or nearby big city eco hotels. It gives
you a chance to have an evening walk
in the middle of a well lit city or wa-
terfront and try traditional cuisine in
cultural restaurants.
There’s little doubt, Siberia is in-
credible!
Siberia has the widest forest front,
the deepest freedom and the most
beautiful nature. The land area in-
cludes around 9% of the whole firm-
land on Earth.
On my way to Krasnoyarsk, right
after Achinsk, I headed south through
Divnogorsk. That road became the
most exciting road in my whole jour-
ney! It had everything; beautiful
mountains, delicate scenery which
was even more catching as autumn
was there. I have always liked ser-
pentine roads. I feel like motorbikes
were created only for them. Before I
had entered Krasnoyarsk I decided to
climb up to a view point which would
open up a scene of the whole Siberian
river Yenisei. Its length is 3500km.
The Stolby Nature Reserve is in the
heart of Krasnoyarsk. Five hundred
square kilometers of real taiga (boreal
forests). This place can’t be described
in words- it is just fantastic. Cliffs in
the middle of taiga and fascinating
views that open from them just take
one’s breath away.
There I met Elena who is local and
works as an English-speaking guide.
She told me about an old man who
is keen on climbing, yoga and does
it way better than young people can.
He is regarded as a famous show-
man there. I decided to write down
his name and find some information
about his life on the internet. Can you
guess what happened next?
Right! We met that local celebrity
on our way out of the nature reserve
after walking about 15km. After that,
I took my chance to visit the motomu-
seum of Alexander Shestakov. I found
the museum an awesome place with
war-time and pre-war BMW and Har-
ley Davidson machinery. Everything
TRAVERSE 51
was reconstructed from genuine parts
which allowed all of the exhibits to be
in working condition. Alexander and
his father have taken care of this mu-
seum for 23 years and treat it like it’s
a part of their soul. I was grateful for
the chance to meet them and are now
fans of their work.
After Krasnoyarsk I headed to the
majestic Lake Baikal. It’s priceless
watching a magnificent sunset while
sitting on the Baikal’s shore and en-
joying a delicious smoked omul fish.
Lake Baikal is the deepest lake on
Earth at 1642 metres deep! By the
way, this is 19% of all the fresh water
in the world.
It doesn’t have a paved road, only
dirt roads. This is because it is a na-
tional park. No matter the roads
condition and service level, nature is
what makes that place unique and so
good-looking. On this island, accord-
ing to the stories of locals, Chingis
Khan is buried. Olkhon Island is con-
sidered the center of shamanism in