Russian Roulette, that’s what we felt when we arrived at the Russian border post.  After clearing immigration on the Mongolian side the nice lady opened the gate and we entered no man’s land. With a smile on our face we cycled up the mountain, because against all odds it seemed like we could ride our bikes between two countries- quite uncommon the further away from Europe you are.  But this freedom only last some kilometers: the Russian gate was closed and with a clear “nyet” (”no”) we were asked to go back to Mongolia and organize some kind of transport into Russia. Walking and cycling in no man’s land not permitted. Funny guys, how to go back on an single entry and exit visa that has been used? Being trapped we asked for water and prepared to camp until some transport will show up, whenever this will be. But like most of the time we were lucky and only minutes before “office time” was over Denis showed up and we crammed our gear into his van. The unlucky was trapped too (or better his drilling equipment for mineral resources which could not clear customs) and thus his unhappy Canadian customer was kicking his butt. What a start!

Expecting more of this we positively got disappointed- it finally was the start of a very good time in Russia. We met many friendly people, received warm hospitality, ate (or were “forced” to eat) tons of delicious food (close to what our grandma conjured), admired wild and beautiful nature and experienced the start of the bloody cold Siberian winter.

The first 7 weeks doubtlessly were the most active ones. Still cycling we covered all the way from the border to Krasnojarsk on our own two wheels. For the last 4 weeks we then changed our travel scheme. Regarding accommodation this meant using the genius social networks of hospitalityclub.org and couchsurfing.com for homestays with families. And concerning transportation it simply meant taking the train (Transib and BAM) to Vladivostok with a 10 day stop over at the northern tip of lake Baikal (cycling and trekking). Given the short visa and the approaching winter there was no other way to cover the gigantic distances here. And yes, it got cold: once the thermometer still was stuck below -30C at 8 in the morning we knew it’s time to hit the road and get to the warmer Pacific coast soon. With our gloves, shoes and sleeping backs already far beyond limits there neither was a chance to stay outside camping at night nor cycling during the day (snow and ice covered tracks only). During the “warmer” nights we already started collecting enough fire wood for our hobo camp in the snow just in case we might keep the fire blasting the whole night.

Now our gear is packed and we are ready to board the ferry to South Korea tomorrow: the cold time is over (although I still would like to experience -50C) and warmer weather ahead. As well a new language and a script we can’t decipher…

Bambitee

PS: once again the pics have to wait, I will upload it from South Korea, PROMISSED