Day 50-53, Krasyonarsk-Kansk, 550 km

Day 50, 125 km and a lift for 120 km

The weather was as usual the last week: In the morning misty and not so warm and in the afternoon sunny and hot.

I crossed the Trans Siberian Railway many times. I also passed many villages, which sometimes had funny names.

Can you pronounce the name?

Now farmers had begun to harvest. I saw them driving with their trucks directly on the fields.

 

Also Russians thought it was a hot summer. Often when i passed a river I could see people below the bridges having BBQ on the beach.

When i had this river, suddenly out of the mist occurred big limestone mountains. 

They did not look natural because they had so sharp edges but soon I understood that the mountains were natural but shaped by people who needed limestone. I was very close to a town called Atchinsk.

After Atchinsk there were mountains again and now, finally, there were woods that looked as the Taiga I had been told about.

Now there were not only birches but also pines in the wood.

In the evening, only some kilometers before I wanted to find a sleeping place, a truck driver asked if I was tired and wanted to get a lift to Krasyonarsk, a city 120 km away. I agrreed and so I got a ride on a big Russian truck called Kamaz. I thought it was an old truck (it looked like if it was built in the 70 ies). But he told me it was only five years and that it was a very good “машина”. I asked him if Volvo and Scania also were good cars and he agreed. But when I asked him which one of the three was the very best he said without hesitating: Kamaz!

I had tried to contact some couchsurfing people again. I had asked them to sent me their address and wrote I could be there next day at seven pm. Out of 6 couchsurfers only one answered but only with a phone number and no address.

So I asked the truck driver if he could drop me in a wood before close to Krasyonarsk. My plan was to contact the couchsurfer next day.

Day 51, 100 km

Next day I tried to contact the couchsurfer until 1 pm. Then I changed my mind, I thought I could continue and sleep in the woods again.

Only 30 km after Krasyonarsk I met the very first lond distance bicyclist. It was a only 18 year old guy from Beijing. He had been on the road since April. He did not go through Mongolia but east of it. By doing this he did not have to buy a visa. Now he was on his way to Moscow, but his plan was to go around the world! We rested together and exchanged both experiences and maps. I was so exited and had so many questions about China that I forgot to take pictures. He took many pictures and also videos, because he wanted to make a documentary of his trip.

Now there were many meadows with the red flowers "Иван чай" which i wrote about before.

When I continued I thought about that I missed to have a shower in Krasyonarsk. My whole body was itching, I don't know if it was because of the dirt or because of all insect bites. Soon I came to a small river where I took a bath and used much soap. It was wonderful but the itching did not stop.

Day 52, 100 km

This day I had a bad headwind. As usual it was misty in the morning but more wind and sun in the afternoon.

At noon I saw the a bad accident. A truck, a van and a car was involved. All injured did not get space in the ambulance which I had met 20 min before so one person still was taken care beside the road. I thought about taking a picture but it did not feel right.

I reminded that I had been on the road for more than seven weeks and that one accident was not much when you think about how intense the traffic was, but still I felt scared after I had seen the accident. I also thought car drivers who had seen the accident passed me more careful than before.

This day I actually met two more bicyclist: Two young Russian guys on their way to Novosibirsk!

In the afternoon I remembered that I did not wash my laundry the day before. So I stopped at a beautiful river and did it. 

Because of the wind I decided to stop early this day.  

Day 53, 100 km

The wind was not much better this day. At noon i came to a city called Kansk. 

If you enlarge the picture you can read КАНСК

Now I only have 850 km left to Irkutsk! I found a Bankomat, bought some groceries and wrote the blog at a cafe. If I really will make 100 km today I don't know yet, but I suppose!

Day 44 - 49, Novosibirsk to Mariinsk, about 500 km

Day 45, 75 km and a lift of 40 km

I slept in a nice forest only some kilometers outside Novosibirsk. Next morning I continued.

Now the landscape was a little more varied; there were hills and lakes. 

After some hours I stopped in a little town where six Babushkas crowded behind a stand were it was possible to buy fruit and vegetables.

I bought some tomatoes, cucumbers and also bananas and an apple. They persuaded me to buy even a bottle of fresh milk. Although it was a hot day I did so. I tasted and it tasted like cream! I guess there must have been 5-6% fat in it. I ate my second breakfast: muesli with creamy milk. At lunch I cooked noodles in milk but there was still very much milk in the bottle so I drank a lot of tea with milk.

