September 11, 2013 – Eastern Siberia

My previous blog entry was posted almost three months ago as I ended a scouting trip for two tours that we’ll run in Russia in 2014. Beyond the Golden Ring and the Russian Iron Butt Adventure are now posted on our website. I’m drafting this article while 35,000 feet over Siberia, on a five-hour Aeroflot flight from Irkutsk to Moscow.

So what was the flight to Irkutsk all about? It’s more than 5,000 kilometers to the east of Moscow and far from the playground of our new Russian tours.

Months before my scouting trip to set up our two new tours, Svetlana Malygina had suggested a new SuperTour. She envisioned “Grand Russia” – a tour across Russia from Vladivostok (or some other far eastern location) to Moscow. I had wanted to develop a trip that included China and Mongolia as well as Russia so I took the idea a step further and suggested The Epic Journey – a 65-day Adventure between Moscow and Hong Kong. The trip is planned for the summer of 2015.

“Sveta” is an Ayres Adventures partner in Russia and she’s become increasingly involved in the development and management of our business there. She’s been responsible for organizing private Russian tours for us in Africa, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, South America and the United States. She and I scouted the first two Russian tours together so I invited her to help me scout The Epic Journey. It’s probably more accurate to say that I invited myself along to help her scout Mongolia and eastern Siberia, especially the area around Lake Baikal.

I’ve considered Russia’s Lake Baikal a “bucket list” destination ever since I learned what it’s all about. The lake contains 20% of the worlds unfrozen fresh water supply and is the oldest and deepest lake in the world. It will be a major attraction of The Epic Journey and we’ll spend some time at the lake before entering Mongolia. The purpose of the current trip was to scout the route between Irkutsk and the Chinese border with Mongolia. This entails riding from Irkutsk to Ulan-Ude, on to the Russia/Mongolia border at Kyakhta, and traveling through Mongolia to the border with China at Zamyn-Üüd. Check the roads, capture GPS track logs and waypoints, evaluate hotels and restaurants, and visit potential attractions that will be incorporated into the tour. Typical scouting stuff.

Several of Sveta’s family members live on the shore of Lake Baikal in the small resort town of Listvyanka. They were excited to have us visit them and to help us scout the Lake Baikal portion of the trip. The scouting not only provided her an opportunity to visit family members, but also gave me the opportunity to benefit from their local knowledge of this part of Russia. Coincidentally, I had identified Listvyanka as a scouting target based on some research done before I learned that Sveta had relatives in the town.

Our red-eye flight from Moscow landed in Irkutsk at 5 am. Sveta’s cousin Vitaliy was at the airport to greet us. By 9:30 we had arrived at Vitaliy’s home, had breakfast, and visited five different hotels. In the evening I enjoyed a lakeside meal with Sveta’s family that consisted of traditional Russian Shashlik (similar to a barbecue), smoked fish, and plenty of vodka. This made me reflect on how fortunate i am to be able to enjoy such authentic and memorable experiences all over the world. Most of it was memorable anyway. The next morning I was reminded of how silly it is to try to keep up with Russians drinking vodka. The last time I tried anything so stupid was a few years ago when I led a private Russian tour thought the American southwest.

We rented a car with the intention to drive it to the Mongolian border where we would take a taxi for the 400 kilometer ride to Mongolia’s capital of Ulaanbaatar. The two-day ride to the Mongolian border provided time to scout the area between Irkutsk and the border – the same route that riders would take on The Epic Journey.

Since it wasn’t possible to take a rented vehicle into Mongolia, we had decided to take a taxi (or taxis) from the border to the capital of Ulaanbaatar where we would either rent a 4×4 or hire a guide with a vehicle to take us to the Chinese border. This proved an interesting ordeal, as we wound up taking four different taxis in order to make it to Ulaanbaatar. Except for the last one, which we caught on the outskirts of the capital, none resembled a traditional taxi. They were more like private vehicles driven by local maniacs.

One of our objectives for this trip was to interview and hire a local guide who we could count on for the Mongolian portion of the trip in 2015, as well as to help us with the scouting. Sveta has never ceased to amaze me with her ability to quickly and efficiently slice through obstacles in order to accomplish her assigned tasks. I usually sit back and comfortably observe a hot knife cutting through warm butter. Sometimes it’s like a chain saw tearing through hard timber. This was no exception.

We were soon on our way, escorted through Mongolia by Soto, a man who would, after several very long days together, be someone who Sveta and I would forever consider a great friend. He’s also a perfect resource for our future trips in Mongolia. Although a Mongolian, Soto had been an officer in the Russian army and has a deep grasp on world history as well as history of the area that we will travel on The Epic Journey. When we asked how he had become so knowledgeable about history he explained that the Russians wanted their officers to be knowledgeable and that he had attended a university in Moscow that had been operated by the KGB.

His qualifications as a guide were matched by the suitability of his new Toyota Dakota 4×4 crew cab pickup. We could cruise comfortably at more than 120 kph on the paved roads or travel nearly as fast through the sands of the Gobi Desert.

Getting hooked up with Soto was an incredible stroke of good fortune. Soto speaks little English but is fluent in Russian. Sveta and Ayres Adventures tour leader Janis Cimins will be on The Epic Journey and both are fluent in Russian as well as English. I’ve begun studying Russian and plan to at least be helpful with it by 2015.

During the Mongolian portion of the scouting trip we spent a few nights in Mongolian gers (or yurts, as they are known in Russia), one night in a 5-star hotel (or was it six stars?) that we discovered in the most surprising place, as well as a few very acceptable 3 and 4-star places. We climbed some sand dunes in the Gobi desert, popped in on some indigenous nomads and were treated to their hospitality and some food, with a freshly slaughtered goat lying at Sveta’s feet as she reluctantly munched on something made of goat milk. We visited a few Buddhist temples and sacred areas, including Shambhala, visited caves that are used by Buddhist monks during their 108-day fasts, and examined the skeleton of a dinosaur lying on the surface of the sand. We also visited several monuments to Genghis Kahn – an historical personality that still dominates nearly every aspect of Mongolian life.

We arranged for Soto to return us to the Russian border when our Mongolian scouting was done, avoiding the taxi fiasco that we dealt with when we entered Mongolia. The Mongolian portion of the scouting was a whirlwind affair and when we parted at the Russian border we all felt that we had spent a month together, rather than less than a week.

When we returned to Russia we drove 40 kilometers from the border to the small (very small) village of Chikoy where Sveta was born and had spent her childhood. We stayed for a night with her aunt and uncle, who insist that I’m the first American to ever visit the village. Her uncle Andrey told Sveta that he could not believe that an American had actually slept in his house. He encouraged me to return some time next year when I can spend a week or more to accompany him on a hunting trip in Siberia.

Before returning to Moscow we still had a few days of scouting to do in the Lake Baikal area of Siberia and we were successful in finding some great motorcycling roads as well as very interesting accommodations and attractions. I’m now satisfied that the portion of the trip between Irkutsk and the Chinese border will be incredibly interesting and rewarding.

As we’re now about to land in Moscow, I’m looking forward to my next big Adventure, which begins tomorrow morning when I don my riding gear, jump on an R1200GS and head for the Caucuses with a group of Russian friends. We may just be adding an additional off-road Adventure to our catalogue after the Caucuses scouting is done.

Here are a few photos from the scouting trip.

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