Stewart H
Registered user
Keep it coming and ride safe 
Stewart
Stewart
What goes around comes around... Dublin to New york
- Thread starter Oisin
- Start date
Day 3/4 heading east out of Moscow
<table><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-pjcemmnlI/AAAAAAAB4WY/RQ67IB0-mTg/s576/more%20progress%20in%20russia.jpg"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fH9j0DsBI/AAAAAAAB3OI/57_CE-1Vj5s/s640/IMG_2784.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fH_aTsaVI/AAAAAAAB3OQ/Whle-KpVtYU/s640/IMG_2785.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fmnMrCPaI/AAAAAAAB3QI/-RIDR0C9-hQ/s720/IMG_2794.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fmord6xuI/AAAAAAAB3QQ/C2bdqZWjMEo/s640/IMG_2795.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fmrlcY_dI/AAAAAAAB3Qg/YdevA6ua_QA/s640/IMG_2797.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fmtyPz-1I/AAAAAAAB3Qw/MxEbL4QseMs/s640/IMG_2799.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fm2CSFYiI/AAAAAAAB3Rg/c1lytta-Ksw/s640/IMG_2806.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fnAVRMCeI/AAAAAAAB3SI/PyokMu1iSt8/s640/IMG_2811.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fnDVUeXeI/AAAAAAAB3SY/0V7kYMmSLLE/s640/IMG_2813.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fnJKKXZWI/AAAAAAAB3S8/ckKcH5tT0LQ/s640/IMG_2818.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fnMkpgbcI/AAAAAAAB3TY/hEydegT9I-A/s640/IMG_2821.JPG"></tr></td></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fnNsILWTI/AAAAAAAB3Tg/QzUIbh7qoN0/s640/IMG_2822.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fHEupIATI/AAAAAAAB3JU/9TcjJPl_R2w/s640/IMG_2747.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-frRr2B2kI/AAAAAAAB3rM/0EGJfGDLw3A/s640/IMG_2825.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-frWaB5jSI/AAAAAAAB3rs/kT3LfQsVdZU/s640/IMG_2829.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-frT3mUdRI/AAAAAAAB3rc/NlzHmm9zA1g/s640/IMG_2827.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-frlzJhdmI/AAAAAAAB3tQ/G7mtuF522ZY/s640/IMG_2843.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-frqkRlVLI/AAAAAAAB3tw/W_7ZeNkABxA/s640/IMG_2848.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fsGmaLoWI/AAAAAAAB3vo/0OM_qe80s9s/s640/IMG_2863.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fsfuv-OiI/AAAAAAAB3yA/e1FQvaP6CZQ/s640/IMG_2882.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fsp0rPIUI/AAAAAAAB3zE/Z0hkiMIh9dA/s640/IMG_2890.JPG"></tr></td></table>
Day 3 out of Moscow
I drove a total of 700km today and on the way passed over the Ural Mountains. The Ural mountains are important in history because prior to World War 2 starting Stalin moved all the important industry behind them (East of them) so that if Germany invaded Russia the country could continue to function. It’s the main reason why there are so many cities that far east with such huge populations, and even though the risk of invasion has long since passed the cities continue to thrive and prosper....oh and as a by the way most of the people in south western Russia (bit closest to Germany) learned German when they were growing up to prepare for the post world war 2 german invastion. No doubt the Soviets filled everyone full of crap about how the fourth Reich might at any moment come marching up the Russian Steppes.
To call the Ural’s “Mountains” is a bit of an overstatement for these hills to be fair, I doubt any of them are above 700m but it was a great change from the flat landscape I’d been riding in for what seemed like an eternity now. The only disappointing thing is that there is no place to pull over and take a picture, if you do you’ll end up being dug out of a truck. This part of Russia doesn’t get many (any?) tourists so it’s not altogether surprising that they haven’t spent any cash on laybys.
Early in the day I passed at least ten checkpoints but once I got west of Cheblinski I didn’t see a rozzer for the remainder of the day.
Most of the day I’ve been hugging the northern border with Kazakhstan; something which makes me feel like I’m a million miles from home.
For three days now I’ve been living the life of a trucker; eating where they eat, sleeping where they sleep and sharing a chunk of bumpy tarmac for over 2000km. The trucker pit stops are awesome places. No matter what goes wrong with a truck, these boys seem to be able to get you back on the road. The grub they serve is all baked fresh, that’s not to say it’s great grub, but it’s hot and tastes mostly like stew.
The people’s skin tone darkened a notch as the road wore on, the majority of folks look like what I’d expect to find in Kazakhstan or Mongolia, not a major surprise when you consider Russia is made up of so many different ethnic groups.
Day 4 out of Moscow
I left today only twenty minutes after I did yesterday and the sun was already fully up, just goes to show how much progress I’m making with respect to riding east. It was freezing cold and unlike yesterday, although it did get sunny it never got warm and for most of the day I was tormented by a cruel north wind.
Today I’d to do another detour, while the guide books told me it was 600km to Omsk, that’s only true if you go through Kazakhstan, so I’d to detour north to Schmidt and then push further east and then south to loop up and around for Omsk.
The scenery hardly changed all day and was almost identical to Montana for large parts. It looks like I’m actually in Siberia now and a lot of the land was under water no doubt on account of a massive thaw.
It seems like the local farmers have to sow and harvest a crop between late april and early September otherwise they’ll lose it all when the winter comes and the amount of fields which are ploughed and planted is an incredible sight. In 640km today the views to my left and right barely changed; it was all just flat farm land for as far as the eye could see, the resemblance to Canada was uncanny.
The roads got significantly crappier today; most with snow damage from the trucks creating long ditches in the road were much worse and for a good few miles I’d to contend with my first dose of gravel. The ditches are created as the trucks make a line in the snow and then follow it till the spring. When the snow melts, with the excess weight and pressure due to the compaction of all the snow it’s like someone has pushed big ditches into the tarmac.
The scale of the loop road around cities can be hard to comprehend. For example, around the town of Cheblinski; to avoid going into the city you end up detouring almost 100km, which is about the width of two counties in Ireland and it packs miles onto your trip journey, but it beats having to spend your time in city traffic.
For some reason my mobile phone hasn’t been working, I can receive texts and phone calls but can’t make any. Later on I found out that Vodofone don’t have a roaming agreement in Russia. I’ll need to go off and get a Russian SIM card, which Bill already gave me but I lost it.
I’m a full four days without access to email or the internet which for someone like me whose online a lot is hard to bare. Nowhere in Russia seems to have it, none of the places I’m staying even seem to have a computer in the building. Of the places I’ve stayed in so far none had it and I haven’t even passed an internet café in over 3000km in Russia. It’s hard to believe that a country as powerful as Russia is so far behind when it comes to IT infrastructure.
I’m tempting fate by even writing this but the trip has been rain free now for a very long time which is great and my bike is running brilliant. The big ordeal coming is up is to make my way to the town of Barnaul and get the bike serviced and change to Knobbly tires before I push into Mongolia in the middle of the week.
Getting to Omsk has given me a tremendous feeling of accomplishment and it now feels like Mongolia is within touching distance.
Over and out!
