Home » Russia Mongolia » Travel to St. Petersburg and Mongolia (part II)

The train from Moscow to Byisk takes 63 hours and costs $40.My friend Vladislav D. and I prefer hard sleeper without separate rooms (platskartnii vagon). Our closest neighbor, a 16 year old girl fed us with food carefully supplied for her journey by her parents and told us a bunch of stories about her tough life. From Byisk we took a bus to a remote corner of Altay, village Yst-Koksa. The bus ride was 10 hours long and cost $8. After initial fight for seats the atmosphere in the bus became peaceful and friendly. Especially touching was the care which the entire bus took care of a straw hat of a young lady from the old believer village Mylta.

Travel to St. Petersburg and Mongolia (part II)

Alex Mumzhiu
2006-03-22 18:19:28

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Old believers came there 300 years ago to escape from religious persecution. It used to be a very remote corner of the Russian empire, where the old believers can continue their lifestyle, which is similar to the Amish. Old believers brought here the famous Russian painter and philosopher Nikolai Rerih in 1923. Rerih is very popular in Russia, especially in Siberia. See http://wwww.sibro.ru Not far away from Mylta, is the village Upper Uyimon, where Rerih spent a couple weeks in 1923. Now, there are two Rerih's museums in Upper Uyimon. We visited both. Old believers believe that mythical Belovod'e (Shamhbala) is located somewhere near Upper Uyimon. Shambhala, according to Tibetan Buddhists is a magical place where our world is connected with HEAVEN. See also http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/377/10134_shambala.html

We spent the night in Rerih's commune and learned a lot about Rerih's philosophy. The leader of the Commune, a charismatic man, Michail Petrov told us that Upper Uyimon, because its closeness to Belovod'e, will become the place from which rebirth of Russia and the entire world will start. Commune members also fed us with excellent honey and milk, which they produce on their farm.

From Rerih's commune we continued our way to our own holy place. 24 years ago my companion Vladislav D., myself and our other friend, the late Mark K. swam across the Katun river in search for shilajit. This is another story for which I do not have enough time now. Those who are interested can take a look at www.sdrshilajit.com on the Internet. Katun is a very fast and cold mountain river, so we brought fins, masks and snorkels with us in order to cross the river faster and not get frozen in the icy water.

Our way from last village Tungur, along the Katun river was hilly, ups and downs, ups and downs . We developed a pretty convenient way of travel. We go together uphill. But downhill I took two backpacks ...