Southeastern Siberia

The road to Ulan Ude was our first fully paved road in Russia. It was refreshing. The weather also turned cooler and we ran into some rain. There were a few Russian army bases on the way. On the left, a happy dog in a army truck

Near Ulan Ude, passing through a nicely painted Russian village, neat as a pin!

The mall, Ulan Ude. It is the capital of Buryatiya with a population of 380,000. Cradled attractively in rolling hills, it is one of the most likable cities in eastern Siberia, and a sensible staging post for visiting Mongolia or eastern Lake Baikal.

The Buryyats are a Mongol people who comprise 30% of Buryatiya's population and practice a Tibetan form of Buddhism. There language is Turkic, but almost everyone speaks Russian.

Even after the fall of communism, Lenin is still an important figure.This statue is in downtown Ulan Ude.

Readying to leave the Hotel Ayan, Ulan Ude, for Lake Baikal. Nice place, friendly, and very reasonable.

Logging truck on the way to Lake Baikal.

Arrival, eastern shore of Lake Baikal. It was a beautiful day, and the road was mixed, gravel and paved.

Lake Baikal is 636 kms. long, 1637m deep, and contains 1/5 of the worlds unfrozen fresh water, more than all of the Great Lakes combined! The water is pure enough to drink.

Sunset, half way up the eastern shore of the lake near the village of Maksimikha. We camped here for a couple of days.

Buying food in the village. Things were readily available, beer and liquor dirt cheap.

Nicely maintained wooden village home.

One of our campsites, among the trees along the shore.

Visiting Russian tourists from Ulan Ude trying Monica's bike for size. Friendly and curious.

The sandy beach along our campsite. The Russians love their camping. They even set up makeshift saunas along the beach.

The beach.

Russian fishermen out setting up their nets.

They were up early, collected their nets, and left us a bunch of fish for breakfast. Very friendly and hospitable.

Russian tourists and the village in the background.

Setting up for the return trip to Ulan Ude, and down into Mongolia.

Ulan Ude. Tomorrow we're off to Mongolia.

Blago to Chita

Off to Chita, a city 1600Kms. west of "Blago", but first a little information on the motorcycles we are riding. Above is Monica on her 2010 BMW 650 GS. So far she has been problem free.

Cain rides a 2008 KTM Dakar 990 Adventure S. He is very happy with the way it handles in the rougher going [dirt], although it has had some fuel pump and gas overheating issues.

Simon, on the right has a 2009 Honda Transalp 750, a great running bike for the trip. The only problem has been leaking fork seals, a minor thing that has been fixed.

Frank has a 1992 BMW R100GS PD. Happy with it so far, no problems.

Lunch break on the road to Chita at a shashlyk [shishkabob] stand. A great meal of pork, khleb [bread], salat [salad] and chai [tea] for under U.S. $7.00.

The road was about 20% gravel and the temperature a humid 35 degrees plus Centigrade. Another irritant was the Russian car drivers. A large minority love to overtake and pass very close. It's the might makes right syndrome. And of course, the other thing is drinking and driving, a serious problem here. The gas stations often have a better alcohol selection here than the liquor stores back home, and it is very cheap.

Very pretty country, lots of insects...mosquitoes, horseflies and butterflies.

The route we followed often parallelled the Trans Siberian railroad.

We took three days to get to Chita camping out two nights. Bugs were bad, like the Canadian north. We had a great swimming hole here to cool off in.

Zavtrak [breakfast] in the local roadside cafe. Breakfast often included bliny[pancakes], kasha [buckwheat porridge], syrniki [cottage cheese fritters] and bread. The cost was $3-4.00 U.S..

We are now entering into the eastern edge of Siberia, above the Mongolian steppe and the land was more clear of trees, horse country. The road here was great. The mix of the people was changing as well, with more ethnic Mongolians [Buryat people], and Tibetan Buddhism. The Buryat are about 30% of the population in this area.

Roadside cafe truck stop.

We were having driving break when a truck coming the other way stopped for a big hello and welcome to Russia.

Welcoming Russian ladies. I may be wrong, but I think Simon's already fluent Russian improved considerably when they dropped by.

Typical village in this part of the country with wooden buildings, bumpy dirt streets and big gardens behind each house.

Village house and garden.

Lonely roadside outhouse looking south towards Mongolia.
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Lenin Square, Chita. Chita is a city of 372,000 in eastern Siberia founded in 1653 and has very few non Chinese tourists. It is a prosperous city flooded with Chinese traders.

Souped up Lada, obviously owned by a proud Russian.

One of a few beautiful old wooden Russian buildings left in downtown Chita.

Icons in front of the main Russian Orthodox Church in Chita.

Domes of the cathedral, Chita.





















A-Blagovenshensk, B-Chita, 1990 kms.. Lake Baikal is on the left.

Khavarovsk to Blagoveshchensk

Left Khavarovsk for the 700Km. trip to Blagoveshchensk, a city of 210,000 on the Amur river, which forms the border with China. The road was 70-80 % paved, and where paved was excellent. The countryside, very unpopulated, is mostly heavily forested with Larch and Birch. We saw no wildlife. Lots of mosquitoes and horseflies. The temperature during the day was a very humid 35-40 degrees centigrade. Good to be on the bike.

At a stop at a village near Blagveshchensk. Anytime we stopped near a populated area, we were soon surrounded by friendly curious people.

Near "Blago" and the Amur River border with China. Rich soil and agriculture.

Johny on the spot on "Blago" waterfront and the always present washroom attendant.

Chinese city of Heihe, across the Amur from "Blago".

Above, Valadya Boldygin, husband of Vera Petrovna. We stayed 6 days with them and their family in "Blago". Dimitri, one of their sons, lives in Australia, and is a friend of Simon and Monica. We were treated like kings and ate way too much. Incredible hospitality

Heihe, across the river from Blago .

Above, from left to right, Vera Petrovna, Anastasia (Alexi's girlfriend), Alexi, Vera and Valadya's youngest son. We are at a Chinese restaurant on our last night in "Blago".

Goodbyes on leaving.

A Russian hug coming from V.P..

We were all able to do an oil change. Simon, Monica and Cain picked up new tires sent to this address in "Blago"

We left to cover the 1700 Kms. west to Chita.

A- Khavarovsk, B-Blagoveshchensk. 686 kms..