Oisin
<table><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-pjcemmnlI/AAAAAAAB4WY/RQ67IB0-mTg/s576/more%20progress%20in%20russia.jpg"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fH9j0DsBI/AAAAAAAB3OI/57_CE-1Vj5s/s640/IMG_2784.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fH_aTsaVI/AAAAAAAB3OQ/Whle-KpVtYU/s640/IMG_2785.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fmnMrCPaI/AAAAAAAB3QI/-RIDR0C9-hQ/s720/IMG_2794.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fmord6xuI/AAAAAAAB3QQ/C2bdqZWjMEo/s640/IMG_2795.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fmrlcY_dI/AAAAAAAB3Qg/YdevA6ua_QA/s640/IMG_2797.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fmtyPz-1I/AAAAAAAB3Qw/MxEbL4QseMs/s640/IMG_2799.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fm2CSFYiI/AAAAAAAB3Rg/c1lytta-Ksw/s640/IMG_2806.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fnAVRMCeI/AAAAAAAB3SI/PyokMu1iSt8/s640/IMG_2811.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fnDVUeXeI/AAAAAAAB3SY/0V7kYMmSLLE/s640/IMG_2813.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fnJKKXZWI/AAAAAAAB3S8/ckKcH5tT0LQ/s640/IMG_2818.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fnMkpgbcI/AAAAAAAB3TY/hEydegT9I-A/s640/IMG_2821.JPG"></tr></td></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fnNsILWTI/AAAAAAAB3Tg/QzUIbh7qoN0/s640/IMG_2822.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fHEupIATI/AAAAAAAB3JU/9TcjJPl_R2w/s640/IMG_2747.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-frRr2B2kI/AAAAAAAB3rM/0EGJfGDLw3A/s640/IMG_2825.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-frWaB5jSI/AAAAAAAB3rs/kT3LfQsVdZU/s640/IMG_2829.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-frT3mUdRI/AAAAAAAB3rc/NlzHmm9zA1g/s640/IMG_2827.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-frlzJhdmI/AAAAAAAB3tQ/G7mtuF522ZY/s640/IMG_2843.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-frqkRlVLI/AAAAAAAB3tw/W_7ZeNkABxA/s640/IMG_2848.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fsGmaLoWI/AAAAAAAB3vo/0OM_qe80s9s/s640/IMG_2863.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fsfuv-OiI/AAAAAAAB3yA/e1FQvaP6CZQ/s640/IMG_2882.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fsp0rPIUI/AAAAAAAB3zE/Z0hkiMIh9dA/s640/IMG_2890.JPG"></tr></td></table>
Day 3 out of Moscow
I drove a total of 700km today and on the way passed over the Ural Mountains. The Ural mountains are important in history because prior to World War 2 starting Stalin moved all the important industry behind them (East of them) so that if Germany invaded Russia the country could continue to function. It’s the main reason why there are so many cities that far east with such huge populations, and even though the risk of invasion has long since passed the cities continue to thrive and prosper....oh and as a by the way most of the people in south western Russia (bit closest to Germany) learned German when they were growing up to prepare for the post world war 2 german invastion. No doubt the Soviets filled everyone full of crap about how the fourth Reich might at any moment come marching up the Russian Steppes.
To call the Ural’s “Mountains” is a bit of an overstatement for these hills to be fair, I doubt any of them are above 700m but it was a great change from the flat landscape I’d been riding in for what seemed like an eternity now. The only disappointing thing is that there is no place to pull over and take a picture, if you do you’ll end up being dug out of a truck. This part of Russia doesn’t get many (any?) tourists so it’s not altogether surprising that they haven’t spent any cash on laybys.
Early in the day I passed at least ten checkpoints but once I got west of Cheblinski I didn’t see a rozzer for the remainder of the day.
Most of the day I’ve been hugging the northern border with Kazakhstan; something which makes me feel like I’m a million miles from home.
For three days now I’ve been living the life of a trucker; eating where they eat, sleeping where they sleep and sharing a chunk of bumpy tarmac for over 2000km. The trucker pit stops are awesome places. No matter what goes wrong with a truck, these boys seem to be able to get you back on the road. The grub they serve is all baked fresh, that’s not to say it’s great grub, but it’s hot and tastes mostly like stew.
The people’s skin tone darkened a notch as the road wore on, the majority of folks look like what I’d expect to find in Kazakhstan or Mongolia, not a major surprise when you consider Russia is made up of so many different ethnic groups.
Day 4 out of Moscow
I left today only twenty minutes after I did yesterday and the sun was already fully up, just goes to show how much progress I’m making with respect to riding east. It was freezing cold and unlike yesterday, although it did get sunny it never got warm and for most of the day I was tormented by a cruel north wind.
Today I’d to do another detour, while the guide books told me it was 600km to Omsk, that’s only true if you go through Kazakhstan, so I’d to detour north to Schmidt and then push further east and then south to loop up and around for Omsk.
The scenery hardly changed all day and was almost identical to Montana for large parts. It looks like I’m actually in Siberia now and a lot of the land was under water no doubt on account of a massive thaw.
It seems like the local farmers have to sow and harvest a crop between late april and early September otherwise they’ll lose it all when the winter comes and the amount of fields which are ploughed and planted is an incredible sight. In 640km today the views to my left and right barely changed; it was all just flat farm land for as far as the eye could see, the resemblance to Canada was uncanny.
The roads got significantly crappier today; most with snow damage from the trucks creating long ditches in the road were much worse and for a good few miles I’d to contend with my first dose of gravel. The ditches are created as the trucks make a line in the snow and then follow it till the spring. When the snow melts, with the excess weight and pressure due to the compaction of all the snow it’s like someone has pushed big ditches into the tarmac.
The scale of the loop road around cities can be hard to comprehend. For example, around the town of Cheblinski; to avoid going into the city you end up detouring almost 100km, which is about the width of two counties in Ireland and it packs miles onto your trip journey, but it beats having to spend your time in city traffic.
For some reason my mobile phone hasn’t been working, I can receive texts and phone calls but can’t make any. Later on I found out that Vodofone don’t have a roaming agreement in Russia. I’ll need to go off and get a Russian SIM card, which Bill already gave me but I lost it.
I’m a full four days without access to email or the internet which for someone like me whose online a lot is hard to bare. Nowhere in Russia seems to have it, none of the places I’m staying even seem to have a computer in the building. Of the places I’ve stayed in so far none had it and I haven’t even passed an internet café in over 3000km in Russia. It’s hard to believe that a country as powerful as Russia is so far behind when it comes to IT infrastructure.
I’m tempting fate by even writing this but the trip has been rain free now for a very long time which is great and my bike is running brilliant. The big ordeal coming is up is to make my way to the town of Barnaul and get the bike serviced and change to Knobbly tires before I push into Mongolia in the middle of the week.
Getting to Omsk has given me a tremendous feeling of accomplishment and it now feels like Mongolia is within touching distance.
Over and out!
Oisin
ghost
Registered user
excellent stuff,keep it commin
Omsk to Barnaul, Siberia baby!!!
