ghost
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Terrific ride report,super photos,keep them coming��
Granny on the Steppes (Mongolia to Kyrgyzstan)
- Thread starter Mide
- Start date
We’d now been in Mongolia far longer than planned. We were into our 3rd week now, out of 4, and we still had 3 countries to go. We got up early and hoped to get to Russia by this evening. It was 275km, but mostly off road, and with a big river crossing, so it was going to be a long day. We were going to get breakfast on the road. We set off, through the town and stopped to get petrol. We needed water so I leaned the bike over into the stand to go and see if there was any in the shop there, only the stand wasn’t down so the bike went over
in doing so, I through my back out, I couldn’t move, couldn’t walk, couldn’t get up.
Ah Jaysus! There was nothing for it only to go back to the hotel and rest up for the day.
As hotels went, this was a good one
The boys went off to see if they could get near a glacier on a mountain nearby. They couldn’t, but met some locals having a picnic
The locals invited the boys to join them for lunch
We chilled out for the rest of the day. The pain subsided a small bit but I was still worried about getting out of here the next day!
I woke up the following morning still in pain. I figured we had to just get going, and we’d see what happened. The pain is a familiar pain, it happens from time to time.
Turns out riding the bike helped, the pain was gone by the evening.
We rode for maybe an hour before turning left, off road and up a mountain.
Me, ready to go
Top of the mountain
Once we went off road, there were no more villages, so breakfast was off the table. We had every terrain you can imagine this day. Big stones, small stones, sand, mud, grass.
Thing about Mongolia is, that it’s so vast that you could see for miles and miles. I have no clocks on my bike so can’t monitor speed, time or miles. When we’d stop, the boys would tell me how many km to the next village so I’d be guessing all the time. We came over a hill at one point and I could see a village. This was good as I was hungry I was counting seconds in my head, probably not very accurately, to try and gauge how far away it was. We rode for about 50 minutes before we got to it, and we were probably doing 50/55 mph. That’s how far away you could see. When we got to the village, it was abandoned, ffs! We still had another 20/30km to go. I know I’m talking in miles and kms. Kev’s bike is in miles, the gps and Fritz’s bike in kms, so we were using all.
The way to the village was actually very picturesque, loads of funny shapes big rocky outcrops. I’ve no pictures, we didn’t stop. The sand was quite deep here, I don’t like riding on sand. You get used to it, but it’s scary as hell!
We arrived into the village and were riding around looking for petrol and a shop. We met a guy who came over to help. He gestured for us to follow him on his bike. We did, and he brought us to his house. His kids came out and wanted to sit on the bikes and get pictures. Yer man was in the phone, we thought he was organising petrol. He got off the phone and came over and said his friend had a 4x4 and would ‘help’ us cross the river for $250. That’s nearly a month’s wages over there! Cheeky git. We said no and got in the bikes to get out of there. We rode round to find a petrol station and yer man appeared again, telling us he’d organise petrol. The petrol stations are often unmanned, you’d just wait there and someone would come to open up. We decided we’d carry on and get petrol at the next village, this guy was a pain in the ass. He was following us everywhere, so we didn’t stop at the shop, we just got out of there.
We needed to find a good spot to cross the river. It had been raining for weeks in Mongolia, so we knew it was going to be tough. So we were riding round, looking for a track that the cars were taking across the river, yet man was on our tails. We crossed a few small rivers, bits of the big river and that got rid of him. We were properly off track now, riding through reeds and sand and water. Both Fritz and I buried the bikes in sticky mud and had to be pulled out. The mossies were out in force. There were millions of them and it was a roasting hot day!
We had no idea how wide the river was as it was in many bits of rivers. We crossed several bits of water 6/7 meters wide and deep enough.
The first wide bit of the river was manageable. We were kinda going diagonally across it.
The next bit was very deep and very wide and fast flowing.
We had no choice but to cross this river. The boys were going to push the bikes across one by one. As we were standing discussing it, Kev’s bike fell over, and the clutch master cylinder
While they patched it up, I walked across the river, to gauge it, and bring helmets across. I really struggled to stay upright. It was up past my knees and very strong. Kev told me to keep going and see how much more river we had to cross and if we’d manage. I walked about 150 meters, there were a few little crossings, 5-8m wide, then the big one.
There were some locals on the other side and they were pointing the oath across to me. So I went back to the boys saying, it’s grand, the locals showed the way, they seem friendly, it’s similar to this bit you’re going to cross now.
I videoed the crossings but I’m not sure how to get videos up here(using Tapatalk)
Fritz had some mossie spray so we doused ourselves, it was really bad, we were being eaten alive. It was worse than anywhere in Russia! We were under pressure anyway with the river, we were watching the time as we were trying to make the border crossing and we were hungry! We still hadn’t eaten yet that day!
