27th to 28th of April 2011, 620km to Elista
« Back to journal
« Back to journal
An early start in the morning brought me fast the first 130km to Kropotkin.
After 2 trials I found the right way out of the city. After 10km all of a sudden the road changed to gravel with big pot-holes in it. Approx. 15km further I hit the normal road again…did I miss something?
The next 30km I was always approx. 1km left hand of my planned route on my GPS, but the direction East/ North was always ok. There is no detailed map available, so you just see your planned route and the directions, but no roads. I went on and the road changed to a cart track, Russian fields up to the horizon and I crisscrossed through the fields always heading east and north and following “the most used cart-tracks”. After 2 dead ends (only one time I passed a tractor and some people on a field) I finally ended up in the “backyard” of a small village which was connected to a road. Lucky me!
Happy that I was again on a road I continued until I had the choice left or right. I took a left turn and stranded after a while in a small village. All “roads” outwards in my guessed direction didn’t look promising. I asked a bus driver off his duty pointing on my Russian paper map…he pointed I should better go back and take another way…still pondering what I should do 4 women behind a window – which looked to me like a minimarket (actually many cafés, restaurants and supermarkets in Russia look like “jails” from outside) - waved their hands.
One woman came out and told me something like “if I anyway lost my way I should join them and have a Cai” :-) I just pointed on my watch showing her that I have to move. While I prepared for leaving the other 3 came out and each of them wanted to have a handy pic :-), I mean, a picture of me with them on their mobile phones. Without marriage I was able to leave a couple of minutes later :-)
And finally I found the A154 via Svetlograd to Elista. It was already late in the afternoon and I did not really obey the speed limit trying to reach Elista before darkness. When I got off the motorbike in front of a rotten Gastiniza I felt like I arrived all of a sudden in Central Asia, like I stepped out of a plane in the middle of Asia.
Everywhere Asian looking people and some Buddhist buildings/ temples down the road. The next morning the receptionist explained that in this region most of the people have their roots in Mongolia. I was in the center of Kalmykia.
The whole “night life” of Elista was in front of the hotel and in the small park beside the hotel. Since there are no restaurants (at least I didn’t see one) and especially none with some outer area to sit all the people buy in groups their booze in some Kiosk and drink on the street.
My health condition deteriorated that evening and I stayed in my room trying to get the devil out of me.
My only wish was to get to Astrakhan the next day, a bigger city close to the Kazakhstan border about 320km away.
Russian cart-track...lateron no "powerline" anymore...
I arrived in "Central Asia" :-)
Cute old guys sitting next to my motorbike in the backyard of my gastiniza in Elista...very friendly, whishing me good luck
9m high Buddhist statue, in 2009 the highest in Europe...I read.
After 2 trials I found the right way out of the city. After 10km all of a sudden the road changed to gravel with big pot-holes in it. Approx. 15km further I hit the normal road again…did I miss something?
The next 30km I was always approx. 1km left hand of my planned route on my GPS, but the direction East/ North was always ok. There is no detailed map available, so you just see your planned route and the directions, but no roads. I went on and the road changed to a cart track, Russian fields up to the horizon and I crisscrossed through the fields always heading east and north and following “the most used cart-tracks”. After 2 dead ends (only one time I passed a tractor and some people on a field) I finally ended up in the “backyard” of a small village which was connected to a road. Lucky me!
Happy that I was again on a road I continued until I had the choice left or right. I took a left turn and stranded after a while in a small village. All “roads” outwards in my guessed direction didn’t look promising. I asked a bus driver off his duty pointing on my Russian paper map…he pointed I should better go back and take another way…still pondering what I should do 4 women behind a window – which looked to me like a minimarket (actually many cafés, restaurants and supermarkets in Russia look like “jails” from outside) - waved their hands.
One woman came out and told me something like “if I anyway lost my way I should join them and have a Cai” :-) I just pointed on my watch showing her that I have to move. While I prepared for leaving the other 3 came out and each of them wanted to have a handy pic :-), I mean, a picture of me with them on their mobile phones. Without marriage I was able to leave a couple of minutes later :-)
And finally I found the A154 via Svetlograd to Elista. It was already late in the afternoon and I did not really obey the speed limit trying to reach Elista before darkness. When I got off the motorbike in front of a rotten Gastiniza I felt like I arrived all of a sudden in Central Asia, like I stepped out of a plane in the middle of Asia.
Everywhere Asian looking people and some Buddhist buildings/ temples down the road. The next morning the receptionist explained that in this region most of the people have their roots in Mongolia. I was in the center of Kalmykia.
The whole “night life” of Elista was in front of the hotel and in the small park beside the hotel. Since there are no restaurants (at least I didn’t see one) and especially none with some outer area to sit all the people buy in groups their booze in some Kiosk and drink on the street.
My health condition deteriorated that evening and I stayed in my room trying to get the devil out of me.
My only wish was to get to Astrakhan the next day, a bigger city close to the Kazakhstan border about 320km away.
Russian cart-track...lateron no "powerline" anymore...
I arrived in "Central Asia" :-)
Cute old guys sitting next to my motorbike in the backyard of my gastiniza in Elista...very friendly, whishing me good luck
9m high Buddhist statue, in 2009 the highest in Europe...I read.