<table><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3VTFhHjI/AAAAAAAB4Xs/4qx0mPHHiXs/s576/russia%20update%20barnaul.jpg"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fsvccum6I/AAAAAAAB3zk/tsZL44b-Gfw/s640/IMG_2894.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fsyAiVBxI/AAAAAAAB3z0/Fi6qwXZ7WHM/s640/IMG_2896.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fs16oJxdI/AAAAAAAB30E/-RSCGD95D1k/s640/IMG_2898.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-ftGdhn3pI/AAAAAAAB31g/eOgI7jIG3TE/s640/IMG_2909.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-ftHktvhzI/AAAAAAAB31o/fT0105H2SqQ/s640/IMG_2910.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-ftY9meROI/AAAAAAAB33A/z51kWbeZ5mQ/s640/IMG_2921.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fBzeTxbwI/AAAAAAAB22c/GakyNcEM2ME/s640/IMG_2926.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fB10IdpSI/AAAAAAAB22k/tChys6Ie8TM/s640/IMG_2927.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fB3eOaC2I/AAAAAAAB22s/uCchPzaRRdQ/s640/IMG_2928.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fCUQ-aZBI/AAAAAAAB25I/Ndo1G650teY/s640/IMG_2944.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fCZy-7EYI/AAAAAAAB25o/EPs6hiENj8g/s640/IMG_2949.JPG"></tr></td></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fCiiNTDAI/AAAAAAAB26g/-lgnwlq20i0/s640/IMG_2955.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fCqPAkmcI/AAAAAAAB27Q/xmot_XmgnLY/s640/IMG_2966.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fCzUT2JFI/AAAAAAAB28I/3jKF7qBT6G0/s640/IMG_2972.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fC3KDtaRI/AAAAAAAB28Y/tAMw6AYwzpk/s640/IMG_2974.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fC4rqiqEI/AAAAAAAB28k/G-GKcxaIrGM/s640/IMG_2975.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fC7GZE1hI/AAAAAAAB280/HHMq9xSfPuE/s640/IMG_2977.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fDCvm1sSI/AAAAAAAB29w/LlTXJXLKgdw/s640/IMG_2983.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fsGmaLoWI/AAAAAAAB3vo/0OM_qe80s9s/s640/IMG_2863.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fDAboqDxI/AAAAAAAB29g/jx3siJnqeJ0/s640/IMG_2981.JPG"></tr></td></table>
This morning I packed in 1deg Celsius with a north wind blowing like it was pressing ice onto your face. I put on the vast majority of my cold weather gear and set off. It didn’t get above 5degC all day.
For the record I set off with Winter motorcycle socks(go above your calf), motorbike boots, motorbike pants with fleece liners, a pair of shorts, 2 body armor layers, a motorbike jacket, a rain jacket, a buff, fleece glove liners, leather gloves, a neck and face wrap, a helmet and a pair of sunglasses, and to top it all off some ear plugs and I was still absolutely freezing. Every forty minutes or so I was off the bike stopping for a coffee or heating my hands on the piston heads. After about three hours I could start to feel every injury I’ve ever had, it’s like the cold seeks out your weak points and makes them ache.
After about five hours even my balls started to hurt with the cold. It’s a new one for me; normally they just hug to your plumbing in the cold and get heat that way. When I went for a number one a couple I cupped them to make sure they hadn’t vanished altogether. At one stage with my hand in the fleece glove I put it on the piston head for about 20 seconds and then put my hand down my trollies and gave my town halls a little cuddle.
Later on that night I spent about twenty minutes defrosting them in the shower. Man……it felt soooooooooo……gooooooooodddddddd.
Along the way I passed a helicopter parked up outside a gas station, just sitting there. It was a long time since it had flown, but that’s the sort of thing you just don’t see back home!
Its May 9th today and it’s the day Russia celebrates the victory over Germany in WW2 so every TV is playing old war movies showing the victorious motherland. When I was in a roadside café thawing out they had the march in red square showing some of Russia’s war power, I smiled when I thought to myself….. “Dude you were there last week!”
I continue to go through time zones like pairs of socks and I’m now GMT+5. The other cool thing is you can really feel your going “round the world”. For example I left at dawn from just outside UFA and drove for ten minutes before I saw the sun rise, two days later at the exact same time it was well above the horizon; I’d pushed further east by 1200km at that stage.
I’m getting no hassle from the police at all. Anytime I’m stopped I start with a handshake and then do the whole “Ireland, Magadan, Vladivostok” (You need to say Vladivostok like you’re a Clingon).
The hand shake is a massive deal here. If say you’re with a party of five guys and another arrives he’ll shake the hand of everyone there, and if anyone else arrives they do the same. I reckon it’s the number one way to stay out of trouble, start with the shake of a hand. I think it fires something in us that goes way back along the lines of “I mean you no harm” or “I’m your friend” and it seems that things just go well after that. On top of that the mention of the word Vladivostok is a big thing to Russians. It’s “the” epic journey in Russia, to travel from Moscow to Vladivostok.
I think most folks in Russia dream of doing this journey so by saying that’s what you’re doing the locals indentify with you straight away.
I stopped about 20 miles short of the town of Nova Sibersk and put the head down for the night in a truck stop motel. I got something approaching a panic attack about Mongolia and being so close to it this evening. I was lying there thinking about crossing it and having to camp in many unknown and strange places by myself; I had to get up and leave the room and went across the road to the café and played let’s pretend not to look at the strange men in the camouflage uniforms.
The motels allow you to check in for 12 hours and then move on so it meant getting on the road pretty early even through I’d only 250km to go to Barnaul. The first obstacle was to get through the town of Nova Sibersk, easily the most beat up city I’d seen on the trip so far. The roads were in appalling condition and I was pushing my way through the city with the temperature stuck at -1degC, which might not sound that cold but when its accompanied by a Siberian wind chill; it had my teeth chattering in under an hour.
On the way out of a city a bridge traversed a frozen lake and I pulled over to have a look at it. It felt like being in one of those “Discovery channel” programs where you can hear the ice cracking as it thaws. It was May 10th and the lake was just starting to thaw now. In my head I’d always assumed that the thaw would be well underway in Siberia (note Magadan is much further north, so if it’s not thawing here yet, then there is no chance it’s thawing up there)
What I’ve been hoping is that the snow will melt, then obviously flood the rivers but that by the time I get there most of the water will be gone…..something tells me things are not going to work out the way I planned them. (As if they ever do where Mother Nature is involved)
I spent the rest of the morning meandering towards Barnaul where I plan to get the bike serviced and get the tires changed and then head south in the direction of Mongolia.
I was in Barnaul on the second day when I got a call from Oksana in Moscow (Bill Finn’s missus) to say that the crowd who were shipping me the tires didn’t ship them last Friday, and only shipped them on Tuesday so one way or another I’ll be stuck here for four days.
