Barnaul Hotel

... some glow plugs, but a few hours
later there was still no sign of him. Chris walked into town to buy
some provisions and found our trusty mechanic downing cheap pivo
under the bridge with his mates, including Sveta, the biker chick
who has been talking to us all morning. Chris managed to convince
them (over a few pints) to come back to the garage. When they did
come back, Max confessed that he wasn't even a very ...

... a clue. They
do however promise to come back at the end of the work day to tow us
to the nearest mechanic's (40km away!). We head back over to the
river with our cooker and whack on some noodles. Post noodles we
decide to wash/swim the river which is very clean but ice cold. We
are all drying off when a man starts shouting to us in Russian. Dave
wanders over and it turns out that the guy is here to tow us. Chris
and I rush over (Chris has ...

Its raining and cold for the first time since the pre-Damo days in Croatia. I quite like it. All packed up and ready to go, and... Molly won't start. The engine turns, there's fuel in the lines. The most likely culprit seems to be the battery, but it's been fine until now. After a little hesitation, Chris flags down a passing car who tries to jump start us, but with no success. A tow ...

Went to Ismaylovsly Park Market - surreal - after some barras-esque stalls you reach a rambling wooden building houseing loads of stalls selling souvenirs, knock-off cds, communist memorabilia and the contents of pensioners' homes. I bought some tat (on it's way to you girls!), scott bought the entire Black Sabbath collection and some Russian children's books. [sylvia and andrew and the kids - there was badges of the Big Bad Wolf!] Then we went inside the Kremlin, aswell as scary ...

Barnaul et ensuite Gorno-Altaisk dans les montagnes Altai! Nous observerons l'eclipse solaire (le 1er aout) et nous reposerons quelques jours! To Barnaul and then to Gorno-Altaisk in the Altai mountains! We'll observe the solar eclipse (on the 1st of august) and rest for a few days! Nous sommes arrives a Barnaul trop tard pour aller faire enregistrer nos visas donc y avons passe la nuit. Nous avons ...

... for animals rather than a zoo. Huge bears, cats etc in tiny cages, obviously going insane. A pretty unpleasant experience. Also while we were in Moscow there was the "Moscow City Racing" event, complete with F1 cars from BMW and Red Bull, pretty cool to see them blasting down the road near Red Square although it was boiling hot that day so the wait was pretty trying. It didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the many Muscovites who turned out for a glimpse of the action.

... drinker she still managed to keep me interested. The Bond theme continued when we visited the Armoury musuem in the Kremlin where we saw original Faberge Eggs... along with an amazing selection of antique horse carraiges & my favourite.. dresses! Definately the best museum to date! Anyways.. 2 nights there & a trip to the supermarket had us all prepared for the 4 night train journey from Moscow to Irkutsk.

... came from Chernobyl and was radioactive. There was also bread, meat, cheese, greek salad, and a huge bowl of fruit. For dessert there was cake and 3 bowls of candy. During the dinner, Anya kept getting calls from her coach. She plays table tennis at the university but wanted to quit the team to focus on schoolwork. She's studying Japanese and wanted to study abroad. However, the university system is also corrupt and very competitive. Her coach ...

... best one yet. It had a nautical theme (in the tradition of Lake Baikal), blue curtains, images of Lake Baikal on the walls, a life ring clock and large mirrors framed in rope, as well as bean bag sizes pillows and great beds. By now we had made many friends along the way and there was lots of people on the train that we knew, the Australian family from Floreat who we met on the train from Mongolia to Irkutsk, Meryl & Shirley from America who started on the same train ...

Fast habe ich es geahnt. Es darf nicht alles so reibungslos und ohne Probleme gehen. Nachdem wir in Irkutsk alle unsere "Mitbringsel" der Polizei vorgelegt hatten und glaubhaft bezeugen konnten, dass alles nur der touristischen Befriedigung dient (immerhin hatte jeder von uns mindestens zwei Original-Schienennägel der Transsib dabei), konnten ...