The second wide bit was way way deeper than the first one, and when we tried walking the bit the locals were showing us it was scarily deep and fast flowing. Kev and Fritz walked about 500m up the river to see if it got any better, but it didn’t. I crossed the river, the boys threw me one end of a strap and they tied the other end to a bike. I was pulling this side and they were walking the bikes across, the locals came and helped me pull the bikes across. We didn’t get any footage of the bikes crossing the second bit, only the boys walking over afterwards.
Finally across, we jumped on the bikes and rode about 40 km to the last village in Mongolia before the Russian border.
We needed petrol and food. When we got there, we barely had time to get petrol as the border was going to close shortly. So, still with no food, we raced to the border. There was about 5km of fabulous tarmac, then awful potholed, gravelly old tarmac the rest of the way.
We made it, parked up, went inside and queued at passport control, then customs check. Kev and I went out and took our boots off to empty the gallons of water out. As Fritz once said, “yes my boots are waterproof, once the water goes in, it does not come out!”
Fritz was inside, trying to find out if he’s get a refund on the money he’d paid when he picked the bike up from the courier in Ulaanbataar.
First he came out and said we had to go, he wasn’t allowed til tomorrow as they needed to speak to someone in the courier office.
Then he came out and said they’d let him go if he paid the Mongolian equivalent of about €30. This was fine as it got rid of all our Tugriks (Mongolian currency).
Next thing he came running out saying we had to be quick as the Russian side of the border closed in a few minutes! We jumped on the bikes, raced across no mans land, got to the border, to be told нет, niet, no. Border was closed!
We had to ride back to the Mongolian border control. The man asked for our passports, had a look, and said “I’ll give them back tomorrow, leave the bikes inside the gate and you must leave!”
So, we were bikeless, passportless, tugrik less, and back in Mongolia!!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
in doing so, I through my back out, I couldn’t move, couldn’t walk, couldn’t get up.Ah Jaysus! There was nothing for it only to go back to the hotel and rest up for the day.
As hotels went, this was a good one
The boys went off to see if they could get near a glacier on a mountain nearby. They couldn’t, but met some locals having a picnic
The locals invited the boys to join them for lunch
We chilled out for the rest of the day. The pain subsided a small bit but I was still worried about getting out of here the next day!
I woke up the following morning still in pain. I figured we had to just get going, and we’d see what happened. The pain is a familiar pain, it happens from time to time.
Turns out riding the bike helped, the pain was gone by the evening.
We rode for maybe an hour before turning left, off road and up a mountain.
Me, ready to go
Top of the mountain
Once we went off road, there were no more villages, so breakfast was off the table. We had every terrain you can imagine this day. Big stones, small stones, sand, mud, grass.
Thing about Mongolia is, that it’s so vast that you could see for miles and miles. I have no clocks on my bike so can’t monitor speed, time or miles. When we’d stop, the boys would tell me how many km to the next village so I’d be guessing all the time. We came over a hill at one point and I could see a village. This was good as I was hungry
I was counting seconds in my head, probably not very accurately, to try and gauge how far away it was. We rode for about 50 minutes before we got to it, and we were probably doing 50/55 mph. That’s how far away you could see. When we got to the village, it was abandoned, ffs! We still had another 20/30km to go. I know I’m talking in miles and kms. Kev’s bike is in miles, the gps and Fritz’s bike in kms, so we were using all.The way to the village was actually very picturesque, loads of funny shapes big rocky outcrops. I’ve no pictures, we didn’t stop. The sand was quite deep here, I don’t like riding on sand. You get used to it, but it’s scary as hell!
We arrived into the village and were riding around looking for petrol and a shop. We met a guy who came over to help. He gestured for us to follow him on his bike. We did, and he brought us to his house. His kids came out and wanted to sit on the bikes and get pictures. Yer man was in the phone, we thought he was organising petrol. He got off the phone and came over and said his friend had a 4x4 and would ‘help’ us cross the river for $250. That’s nearly a month’s wages over there! Cheeky git. We said no and got in the bikes to get out of there. We rode round to find a petrol station and yer man appeared again, telling us he’d organise petrol. The petrol stations are often unmanned, you’d just wait there and someone would come to open up. We decided we’d carry on and get petrol at the next village, this guy was a pain in the ass. He was following us everywhere, so we didn’t stop at the shop, we just got out of there.
We needed to find a good spot to cross the river. It had been raining for weeks in Mongolia, so we knew it was going to be tough. So we were riding round, looking for a track that the cars were taking across the river, yet man was on our tails. We crossed a few small rivers, bits of the big river and that got rid of him. We were properly off track now, riding through reeds and sand and water. Both Fritz and I buried the bikes in sticky mud and had to be pulled out. The mossies were out in force. There were millions of them and it was a roasting hot day!