Take care
Oisin
<table><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3VTFhHjI/AAAAAAAB4Xs/4qx0mPHHiXs/s576/russia%20update%20barnaul.jpg"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fsvccum6I/AAAAAAAB3zk/tsZL44b-Gfw/s640/IMG_2894.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fsyAiVBxI/AAAAAAAB3z0/Fi6qwXZ7WHM/s640/IMG_2896.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fs16oJxdI/AAAAAAAB30E/-RSCGD95D1k/s640/IMG_2898.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-ftGdhn3pI/AAAAAAAB31g/eOgI7jIG3TE/s640/IMG_2909.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-ftHktvhzI/AAAAAAAB31o/fT0105H2SqQ/s640/IMG_2910.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-ftY9meROI/AAAAAAAB33A/z51kWbeZ5mQ/s640/IMG_2921.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fBzeTxbwI/AAAAAAAB22c/GakyNcEM2ME/s640/IMG_2926.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fB10IdpSI/AAAAAAAB22k/tChys6Ie8TM/s640/IMG_2927.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fB3eOaC2I/AAAAAAAB22s/uCchPzaRRdQ/s640/IMG_2928.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fCUQ-aZBI/AAAAAAAB25I/Ndo1G650teY/s640/IMG_2944.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fCZy-7EYI/AAAAAAAB25o/EPs6hiENj8g/s640/IMG_2949.JPG"></tr></td></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fCiiNTDAI/AAAAAAAB26g/-lgnwlq20i0/s640/IMG_2955.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fCqPAkmcI/AAAAAAAB27Q/xmot_XmgnLY/s640/IMG_2966.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fCzUT2JFI/AAAAAAAB28I/3jKF7qBT6G0/s640/IMG_2972.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fC3KDtaRI/AAAAAAAB28Y/tAMw6AYwzpk/s640/IMG_2974.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fC4rqiqEI/AAAAAAAB28k/G-GKcxaIrGM/s640/IMG_2975.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fC7GZE1hI/AAAAAAAB280/HHMq9xSfPuE/s640/IMG_2977.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fDCvm1sSI/AAAAAAAB29w/LlTXJXLKgdw/s640/IMG_2983.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fsGmaLoWI/AAAAAAAB3vo/0OM_qe80s9s/s640/IMG_2863.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-fDAboqDxI/AAAAAAAB29g/jx3siJnqeJ0/s640/IMG_2981.JPG"></tr></td></table>
This morning I packed in 1deg Celsius with a north wind blowing like it was pressing ice onto your face. I put on the vast majority of my cold weather gear and set off. It didn’t get above 5degC all day.
For the record I set off with Winter motorcycle socks(go above your calf), motorbike boots, motorbike pants with fleece liners, a pair of shorts, 2 body armor layers, a motorbike jacket, a rain jacket, a buff, fleece glove liners, leather gloves, a neck and face wrap, a helmet and a pair of sunglasses, and to top it all off some ear plugs and I was still absolutely freezing. Every forty minutes or so I was off the bike stopping for a coffee or heating my hands on the piston heads. After about three hours I could start to feel every injury I’ve ever had, it’s like the cold seeks out your weak points and makes them ache.
After about five hours even my balls started to hurt with the cold. It’s a new one for me; normally they just hug to your plumbing in the cold and get heat that way. When I went for a number one a couple I cupped them to make sure they hadn’t vanished altogether. At one stage with my hand in the fleece glove I put it on the piston head for about 20 seconds and then put my hand down my trollies and gave my town halls a little cuddle.
Later on that night I spent about twenty minutes defrosting them in the shower. Man……it felt soooooooooo……gooooooooodddddddd.
Along the way I passed a helicopter parked up outside a gas station, just sitting there. It was a long time since it had flown, but that’s the sort of thing you just don’t see back home!
Its May 9th today and it’s the day Russia celebrates the victory over Germany in WW2 so every TV is playing old war movies showing the victorious motherland. When I was in a roadside café thawing out they had the march in red square showing some of Russia’s war power, I smiled when I thought to myself….. “Dude you were there last week!”
I continue to go through time zones like pairs of socks and I’m now GMT+5. The other cool thing is you can really feel your going “round the world”. For example I left at dawn from just outside UFA and drove for ten minutes before I saw the sun rise, two days later at the exact same time it was well above the horizon; I’d pushed further east by 1200km at that stage.
I’m getting no hassle from the police at all. Anytime I’m stopped I start with a handshake and then do the whole “Ireland, Magadan, Vladivostok” (You need to say Vladivostok like you’re a Clingon).
The hand shake is a massive deal here. If say you’re with a party of five guys and another arrives he’ll shake the hand of everyone there, and if anyone else arrives they do the same. I reckon it’s the number one way to stay out of trouble, start with the shake of a hand. I think it fires something in us that goes way back along the lines of “I mean you no harm” or “I’m your friend” and it seems that things just go well after that. On top of that the mention of the word Vladivostok is a big thing to Russians. It’s “the” epic journey in Russia, to travel from Moscow to Vladivostok.
I think most folks in Russia dream of doing this journey so by saying that’s what you’re doing the locals indentify with you straight away.
I stopped about 20 miles short of the town of Nova Sibersk and put the head down for the night in a truck stop motel. I got something approaching a panic attack about Mongolia and being so close to it this evening. I was lying there thinking about crossing it and having to camp in many unknown and strange places by myself; I had to get up and leave the room and went across the road to the café and played let’s pretend not to look at the strange men in the camouflage uniforms.
The motels allow you to check in for 12 hours and then move on so it meant getting on the road pretty early even through I’d only 250km to go to Barnaul. The first obstacle was to get through the town of Nova Sibersk, easily the most beat up city I’d seen on the trip so far. The roads were in appalling condition and I was pushing my way through the city with the temperature stuck at -1degC, which might not sound that cold but when its accompanied by a Siberian wind chill; it had my teeth chattering in under an hour.
On the way out of a city a bridge traversed a frozen lake and I pulled over to have a look at it. It felt like being in one of those “Discovery channel” programs where you can hear the ice cracking as it thaws. It was May 10th and the lake was just starting to thaw now. In my head I’d always assumed that the thaw would be well underway in Siberia (note Magadan is much further north, so if it’s not thawing here yet, then there is no chance it’s thawing up there)
What I’ve been hoping is that the snow will melt, then obviously flood the rivers but that by the time I get there most of the water will be gone…..something tells me things are not going to work out the way I planned them. (As if they ever do where Mother Nature is involved)
I spent the rest of the morning meandering towards Barnaul where I plan to get the bike serviced and get the tires changed and then head south in the direction of Mongolia.
I was in Barnaul on the second day when I got a call from Oksana in Moscow (Bill Finn’s missus) to say that the crowd who were shipping me the tires didn’t ship them last Friday, and only shipped them on Tuesday so one way or another I’ll be stuck here for four days.
Take care
Oisin
Am checking for your updates every day Oisin.
Its a great read.
Its a great read.
Racey
Registered user
Oisin
The Australian's started their route from Vlad an hour ago... i sent you their spot tracker link by email...
Try and look out for them somewhere if you can check their gps log... Gary said he'll gladly buy you a beer or two...
they are doing Vlad to Ulan-ude and then down into Mongolia - the reverse of your Mongolia route mate...
they are a good bunch...
Simon
The Australian's started their route from Vlad an hour ago... i sent you their spot tracker link by email...
Try and look out for them somewhere if you can check their gps log... Gary said he'll gladly buy you a beer or two...
they are doing Vlad to Ulan-ude and then down into Mongolia - the reverse of your Mongolia route mate...
they are a good bunch...
