Siberia: Barnaul, 24.9.-27.9.2010

While I am writing this we are watching Russian TV and a short while ago Holger was laughing his arse off while watching Ice Age in Russian :o) ... The last two days saw us drive towards Barnaul with an overnight stop in Gorno-Altaisk. The landscape has changed again and this is now very much like Europe already, a mixture of forests and agriculture.

But first things first. Following the Katun river coming up to Gorno-Altaisk we drove again through beautiful areas.

The Katun river is very wide and in summer a popular destination for Russian holidaymakers and offers plenty of whitewater-rafting.

Watching the river for a little while you know why :o) As in so many other places before many facilities have closed down already.

The day before we had noticed that clutch was giving us a bit trouble: the clutch master cylinder was leaking a bit and when we saw a garage in a village we stopped to see what they could do. Three hours later we were quite a few Rubel poorer and none the wiser. The guys could not fix it and were quite brutal and when they wanted to cut a hose and solder it to a different cylinder which was not quite fitting Holger, already getting a bit nervous, intervened. Actually he started to get nervous when he had to lend the guys some tools… Well, the old cylinder was put back in and we now hope to make it until we find a Toyota dealer or maybe until we get home… Fingers crossed!

Gorno Altaiks was very busy and we had to drive around quite a bit until we found a hotel with a vacant room (which was room with a single 90cm-bed and we solved the problem by one person lying upside down :o)…) Next day we made it to Barnaul (roughly the size of Hanover) where we are now awaiting the arrival of a parcel Borut send us from Australia with some parts. The Hotel, Hotel Barnaul, is really good: everything is very clean and fully functioning, the bathroom is in full working order, there is WiFi and all appliances are attached – quite luxurious circumstances :o)

We made the most of it by sleeping in … and in… and in… and watching TV and going for walks and coffee and getting cookies from the bakery around the corner, nmnmnm!!! Such a treat to be in a city with all the amenities :o) So many people in the streets, music and a Skateboard event, a Hare Krishna parade (not what you expect in Siberia , that’s for sure)…!


We now have around 4000k’s more to go in Russia and then about 3000 to get home which we want to do in the next three weeks, our aim is to reach Minden about the 12th or 13th of October.