This I regretted soon. My diarrhea, which I thought I had got rid of, was there again...

After an emergency situation, when I had been forced to jump off the bicycle in disappear in a wood for 15 minutes, I thought it maybe would be good for my body to rest some hours or a day. The last days I have had the feeling that I could not get rid of my stomach problems without giving my body a rest. My plan was to stay in Novosibirsk a day and therefore I had contacted several hosts of warmshowers AND couchsurfing, but nobody was at home.

As I continued on my bicycle I thought even to work as a volunteer maybe should be better for me. Suddenly a little truck stopped in front of me and the driver, Igor, asked if I wanted a lift for 40 km. I agreed and soon I sat in the front seat next to his girlfriend Tatjana. They were very nice and after they had heard that I had built my own house, Igor said that he was building his own house right now. But he did not do everything by himself, he had five workers who right now were doing the brick – work.

He was a businessman who owned two mobile cranes and right now he had many jobs with his cranes so he usually worked 14 hours a day, seven days a week. One of these cranes could lift 16 tons 26 meters up in the sky!

I was very curious about his house and when he asked if I would like to see it I was very happy. He also invited me to stay in his garage until the next day.

So he showed me his building in a small town called Bolotnoe. It was a huge house, built with bricks in different colors. The first floor measured 200 square meters and it was almost finished. There was a cellar under and there was planned to be a second floor also. What made most impression on me was that the thickness of the walls were 55 cm, They were built of different kind of bricks with insulating plastic foam (frigolit) in the middle. Igor said it was a sandwich construction, good for minus 40 degrees.

Igor worked for many more hours in the evening but then he came to the garage with his big crane and asked if I wanted to see Siberia from above. He brought a platform where I and Tatjana could stand. I was not sure if the “strops” really would be strong enough for the weight of us and the platform, since he had bought them the very same day and he never had tested them. But he though we would be good objects to test them with. Then he lifted us up in the sky. It was very scary but also funny!

As soon as he had let us down (in a speed that reminded of “Bungy Jump”) I shared the video I had been taking on Facebook.

Afterwords we sat on the couch in the garage, talking until after midnight. I said I could sleep on the couch in the garage but when he an Tatjana had gone and closed the big doors I realized that there was no ventilation and that his machines smelled very much gasoline. I tried to sleep anyway but many times I awakened and felt as if I was choking in the odors of gasoline. So finally I took my laying pad close to the doors where the air was a little better. There I slept on the floor.

Day 46, 80 km

Next day I got up early to wash my clothes and shave myself. Tatjana came with breakfast and when Igor came he told me that I could help him to fetch some sand near a bath lake, about 20 km north of Bolotnoe. He only had to do some things before. While he did them I showed Tatjana pictures from my journey and my family.

Then we went to the lake with his little truck. On the way we also picked up his 18 year old son, who should help us.

The sand was on a much deeper level than the way for the truck, so we had to throw it up in three steps.

When we had loaded one ton we took a bath in the wonderful lake.

Igor invited me for lunch in his flat and then he showed me pictures of China and Thailand, where he had been recently on vacation. He also tried to teach me some Mongolian and Chinese. Then we went to the garage to get my bike.

Tatjana had bought a new tube for it! Yogor insisted to drive me to the main road where he said good bye and even gave me some money for my journey!

Although it was already after 2 pm, the afternoon I continued 80 km and discovered that I had no more problems with my stomach!.

Igor had told me that it was six weeks since the last rain, so the woods around are quite dry. Actually I passed a fire in the afternoon.

Day 47, 105 km

This day I passed another quite big town called Kemerovo. Because my Internet did not work any more I visited the main office for Beeline, my Internet provider. There were three long queues in the office and it took quite long time until it was my turn. Finally it was my turn and I actually got an English speaking seller. It took quite long time for him to find out what the problem was: actually it was my fault: Two days ago I had transferred money to my internet account for a new month, but unfortunately I transferred it to the account of the sim-card I used in Moscow. When I came to Nizhniy Novgorod it did not work any longer and I bought a new one.

