Trans-Eurasia 2005 Part 7
Trip Start
May 20, 2005
1
6
14
Trip End
Aug 05, 2005
Beijing,
China
Friday, July 1, 2005
I still haven't found a good internet connection to send pictures but
at least I can post some text (before I forget!). I'm at an internet
cafe in Omsk and the manager said he "knew" me from television. It
seems he saw me at the Moscow Bike fest last week.
Anyway, yesterday I rode from Ekaterinburg to Tyumen which was a good
(short) ride. Only about 8 hours to cover 400 kms. The roads are
improving as I move eastward it seems. Also I only got stopped twice
yesterday. Now my habit when I get into a new city for the night is to
find a taxi driver, pay him to lead me to a hotel. it worked twice so
far but last night in Tyumen I should have waited until I checked out
the "hotel". It was a dormitory, but I was tired so I stayed anyway. I
rode dwntown to eat at an open air cafe where I met who I think is the
"Mafia Don" of the city. He and a few other guys were all sitting
around eating BBQ chicken and they invited me to join them. One guy was
from Chechnya, one guy frommTajikstan, another from Georgia, and so on.
But every once in a while someone would drive up and hand the bosses
assistant a wad of cash. Then very deferentially back up go to their
car and drive off. Anyway I have a vivid imagination so this is what I
have come up with in my mind. These guys offered to put me up for the
night, offered a "Good Russian Woman", Vodka, and anything else I
wanted. I hated to be un-cooperative with them, so I just sat with them
for about 2 hours before I worked up the nerve to ask them to leave.
Then when I got back to my dorm room my dorm-mate is from Uzbeckistan.
So we traded small notes of currency and name cards. I'm invited to
visit his city next year if I'm up to it.
This morning I got an early start, no breakfast and no shower, for
Omsk. It's 600+ kms and it takes me exactly 12 hours to make it. This
is a really nice looking city settled on a large river. Today is the
frist warm day since I landed in Germany about 4 weeks ago. So the
river's beaches are packed with sun bathers. I again hire a taxi to
find me a hotel but the hotel, which is on the river bank and is huge
says they are completely full. I find this unbelievable but there is no
arguing with the big women in charge. I ask if there is another hotel
in town and she just says "NYET!". I'm guessing being covered in bug
splatter and wearing full leathers and a motorcycle helmet doesn't help
my case. But outside there is another taxi and he agrees to lead me to
another hotel, and it's a good one this time. There is vacancy but not
much. There is a graduation party going on for I guess a college as the
women look far to mature to be high school seniors. But they are all
dressed in formal evening gowns. Really beautiful. And to make it even
more interesting there is an oval dirt race track next door. I'm told
they race motorcycles there, but unfortunately there is no racing
tonight. Tomorrow I'll have another long days ride over 700 kms so I'll
need to get an even earlier start. But today's roads were pretty good.
There was one 80 km stretch I had to take in 1st and 2nd gear but the
rest of the way was in 5th at about 80 kmh. I fixed my tail light and
brake light yesterday, but today's rough section burst both lightbulbs
and now the lense is also missing. One more reason for no night riding.
Plus I only got stopped once today and the cop spoke English. I was so
surprised I gave him a bear hug. Now they really think I'm crazy.
I met two Englishmen today riding their bicycles across Europe to
Ulan-Bataar. Now that's brave! Their bikes pull small trailers and they
average 140 kms per day in the flat (Siberian) lands. I gave them my 2
bottles of water and said goodbye. I can't imagine doing what they are
doing!
I gotta go, as I've got a long day in the saddle tomorrow, but once I
get to Novosibirsk, I may take an extra day to rest up and do some
preventative maintainance on the bike. She's been awfully good to me so
far.