We had no idea how wide the river was as it was in many bits of rivers. We crossed several bits of water 6/7 meters wide and deep enough.
The first wide bit of the river was manageable. We were kinda going diagonally across it.
The next bit was very deep and very wide and fast flowing.
We had no choice but to cross this river. The boys were going to push the bikes across one by one. As we were standing discussing it, Kev’s bike fell over, and the clutch master cylinder
While they patched it up, I walked across the river, to gauge it, and bring helmets across. I really struggled to stay upright. It was up past my knees and very strong. Kev told me to keep going and see how much more river we had to cross and if we’d manage. I walked about 150 meters, there were a few little crossings, 5-8m wide, then the big one.
There were some locals on the other side and they were pointing the oath across to me. So I went back to the boys saying, it’s grand, the locals showed the way, they seem friendly, it’s similar to this bit you’re going to cross now.
I videoed the crossings but I’m not sure how to get videos up here(using Tapatalk)
Fritz had some mossie spray so we doused ourselves, it was really bad, we were being eaten alive. It was worse than anywhere in Russia! We were under pressure anyway with the river, we were watching the time as we were trying to make the border crossing and we were hungry! We still hadn’t eaten yet that day!
The second wide bit was way way deeper than the first one, and when we tried walking the bit the locals were showing us it was scarily deep and fast flowing. Kev and Fritz walked about 500m up the river to see if it got any better, but it didn’t. I crossed the river, the boys threw me one end of a strap and they tied the other end to a bike. I was pulling this side and they were walking the bikes across, the locals came and helped me pull the bikes across. We didn’t get any footage of the bikes crossing the second bit, only the boys walking over afterwards.
Finally across, we jumped on the bikes and rode about 40 km to the last village in Mongolia before the Russian border.
We needed petrol and food. When we got there, we barely had time to get petrol as the border was going to close shortly. So, still with no food, we raced to the border. There was about 5km of fabulous tarmac, then awful potholed, gravelly old tarmac the rest of the way.
We made it, parked up, went inside and queued at passport control, then customs check. Kev and I went out and took our boots off to empty the gallons of water out. As Fritz once said, “yes my boots are waterproof, once the water goes in, it does not come out!”
Fritz was inside, trying to find out if he’s get a refund on the money he’d paid when he picked the bike up from the courier in Ulaanbataar.
First he came out and said we had to go, he wasn’t allowed til tomorrow as they needed to speak to someone in the courier office.
Then he came out and said they’d let him go if he paid the Mongolian equivalent of about €30. This was fine as it got rid of all our Tugriks (Mongolian currency).
Next thing he came running out saying we had to be quick as the Russian side of the border closed in a few minutes! We jumped on the bikes, raced across no mans land, got to the border, to be told нет, niet, no. Border was closed!
We had to ride back to the Mongolian border control. The man asked for our passports, had a look, and said “I’ll give them back tomorrow, leave the bikes inside the gate and you must leave!”
So, we were bikeless, passportless, tugrik less, and back in Mongolia!!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sure, what could go wrong? 
It's like a tv series, each episode ending dramatically, leaving you thinking....Ah, FFS, what happened next?
It's like a tv series, each episode ending dramatically, leaving you thinking....Ah, FFS, what happened next?
keep it coming Mide
C'mon, I am bored waiting
C'mon, I am bored waiting
Sure, what could go wrong?
It's like a tv series, each episode ending dramatically, leaving you thinking....Ah, FFS, what happened next?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
By the time we walked away from the border it was about 7.30pm, and we still hadn’t had breakfast! Apparently, there was a hotel just beside the border.
This was the outside of the hotel!!
This is the inside there were 10 bunks in the room. And a slightly unpleasant smell
we had no tugriks so asked would she take dollars, she wanted $5 each (instead of $3 worth of tugriks) we only had $20 notes so handed one over. Never got any change!
The bathroom was farther away than any other place we’d stayed, and it had a lock on it. Must be something special?
Nope! Same as all the others.
There was a new toilet being built:
We were starving at this stage and the smell of what was in the pot was not appealing, at all. So we asked for boiling water and popped next door to the shop to buy some pot noodles. We dined on kimchee(noodles) and tea and biscuits.
The ‘hotel’ consisted of the room we were in and a kitchen attached. As we ate, the family all congregated in the kitchen. There were 2 moms, 3 children, a granny and a granda that we saw, and we heard another man or two.
You couldn’t sit on the bunks, they were like wire hammocks, when you sat into them you couldn’t stay upright, so we ended up lying down. Sure, before we knew it the 2 boys were snoring away. It was only about half 8!