The seller solved the problem by giving me a new sim-card to the Moscow account and he actually made it work. But my visit took about two hours and the queue in the office was very long when I left it.

After Kemerovo the landscape got even more mountains and on my map I saw that I was passing the northern outposts of the Altai mountains. I found a good place for the night on a hill 40 km from Kemerovo, not far from a huge communication tower. I hoped Internet should work there because I wanted to ring some phone calls with Skype – but it worked very poorly.

Instead I found three bushes of red currants, which I mixed with honey, muesli and Russian Kefir. It was delicious!

Day 48, 140 km

This day I started already at eight. I passed a very beautiful landscape with many hills and the road now was not any more as straight as before, but there were new views after every bend. 

The forest was not only birch but a mixture of many kinds of trees. I did not pass the town Taiga (which was about 50 km north of Kemerovo), but a little village called Krasnaya Taiga. 

Why it is called “The Red Taiga” I don't know, I think everything was quite green.

I also rested somewhere and watched a family harvesting their hay.

Finally in the evening I arrived in a lovely little town called Mariinsk. 

There I bought some groceries and in the end of the town I found a good sleeping place. Internet was good enough to make some phone calls with Skype!

Day 49, 110 km

I slept like a stone that night. In the morning everything was misty although it was quite warm. 

The road again followed closely to the railway and several times it crossed it. 

In the middle of the day I ate at a cafe and hoped I could update my blog but the Internet connection was not good enough. In the afternoon I found a river where many teenagers had met to take a bath. 

I joined them and told them about my travel. They were interested and as usual they wanted to take some pictures together with me. So I gave them my “business card” and said they could read my blog.

In the evening I slept in my tent on this place: 

day 39-44, from Omsk to Novosibirsk (700 km)

Day 39, 130 km

I left John and Kate's flat in the morning and was at the dentist at 9. She fixed my broken tooth! I hope it will last forever...

The Landscape in Siberia is not what I expected. Still there are only young birch grooves and a lot of grass along the way. Is this the Taiga?

 The birches seem to be very good to survive fire. Here you can see a groove that must have burnt this spring.

At noon I passed a little lake where i could refresh myself. 

I thought I was clever when I chose the side of the road where the wind was coming from when I chose my sleeping-place in the evening. As usual I rode on a little road one kilometre away from the big road and then I found a little nice birch groove. What I did not know was that it was not quiet there either. The groove was only 300 meters from the trans siberian railway! So my sleeping place was between the road and the railway.

Day 40, 145 km

This day was a really good day! I had a wind from behind and had an average of 23 km/h. Although I bought many things in the afternoon (water, groceries and a watermelon, in total about12 kg). I came to a conclusion that Weight does not matter as much as wind.

Not so much changed in the landscape. It was still very flat and the road were good. Also the bus stops and the toilets were clean. Here you can see a bus stop with a special sign that you could throw your litter there. As usual in this region there also was a public toilette about 30 m behind the bus stop.

 The grass seemed to be shorter and dryer than in western Russia. Or was it because of the time of the year? Anyway it seems as if the climate is so dry here that you can let the hay dry on giant piles.

 I saw farmers using their scythes but I also saw really big machines.

 Here in Siberia this kind of Russian car is very popular. I don't know its name but they are either military green or grey. I think a suitable Swedish name would be "Gråsugga". Actually you also can find blue ones which are used by the post office. 

Most are like minivans but also trucks in different kinds. You still can buy new ones!

In the newer models actually there are safety belts,

Day 41, 95 km

This was a bad day. I awoke with a headache and a diarrhea. But what could I do else than continue? So I did, but slowly.

In Russia you can find many different sorts of cafés along the road. Some more charming than others. In the Urals there was a café in average at about every tenth kilometre, here in average about 30 km.

 I usually bike without a t-shirt because now (the whole week) it has been between 30-35 degrees. When I come to a café the first thing i do is to take on my t-shirt. When I left this café I took off my t-shirt. The owner stared at me a and asked if I was not cold? When i said I would become hot on the way he asked where i came from. He was not friendly and thought we had no culture in Sweden because we ride with a bare upper part f the body!

Day 42, 110 km and a lift of another 40 km

This night I slept very well and I thought I had become ok in my belly, but I was wrong. I was still weak and dizzy. I don't know if it was because of the heat or my diarrhea. 

