Around the World in 109 days
Um die Welt in 109 Tagen
04.05.-21.08.2008
Russia, 06.-08.05.2008 
Time zone: Kalmykia & Astrakhan = GMT + 4h
1 Euro = 37 Russian Ruble
At 9:15am we arrived at Rostov-na-Donu where the first passengers left. At
10am our group was divided depending on each one's final destination in the
region. I joined a group in a small bus to Yashalta, arriving finally at 1pm,
after 50 hours of bus ride from Germany. Surprisingly I could still feel my
legs and other parts of my body, I did not expect to survive this everlasting
ride so comfortably. (Although that does not mean that 50 hours bus rides are
going to be my favourite hobby after my world trip.)
Anna from Sputnik travel agency was already waiting for me at Yashalta and
we took a public minibus (marshrutka) at 1:30pm west to the Kalmykian capital
Elista. Even though I was already toughened by Ukrainian roads, the Kalmykian
ones managed to be even worse. We were really shaken well. And amusingly Anna
was bothered much more by it than me even though she grew up in Kalmykia. Her
favourite song "Country roads take me home" had a very new meaning for her now.
I kind of enjoyed he three and a half hours ride (nothing compared to the 50
hours from Germany) through Kalmykian steppe.
After arriving in Elista we first searched for a working ATM amongst the four
that existed in the capital (we were lucky with number 3) then I checked
in at Hotel Elista at 5:30pm and moved into my comfortable yet - for that
price - not too spectacular room. Anyway, the hot shower after two and a
half days on the road was priceless.
Photo gallery: Arrival in Kalmykia
At 7pm Anna picked me up at the hotel, we dropped my valuables in her
office safe and then drove to the club OverDrive where a little live
punk concert was held that night. Two local bands (Nortan and Rat Race)
and one a little more popular band from St. Petersburg, Port(812), were
playing and the mainly quite young audience had a lot of fun, and so
did we (Anna, her friend Inna (easy to remember) and me), enjoying delicious,
inexpensive Russian beer (for 35-40 rubles per bottle).
Just when we were about to leave some of the fans realized that I was not
from Russia but had come quite a long way. And pretty soon after we were
having a drink together for the sake of the German-Kalmykian friendship.
Nevertheless, around 11pm my "bodyguards" Anna and Inna escorted me to
my hotel, because they said it can be a bit dangerous for foreigners
(especially those who don't speak Russian) in Elista at night. Well,
after the long journey and party I was tired enough to sleep anyway -
in a real bed!
Photo gallery: Punkrock
At Wednesday morning I finished my remaining provisions from Germany and
headed off for my sightseeing tour around Elista at 11am. The location of
my hotel was really central, so I only had to walk a few meters to the
Golden Gate (Altyn Boskh) under which guests of the city traditionally
clean their thoughts and soul. Just behind the gate I found the beautiful
City Square, surrounded by the town hall, the White House (home to the
Kalmykian government), a statue of Lenin and other buildings. But the
more attractive sights there were the red pagoda and the fountain on the
square. Further, there is an open-air chess board, very popular in the
chess-republic of Kalmykia.
Leaving the city center I walked along the main road, still named after
Vladimir I. Lenin, to the biggest Buddhist temple in Europe. Around two
thirds of Kalmykia's inhabitants are descendents of Mongolian tribes and
thus traditionally Buddhists. Most of the others are Russian-orthodox
Christians, but there's also a catholic church in Elista. The huge,
really beautiful Buddhist temple represents Kalmykia as the only Buddhist
region in Europe quite well. Inside the temple you can see a huge, golden
Buddha statue. And the present (14th) Dalai Lama, apparently very popular
in Kalmykia, frequently appears among the pictures and paintings there.
With relaxing Buddhist music played inside the temple, there is a really
nice, meditative atmosphere there which I enjoyed quite a while.
Passing by some communist-style buildings, a nice orthodox chapel and the
Buddhist monument "Mortar of Enlightment" I finally arrived at "City Chess".
The chess enthusiastic president of Kalmykia had erected this suburb for the
23rd Chess Olympics held in Elista. The plans and models for the further
expansion of City Chess exhibited there looked impressive, but unfortunately
chances are little that the city of Elista can afford them.
Back to the city center I strolled a bit through the central park, along
various statues and monuments to a memorial site where school kids (always
in pairs of Russian and Kalmykian origin) practiced marching. Well, I marched
back to my hotel, enjoyed a last shower, packed my stuff and checked out.
Anna, my tourist guide, came around 4pm to pick up my luggage and I went
to an internet cafe. There again I realized that I did not speak Russian at
all (even though I already o quite well on the Cyrillic letters), the message
boxes and menus turned out to be a hard challenge for me.