Simon
Barnaul....
<table><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3Yuc52wI/AAAAAAAB4YI/ugFJGcMO2-A/s512/IMG_2986.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3avqhVII/AAAAAAAB4YQ/7_9UUPA7S3I/s640/IMG_2987.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3cWI6MzI/AAAAAAAB4YY/1GHK-6z3pws/s640/IMG_2988.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3eidJDKI/AAAAAAAB4Yo/IEwJkSS_B9c/s640/IMG_2990.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3f_TG2PI/AAAAAAAB4Yw/-u4g6FR0jOc/s640/IMG_2991.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3k5r7xOI/AAAAAAAB4ZQ/UGDUMp8MVUA/s720/IMG_2996.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3mr2r5RI/AAAAAAAB4ZY/zIx1LtcWVOc/s640/IMG_2997.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3pZS9U-I/AAAAAAAB4Zo/Nq5Sjps2xPg/s640/IMG_2999.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3qicxZfI/AAAAAAAB4Zw/O2fcInnz2dI/s640/IMG_3000.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3r3t1QEI/AAAAAAAB4Z4/f645lU5bJBs/s640/IMG_3001.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3tVzGH2I/AAAAAAAB4aA/ORlbpBOJ2aA/s640/IMG_3002.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q31Vgf2mI/AAAAAAAB4a0/iH-FTkGe5Ks/s640/IMG_3008.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q322U3RJI/AAAAAAAB4a8/DJz8UKGny2w/s512/IMG_3009.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q38ybe7dI/AAAAAAAB4bo/31Wup3tZ2Jo/s512/IMG_3014.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3-ufjz5I/AAAAAAAB4bw/kAGvqZn99Tc/s640/IMG_3015.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3_6fyCDI/AAAAAAAB4b4/37NG8IdcTOc/s640/IMG_3016.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q4CL_x6sI/AAAAAAAB4cI/rOyBvzvJYzE/s512/IMG_3018.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q4NLNQBjI/AAAAAAAB4cg/0v2Zncpu3Hg/s640/IMG_3023.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q4PNyP8EI/AAAAAAAB4cw/_Kzr7K7Axnk/s640/IMG_3025.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q4SJgUrBI/AAAAAAAB4dA/obIBxBLhoi4/s640/IMG_3027.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q4DRQKm6I/AAAAAAAB4cQ/eLklP9TI9c8/s640/IMG_3020.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q37gb9fUI/AAAAAAAB4bg/ec3Tlwdtg9c/s512/IMG_3013.JPG"></tr></td></table>
Barnaul is a strange place.... worth spending a few words on the town itself.
Well for one the place is freezing, May12th here and snowing, sleeting, pissing rain, as bad as any winters day in Ireland with a breeze that cut right through to the spine.
Much like Orel is South Western Russia the place is over run with fine looking women. The style of them is like something you'd expect to see on a catwalk in Paris or Milan. The priority in these parts appears to be very much on appearance, based on several conversations the typical Russian girl would prefer to have nice clothes or a nice car than live in a nice apartment.
Don't know why thats the case but most almost all the apartments I've seen have that 60's soviet look, most of the girls I've seen seem to have been pulled from a Cosmo magazine....its that mismatch that seems the most crazy thing here (my opinion)
I've said this before already, but when I think back to all the times myself and the lads went out on the "pull" in Dublin when I was a young lad....we'd often find ourselves saying...."jaysus where are all the women....." ....or...."jaysus must be gay night in this place, there's no birds"......well you can't throw a stone without hitting a fine thing here. Apparently if you went looking for a Russian bride, this is one of the towns your directed to.
I wouldn't describe the place as friendly but I think thats more down to culture than anything else. For example if you go into a hotel and ask "Do you have a room for the night?" the most likely answer you'll get is "Niet" (No).
In the west we'd be used to a bit more of the "I'm very sorry Sir but were fully booked out, maybe you could try....". At first blush it comes across as rude and can rub you up the wrong way, but its a cultural thing.
I think it comes from years and years of "Never answer more than your asked" when the place was swarming with Polit bureau, cheka, kgb, fsb, Okran types (FSB,Okran,ANC still around!)
I've been waiting in Barnaul now for 3 days on tires, still no sign, in all likely hood will take at least another 3 days.....not too many more sights to see. Some of the stuff I've seen is the ubiquitous tank (every towns got one), a metal bear, a Russian add for Robin hood, a woman selling ice cream out doors in -1 weather with a big jacket on her...and more statues of Lenin than you could shake a stick at.
The whole town is still decked out with 9th of May stuff (65th anniversary of war with Germany stuff) and a couple of times I've been asked was I German.... I get that a lot actually. Apparently in Russia they think a German looks like me, I wonder what they thought I looked like when I was in Germany?... a Gobshite? Obviously driving a BMW and wearing enough BMW apparel to make one think a BMW threw up on me....and folks thinking I'm German has led to quite a few dirty looks.....the old ladies who sell stuff in the stalls can all speak a few words of German, but no english, so several times I've had to ask for stuff in German (I've about 5 more sentences of German(6) than I have of Russian(1))
The town has quite a few neds knocking around (A Ned according to the Collins english dictionary is: "A chap who can be seen drinking from a beer bottle in the street before 10am in the morning, and whereupon said lad finishes the bottle, he lamps it onto the pavement smashing it into lots of bits...").....enough to make you feel uncomfortable, but not enough to make you stay in.
So thats it...some stuff to see.....not much.....lots of eye candy....and a very long wait for tires.....
Tomorrow I've got to try and find a new hotel....the one I'm staying in is booked out with FSB types for the next 3 days......
Take care and wish me luck with the tires...
The big fella
<table><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3Yuc52wI/AAAAAAAB4YI/ugFJGcMO2-A/s512/IMG_2986.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3avqhVII/AAAAAAAB4YQ/7_9UUPA7S3I/s640/IMG_2987.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3cWI6MzI/AAAAAAAB4YY/1GHK-6z3pws/s640/IMG_2988.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3eidJDKI/AAAAAAAB4Yo/IEwJkSS_B9c/s640/IMG_2990.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3f_TG2PI/AAAAAAAB4Yw/-u4g6FR0jOc/s640/IMG_2991.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3k5r7xOI/AAAAAAAB4ZQ/UGDUMp8MVUA/s720/IMG_2996.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3mr2r5RI/AAAAAAAB4ZY/zIx1LtcWVOc/s640/IMG_2997.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3pZS9U-I/AAAAAAAB4Zo/Nq5Sjps2xPg/s640/IMG_2999.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3qicxZfI/AAAAAAAB4Zw/O2fcInnz2dI/s640/IMG_3000.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3r3t1QEI/AAAAAAAB4Z4/f645lU5bJBs/s640/IMG_3001.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3tVzGH2I/AAAAAAAB4aA/ORlbpBOJ2aA/s640/IMG_3002.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q31Vgf2mI/AAAAAAAB4a0/iH-FTkGe5Ks/s640/IMG_3008.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q322U3RJI/AAAAAAAB4a8/DJz8UKGny2w/s512/IMG_3009.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q38ybe7dI/AAAAAAAB4bo/31Wup3tZ2Jo/s512/IMG_3014.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3-ufjz5I/AAAAAAAB4bw/kAGvqZn99Tc/s640/IMG_3015.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q3_6fyCDI/AAAAAAAB4b4/37NG8IdcTOc/s640/IMG_3016.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q4CL_x6sI/AAAAAAAB4cI/rOyBvzvJYzE/s512/IMG_3018.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q4NLNQBjI/AAAAAAAB4cg/0v2Zncpu3Hg/s640/IMG_3023.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q4PNyP8EI/AAAAAAAB4cw/_Kzr7K7Axnk/s640/IMG_3025.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q4SJgUrBI/AAAAAAAB4dA/obIBxBLhoi4/s640/IMG_3027.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q4DRQKm6I/AAAAAAAB4cQ/eLklP9TI9c8/s640/IMG_3020.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-q37gb9fUI/AAAAAAAB4bg/ec3Tlwdtg9c/s512/IMG_3013.JPG"></tr></td></table>
Barnaul is a strange place.... worth spending a few words on the town itself.