At noon I crossed the transsiberian railway . Although there were so many trucks on the road still there were many trains going on the rails and their length one or two kilometres!

 Not only along the railway, but everywhere you can find Fireweed in Russia. Here you call it Johns Tea (Иван Чай). You use the leaves to make tea. In Sweden you can call it Rallarros, Mjölkort or Mjölke. It is much more beautiful than the picture!

Now it can be very hot. Sometimes when my thermometer is exposed to the sun it shows 55 degrees. But there is not much shadow for me either. I often take long brakes and continue in the evening, when it is cooler. 

This afternoon I got a lift bya kind truck driver. Although it was only 40 km it was very nice!

Day 43, 125 km

Also this day I was still weak. In the afternoon I asked myself what my body was longing for. I thought it was quite long time since I had a bath and longed for my bath tube in Sweden!

But then I came to a very nice little bath lake near the road. There were a lot of people and the water was brown and warm. But it was really nice to rest there for some hours!

 Here you can see the lake from the other side.

 In the evening I found a sleeping place very close to the big town Novosibirsk (about twice as large as Omsk). As soon as I was in my tent I realized that it was very close to the airport, so I could not sleep so well. many aeroplanes were starting and landing exactly above me.

Day 44, through Novosibirsk, 50 km

In the morning i did some service on my bicycle, then I rode down town. At a supermarket I bought fruit, vegetables and Kefir, products that were difficult to get the last week.

 Finally I got to the town and looked at some nice building on the way to the zoo

 The Zoo of Novosibirsk is very famous and big.

 You can find many different kinds of animals.

 Sympathetic I found that there were many activities for children

 Everything was very beautiful

 May different birds,

 fishes

 and one of the main attractions, the polar bears!

 I wondered what they thought about the temperature?

I also used the toilets of the zoo several times and discovered that my stomach problem still was there...


In the evening I continued my travel to find a place for my tent.

Day 34-38, To and around Omsk (300 km)

Day 34, 130 km

When I was finished with my couchsurfing request and my blog-updating I tried to sleep in the cheap Motel. My room was the first n a corridor, very close to the TV- and eating-room. More and more truck-drivers had come and they were speaking and laughing, trying to over-voice the TV. It was also very hot, about 18 degrees in my room, so I could not slep. At 03:30 I missed my tent so much that I decided to just get away to a nice wood. But it was so misty outside that I was worried about my safety. I had a reflective vest and a headlamp but the mist made the night completely dark. I could hear a nightingale close to the road but I could not see if it sat in a bush or in a tree. But suddenly the mist disappeared and I saw a nice wood. There I slept until 9.00, then I continued to Omsk. At noon I bought some groceries in a little town where the roads had wheel-tracks that could be 20-40 cm deep. People seemed to be happy anyway.

Day 35, 130km

The day I arrived in Omsk one of the first things I saw was IKEA. Omsk was bigger than I thought (about the same size as Stockholm), so in the end of the day I had cycled 130 km!

What do you think about the spelling?

I was tempted to go inside IKEA and see if I could buy some Swedish food as a gift for my hosts. But I did not know if they would like it. Instead I looked for a bicycle shop. On the way I also found a shop where I could help with the charger of my computer which had a gap in the connector. For only 50 RUB they soldered a new one on the cable!

In the afternoon I had found some bicycle shops who could help me but the solutions were that I had to change quite many parts and it should be quite expensive. 

So I said I should think about it. 

I bought some food at a supermarket and when I came out of it the bicycle seller and his friend Roman, who was a owner of an Restaurant, invited me for lunch. They wanted to practise their English. Roman ordered a lot of Caucasian specialities. When I said that It was much too much, he replied that he could give me the left overs in a "doggy bag". He told me that everything was home-made, even the cheese. 

He had a two months old daughter and his dream was to buy a lot of land an grow his own food without fertilizers and chemicals. His restaurant was a way to make this dream come true.

In the evening I continued to my hosts. Alexis was member of couchsurfing but unfortunately was his flat right now renovated so he could not host me. Instead he had asked his friends Kate and John if I could sleep there. 

All three were expecting me, helped me and my bags up the flat and invited me to a great dinner. For my sake they had googled on a recipe for Swedish salad. Amongst others it was made of sausage similar to "Falukorv".

