15th August – The Road to Omsk
We had a great last night in Yekaterinburg, taken to an underground club by some wild Azerbaijanis, drank a few glasses of Scotch and rocked the dance floor to some evil Rihanna tunes. A short night of sleep.
But we were still awake enough the next day to sense the beauty of eagles circling above crystal rivers and rays of sunlight breaking through the forests and onto the street. The land masses ahead have ceased to be a job to be done and have become something of a promise… A promise of interesting stories, great people and a beautiful land.
16th August – Near Omsk
(above: great smile, even better soup…)
Riding into Siberia we entered Trucker-Land… the men seem to be all truckers or mechanics, the few women serve on patrol stations or are prostitutes. This is not exactly my normal habitat.
We arrive at the truck stops at night for petrol, some food, a bed and maybe a shower. We get many distanced and sometimes even hostile looks… at least until we make use of our irresistible charm that works – at least – on the ladies at the cash register. Sometimes it feels as if you have wandered into a sports bar in Newcastle wearing your pink drag queen outfit. Or in the Australian outback.
17th August – Tatarsk
The stage has been set for the next few weeks and it looks good… Yellows and sand-tones for the grasses and the corn, light green for the bushes and high grass, darker greens for the forests, and a light baby-blue for the sky that reaches from Moscow to Ulan Bator at least. Sometimes we travel 100km and see no buildings. The temperatures are mild, between 13 and 20 degrees, and there is much less traffic. Also, the further east we travel the better the roads… things are looking too good to be true.
And added to that we should get into Novosibirsk today, which means we are even a day ahead of schedule.
17th August – Novosibirsk
We have reached Novosibirsk after 8,500 km and it is a sense of achievement, although we have arrived to a couple of smaller problems. The tires we had sent here have not been picked up by our local contacts, and the mechanic has already gone for the weekend. This means we will be hanging around in this sexy place for a few days. We have found a nice small hotel and met some good people. We will also check out the Novosibirsk nightlife. Stay tuned; news from the dance floor will break any minute…
Andreas from the Circus and Pierre from the Eastseven are on their way to Japan… by motorbike. Andreas is sending us regular updates and you can find the whole archive of the trip here. Below you can watch a couple of videos filmed in the past week from the Ural Motorcycles factory and museum. Andreas would like me to make clear that of course he knows it is Anthony Hopkins… just a small brain freeze moment J
Short film from Ural Motorcycles Factory…
…and from the Ural Motorcycles Museum