As I lay there, the door opened and the Granny came in, with the sleeping baby, and put him on the bed behind Kev and then left. Holy shit! Who’s responsible for the baby? What if he cried in the night? I decided it wasn’t my problem and promptly fell asleep. A while later, the door opened again and the toddler came in, climbed onto the bed with the baby and poked him til he woke up and cried. Then, the toddler started crying! Poor Kev and Fritz had no idea what was going on
someone came in and took the 2 children out of there and we fell asleep again.
We woke early the next day, got up, dressed and left. The queue was long for the border
We walked to the top of the queue and past the first gate that they all were stopped at. We got to the border gate at about 8.30, it opened at 9. We left our bags at the gate and went and sat in the pagoda that was being built.
The boys found a wheelbarrow. Things like this really made you realise how little they have in Mongolia. We genuinely have no idea how much we have in Ireland/Europe. We definitely don’t appreciate what we have.
Eventually, the girl arrived, opened the gate, closed it and went into the hut, totally ignoring us.
The first gate had opened and the queue of cars had moved up to the hut and everyone was milling around us trying to push to the front! They had no idea how to queue, we literally had to push them back.
We had no idea how we were going to explain in our no Mongolian that we had no passports and we wanted to go through the border.
Turned out it wasn’t a problem, she let us through and we ran to the bikes so we could get them and get into the customs ahead of everyone else. So we could get to the Russian side ahead of them too.
The customs building wasn’t open, so we stood around outside, waiting. We packed up the luggage in the bikes again, and we’re still waiting. Eventually, the man from yesterday came out and in his pigeon English told us we’d get our passports at 9. Our phones were saying it was 9.20, turns out we’d passed a time zone and were 1 hour closer to home at 9 on the button, he gave us our passports, and the girl in the hut opened the gates and the queue flooded in.
We jumped on the bikes and got out of there. When we got to the Russian side, they still weren’t there.
Me with one foot in Mongolia and one in Russia
By the time the staff opened the Russian side, the queue had caught up with us and were back pushing past us at every opportunity.
The Russian borders are such a pain in the arse, so much paperwork, and different people to get forms and give forms and get stamps.
What a palaver! Having said that, it was worth it. It was so lovely to be back in Russia the roads were fab, as it happened that day, the sun was out. When we stopped for lunch, the food was magnificent.
We went to find a bank, we had found a load of tugriks in a pocket last night after having paid in $$$ for the hotel!
and while kev was in there trying to unsuccessfully swap tugriks for rubles, Fritz was chatting to some Czech girls who were hoping to get into Mongolia that day( it was Friday, the border closed for the weekend). The girls were unsuccessfully trying to get tugriks in the bank and atm. They were gone by the time kev came out of the bank but we went after them and swapped rubles for tugriks and everyone was happy
We had a lovely day on the bikes, we stopped at a place where 2 rivers meet.
Then we found this fab bridge
That evening stayed in a lovely yurt, by a big river. We went into a local shop and bought eggs, tomatoes, onions, cheese and (relatively) fresh bread and we happily feasted.
We went down to the river.
Kev tried to fix his clutch master cylinder with a bit of wire.
Did a bit of bike maintenance,
And we had a bania and some vodka, as you do, in Russia
We got up and finished the feast from the night before and set off for the day. We were hoping to stay in Barnaul that night.
Another lovely day on the bikes, there’s plenty to see in Russia, without going looking for it.
And met this lovely guy,
The food is most definitely better in Russia.
We came across this house en route.
Everything inside is upside down too.
We got to Barnaul that evening and booked into a lovely hotel. We met a biker outside who told us about a biker bar locally.
We went to find it after a quick shower, and had a great night
The following morning we had the best breakfast of the whole trip. It really is all about the food!
We headed south towards Kazakhstan, and decided that we’d really like one more night in Russia, with good food, before crossing into Kazakhstan. The closest town to the border was Rubtsovsk. It was odd riding in, it was like a derelict industrial estate, the road was dreadful, full of huge potholes. It seemed unmaintained. As we were riding along, next thing Kev pulled up, he had a puncture in his rear tyre.
We pulled off the road and went into a seemingly derelict yard. We got off the bikes and then some guys came out of the building. It was a fire station. The lads were great, and helped fix the puncture.
As always, the friendliness, helpfulness and hospitality in Russia is second to none
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This was the outside of the hotel!!
This is the inside
there were 10 bunks in the room. And a slightly unpleasant smell
we had no tugriks so asked would she take dollars, she wanted $5 each (instead of $3 worth of tugriks) we only had $20 notes so handed one over. Never got any change! 
The bathroom was farther away than any other place we’d stayed, and it had a lock on it. Must be something special?
Nope! Same as all the others.
There was a new toilet being built:
We were starving at this stage and the smell of what was in the pot was not appealing, at all. So we asked for boiling water and popped next door to the shop to buy some pot noodles. We dined on kimchee(noodles) and tea and biscuits.