Well for one the place is freezing, May12th here and snowing, sleeting, pissing rain, as bad as any winters day in Ireland with a breeze that cut right through to the spine.
Much like Orel is South Western Russia the place is over run with fine looking women. The style of them is like something you'd expect to see on a catwalk in Paris or Milan. The priority in these parts appears to be very much on appearance, based on several conversations the typical Russian girl would prefer to have nice clothes or a nice car than live in a nice apartment.
Don't know why thats the case but most almost all the apartments I've seen have that 60's soviet look, most of the girls I've seen seem to have been pulled from a Cosmo magazine....its that mismatch that seems the most crazy thing here (my opinion)
I've said this before already, but when I think back to all the times myself and the lads went out on the "pull" in Dublin when I was a young lad....we'd often find ourselves saying...."jaysus where are all the women....." ....or...."jaysus must be gay night in this place, there's no birds"......well you can't throw a stone without hitting a fine thing here. Apparently if you went looking for a Russian bride, this is one of the towns your directed to.
I wouldn't describe the place as friendly but I think thats more down to culture than anything else. For example if you go into a hotel and ask "Do you have a room for the night?" the most likely answer you'll get is "Niet" (No).
In the west we'd be used to a bit more of the "I'm very sorry Sir but were fully booked out, maybe you could try....". At first blush it comes across as rude and can rub you up the wrong way, but its a cultural thing.
I think it comes from years and years of "Never answer more than your asked" when the place was swarming with Polit bureau, cheka, kgb, fsb, Okran types (FSB,Okran,ANC still around!)
I've been waiting in Barnaul now for 3 days on tires, still no sign, in all likely hood will take at least another 3 days.....not too many more sights to see. Some of the stuff I've seen is the ubiquitous tank (every towns got one), a metal bear, a Russian add for Robin hood, a woman selling ice cream out doors in -1 weather with a big jacket on her...and more statues of Lenin than you could shake a stick at.
The whole town is still decked out with 9th of May stuff (65th anniversary of war with Germany stuff) and a couple of times I've been asked was I German.... I get that a lot actually. Apparently in Russia they think a German looks like me, I wonder what they thought I looked like when I was in Germany?... a Gobshite? Obviously driving a BMW and wearing enough BMW apparel to make one think a BMW threw up on me....and folks thinking I'm German has led to quite a few dirty looks.....the old ladies who sell stuff in the stalls can all speak a few words of German, but no english, so several times I've had to ask for stuff in German (I've about 5 more sentences of German(6) than I have of Russian(1))
The town has quite a few neds knocking around (A Ned according to the Collins english dictionary is: "A chap who can be seen drinking from a beer bottle in the street before 10am in the morning, and whereupon said lad finishes the bottle, he lamps it onto the pavement smashing it into lots of bits...").....enough to make you feel uncomfortable, but not enough to make you stay in.
So thats it...some stuff to see.....not much.....lots of eye candy....and a very long wait for tires.....
Tomorrow I've got to try and find a new hotel....the one I'm staying in is booked out with FSB types for the next 3 days......
Take care and wish me luck with the tires...
The big fella
Stevie73
Registered user
Can we have some pictures of the chics please?
Decster
Registered user
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2005
- Messages
- 8,123
- Reaction score
- 1
.... birds arses great.....chics
I would but i feel like a stalker taking them...know what i mean? if they were in my company now that would be a different thing.....
Can we have some pictures of the chics please?
I would but i feel like a stalker taking them...know what i mean? if they were in my company now that would be a different thing.....
cooo... look pidgeons.... durty little birds....and no mistake
cool report best of luck
cool report best of luck
Stewart H
Registered user
I reckon these birds are all a tale so we keep reading 
Its working
Keep safe.
Stewart
Its working
Keep safe.
Stewart
Waiting on tires..nothing to do but walk around the town.... 
<table><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-zz3JzQtaI/AAAAAAAB4jw/m-AZOTavcuY/s512/IMG_3036.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-zz0nzTQpI/AAAAAAAB4jo/6aZpy1iHwro/s512/IMG_3035.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-zz75t5o2I/AAAAAAAB4kI/WCDuUAEfenk/s512/IMG_3038.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z0BankmfI/AAAAAAAB4kQ/7oCqeyzjaR8/s640/IMG_3039.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z0VnjPXjI/AAAAAAAB4k0/pyZs7jQRpso/s640/IMG_3043.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z0lraTRhI/AAAAAAAB4lc/etXWtYDfTUk/s640/IMG_3047.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z0wYIMv9I/AAAAAAAB4l4/q6K2H4RoxTQ/s640/IMG_3050.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z02dtbO_I/AAAAAAAB4mM/2f3s1dwjAjg/s640/IMG_3052.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z05ElxthI/AAAAAAAB4mU/SgRliHUvvsQ/s640/IMG_3054.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z08es_zzI/AAAAAAAB4mc/V6TlREO800s/s640/IMG_3055.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z1CpSpWoI/AAAAAAAB4ms/EUPDLSjJ6tE/s640/IMG_3057.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z1ILA4zAI/AAAAAAAB4m8/ubTFLczftKQ/s512/IMG_3059.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z1Lh3bFdI/AAAAAAAB4nE/cuCIvUcAq5E/s512/IMG_3060.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z1jOIz9bI/AAAAAAAB4oY/_hnD87-Jl4c/s512/IMG_3070.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z1t1Qe8fI/AAAAAAAB4o8/HOnX0J1rGTs/s640/IMG_3074.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z1xbzVtrI/AAAAAAAB4pE/4T2Qi0n_VWM/s640/IMG_3075.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z11EQhqGI/AAAAAAAB4pM/lBR2gLySfEo/s640/IMG_3076.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z19yFD38I/AAAAAAAB4pk/GiOWgyOGR04/s640/IMG_3079.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2FQl5VBI/AAAAAAAB4p0/acd30HSlRcI/s640/IMG_3081.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2H4cXu2I/AAAAAAAB4qE/Yq1P3zoV8cY/s640/IMG_3085.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2K6yrlMI/AAAAAAAB4qM/3tyIl0S8md4/s512/IMG_3086.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2NfkuWQI/AAAAAAAB4qU/X5WyoMrIcEI/s640/IMG_3087.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z3b360dHI/AAAAAAAB4vY/ChcBD4s7awk/s720/Nurnburg%20to%20Prague.jpg"></tr></td></table>
Found out the tire guy in Moscow not only missed the Friday shipment, but they didn't even ship till Wednesday..... I think his name is Dufus MacDillweed O'Dillhole-ovsky. So absolute best case they'll be here in 4 days, but are flying by air so we'll see how that goes.
