/image%2F0273494%2F20140918%2Fob_907895_dsc-3281-copy.jpg)
/image%2F0273494%2F201212%2Fob_adda3b83be8dc680694d9606db485a91_dsc-0455-2.jpg "Unimog adventures")
The long haul westward
Published on September 21 2014
From the border with Russia I had about 9000 km to get back home to Germany and 2 to 2.5 weeks to do it.... The route through Ukraine was a bit too dicey for me so I planned a northern trajectory through the Baltics. On average the plan was to do 400 to 600 km per day, which meant driving 8 to 10 hours a day given reasonable roads....I was not really looking forward to it I have to say...
First however I was going to lake Baikal to try my luck with kiting again... I had heard of nice beaches on the Southern side of the lake. Going to Olchon island on the northern side, which is supposed to be stunningly beautiful would have meant a big detour. Fiends I met had to wait more than a day to get back off the island as there were so many people trying to get on the small ferry.... Instead I drove along the Selenge river and went to an area just North of the delta. ...and Yes I managed to go kiting, the wind was up :-).
A lake South of Ulan Ude in Siberia
crossing through the Siberian landscapes as they get flatter North of the Selenge mountains
about 3 km off the shore of Lake Baikal I found this track heading towards the lake....
and just reached shore to have a cold beer in a warm sunset :-)
Actually I look pretty much on my own but far from it, there were hundreds of Russians spending apparently their entire summer in little coves on the beach here. Some had set up real camps with their fishing boats etc... They were very friendly and despite the language barrier I managed to have a few nice conversations with them..
when the wind picked up I moved to a more open area out of the forest...perfect kite terrain :-) almost got a bit of Asselah nostalgia, missed you guys and having the hotplate together!!!
Early morning start
The next 12 days were just getting up early and driving all day... I broke down the day and had several hour long stops so it was not too tiring. Roads overall are really good, a few construction zones here and there but nothing too bad. Actually also here I believe glorious president Mr P is pumping money in the infrastructure and creating a lot of jobs which makes him popular here... Btw I noticed one thing, Russian men here in Siberia love to parade around their naked torsos (despite the lack of shape mostly) and if they wear clothes its some sort of army fatigues. So you completly get it wrong when you think Mr P is a big macho when he appears in the tabloids like that, - no he just tries to blend in with his people !!!! ;-).
I actually really liked this part of Siberia, the Altai, the Selenge mountains and the area around lake Baikal...there is great potential and I would have loved to stay longer and explore....
Very often one has this slightly romaticised image looking at these cute Siberian houses, the horse and geese in front, kids running around in the flower meadows picking berries.... it almost remided me of "Pipi Langstrumpf" sceneries... just when you enter a bigger town with grey concrete buildings falling apart and all signs of poverty apparent one realizes life here is not romantic at all...(for the most part).
the road above Irkutsk, leaving lake Baikal behind me
distances here are big numbers! This is characteristic for Siberia; hundreds of kilometres nothingness and then suddenly appears a million people mayhem city
The distances even got my GPS confused, it thought I became a plane or something.... I attained warp speed and calculated I will need only 1 hour for my day's worth of distance...
typical night spots off the main road
representative sceneries east of the Urals, especially with the good road...
Only when you go off the main road looking for a quiet night spot...boy,...: "mud fest" ...always. Gald I had a Unimog here
tales of fun..... ( took an entire day with a hot Kaercher to get all the dirt off the truck at home... thanks Alex :-)
west of the Urals I stopped taking pictures as I did not really visit anything either.... here I finally hit Moscow traffic
Back in the EU... but don't ask about the reception on the Lithuanian border.... About the 2nd thing they said to me after looking at all my papers was: we have to give you a fine.... Obviously my TUEV the yearly German technical inspection was long expired on the truck...but how on Earth are you supposed to get it done when you are abroad for 2+ years with the truck.... "not my problem"... was the answer.... And then customs started taking apart everything in detail... I learned that you can only bring in 40 cigarettes...thats 2 packs... I had to laugh... not that i smoke but I had some of the packs left I had obtained in Oman for presents along the way.... and on it went...
Finally they did let me off the hook entirely and were quiet friendly but not without making their point very clear... welcome to the well regulated EU.
Very pleasant landscapes dotted with quiet lakes in the Baltics
home sweet home......:-) According to law I went straight to the first technical inspection point and passed without flaws... and I also got a nasty parking ticket right a way as well....welcome back HOME!
I had a great stop-over in Berlin, chatting Unimog with Ingolf from the forum and spent a pleasant evening with his family (I could park in their driveway for the night). Thanks again!
And Ingolf gave me a good idea, 200km detour in 25000km total is really nothing so I went straight from Berlin to the AMR Globetrotter meeting in the North of Germany and by chance met some old friends and made a few new ones. I had a blast speaking German and seeing all these diverse types of travellers and truck enthusiasts. I think it was a worthy and appropriate reception back home.
and I was not the only YELLOW truck :-)......
Almost the end....