The ‘hotel’ consisted of the room we were in and a kitchen attached. As we ate, the family all congregated in the kitchen. There were 2 moms, 3 children, a granny and a granda that we saw, and we heard another man or two.
You couldn’t sit on the bunks, they were like wire hammocks, when you sat into them you couldn’t stay upright, so we ended up lying down. Sure, before we knew it the 2 boys were snoring away. It was only about half 8!
As I lay there, the door opened and the Granny came in, with the sleeping baby, and put him on the bed behind Kev and then left. Holy shit! Who’s responsible for the baby? What if he cried in the night? I decided it wasn’t my problem and promptly fell asleep. A while later, the door opened again and the toddler came in, climbed onto the bed with the baby and poked him til he woke up and cried. Then, the toddler started crying! Poor Kev and Fritz had no idea what was going on
someone came in and took the 2 children out of there and we fell asleep again.We woke early the next day, got up, dressed and left. The queue was long for the border
We walked to the top of the queue and past the first gate that they all were stopped at. We got to the border gate at about 8.30, it opened at 9. We left our bags at the gate and went and sat in the pagoda that was being built.
The boys found a wheelbarrow. Things like this really made you realise how little they have in Mongolia. We genuinely have no idea how much we have in Ireland/Europe. We definitely don’t appreciate what we have.
Eventually, the girl arrived, opened the gate, closed it and went into the hut, totally ignoring us.
The first gate had opened and the queue of cars had moved up to the hut and everyone was milling around us trying to push to the front! They had no idea how to queue, we literally had to push them back.
We had no idea how we were going to explain in our no Mongolian that we had no passports and we wanted to go through the border.
Turned out it wasn’t a problem, she let us through and we ran to the bikes so we could get them and get into the customs ahead of everyone else. So we could get to the Russian side ahead of them too.
The customs building wasn’t open, so we stood around outside, waiting. We packed up the luggage in the bikes again, and we’re still waiting. Eventually, the man from yesterday came out and in his pigeon English told us we’d get our passports at 9. Our phones were saying it was 9.20, turns out we’d passed a time zone and were 1 hour closer to home
at 9 on the button, he gave us our passports, and the girl in the hut opened the gates and the queue flooded in. We jumped on the bikes and got out of there. When we got to the Russian side, they still weren’t there.
Me with one foot in Mongolia and one in Russia
By the time the staff opened the Russian side, the queue had caught up with us and were back pushing past us at every opportunity.
The Russian borders are such a pain in the arse, so much paperwork, and different people to get forms and give forms and get stamps.
What a palaver! Having said that, it was worth it. It was so lovely to be back in Russia
the roads were fab, as it happened that day, the sun was out. When we stopped for lunch, the food was magnificent. We went to find a bank, we had found a load of tugriks in a pocket last night after having paid in $$$ for the hotel!
and while kev was in there trying to unsuccessfully swap tugriks for rubles, Fritz was chatting to some Czech girls who were hoping to get into Mongolia that day( it was Friday, the border closed for the weekend). The girls were unsuccessfully trying to get tugriks in the bank and atm. They were gone by the time kev came out of the bank but we went after them and swapped rubles for tugriks and everyone was happy
We had a lovely day on the bikes, we stopped at a place where 2 rivers meet.
Then we found this fab bridge
That evening stayed in a lovely yurt, by a big river. We went into a local shop and bought eggs, tomatoes, onions, cheese and (relatively) fresh bread and we happily feasted.
We went down to the river.
Kev tried to fix his clutch master cylinder with a bit of wire.
Did a bit of bike maintenance,
And we had a bania and some vodka, as you do, in Russia
We got up and finished the feast from the night before and set off for the day. We were hoping to stay in Barnaul that night.
Another lovely day on the bikes, there’s plenty to see in Russia, without going looking for it.
And met this lovely guy,
The food is most definitely better in Russia.
We came across this house en route.
Everything inside is upside down too.
We got to Barnaul that evening and booked into a lovely hotel. We met a biker outside who told us about a biker bar locally.
We went to find it after a quick shower, and had a great night
The following morning we had the best breakfast of the whole trip. It really is all about the food!
We headed south towards Kazakhstan, and decided that we’d really like one more night in Russia, with good food, before crossing into Kazakhstan. The closest town to the border was Rubtsovsk. It was odd riding in, it was like a derelict industrial estate, the road was dreadful, full of huge potholes. It seemed unmaintained. As we were riding along, next thing Kev pulled up, he had a puncture in his rear tyre.
We pulled off the road and went into a seemingly derelict yard. We got off the bikes and then some guys came out of the building. It was a fire station. The lads were great, and helped fix the puncture.
