Picture Gallery - images of trip - RUSSIA - Eastern Trans-Sibera
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Eastern Trans-Sibera : Images from left to right:
Eastern Trans-Sibera
After crossing the Mongolia/Russia border we headed to Lake Baikal and found a nice camp right beside the lake; It is a mammoth lake holding nearly 20% of the world's un-frozen fresh water .
The weather was great for the first day, then turned really cold and windy – as Kate & Rod look standing beside the lake edge; We had a look around the nearby village of Germyachinsk which sits beside the lake's edge and wound our way down the wide dusty streets past colourful homes; The drive back to the main town of Ulan-Ude through the mountains was delightful, with the colours of autumn on the trees well into their autumn tonings.
A picturesque river and its autumn coloured landscape; Our camp not far off the road and in a grassy clearing beside a dry creek bed with autumn trees all around was delightful and we even managed a fire (it did take some doing though).
Kate bought some vegetables from this woman and also tried a little communication, with some success – you find women like this all through Russia sitting outside their home selling their excess vegetables, etc, to make a little money; Her house was one of the most neat and colourful we saw during our travels.
Not all houses are painted or colourful at all, such as this one with its very basic windows and shutters; Our camp in a field with its haystacks (it had been a nice day – no rain!!); A typical country Russian village; Ron looks up the road with its dirt and pot holes that will take us to Chita (before it started raining!!).
The large town of Chita and Viv and Ron had three young girls – Anna, Nastya and Yulya, all in Year 8 at the local school, come by and say ‘Hello'. They were delightful and were very keen to see if we had enjoyed their beautiful country - meetings such as this make independent travel so interesting and enjoyable; Our Hay Valley Camp that evening, after leaving Chita, was a beauty; Another remote Russian village on the road to Kharbarovsk ;
As we got towards Chernyshevsk the country was a vast rolling cleared field and most of the grasslands had been cut for hay, and while there were some ‘modern' tractors used, we often saw sights like this – driver, horse and rack working the cut grass.
Quite often it took a few tries to find a camp site and although our Rockpit Camp wasn't the best it had a hard-pack road to a gravel pit off the road a little and we were out of sight of the road traffic; some of the beautiful autumn colours we saw along our drive east – it made what would otherwise be a fairly boring drive into one which we really enjoyed.
The road conditions along the drive east were pretty awful – the mostly dirt to Kharbarovsk was wet, muddy and full of pot holes, and there were lots of road construction as well ... and it rained most of the time – the cars were covered in mud and so were we!!; Stopped in the town of Amazar on the Amazar River and after driving around the town we finally found the ‘shop' and got a few supplies – bread and beer being the daily staples; Check out the use of the ‘abacus' – it was often used in many of the village shops.
The river just out of Amazar was a blaze of colour and we couldn't help but stop and take some pics; Another very second rate camp site, but all we could find in the mud and rain – our PipeLine camp – Viv saw a fleeting glimpse of the one and only wild deer for the whole trip here.
Next day the weather was better and we did our usual hunt for some bread and beer – turned off the road to a small village and finally found the ‘shop' (they look just like somebody's house); The lady in the store was very helpful but didn't have any bread – that's how we meet Natasha and her Mama.
Back outside at the vehicles a woman walked past offering us 2 loaves of bread that she was carrying in her hands – she didn't want any money for them either!! We accepted graciously and then asked if she could sell us a pumpkin (they all grow pumpkins/squash in their vegetable gardens in their backyards). With sign language and laughter we followed Natasha to her house, just across the way. From this meeting we had a wonderful half hour or so with Natasha and her Mama as they loaded us up with not only pumpkin but potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and eggs (for no money!!!). It was one of those magical and memorable moments that help make any trip – they were the most wonderful, warm, friendly and hospitable people you could ever hope to meet and we loved our time spent them, even though they couldn't speak a word of English and our Russian was very, very basic.
Our little group in the front yard of their house – Mama's house in the background was her pride and joy (we are pictured inside it, above, on her blue couch) – it was very little, just a front room with lounge and bed, a small room with a fantastic old large stove and an old bath (see above with Mama and the eggs she gave us) and that was about it; the small green building beside it was a small kitchen and a large room with a single bed, which also acted as a store room for their vegetables.
Our Waterpit Camp turned out to be a beauty, located just a few hundred metres off the main road, but well hidden from the road - the usual state of our camp when we had water – washing everywhere.
