August 2 Russian
small town
After saying goodbye to Alan at around 9.30 am, I keyed
Moscow into my GPS, and it took me to a
series of small roads, and then dirt roads. In the end I stopped and asked a
local for direction. He told me to go to a major town called Daugapils, and
then onto the border from there. I made it to the border at around 5 pm. The
300 km trip to the border should take about 4 hours, but it took me over 7
hours!
There is a long queue of cars and trucks, so I rode to the
front of the queue. Processing of Latvia exit was painfully slow, and the
Russia side, the guards are more friendly and quicker. Unfortunately, there was
no ATM or money changer on the Russian side, so I didn’t have any Russian rubble.
I managed to use my credit card to buy a microwave dinner, water and biscuits
in a service station, and 50 Euro for the Russian bike insurance. Fuel price in
Russia is very cheap – 76c per litre. $10 to fill up the tank, instead of $30
in Sweden. I then headed off to the wilderness at around 7 pm. Both side of the
highway were thick forest with occasional dirt roads leading into small towns
and villages. The highway condition was generally very good with patches of rough
roads.. I keyed in the GPS co-ordinates of the hotel which is about 160km away
from the border. It turned out to be completely wrong. The hotel should be on
the north side of the highway, but GPS sent me south of the highway. The road
got really rough quickly, and then unsealed.
I rode through isolated houses, and deep forest in the dark. After
riding for 15 minutes, I decided to turn
back to the highway. I went to 2 motels along the highway, and both were fully
booked. By then, it was 11 pm, so I turned off into an isolated town, and the
best camping spot I found was a bus stop. There were lots of traffic all night.
At around 1 am, I heard a wagon came around and parked next to my bike. I heard
a couple of girls talking and walking around, and with loud Russian techno
music in full blast. I decline their invitation for a party, and remain inside
my tent. They gave up and drove off after 5 to 10 minutes. I managed to fall to
sleep around 2 am.
August 3 Moscow
Red Square, Moscow
August 4 - August 5 Moscow
I went straight to the Indian visa procession centre in the
morning and discovered that I need to get the hotel registration paper before
they can process my application. I then walked back to the hostel, and asked
for the registration paper, but did not get it till after 5 pm. Oh well, another day is wasted.
Next day, I got up early to meet up with my old friend,
Adrian from Romania. We met at Vladivostok, then Georgia, and now Moscow. All
three time were unplanned! We rode together in Georgia, Turkey, and Bulgaria
three years ago. He and his friend arrived yesterday, and then leave again this
morning on the road trip to Northcapp, top of Norway.
I then went back to the Indian visa processing centre. The
Indian guy at the reception was “very friendly” to me. He took me straight to
an interviewing room, and told me that the normal processing time is 10 to 12 days (cost 2,500Rubbles - according to the website). But he can
speed things up to 5
working days if I pay 10,000 rubbles. I tried to bargain with him, but
without luck. So I handed over the cash, and left. No receipt, no paper work.
Hope it will work! The rest of the day was spent sightseeing.
August 6 St
Petersburg
Got up early this morning to do the 700 km ride to St
Petersburg. No breakfast this morning. The first 250 km out of Moscow was hectic. Lots of small
towns, traffic and road works. It would have been really slow going, but lucky
for me, a group of about 8 Harley riders passed me with Red Square chapter on
their jacket. I thought I would tag onto them for a fast ride. Gee, they were
fast, doing 100kph in 50 kph zone, and 140 kph in 90 kph zones. That is 50 kph above the legal limit! In the mean time,
I saw a lone motorcycle rider got stopped by the cop. We were passing cars in traffic jam and road
works, and cars on both sides of the road were making room for us to pass! Anyway, all good things had to come to the
end, as I had to pull over to fill up petrol. When I got back on the highway, I
managed to catch up to another group of 3 Harley riders as they were not going
as fast as the other group, but I tagged onto them for about half an hour until
they slowed down too much.
I stopped at this Truck stop Café for Brunch. It cost $7 for
4 pieces of fried pork, salad, bread, coffee and cake. I was so full that I
only managed to eat up half of the cake.