As always, the friendliness, helpfulness and hospitality in Russia is second to none
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
B Murr
Registered user
Ye guys sure know how to travel, always a smile and phased by nothing. Great trip report.
So interesting! A bit worrying when you are showering praise on the Russian food.....
I’ve been reading this and thinking that it can’t be too hard to find ‘safe’ places to leave a bike after a fortnight away each year because I’d love to ride across Europe and Asia as far as the Pacific but simply don’t have the time to do it in one go.
Keep it up Mide because you’re planting seeds in my mind
Keep it up Mide because you’re planting seeds in my mind
Ah .... the Biker's Bar in Barnaul 
Great people, lovely place.
Great reading, great photo's Mide and Kev, keep it going.
Great memories too ... I loved Russia, would dearly love to go back.
Great people, lovely place.
Great reading, great photo's Mide and Kev, keep it going.
Great memories too ... I loved Russia, would dearly love to go back.
Enjoying this report, the contrasts of good and bad are what make it. Russia has gained a few places in my rankings table, it was firmly rooted close to the bottom but this report and Micky's comment have helped. Safe riding.
I Haven’t been to Mongolia but spent time in Kazakhstan and Russia so I can’t imagine just how bad the food is in Mongolia for you to be being so positive about Russian food.
Great write up
Great write up
Thanks guys
Great report Mìde, keep it up.
Thanks Damo
I’ve been reading this and thinking that it can’t be too hard to find ‘safe’ places to leave a bike after a fortnight away each year because I’d love to ride across Europe and Asia as far as the Pacific but simply don’t have the time to do it in one go.
Keep it up Mide because you’re planting seeds in my mind
It's not hard at all
Ah .... the Biker's Bar in Barnaul
Great people, lovely place.
Great reading, great photo's Mide and Kev, keep it going.
Great memories too ... I loved Russia, would dearly love to go back.
I love Russia
I would go back tomorrow. The people are fantastic!!The people in Russia have helped us all, time and time again. They go above and beyond. We have made many friends there that we keep in touch with.
Even the ones who's names we never get, are always in our hearts and stories. So many have so little, and they would give it all to you
I'll get cracking on the next bit tomorrow eve
we've had a busy weekendThis comment made me Laugh out loud! It's made me wonder actually how good the food really is in Russia? We did have the thrupenny bits right through Russia and Kazakhstan now that you mention it!
But the food is truly awful in Mongolia. Someone made the comment last week that it doesn't matter whether you eat or don't eat in Mongolia, you'll still lose weight!
Fantastic report, really enjoying it, ride safe 
Caught up with the reading. Bloody lovely. Keep it coming
Thanks everyone for the positive replies
Breakfast before we left Russia. I’m thinking the commentators in the above comments were probably right about the food in Russia
Fritz had a really bad stomach that day. Lots of cramps. So wasn’t eating.
It was lashing rain the next day. A wet, grey, miserable day. We only had about 35kms to the Kazakh border. The tarmac was fine for about 20kms and then deteriorated rapidly. There was a new road being built, so where possible, we rode on it. It just had the hardcore layer(mostly).
But every so often, we’d have to get off and then we were in troughs and puddles and muck and stones. We were wondering if this was what the roads were going to be like in Kazakhstan?
Leaving Russia was fairly straightforward entering Kazakhstan was too, there’s no visa required for Kazakhstan so they just wanted details of you and your bike.
A sneaky photo at the border, they don’t like you taking pics.
All through our trip we were seeing cars doing the Mongol rally. But here, at the border, we’re 2 Irish reg cars. We hadn’t met any Irish people at all on our trip so I really would’ve liked to meet them. One car had a cork reg, the other a limerick reg. The limerick reg car was painted in Dublin colours (this will mean nothing to any of you that aren’t Irish. It’s a bit like Man U, you’re either from Dublin or against Dublin! But there’s no way a limerick man painted his car in Dublin colours!)
Gave me a laugh anyway
After we crossed the border, Kev’s bike started playing up again. It had lost power, turns out the injector needed cleaning. So we rode at about 60kms an hour to Semey. It was a little over 100km. We had hoped to visit a museum there and then carry on, but we couldn’t with Kev’s bike the way it was. We found a hotel and tried to book in but, they wouldn’t take credit cards and we had no Kazakh money yet. So kev started stripping down his bike and Fritz and I went to the bank. The rain had stopped but my gloves were soaked. They weren’t very easy gloves to use as if it rained and they got wet, the inside lining came out when I took them off. Same thing happened if it was too hot and my hands got sweaty so I left them there and went without them.
