Camping doesn’t get better than this
17 AugWe sleep in until 7:30am today, but again our clocks are wrong, and it turns out to be only 6:30. Just as we have the tents packed up it starts to rain. Excellent timing!
We’re traveling towards Barnaul and then the Altai Mountain region of Russia today. It’s not long before we’re experiencing further engine problems with the Suzuki. This time the idle has gone out of control, running around 3000rpm. We stop to investigate and there is smoke coming out of the air cleaner! This is not looking good. After a bit of investigation though I discover the automatic choke has stuck on, so I cable tie it off, and achieve a normal idle again.
We arrive in Barnaul at 8:30am. For some reason there is no traffic and it is deathly quiet...ahhh yes, it’s Sunday! All of the days are the same to us. Barnaul is a fantastic place. It’s clean, green, and things are easy. Banks have ATM’s and our cards just work, whilst supermarkets have products we can at least remotely relate to. The air is crisp and clean. We pass over a river and see people fishing, and some people sky diving. There are lovely roadside stalls and eateries, with colourful seats and umbrellas..
One of Barnaul’s cute roadside stores:
Stephen takes a picture of himself with the Barnaul ‘Hollywood’ sign:
There was a never ending chain of fruit stores on the side of the road, once again all selling the same products:
At long last we find a café that sells us a proper cappuccino, and we don’t pay the earth. We also get a great breakfast. Thanks to the Lonely Planet for the tip off on the café. We have less success obtaining some Mongolian money, so instead we stock up on Russian Rubles. The ladies at the banks are just so Russian. They are so cold and unpleasant when you first approach them, but as you smile and pathetically struggle to ask your questions, they become sympathetic and then warm and friendly.
We enter the semi-autonomous region of Altai. The scenery is fantastic, reminding me of Germany, with tall green trees lining the mountains. We follow a river for the rest of the afternoon. There are festive villages lining the river, with market stalls selling trinkets to tourists. We stop for the day much earlier than usual, at 5pm. This scenery is just too good to drive straight through. The place we choose to stop is one of these roadside villages. It has a suspension bridge across the river to some sort of tourist park. There are people white water rafting on the rapids. In the village (which is just a string of stalls on the main road), there are men cooking on shaslik grills. That seals the deal – we drive 1 minute up the road and pitch our tents on the banks of the river.
On the way through Altai I help some Russian tourists refuel their car in exchange for some directions and a look at their map (we have no map of the region).
Stephen stands on the suspension bridge
A view of the river
Since we have stopped early there is still some heat from the sun. Although the mountain water is pretty chilly in the river, it’s warm enough for a swim, and a chance to wash that Kazakh dirt off. It’s great to be clean! We can only wade on the edge of the river though, as it is fast and violent in the centre.
It feels great to be clean, even if it is a little chilly:
Next we walk into the village. There is a café, but it is closed. This is a pity as it is the only place that sells cold beer. No matter, we both eat two servings of Shaslik. It’s the best we’ve had so far, so tender and flavoursome.
The shaslik grill
The slogan ‘the simple things in life are often the best’ wasn’t meant for Cornflakes, but for Shaslik:
As we finish our food a massive storm rolls over the mountains, and we rush back to the tents as the first drops of rain fall. We sit on the rocky side of the river, with a tarpaulin over our heads and watch the storm roll through. After that there is a beautiful sunset. We drink some beers from the car that we chil in the mountain water. As camping spots go, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Beers or Piva chill in the river:
We get a real treat with the storm and the following sunset. The photos are good but the real thing was unbelievable:
Just on dark I decide to wash some clothes in the river. My shorts are filthy, so I leave them sitting in the water on the edge of the bank for 1 minute while I wash another shirt. When I turn around they are gone! I can see them about 3 metres from the edge of the water. I briefly consider swimming after them, but decide against it. I lost a pair of shorts in Shymkent, and this last pair was my favourite and only remaining pair. Thank goodness there isn’t too far left to go!