August 7 - August 9 St
Petersburg
Hostel reception was asking for my passport, and when I told
her that it was with Indian embassy in Moscow. She was very surprised. No
foreigner can travel in Russia without passport, as it is needed to purchase
train or bus ticket. Good thing that I
am on a motorcycle. She advised me to avoid getting stop by police, or I could be in trouble!
Sightseeing during the afternoon. In the evening, I went to
the St Petersburg Harley Day event in the middle of the city. There were
hundreds of Harley Davidson bikes, custom
bikes, exhibits, etc. There was a large stage with pole dancing girl,
and a rock band playing Pink Floyd music. It was a great night, and free
entrance. At the end of the night, all the bikes lined up for leaving the
ground, and paraded around the city. It was fantastic atmosphere. I have never
seen anything that big in Australia. There is no way that Melbourne can handle
2000 bikes in the middle of the city.
My 28 degree Mastercard was compromised, so they put a block
on it. Gee, the Russian was quick in hacking into my card. Hopefully, a
replacement card would be waiting for me in my
hotel in Moscow when I get there in 2 days.
Next morning, I went to the Palace Square in the city, which was nearly as big as the Red Square in
Moscow. The Harleys were all lining
up for a parade around the city. There must be around 2000 bikes, not
all were Harleys. There were police escort,
and all traffic lights were controlled. I was amazed that St Petersburg
with its 5 million citizens could do that without massive traffic chaos. It could
not be done in Moscow or Melbourne. The rest of the time was spent sightseeing.
August 10 – August 12 Moscow
I made the 700 km ride to Moscow in about 10 hours. I
checked into this large Russian hotel about 10 km outside city centre. It was a business hotel with breakfast, and
secure parking. All for $30 a night, cheaper and nicer than the $55 per night
to stay in a single room in hostels. The advantage of staying in hostel was its
proximity to all the attractions, and I would just park the bike and walked
everywhere. It was not a lot of fun riding my bike in 28 degree heat with fast
and furious Moscow traffic. You need to be alert at all time to survive.
11th August. I went to the Indian Visa Centre to
check things out. I was not expecting my visa ready till tomorrow, and it
wasn’t ready. The guys there seem to recognize me (I was their cash cow!), which
was a good sign and said that my visa will be ready tomorrow lunch time. He
left me a mobile number to call tomorrow. I then rode my bike to the Kremlin
for the afternoon sightseeing. I parked my bike in the Red Square in front of
the St Basil’s Cathedral for a quick photo. It was a no stopping area, and a
police car was about 300 meter away. A fellow adventure rider, Li Yang, from
China came along and advised me that I could not park there. Perfect, I got him
to take a few photos with me in it instead of just my bike. We spent the rest
of the afternoon sightseeing inside the Kremlin, and had dinner at the Russian
Wu Wu restaurant. His Russian wife came and joined us for a drink after dinner.
An Englishman Dan and his Russian girl friend Marie saw our bikes, and came to tell us that he had ridden his BMW 650GS from London to Sydney in 18 months. Pretty much same route as where I am going. He shipped his bike from Sydney to Moscow and was intending to ride it back to London. Anyone interested in his story. Here is his website: Danskeats.com.
12th August.
The Indian guy called me to tell me that my visa was ready. I fought the
Moscow heat and traffic for 15 km to the Indian Visa Application Centre. The guy
there got my passport in his pocket, and took me to the Interview room again,
and as he handed my passport to me, he asked for a 1,000 Rubble “”service fee”.
I told him politely No. I got back to the hotel and handed my passport to the
Reception there. They have been hounding me about the original passport
everyday. Photocopy version was not good enough for doing their hotel
registration paper. They really stick to their rules. My replacement Mastercard
also came in the afternoon.
August 14 Tambov
I have been worrying about having an accident in the fast
and furious traffic of Moscow, I had to ride my bike to the Indian Visa
Processing Centre several times. Cars and 4 wheel drives came from both side of
the10 lanes city roads. and many were doing more than 100 kph in 50 kph zone.
There were lots of traffic police around, and many drivers were booked, but
the Russian continued to drive fast.
Motorcyclists were the worst and the fastest. All cars gave way to them. I was
riding too fast also. Today was the last day in Moscow, I was being extra
careful and decided to ride slower. As usual, there were traffic jam everywhere
and I was filtering between cars to get through the traffic. Most cars pull
aside to allow motorcyclists to filter through.