After work Anna took me to a kind of public canteen to try a delicious (and
inexpensive) dinner and original Kalmykian tea (with milk and salt), which
in fact tasted quite well, too. After that we strolled a bit about the city
and sat for a tea in Anna's office before heading by minibus (marshrutka) to
the bus station at 9:30pm. I was supposed to take the bus at 10:30pm to
Astrakhan. Unfortunately most Russian bus companies don't have a computer
based booking system. So we just had to wait for the bus coming from Rostov
and see if there were any free seats when it arrived. In the meanwhile our
passports were checked by three policemen who apparently were bored, too, and
- of course - did not speak any English.
When the bus finally arrived pretty late at 11:45pm Anna caught a seat for
me, next to an old lady who she considered not too suspicious. She was
really afraid of me getting any problems with criminal or drunk passengers
as I was - as usual - the only foreigner in the bus. But nobody bothered me,
maybe apart from the one snoring loudly just behind me or the guy listening
to music to his cell phone by loudspeakers in the middle of the night.
Photo gallery: Elista
I tried to sleep most of the time. However, around 3:30am, in the middle
of the night, there was some action again. At a control post between the
Republic of Kalmykia and the oblast (province) Astrakhan we stopped and
had to show our passports. Then the driver realized a problem with his bus,
which was maybe the reason for the strong smell of petrol inside the cabin.
As the engine was located beneath the back seat rows most people got off
the bus and could enjoy the fantastic clear sky full of stars. Further,
I got to know a very simple border post toilet shed then strongly reminded
me of the ones I had seen in the Gobi desert of Mongolia. I had a wonderful
view into the steppe and a not so beautiful one (by flashlight) inside but
that one was necessary, too, in order not to fall down into the dark depths.
After about one hour repairing time our bus, still showing its old German
logo "Granat-Reisen" ran again and off we went to the East.
Just before we reached Astrakhan we saw a beautiful sunrise in the steppe,
then we entered the city located on the delta of Volga river flowing into
the Caspian Sea. Around 6am we arrived at the central train and bus station.
From there I headed (despite my upset stomach, o excuse to cancel sightseeing)
to the city center by minibus (marshrutka) 13, carrying my entire luggage as
I could not find any coin lockers or luggage storage rooms at the station.
The church and other buildings of Astrakhan Kremlin are among the main
tourist attractions in town, but unfortunately almost entirely covered due
to restoration purposes when I arrived. The next stops were a nearby park
the beautiful orthodox Vladimir church and the Volga river, Europe's longest
stream. Around 11am I was back to the station where I had to kill some more
time while listening to communist-style music from the platform loudspeakers.
Then my train arrived, but the obviously very little motivated train attendee
let us (including her colleague) wait outside for quite while before she
finally had mercy and opened the doors. At 1:06pm I departed for a nice
and comfortable train ride after so many days in cramped buses.
Photo gallery: Astrakhan
I had booked a "platskarte" ticket, the cheaper version of sleeping cars,
where I had to share kind of a open compartment with 5 other persons, but
this was not a problem as the train wasn't too crowded. Everyone had a
bench that served as a bed, too, pillow, futon and bed sheet were provided
for free, the clean cover had to be paid for (250 Tenge or 50 Rubles). As
usual, I was the only foreigner (shall this be like that until I come to
Thailand?) and again nobody spoke English, not even one or two sentences.
Nevertheless, the other people in my compartment, especially Baba Luba
from Tajikistan and Aleksandr from Russia, but also Kim from Kazakhstan
(who had decorated her "home" for the next day by putting her cactus near
the window and arranging stuff on the compartment table), Rufia from Russia
and some others in the wagon, talked to me in Russian enthusiastically and
had a lot of fun when I managed to repeat a sentence in Russian, too. So
finally the ride was not too boring even though I felt a bit like a deaf
and mute, not being able to communicate properly. Maybe Russia is kind of
hard to travel because of this communication barrier, too.
In addition to the rather slow speed of the train we had to face some even
slower event: Border control! It took us from 1:30p to 4:20pm to pass the
Russian side of the border. The the train went on for about an hour, and I
wondered if I would not get any Kazakh entry stamp in my passport, but at
7:30pm (now Western Kazakhstan time, one hour ahead of Astrakhan/Russia)
we had the same business in Ganyushkino, now with Kazakh authorities. One
of them even spoke a little bit of English and apparently wanted to demand
some custom fees (or a tip for himself) for my camera, laptop and memory
cards. But pretended not to understand anything (fight back with his own
weapons), the others in the train could only explain it to me in Russian,
too, and so finally he gave up. Hehe.
After further waiting forever in the station - for whatever reason - the
train finally went on at 9:30pm, and I could stretch out on my mattress
and sleep for a couple of hours.
next: Kazakhstan
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