either.
  • West of the Urals then road signs usually have both Cyrillic and Anglic spellings on them, East of the Urals they generally do not.
  • Look for coffee houses. Marked kofe (only the f is a bit odd - Ф but usually with a longer tail) in big letters, they're hard to miss. They sell food too, almost always. How you'll order it is up to you... ;-)
  • Russian coffee in these places is awful and always sugared, like it or not.
  • Have good waterproofs. Don't ask my how I know, I just know, OK?
-----

Cheers
 
Very useful, thanks for taking the time to post:thumb2
 
I used a calculator at petrol stations seemed to work ok but pen and paper seems a good option.

did you figure out how to reset the pump? cos that stuffed me up in the first few times....:blast
 
A useful addition to the list is a point it book...:thumb

this has loads of pictures so ye can use it for any language...

it got me n digger06 a good campsite in Romania, by showing it to a local biker who took us there:D

ugg
 
some good info there for the future (2010 i reckon) thanks.

Those point it books are good, My Dad gave me the idea as he had one in the Army in the Suez crisis.

him and his mates drew loads of piccies of everyday things in liitle books and used them to communicate with as he said "the Geordies or was it the cockneys" :p:rolleyes::hide

Seriously thanks though someone gave me some duff ifo the other day telling me that Russia was so expensive and petrol was a fortune ( goes to show never trust a Father in law:rob

chris
 
russia is a bloody good laugh, odd at times but mostly blurdy good once you get your head around the idea that nothing works exactly how it should....:thumb
 
Going in August

A mate and I plan to do Moscow in August but have absolutely no idea where to start. The tips posted here are invaluable (maybe a little off-putting).

Our initial plan is France, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia and back in 10 days.

Firstly, is this realistic? Secondly, I know we will need visas for Russia but what about Belarus. Lastly - where can you get good(ish) maps from?

I would be very grateful for any advice anyone can give. Especially any good books or websites.

Thanks
 
You'll need a visa for Belarus.
Get your maps from Stanfords and use the new version of world map if you have a Garmin GPS.
 
I know we will need visas for Russia but what about Belarus. Lastly - where can you get good(ish) maps from?


Thanks

Belarus require a visa.

The HUBB is an invaluable source of info.

Stanfords website for your maps.


Have a good trip :thumb2
 
I loved Russia, cried when I left :tears

Best bit o' kit is the RAC interpretaion of your V5 in Russian. It was the ONLY document they were interested in and we breezed through without a problem.

Stopped every day by the police, some days four or five times, we never had a problem, no intimidation, just smiles, salutes and handshakes :thumb

Some Motels charge by the hour for the room ;)

Go for it... I'll be going back for sure :thumb
 
Interesting looking trip.

Some thoughts:

Moscow is supposed to be a great place, however it's also the most expensive city in the world (£20 for a hamburger anyone?) so unless you're flush with serious cash, I'd look to go elsewhere.

Belarus is quite something. Brest fort is an absolute must. Crossing the Belarussian plains takes some beating for scale. Although Siberia manages it sometimes :)

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.

I'd suggest either go into Russia via Estonia (if you do, plan to cross on a Sunday and then you aren't also crossing with the lorries) or through the Ukraine. After all, if you want to go through Belarus (and it is pretty fab in its own way) then why not head down from Gomel into the Ukraine, visit Kiev, take a day trip to Chernobyl (needs to be arranged in advance) and then go to Russia?

As for 10 days - well you'll do it OK, although I'm not sure you'll see much. Take a fortnight & amble :)

Anything else I can help you with, pleased to do so.

Cheers

M
 
World Maps v4? Terribly inaccurate, I'm afraid :-(

Thanks for that:thumb2
I have another version of Worldmap from the Smellybikers site, it does have much more detail, but whether it's more accurate remains to be seen so let's hope with that and a map we can find out way.
 


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