{"id":128,"date":"2019-06-20T21:23:30","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T19:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/j-ontheroad.at\/eastbound2019\/?p=128"},"modified":"2025-05-24T18:53:41","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T18:53:41","slug":"russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/j-bauer.at\/eastbound2019\/?p=128&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photos<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

17.06<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome\nto Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking\nabout yesterday. My German camping neighbors were a bit strange. The two did\nnot get out of their caravan. I only saw the man when he went out and lent me\nthe shower. I never saw his wife. Anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a\ncup of instant coffee, I burn my fingers on the hot gas cooker and then I start\noff to the russian border, at which I arrive shortly after noon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before my\ndeparture, I talked to Peter, someone from the motorcycle group and asked for\nsome information. He left for Uzbekistan only a few weeks ago. He told me, it\ntook him 3 1\/2h to cross the border. At the border there are about 15 to 20\ncars ahead of me, and it’s hot. I just hope I can do it faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\ndeparture from Ukraine is fast. I think the border official wanted to see cash.\nThe way he approached me from the side, whispering to me. Money, Monet,\nsomething. Well, unfortunately I did not understand a word. \ud83d\ude42 He gives up\nafter a few tries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\npassport control in Russia was relatively fast. Two Russian motorcyclists take\nme with them. I thought that I could do everything in less than 2 hours. Well,\nthen I went to customs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also knew from Peter, that you have to fill out custom documents for vehicles. One of the people standing around leads me to the forms laid out. 1 form for the personal data, and 1 for the vehicle data, in duplicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I look at the papers and turn them over, all in Cyrillic. A loud „hallelujah“ escapes me (like „my goodness!“) People around started to laugh. Foreigners who do not speak the prevailing language are always a welcome entertainment for everyone to survive the long waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Someone\ntells me to knock on the office and ask for forms in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have\nalready filled in a lot of forms at many different borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was done – at least I thought I was done, one of the officers checked to see if everything was filled. Man, was he picky. Instead of 652ccm, I wrote only 650ccm. For the passport number I did not separate the series and the number, and a few other things. I was striking things and scribbling. The official implies: No, no, that’s not how it works, how does that look?<\/em> He brings me new empty forms. Again, but properly please.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I\nwait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An older Dutch couple shows up next to me, which does not speak Russian. In Holland, the vehicles are not tied to one person. Those poor fellows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nRussian border officials could not accept that for a long time. They were\ndiscussing for ages. Nobody understood the other person. A great show for the\nwaiting people. Now and then someone tries to intervene and help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me,\nit ended up being about 3 1\/2 hours when I received the customs papers and I\nwas allowed to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ther was no currency exchange office at the border. So I went to the next villages to the ATM, where I really got the desired amount without any problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the\ngas station, I got defrauded of 40 rubles, by that bastard behind the cashier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Refueling is such a thing here. Usually, people go to the cash desk, say what amount they want to refuel, pay and then the pump is unlocked. Or so, or not. I don’t know. I still have not figured out how it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, I always want to fill up, to get as far as possible without stoping. Because of the language barrier, it’s always an adventure. Either I get the pump unlocked before I pay, or one of the staff refuels, or I’m accompanied by a servant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 11h on the road I stop in Kursk at the first hotel, which I picked out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I\nasked for the price I did not understand the receptionist properly. When I see\nthe correct amount on the credit card terminal, my face froze. I spend more\nthan a daily budget just for the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was very classy, so, when going out, I put on fresh socks, a pair of long pants and the „nice“ shoes, instead of shorts and flip flops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least\nbreakfast was included. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

18.06<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still boring roads. Hardly worth to mention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My GPS device has a loose circuit connection and reboots again constantly. Must try to solve this somehow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Russia\nyou can pay a lot with credit card, gas, accommodation, shops – everywhere.\nIt’s „hard“ to get rid of the cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one of\nthe gas stations, I pay with the credit card and sign the recipe. I do not\nknow, sometimes you have to, sometimes not. What should I do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lady looks at what I’ve written on it, and discusses it with her colleague. Maybe she thought, I wanted to give her my phone number. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How do I\ncommunicate? Usually, people talk to me in their native language, and I speak\nGerman with them. That means, with hands and feet. \ud83d\ude42 Till now, I got\neverything, what I wanted. Sometimes people ask me where I am from, where I am\ngoing. Some people show me how things work, or talk to staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes it’s kind of funny how the other person seems nervous, or kinda helpless, when they realize that communication through language does not work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take it\neasy, we figure it out.:-)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nnecessary, I use translation programs on the mobile phone from Google and\nMicrosoft. With available internet connection, these programs even offer some\nkind of simultaneous translation by voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a\nRussian phrasebook and I will try to learn a few words. Russian is widely used\nin the ’stan countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why am I\nrushing at the moment? My goal is to reach Uzbekistan. At the moment I drive\n400, 450 to 500km per day. That’s about 7 to 8 hours. At the moment, with the\nheat it’s pretty exhausting. I take around 3l to 4l of fluids to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\nUzbekistan on, I will go slower again. Depending on how it works out, 250 to a\nmaximum of 350 km per day and again a rhythm of 2 to 4 days driving, then 1 day\nbreak<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19.06<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I move on\nto Volgograd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is\na lot of time for thinking, when you sit on the bike all day long. After all\nthe countries that I visited and the many border crossings, I have to say: We\nare doing really well in the EU, borderless, often with the same currency,\ntelephone and internet at no extra cost, always connected with home. Everything\nis so easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the\nother hand, where are the adventures, experiences and challenges, when you do\nnot have to make an effort?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I think of how I traveled through Australia in 2004. You had to pay for internet, every minute was precious. Once a week I called home using an international calling card with cheap rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today is free WiFi standard wherever you go. So, no reason not to call your Mom. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2004 my\nGPS device has just shown the coordinates and the direction, otherwise I drove\nwith physical map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today:\nevery corner of this world is mapped and available via offline maps from\nOpenStreetMap or Google on your GPS device or mobile phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nremember, when I was in Australia, I was traveling with my dad. We stopped at a\nfarm because we got lost. We were told: Drive along that fence for the next 15\nkm, then turn right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today I\nknow exactly where to go, getting lost is impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

„The\nMotherland Calls“ statue may slips of the pedestal one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20.06<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole\narea I drove along in Russia was pretty flat, hardly any forests, mostly low\nvegetation, many fields, but green. Til Volgograd, there was still a lot of\ntraffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Going to Astrakhan along the Volga, desert-like steppe landscape – hardly any traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today it\nwas the first time were I had this feeling to be away from the so-called\n„civilization“. From time to time small villages off the main road,\npetrol stations, service areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t\nknow, if I will figure out how refueling works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow\nKazakhstan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photos 17.06 Welcome to Russia. Thinking about yesterday. My German camping neighbors were a bit strange. The two did not get out of their caravan. I only saw the man when he went out and lent me the shower. I never saw his wife. Anyway. After a cup of instant coffee, I burn my fingers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/j-bauer.at\/eastbound2019\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/j-bauer.at\/eastbound2019\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/j-bauer.at\/eastbound2019\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j-bauer.at\/eastbound2019\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j-bauer.at\/eastbound2019\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/j-bauer.at\/eastbound2019\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":699,"href":"https:\/\/j-bauer.at\/eastbound2019\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions\/699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j-bauer.at\/eastbound2019\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/j-bauer.at\/eastbound2019\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j-bauer.at\/eastbound2019\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j-bauer.at\/eastbound2019\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}