We only had about 400m to ride. Got to traffic lights, pulled away, and the bike did s little dance and spat me off! There was petrol/diesel on the road. Luckily, I was only going into 2nd gear, so very slow, but slapped my hands off the ground the bank was literally 20m from where I came off so it was grand. Picked up the bike, jumped on, pulled off the road and then the shakes set in my hand was bleeding(not a lot) and were wet (from the rain) and I’d no tissue. Poor Fritz didn’t know what to do with me I was fine but a little shook. We got the money, jumped back on the bikes (tentatively) and rode back. A big hug from Kev later, and all was well in my world
Fritz went to bed as he still had loads of cramps. Kev got the bike sorted and then he and I went for a walk to try find the Polygon museum.
From Wikipedia:
“The Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk from 1949 until 1989 with little regard for their effect on the local people or environment. The full impact of radiation exposure was hidden for many years by Soviet authorities and has only come to light since the test site closed in 1991.
From 1996 to 2012, a secret joint operation of Kazakh, Russian, and U.S. nuclear scientists and engineers secured the waste plutonium in the tunnels of the mountains.
Since its closure, the STS has become the best-researched atomic testing site in the world, and the only one in the world open to the public.”
We didn’t go to the test site, we had considered it, but you need to book tickets and it has to be done in advance. So, we were just going to visit the museum, if we could find it!
We walked in circles for a while but eventually found a building that we figured was the right place. There was a woman coming out and so we asked her if we could visit. Her English was minimal but better than our Kazakh she talked non stop to us, every so often she’d try to say something in English to us. She was so lovely basically, she told us to come back at 10 the next morning.
Fritz was feeling a little better and we went out to eat.
We had the sandwich on the bottom left! It was delicious
cheap as chips too
We went back to the museum in the morning and met Mena again.
She was so full of joie de vivre this is the only photo I’ll post from that day. The others are too upsetting. The museum has body parts and foetuses and babies in jars on display. All with defects. There are many photos available online if you want to have a look.
Man’s inhumanity to man is evident and shocking.
We packed up and headed south. The rain had stopped. We hoped to ride maybe 500km but after the first 100km, the road just became horrendous. It was tarmac, mostly. But it peaked and troughed and was rutted and potholed. We were probably riding at 45/50mph but every so often would have to slow right down. You’d just get to the point of utter desperation and the road would be as smooth as ice, for a few minutes, and then slowly deteriorate again. The really bad stuff was only ever 5/6 minutes at a time, just about long enough to wear you out, and then would be manageable but definitely not enjoyable for 20/25 mins.
We were absolutely exhausted by the time we got to Ayagoz.
The people in Kazakhstan we so welcoming and friendly. Every time we stopped people came over to talk to us. The young people were very pleasant and English is being taught in the schools so they had enough to converse with us. It was a really lovely surprise. We weren’t expecting to enjoy Kazakhstan. We had heard that the best thing we could do would be to ride through as quickly as possible but our experience was to enjoy and stop and meet the people
The man who owned the hotel came and helped us with our belongings and brought us to his garage to park the bikes. He had learned his English from the internet and asked us where we came from and all about the trip. When he came back the next day, he’d done some homework and was asking us about our home countries. He was very proud of his hotel and his town and his country. It’s so refreshing to see that in people. We went for a wander down the town that evening.
This is the atm, you had to climb over the warning tape and up over the mound of muck to get to the atm
Next day we had more of the same road all day long.
We’d been riding for a while and next thing noticed that Fritz wasn’t with us, so we turned around and went back.
He’d hit a pothole and dented his wheel. He had tubeless Tyres so immediately lost his air.
It was absolutely roasting and there was no shade to shelter in.
We stopped for some melon, and had great craic with these ladies at the side of the road.
Fritz’s machete put to good use
They were most impressed with my choice of husband
We carried on and came to this lovely spot.
The mountains in the distance are on the border with China.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Breakfast before we left Russia. I’m thinking the commentators in the above comments were probably right about the food in Russia
Fritz had a really bad stomach that day. Lots of cramps. So wasn’t eating.
It was lashing rain the next day. A wet, grey, miserable day. We only had about 35kms to the Kazakh border. The tarmac was fine for about 20kms and then deteriorated rapidly. There was a new road being built, so where possible, we rode on it. It just had the hardcore layer(mostly).
But every so often, we’d have to get off and then we were in troughs and puddles and muck and stones. We were wondering if this was what the roads were going to be like in Kazakhstan?
Leaving Russia was fairly straightforward
entering Kazakhstan was too, there’s no visa required for Kazakhstan so they just wanted details of you and your bike.A sneaky photo at the border, they don’t like you taking pics.
