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28 July 2004

The Kingsmill's Trans-Russia-Mongolian Overland Trip, Part 5: Kazan

Geoff Kingsmill
2006-04-26 09:21:18

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Since arriving back in Russia, from Mongolia, we have travelled a further 4000 km and are now in Kazan. Kazan is considered part of European Russia so we have finally left Siberia. A few days ago we passed through Perm, another closed city during the Soviet era, which is in the Ural Mountains, and divides Western Russia (or European Russia) from Siberian Russia (Asia Russia). Being back in Russia is a stark contrast to Mongolia. Russia is so much more well developed compared to Mongolia. It is was quite a culture shock to be back on sealed roads, albeit full of potholes and often very rough. The GERs have been replaced with wooden and concrete buildings, supermarkets stocked with an extensive range of food products, luxury vehicles as opposed to Russian jeeps and Mongolian horsemen, more rubbish everywhere and the regular police check points are back. In Mongolia you pay for fuel after filling your tank, just like in most other countries of the world. In Russia you must pay for fuel before filling your tank. We miss the peace, tranquillity and simplicity of travelling through Mongolia.

Having crossed into Russia we entered the Altay Republic which is a very mountainous area straddling the corners of Southern Siberia, Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan. We drove for many days following the M52 Russian highway through the mountains which follows one river system after another. Often the road took us through narrow gorges flanked by tall pine forested mountains. The road started out at over 6000 feet above sea level, crossed a couple of mountain passes and finally dropped down to 200 feet above sea level near Barnaul. The scenery was breath taking, some of the best we have seen since leaving Vladivostok. We had some delightful camp spots by the river shaded by pine trees. This is a very popular area for Russian holiday makers so we were not alone. The rivers through the Altay area are fast flowing so white water rafting is very popular. We saw many families and ...