I came out of a stopped car, and tried to get to the gap in front of a slow moving truck. I mis-judged the
timing, and my left hand side pannier clipped the rear bumper of the car
quite hard, which sent my bike tumbling. I remained upright, and let the bike
fall under me. Both side panniers came off, and my big toe was a bit sore,
otherwise I was OK. Luckily, we were all going slow, and the truck could stop
quickly. I had allowed too much room for the truck and not enough for the car!
Anyway, I created a massive traffic jam for a few minutes until I rode the bike
onto the footpath. Also lucky for me that both panniers were undamaged, and I
could put them back onto the bike, and that the car was an older model Mercedes.
The driver asked for 2,000 rubbles ($45) for the scratches on the bumper. I
apologized for my mistake and paid up promptly. However, my confidence took a
heavy beating. This is only the beginning of my trip, and how am I going to survive
through those Indian traffic later!!
Scene of the accident
The way to Tambov was smooth and uneventful. As usual, It
took an hour to find Hotel Niva, which is in the middle of the fruit market! The
whole street was lined up with stalls all selling water melons, and other melons.
The road was full of potholes, etc. People there were friendly, but look very dodgy.
I had some hesitation about staying there, but decided that I should not judge
people on looks. I parked my bike between two vans inside the market.
Anyway, it all went well, except that I
was woken by all the noise at 5 am when the fruit market start trading.
Looking out of my hotel windows
August 15 – August 16 Volgograd
I finally worked out how to find my hotel in Russia. I
choose Booking.com to book hotels, as they always provide correct GPS co-ordinates.
It got me within 100 metre of Mirotel in Volgograd. Then there was sign post
leading to the hotel. So there was no wasting time looking for hotel - the
first time in Russia! Mirotel is a brand new hotel with air conditioned rooms.
The best hotel I stay so far. $30 per night for single room with breakfast.
Then I realized that Volgagrad had interesting history, so I decided to stay
another night. My room was booked, and I had to upgrade to a double room for $44. The room is even nicer!
Volgograd (previously called Stalingrad) was built as a
fortress in 1589 on the right bank of
the Volga River, which is the longest
river in Europe. The city is 90 km long, and is the longest city in Russia. The
total area of the city is 565 sq. km. The latest and most famous battle was the
battle for Stalingrad during World War II. The Battle of Stalingrad began on
the 17th of July 1942, and ended on the 2nd of February 1943. This battle was
very fierce, with about a 1000000 bombs being dropped on the city. It was
completely destroyed, and more than 2 million Soviet and German soldiers were
killed. This battle marked a turning point in the battle against Nazi Germany.
I took a taxi to Mamai Hill for $2.50, as I had trouble
finding it on my GPS. The Mamai Hill is
a sacred place for the Volgograders and all the Russians. It is the highest
point in Volgograd. The main monument “Motherland calls” is situated on the top
of it. This woman with a sword in a hand calls her sons to defend their
Motherland. The height of this sculpture is 85 m.
Temple of all the Saints in Mamai Hill for
the memory of the fallen fighters.
Hall of War Glory A white marble hand
with a torch and eternal flame in it is in the middle of the Hall.
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I then took a local bus to visit the State historical
memorial museum.
The ruins of Grudinina mill is in the centre of the complex.
The mill was built in 1903. It is the only building left after bombing of
Stalingrad.
August 16 to August 17.
Stavropol
I notice there is a major change during the ride to Stavropol.
I am leaving all the people and traffic behind and entering the flat land of
the steppe. The temperature has now risen to 34 to 37 degree, and the area
along the route are mostly populated with Asian looking people from Mongolia / Kazakhstan.
However, Stavropol with a population of 400,000 are mostly white Russian. Finding
the Eurootel hotel was easy. It is a large modern business hotel in the centre
of city. I am staying in a small air conditioned single room. for $43 per night with western style buffet
breakfast.
Late breakfast at 10 O'clock
KFC was right next door for dinner. Not much to do or see here. It is
hot and sunny outside, I will stay in my room to catch up writing the blog, and
watch some of the movies that my Swedish
friend Niclas had copied for me. I only managed to watch one movie so far in
this trip. “Limitless” was a great movie. Thanks, Niclas.