All through our trip we were seeing cars doing the Mongol rally. But here, at the border, we’re 2 Irish reg cars. We hadn’t met any Irish people at all on our trip so I really would’ve liked to meet them. One car had a cork reg, the other a limerick reg. The limerick reg car was painted in Dublin colours
(this will mean nothing to any of you that aren’t Irish. It’s a bit like Man U, you’re either from Dublin or against Dublin! But there’s no way a limerick man painted his car in Dublin colours!)Gave me a laugh anyway
After we crossed the border, Kev’s bike started playing up again. It had lost power, turns out the injector needed cleaning. So we rode at about 60kms an hour to Semey. It was a little over 100km. We had hoped to visit a museum there and then carry on, but we couldn’t with Kev’s bike the way it was. We found a hotel and tried to book in but, they wouldn’t take credit cards and we had no Kazakh money yet. So kev started stripping down his bike and Fritz and I went to the bank. The rain had stopped but my gloves were soaked. They weren’t very easy gloves to use as if it rained and they got wet, the inside lining came out when I took them off. Same thing happened if it was too hot and my hands got sweaty
so I left them there and went without them.We only had about 400m to ride. Got to traffic lights, pulled away, and the bike did s little dance and spat me off! There was petrol/diesel on the road. Luckily, I was only going into 2nd gear, so very slow, but slapped my hands off the ground
the bank was literally 20m from where I came off so it was grand. Picked up the bike, jumped on, pulled off the road and then the shakes set in my hand was bleeding(not a lot) and were wet (from the rain) and I’d no tissue. Poor Fritz didn’t know what to do with me I was fine but a little shook. We got the money, jumped back on the bikes (tentatively) and rode back. A big hug from Kev later, and all was well in my worldFritz went to bed as he still had loads of cramps. Kev got the bike sorted and then he and I went for a walk to try find the Polygon museum.
From Wikipedia:
“The Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk from 1949 until 1989 with little regard for their effect on the local people or environment. The full impact of radiation exposure was hidden for many years by Soviet authorities and has only come to light since the test site closed in 1991.
From 1996 to 2012, a secret joint operation of Kazakh, Russian, and U.S. nuclear scientists and engineers secured the waste plutonium in the tunnels of the mountains.
Since its closure, the STS has become the best-researched atomic testing site in the world, and the only one in the world open to the public.”
We didn’t go to the test site, we had considered it, but you need to book tickets and it has to be done in advance. So, we were just going to visit the museum, if we could find it!
We walked in circles for a while but eventually found a building that we figured was the right place. There was a woman coming out and so we asked her if we could visit. Her English was minimal but better than our Kazakh
she talked non stop to us, every so often she’d try to say something in English to us. She was so lovely basically, she told us to come back at 10 the next morning.Fritz was feeling a little better and we went out to eat.
We had the sandwich on the bottom left! It was delicious
cheap as chips too 
We went back to the museum in the morning and met Mena again.
She was so full of joie de vivre
this is the only photo I’ll post from that day. The others are too upsetting. The museum has body parts and foetuses and babies in jars on display. All with defects. There are many photos available online if you want to have a look. Man’s inhumanity to man is evident and shocking.
We packed up and headed south. The rain had stopped. We hoped to ride maybe 500km but after the first 100km, the road just became horrendous. It was tarmac, mostly. But it peaked and troughed and was rutted and potholed. We were probably riding at 45/50mph but every so often would have to slow right down. You’d just get to the point of utter desperation and the road would be as smooth as ice, for a few minutes, and then slowly deteriorate again. The really bad stuff was only ever 5/6 minutes at a time, just about long enough to wear you out, and then would be manageable but definitely not enjoyable for 20/25 mins.
We were absolutely exhausted by the time we got to Ayagoz.
The people in Kazakhstan we so welcoming and friendly. Every time we stopped people came over to talk to us. The young people were very pleasant and English is being taught in the schools so they had enough to converse with us. It was a really lovely surprise. We weren’t expecting to enjoy Kazakhstan. We had heard that the best thing we could do would be to ride through as quickly as possible but our experience was to enjoy and stop and meet the people
The man who owned the hotel came and helped us with our belongings and brought us to his garage to park the bikes. He had learned his English from the internet and asked us where we came from and all about the trip. When he came back the next day, he’d done some homework and was asking us about our home countries. He was very proud of his hotel and his town and his country. It’s so refreshing to see that in people. We went for a wander down the town that evening.
This is the atm, you had to climb over the warning tape and up over the mound of muck to get to the atm
Next day we had more of the same road
all day long. We’d been riding for a while and next thing noticed that Fritz wasn’t with us, so we turned around and went back.
He’d hit a pothole and dented his wheel. He had tubeless Tyres so immediately lost his air.
It was absolutely roasting and there was no shade to shelter in.
We stopped for some melon, and had great craic with these ladies at the side of the road.
Fritz’s machete put to good use
They were most impressed with my choice of husband
We carried on and came to this lovely spot.
The mountains in the distance are on the border with China.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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