So with a protracted delay ahead I tried to book into the hotel for another couple of nights but the were full with some military thingy going on so I had to head off and find another place to stay. I commandeered a taxi to take me to the Hotel Barnaul, recommended by the lonely planet, I'd to go through the hole registration thing again (aka a prostate examination) but they had room so I registered for a further 5 days hoping to be gone in 2. It was then back in the taxi to get my stuff and I followed him up to the hotel on the bike.
As we came to a cross walk this chap had dropped car his keys and my taxi guy obviously accidentally ran over them smashing up the bit that you click to turn on the alarm / central locking thing (What to you call that yoke anyway?...a doofer? a yoke? a thingamajig? a schmozzle? a clicker? answers on a postcard please)
He then proceeded to run after the taxi booting fuck out of the door and I'm following thinking...ok... this cant be good. Anyway after a stand up row and lots of what I'm certain were Russian swear words in the freezing drizzle we were back on our way to the hotel.
The day cleared up in the early afternoon and I said to myself.... ok....look up things to see in Barnaul in both the lonely planet and online and go tick em all off. So Off I set. Over the course of the day the place slowly grew on me and the more I walked the more I found little bronze statues, another tank, ferris wheels, mosaic's, murals, and then the highlight of the lot the War museum, commemorating all the wars which Russia was involved in. I also took the time to buy a book on Russian history in English.... some savage stuff in there.
Eg: Death tool for Russia in WW2 was 20million, vs. 7million for Germany, 2.5million for Japan, 600,000 for the UK, and 400,000 for the USA. It was for this reason in the post WW2 talks that Stalin was able to negotiate the slice up of eastern Europe. Almost 30% of all the men in Russia of all ages in 1939 were dead by 1945.
Have a look at the casualties index by country on WW2, never realized so many poles and Chinese died.
I asked Bill when I was in Moscow whether or not he though that the May 9th celebrations were dying off at all? Anyone who fought in WW2 must now be at least 85?
He commented that if anything they were getting bigger and bigger. Most modern Russians consider it "the" defining moment in recent history.
Have a look at Barnaul!...see what you think.... I'll post the pictures from the War museum in a second blog....pictures are very good I think.
Also...due to constant pestering I've included a collage of a very tiny % of the eye candy!
Take care...
Oisin
<table><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-zz3JzQtaI/AAAAAAAB4jw/m-AZOTavcuY/s512/IMG_3036.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-zz0nzTQpI/AAAAAAAB4jo/6aZpy1iHwro/s512/IMG_3035.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-zz75t5o2I/AAAAAAAB4kI/WCDuUAEfenk/s512/IMG_3038.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z0BankmfI/AAAAAAAB4kQ/7oCqeyzjaR8/s640/IMG_3039.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z0VnjPXjI/AAAAAAAB4k0/pyZs7jQRpso/s640/IMG_3043.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z0lraTRhI/AAAAAAAB4lc/etXWtYDfTUk/s640/IMG_3047.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z0wYIMv9I/AAAAAAAB4l4/q6K2H4RoxTQ/s640/IMG_3050.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z02dtbO_I/AAAAAAAB4mM/2f3s1dwjAjg/s640/IMG_3052.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z05ElxthI/AAAAAAAB4mU/SgRliHUvvsQ/s640/IMG_3054.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z08es_zzI/AAAAAAAB4mc/V6TlREO800s/s640/IMG_3055.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z1CpSpWoI/AAAAAAAB4ms/EUPDLSjJ6tE/s640/IMG_3057.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z1ILA4zAI/AAAAAAAB4m8/ubTFLczftKQ/s512/IMG_3059.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z1Lh3bFdI/AAAAAAAB4nE/cuCIvUcAq5E/s512/IMG_3060.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z1jOIz9bI/AAAAAAAB4oY/_hnD87-Jl4c/s512/IMG_3070.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z1t1Qe8fI/AAAAAAAB4o8/HOnX0J1rGTs/s640/IMG_3074.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z1xbzVtrI/AAAAAAAB4pE/4T2Qi0n_VWM/s640/IMG_3075.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z11EQhqGI/AAAAAAAB4pM/lBR2gLySfEo/s640/IMG_3076.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z19yFD38I/AAAAAAAB4pk/GiOWgyOGR04/s640/IMG_3079.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2FQl5VBI/AAAAAAAB4p0/acd30HSlRcI/s640/IMG_3081.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2H4cXu2I/AAAAAAAB4qE/Yq1P3zoV8cY/s640/IMG_3085.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2K6yrlMI/AAAAAAAB4qM/3tyIl0S8md4/s512/IMG_3086.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2NfkuWQI/AAAAAAAB4qU/X5WyoMrIcEI/s640/IMG_3087.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z3b360dHI/AAAAAAAB4vY/ChcBD4s7awk/s720/Nurnburg%20to%20Prague.jpg"></tr></td></table>
Found out the tire guy in Moscow not only missed the Friday shipment, but they didn't even ship till Wednesday..... I think his name is Dufus MacDillweed O'Dillhole-ovsky. So absolute best case they'll be here in 4 days, but are flying by air so we'll see how that goes.
So with a protracted delay ahead I tried to book into the hotel for another couple of nights but the were full with some military thingy going on so I had to head off and find another place to stay. I commandeered a taxi to take me to the Hotel Barnaul, recommended by the lonely planet, I'd to go through the hole registration thing again (aka a prostate examination) but they had room so I registered for a further 5 days hoping to be gone in 2. It was then back in the taxi to get my stuff and I followed him up to the hotel on the bike.
As we came to a cross walk this chap had dropped car his keys and my taxi guy obviously accidentally ran over them smashing up the bit that you click to turn on the alarm / central locking thing (What to you call that yoke anyway?...a doofer? a yoke? a thingamajig? a schmozzle? a clicker? answers on a postcard please)
He then proceeded to run after the taxi booting fuck out of the door and I'm following thinking...ok... this cant be good. Anyway after a stand up row and lots of what I'm certain were Russian swear words in the freezing drizzle we were back on our way to the hotel.
The day cleared up in the early afternoon and I said to myself.... ok....look up things to see in Barnaul in both the lonely planet and online and go tick em all off. So Off I set. Over the course of the day the place slowly grew on me and the more I walked the more I found little bronze statues, another tank, ferris wheels, mosaic's, murals, and then the highlight of the lot the War museum, commemorating all the wars which Russia was involved in. I also took the time to buy a book on Russian history in English.... some savage stuff in there.
Eg: Death tool for Russia in WW2 was 20million, vs. 7million for Germany, 2.5million for Japan, 600,000 for the UK, and 400,000 for the USA. It was for this reason in the post WW2 talks that Stalin was able to negotiate the slice up of eastern Europe. Almost 30% of all the men in Russia of all ages in 1939 were dead by 1945.
