The last post from Russia arrives. I spend some interesting days in Ulan Ude, the capital of the Republica Buryatia. I didn't know how close one could get to Mongolian culture in Russia, but was pleased to learn that in fact you can get very close. The faces in the city look very Asian, and the ethnic Buryats have a language and kitchen close to the Mongolian. Tasty soups and dumplings, I put some weight back on here... Aswell there is the center of buddhism in Russia here, which I paid a visit aswell. And of course some very classic stereotypical russian memorabilia as the biggest Lenin head in the world and a tank monument.
After some days I met up with my partner in crime, Swiss longboardress Kyra Gähwiler, which will accompany me for the next few thousand kilometers. She also brought along with her a custom made board for me, made by the awesome guys of Fibretec, with the thought in mind of providing me with the best possible board for a trip so long. Thanks guys!
Right after meeting up in Ulan Ude we entered the train to do the next train ride to Russias very far east, the Trans-Sib to Vladiwostok. Took us three days, crammed in together with fifty russians in one car. Passed the time mostly with sleeping, eating, reading, playing chess and updating each other. And of course watching the beautifull and endless Russian landscape fly past. Or limp past, as the train had some problems in the middle and slowed down remarkably. But we reached Vladiwostok in time, a lovely town at the Pacific Ocean, where we spend our last days and rubles in Russia.
This means that now we are ready to hit the road again in China. Before this, we still need to exit Russia and enter China, but we have our visas in place and expect to enter by tomorrow evening.
The chinese leg is only planned in a very coarse fashion so far, as we want to keep it open to spontaneous ideas. For sure we will spend two months there, as our visa last that long, but the exact route is not there yet. Maybe travel south direction Beijing first, shred a few spots there, go southeast to Shanghai to do the same, and then hit the Chinese countryside to skate direction Vietnamese or Laotic border. Up to Shanghai we will have to do some public transport as well, as like Russia, China is to big to cross completely by longboard during our visa duration.
Oh and I apologize in advance, it might be possible that I can not or only sparsely access my blog to update it. There have been different reports of blogger.com availability in China, so we will see. If I can't access at all, I of course will take pictures and collect stories and share them with you in two months!
Cheers
Robert & Kyra
