The last days in Russia

Hi Folks
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

Hell on wheels, a.k.a. the russian leg

Hi Folks
I am reporting back. Sorry for not posting for such a long time, I was absorbed by adventures and had only very limited access to internet. But let me share a short resume.
Wow. I am still alive. And happy about that fact. I honestly do have to admit that I might have underestimated the challenges in this stretch.
But let us start in the beginning. I arrived at Lake Baikal in Kultuk, where I managed to get a couchsurfng host. The hosts were super friendly, and took me in even though they already had five couchsurfers. They invidet me to explore the area around the southern tip of Lake Baikal with them and I decided to stay a little longer and accept the offer. We hiked a little into the mountains surrounding Lake Baikal into the Siberian mountain taiga to a road established by Ghengiz Khan, through some of the densest shrubs I have ever been in. And hiked along the old tracks of the circumbaikal railway, where I saw the famous Nerpa, the only freshwater seal in the world. Altough only from distance. In the evenings I got treated to banya, the Russian equivalent of sauna, and equally awesome. Out of sheer luck, one of the hosts was a wielder, and after wielding some finishing touches on the trolley (yes, there is a trolley now), I took my leave after two awesome days, and started freshly on the M55 road around Lake Baikal.
And then hell on wheels started.
First of all it rained.  The roadsurface was, as far as existing, ok. The problem was the amount of traffic and the absolutely reckless driving of the Russians. There was just zero space on the road for me. The road was not to broad anyway, but Russians like to overtake, indifferent of the facts if there is any oncoming traffic or if they are driving a huge lory. Which makes them use the very narrow gravel shoulder for driving as well. More than once I had to jump into the ditch to avoid being hit by a car. If you add the fact that arround the smaller citys there is always the chance of having a wild dog charging out of the bushes and trying to snatch a bite of your leg, and some Russian warning signs with bears on them (although I could not tell what the writing said). And uphills between 8% and 12% incline. Damn.  All in all it made for a very interesting skateboarding experience.
The trolley did exactly what I expected, namely taking the weigth of the backpack of my shoulders and giving me more freedom to move, but it also added the weigth to the longboard. Pushing a 20kg longboard uphill is simply put exhausting. But it somehow worked. It also made me less agile, which was an unlucky combo with the frequent dodging of cars, dogs and potholes, and lifting the trolley/longboard combo out of the ditch was of limited fun. And a lot slower, I would now usually only be able to cover about 3 to 4km an hour. Which is not enough.
Lake Baikal I only saw in the evenings, as the road is always a little in the backcountry, and trees block the view of the lake. But it was easy enough to skate to the lake and find a spot for camping. You were never alone then, Lake Baikal is a very populat destination for Russian holidays, and they like to camp aswell. Unfortunately, some of the just dont see the point of leaving a clean camping space, and heavy litering was visible quite frequently. But they are very very cordially and hospitable. I would always get invited by Russians to eat and usually to drink with them. And Russian food is quite good, especially the famous smoked omul (fish) and the borscht (soup). Unfortunaley, at one point, one Russian had the glorious idea of trying to rob me at night, while I was in my tent sleeping. Which led to the situation that I woke up when the guy was sneaking up to my tent, could clearly see how he walked around it to the back opening where my stuff was, crouch into the tent, ligth a small lamp and snap open something that made a metalic "click". That moment my heart was beating crazy and I almost couldn't breath. I tried to silently grab my lamp and peppergas to give the guy a piece of my mind, but was not silent enough. He froze. I froze. Then, maybe because of recognizing that I was awake and holding something in my hand, he slowly retreated out of my tent, stood outside for a couple of minutes, then left. You can imagine that I did not sleep very well for the remainder of the night. But I was unharmed and nothing got stolen, so I was lucky.
Two nights later, I was woken up at nigth by a wild dog trying to get in my tent to get the food that I unwisely stored in my tent. That one was easy to scare away, but it destroyed my relaxing attitude towards Lake Baikal. It was just not worth it anymore. I couldn't properly skate the roads, I couldn't sleep relaxing, the nature was not realy pristine anymore and I just didn't fell like sitting the thing out just to have it done. So I decided to abort the Russian leg and hitchhike to Ulan Ude, from where I will continue with the Trans-Siberian railway in direction China.
But it was a very unique experience, very unexpectantly but in the end still very good.

Cheers
Robert

Lake Baikal

So I made it very close to Baikal, the highlight of the Russian leg. But I have to admit, in the end I did not skate so much, for the mere reason of staying alive. Although the road surface is quite ok, there is zero shoulder. And not really any space for cars to avoid you. Plus, that the Russian drivers obviously do not care about longboarders on the street or somehow fail to see them. Often only a brave swerve into the dirt beside the street saved my skin. Although also that was not risk free, because there is quite a amount of street dogs, and those do not like longboarders...
I didn't really feel like stopping and taking photographs.
More soon.
Cheers

Entering Russia via St. Petersburg, Moscow, the Transsiberian Railway and finally Irkutsk

Soooooo, after having had fun in the Baltics, I am up to explore Russia. With my Visa finally starting I took the hassle upon me to enter this huge country. And yes, I had to show my passport at at least five different occasions, and got some stamps, a migration card and have to register with Russian authorities if I stay longer in one place. But I had my stuff in order and entered Russia without problems. And wham, there it is! Even though I started with St. Petersburg, apparently the most western ( in lifestlyle) of all Russian cities, for me it still was so Russian. A mixture of old Soviet buildings and new blocks in the outskirts where I was hosted and super posh and luxurious buildings in the old town. And the old town is huge. Really huge. Took us two hours to walk down its main street without even reaching its end.
I managed to fill up my book supply on in the biggest Russian bookstore. Uh, and watch out people, if you order hot chocolate in Russia, you really get hot chocolate. No milk. Just a cup of hot, melted chocolate.
Nine hours in a over night train later, Moscow greets me with some of the most beautifull ligtht that I have experienced recently. This city is simply awesome. Unfortunately, my schedule pressed me to only spend one day in Moscow, and I did not have enough time to see more than the red square and its surrounding sigths. Still awesome though.
Then I was up for my first Russian adventure. Four and a half days in the Trans-Siberian railroad, together with 51 Russians (and two supprisingly clean toilets) in one car. It was at the same time a very long and a very short train journey. Each day melted into the next, not only because of uniformity, but also because we were driving east, against the time through five time zones. This meant that my usual daily rhythm, my watch and the dayligth outside slowly drifted apart. But inside, life had its pace at its own. You would wake up, have some breakfast, look out of the window, maybe read a little, have lunch, have a nap, look out of the window, chat with your neighbours (some were able to speak rudimentary english, but in the end you don't need so much to communicate), have another nap, eat dinner, go to bed. Repeat. At one point an American traveler was arested from the train, I didn't find out why though, would guess at Visa problems. I managed to make the whole stretch, and arrived, perfectly on time, to Irkutsk, the Paris of Siberia.
And it really is. It's a beautifull city, vibrant and full of life, with a nice promenade and hand-rung bells in the churches, which play beautifull but a little creepy melodies.
Lake Baikal is just a few days away, yeehaw!