Have a look at the casualties index by country on WW2, never realized so many poles and Chinese died.
I asked Bill when I was in Moscow whether or not he though that the May 9th celebrations were dying off at all? Anyone who fought in WW2 must now be at least 85?
He commented that if anything they were getting bigger and bigger. Most modern Russians consider it "the" defining moment in recent history.
Have a look at Barnaul!...see what you think.... I'll post the pictures from the War museum in a second blog....pictures are very good I think.
Also...due to constant pestering I've included a collage of a very tiny % of the eye candy!
Take care...
Oisin
oops forgot the link to WW2 stuff
http://www.worldwar-2.net/casualties/world-war-2-casualties-index.htm
http://www.worldwar-2.net/casualties/world-war-2-casualties-index.htm
Racey
Registered user
If it's Friday night mate it is time to hit the "Pilot Club"...
Theme: Nightclub
Address: Barnaul, Proletarskaya st., #76
Phone: (3852) 658554
Directions: 50 meters off Lenina Prospekt, just two blocks down from Rus hotel
Theme: Nightclub
Address: Barnaul, Proletarskaya st., #76
Phone: (3852) 658554
Directions: 50 meters off Lenina Prospekt, just two blocks down from Rus hotel
Just pictures of the War Museum..I thought some of these were great
<table><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2Xw26F0I/AAAAAAAB4qw/QCV185iCwVs/s912/IMG_3090.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2bSJ2OcI/AAAAAAAB4q4/9odFVoquobw/s640/IMG_3091.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2g215r5I/AAAAAAAB4rU/4TOQGQfAgqc/s640/IMG_3094.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2id-QKyI/AAAAAAAB4rc/0QCsKL8cV5Q/s640/IMG_3095.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2uMmLqHI/AAAAAAAB4sM/gPnds71GMsk/s512/IMG_3102.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2xm_4hzI/AAAAAAAB4sc/NLQBFa8mSmw/s640/IMG_3105.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2zc7FuzI/AAAAAAAB4sk/q0LGIEkV-9A/s640/IMG_3106.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z21Z4vU8I/AAAAAAAB4ss/dye3hfC30KM/s640/IMG_3107.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z26Y3EQMI/AAAAAAAB4tE/UfRP3TCnRxg/s640/IMG_3110.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z28kh3BrI/AAAAAAAB4tM/mmXNTBeP3GA/s640/IMG_3111.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2-Jm_76I/AAAAAAAB4tU/vmivxiP4Jto/s512/IMG_3112.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z3AMqIymI/AAAAAAAB4tc/6nGAPeYJhWs/s640/IMG_3113.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z3H9zXdyI/AAAAAAAB4t8/o7g5iYUHXTs/s512/IMG_3117.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z3JJ526KI/AAAAAAAB4uE/uUxmxMAbdC4/s512/IMG_3119.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z3L0R5DgI/AAAAAAAB4uU/LyFsn0mEPxU/s512/IMG_3121.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z3NLehaRI/AAAAAAAB4uc/7c_nqmPslXI/s512/IMG_3122.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z24VpxOEI/AAAAAAAB4s8/SYi5qA2S-qI/s640/IMG_3109.JPG">
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<table><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2Xw26F0I/AAAAAAAB4qw/QCV185iCwVs/s912/IMG_3090.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2bSJ2OcI/AAAAAAAB4q4/9odFVoquobw/s640/IMG_3091.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2g215r5I/AAAAAAAB4rU/4TOQGQfAgqc/s640/IMG_3094.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2id-QKyI/AAAAAAAB4rc/0QCsKL8cV5Q/s640/IMG_3095.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2uMmLqHI/AAAAAAAB4sM/gPnds71GMsk/s512/IMG_3102.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2xm_4hzI/AAAAAAAB4sc/NLQBFa8mSmw/s640/IMG_3105.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2zc7FuzI/AAAAAAAB4sk/q0LGIEkV-9A/s640/IMG_3106.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z21Z4vU8I/AAAAAAAB4ss/dye3hfC30KM/s640/IMG_3107.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z26Y3EQMI/AAAAAAAB4tE/UfRP3TCnRxg/s640/IMG_3110.JPG" WIDTH = 640></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z28kh3BrI/AAAAAAAB4tM/mmXNTBeP3GA/s640/IMG_3111.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z2-Jm_76I/AAAAAAAB4tU/vmivxiP4Jto/s512/IMG_3112.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z3AMqIymI/AAAAAAAB4tc/6nGAPeYJhWs/s640/IMG_3113.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z3H9zXdyI/AAAAAAAB4t8/o7g5iYUHXTs/s512/IMG_3117.JPG"></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z3JJ526KI/AAAAAAAB4uE/uUxmxMAbdC4/s512/IMG_3119.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z3L0R5DgI/AAAAAAAB4uU/LyFsn0mEPxU/s512/IMG_3121.JPG">
<tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z3NLehaRI/AAAAAAAB4uc/7c_nqmPslXI/s512/IMG_3122.JPG"><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/S-z24VpxOEI/AAAAAAAB4s8/SYi5qA2S-qI/s640/IMG_3109.JPG">
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Cracking.
Great blog Oisin,
food don't look to clever there though.
What I like about the parts of europe and Russian states (previous) that were involved heavly in WW2 is that it was relatively recent in history terms and you can read and watch films about what went on and then see and touch it and speak to people who were there at the time
.
I do feel at times it is our duty to witness this history to remind us what could happen.
It's incomprehensibile what happened really.
lap it up mate
Bluebird
Great blog Oisin,
food don't look to clever there though
.What I like about the parts of europe and Russian states (previous) that were involved heavly in WW2 is that it was relatively recent in history terms and you can read and watch films about what went on and then see and touch it and speak to people who were there at the time
.I do feel at times it is our duty to witness this history to remind us what could happen.
It's incomprehensibile what happened really.
lap it up mate
Bluebird
Racey
Registered user
UPDATE:
Just to let everyone know an alternative tyre supplier was found for Oisin...
The boots were fitted and he's on his way from Barnaul towards the Western Mongolian border...
He plans to camp tonight somewhere short of the border and thereafter he will be in Mongolia.
There are places where he might be able to pick up some internet. But the first internet cafe that I know of isn't until Khovd. About 2 days into Mongolia...
Therefore, if we don't hear from him for a few days, fret not...
The big man's on the move and rolling again.
If I hear any more i'll let everyone know...
Simon
Just to let everyone know an alternative tyre supplier was found for Oisin...
The boots were fitted and he's on his way from Barnaul towards the Western Mongolian border...
He plans to camp tonight somewhere short of the border and thereafter he will be in Mongolia.
There are places where he might be able to pick up some internet. But the first internet cafe that I know of isn't until Khovd. About 2 days into Mongolia...
Therefore, if we don't hear from him for a few days, fret not...
The big man's on the move and rolling again.
If I hear any more i'll let everyone know...
Simon
Stewart H
Registered user
Thanks for the update
Stewart
Stewart
Deleted account Cooperman
Registered user
Where is the big fella 
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