2017/08/08

Day 10: Barnaul - Ongudai

We want to make about 400 km today. We fuel up in Barnaul and at this gas station there's the first somehow unpleasant situation. When I return to the pump from paying for the fuel, a small van (UAZ) is standing a few centimeters from my front wheel. The driver is totally upset, probably because he thinks, I'm too slow. Now, I have to sort my things out first and take on my gear again. He is constantly bitching at me. After I'm rising my voice and talk to him in German in a unfriendly manner like him, he's getting somehow more restrained.

While we check the air pressure at the petrol station, a younger man comes overt to us and apologizes for the behavior of the old guy and tell us, he will talk to him. But we ask him, not to do so - it would not change anything. And our image of Russia is not diminished.

Trevor makes me aware of an octane booster, which I also buy. This improves the combustion quality in the case of poor gasoline. I'll need that later.

After about 150 km we make coffee break. The toilette at this station is really nasty.

We are coming into mountainous regions and approaching the Altai with beautiful valleys. This area is quite touristic with a lots of accommodation and restaurants along the road. Our lunch is simple but delicious. We are chatting with a nice Russian / Mongolian couple. The people are very welcoming, interested and helpful.

We are already at 1700 m altitude and it getting chilly a bit, but we're lucky with the weather. There's on rain cloud with a bit of rain, but we just wait at a gas station until it's gone. 

When we start looking for a place to stay for the night, the first is not very nice, two more are already occupied and so we take the next one that is simple but clean. We only have shared showers and one toilet for men and women. I take a single room, which is not expensive (600 rubles, about 9 euros). We also decide to eat in the accommodation and I am already hungry again. There is no WiFi here, but my phone gets 3G connection. Well, because I still have a some work to do and the others can use my hotspot too.

We go for a walk through the village - Living conditions are very simple here.

Here are a lot more Asian-looking people partly with very dark skin.

Insert: Orvar says that he is concerned about his journey to China. Officially he is too old to get issued a Chinese driving license. He just heard about a case where-  for this reason - the age had been falsified on the Chinese driving license. During a police check the police double checked it with the passport and realized that there's a scam - these people then were not allowed to continue. This would be a disaster for the Canadian-Swedish team.

Strangely enough, this night was awake for a long time.