They told me that they were (motor-)bikers but Kate had no license yet. She wanted to get in the very next day.

Day 36, 10 km

Next day Alex came to show me the town. We decided to take my bike on a bus and go down-town together. 

First we made some business-cards for me and then went to the bicycle repair shop. On the way to it we passed the Musical Theatre. On the front of it there was a square with beautiful fountains. 

 While these pictures were taken the speakers around the square played Euphoria, a very popular song in Russia!

Alex had asked one of his friends where the best bicycle shop was. There they really had chain rings in the right size. So I did not have to change the axis and crank set. They could change cassette, chain and chain ring for a low price (1700 RUB) the same day, so we left the bike there.

In the afternoon John and Kate joined us. They also wanted to show the town. First they showed me this very old building. It is a workman's building which was built 1716, the same year as Omsk was established.

.

Omsk also  had one Metro Station. There was no Metro yet, but it had been planned since about 30 years. Now people were planning to initialize it 2016, when the town had its 300 anniversary. 

 We also passed a huge library, called Pushkin library.

 And a famous church.

 And one of the old entrances to the town (now there is no more walls)

 I was astonished how many big beautiful buildings there were!

 But there was also much space and many trees between them.

 Kate and John told me that they had been married for one year and that they should celebrate their anniversary next afternoon in a wood. They invited me to join them. 

A very famous sight of Omsk is Stephen the plumber. He looked a little tired but happy. 

 I liked him!

Omsk is not only a green city but there are also many flowers everywhere.

In the evening we went to a bar and tasted some beer. I tested a red ale which was delicious! 

Then we went to get my bicycle. I rode it home while Kate and John took the bus. Then we ate smoked fish. Suddenly I thought I had got a bone between my teeth but actually one of my teeth had split into two parts. I told Kate and John that I needed to go to a dentist next morning.

Day 37, no bicycling

Next morning John followed me to a dentist. He pulled out a big part of my tooth.

He said he could not mend it because he was only surgeon and there were no dentist working on Sundays. He said that unfortunately no dentist had time for me next day. But when I told him that I had planned to continue my trip round the world as soon as possible he said there was possibly a little time for me.

In the afternoon we went to the wood to have a picknick with Kates and Johns friends. 

Already the day before, they had shown me a whole book with photos from their wedding. It was a typical Russian wedding, exactly as I had read about  when I was studying Russia at the university.

Now we were about 15 persons in a beautiful recreation area.  

Everybody was between 20 and 30 besides of me and a baby boy. 

Everybody was curious about me but because of the difference in age and the language barrier it was in the beginning not so easy to come in contact with them. 

Kates brother caught a hazel-mouse with his hands! 

 We unpacked all cars,

 toasted for the married

 and made up two fires for a barbecue.

Finally we had a really good atmosphere. In Russia you say "after three beers you can speak all languages". But here it seemed as if also one beer did help. We stayed there for many hours and had a really good time with a lot of delicious food.

Almost all of them wanted to meet again in the evening and to take a walk in Omsk. So we did. We went to a square where almost 300 years ago a man called Buchholz had decided that they should build a town. I was where the river Om joined the river Irtysh.

 There was also an old cannon.

Then we went for a long walk to the other side of Om, were there once had been a fort.

Day 38, 30 km

Next day I packed all my bags, then I went to the dentist. When I came there she already knew who I was and that I was travelling. She could not English or German but to be certain that I really understood what she said she several times called somebody who could translate.
After she had investigated my tooth and rinsed it channels she said that I should cone back next day so we could continue.

First I called John and asked if I could stay one more night. Then I explored the town once again on my bicycle. Finally I stopped at the Pushkin Library where I read German literature about Geography and tried to update my Blog. When I had done it unfortunately everything disappeared! It happened because there was no wifi and I had been using my own internet, although the connection was bad in the middle of the building.

Then I rode to the Caucasian Restaurant but Roman was not there. Anyway I got a delicious Caucasian soup.

Finally I rode "home" again to Johns and Kates place. They had invited Alex and his fiancée Alexandra for dinner. Alex had bought a big bottle of my favourite red ale and a miniature of Stephen the Plumber for me!

It was nice to meet them one more dinner - and Alexandra too!