Russia. Here you can get acquainted
with the shamans and participate in
their ceremonies.
After visiting Olkhon Island I decid-
ed to become a guest in Irkutsk to do
maintenance on my bike. I changed
the rear tyre and gear oil. Luckily, all
big cities have moto services.
Then I went to Arshan, to the foot
of the Upper Sayan mountains in the
Republic of Buryatia.
Here 50% of the local population
are Buddhists. This is why in the re-
gion there are many beautiful Datsans
(Buddhist temples). In Russia, all
three major religions - Orthodox, Is-
lam and Buddhism coexist peaceful-
ly. Russians are very benevolent and
friendly people, especially outside of
big cities. They will always try to help
you without charging money for their
help.
I felt like a rock star traveling
around Russia. Why?
At all of my stops people came up
to me, took pictures, asked about my
trip and motorcycle. People in villag-
es live poorly and they rarely see ex-
pensive motorcycles and travellers, so
that’s exactly why I was like a super-
star to them.
Then there was a part of the road
outside the city of Chita which was
completely full of deserted places and
steppes. On this part of my way I met
very few villagers and local gas sta-
tions were only once every 200km.
I rode through the town of Tsi-
olkovsky, behind which the operating
Vostochny cosmodrome is located.
Near the cosmodrome I found a place
where you can buy food in tubes, as
they do for cosmonauts. There are
main dishes and soups for every taste.
I took meat with buckwheat and cot-
tage cheese with applesauce. It was
very yummy! Unfortunately, I wasn’t
able to visit the cosmodrome itself
and viewing platforms as there is
strict access control.
Despite it being Autumn I was
greeted with lush green vegetation in
the far east. Here summer is shifted
by one month and in September you
can still swim. Through such beauty,
I drove all the way to the shore of the
Pacific Ocean and reached the legend-
ary Tokarev lighthouse on the edge of
Russia.
Vladivostok is a young but very in-
teresting city. There are 122 defensive
forts built over 100 years ago. Every
day at 12 o'clock on the waterfront they
shoot from cannon causing a sound
that rings the ears. My next stop was
the submarine C-56 museum.
To sum up; I rode 11,200km in 19
days. Approximately 95% of the roads
TRAVERSE 52
were asphalt ones. I was very lucky
with weather conditions- rainy times
appeared only 3 hours for the entire
trip.
Now I can proudly say that I really
got to know my country in all of its el-
egant diversity. In fact, I understood
that we have quite good roads and
well-kept big cities with unique archi-
tecture and small authentic villages.
An infinite number of rivers, lakes,
forests, mountains, Taiga, Eurasian
Steppes. Countless tribes, people of
different nationalities, traditions and
cultures.
Having completed my journey, it
confirmed that I do not want to do
anything else except for moto tour-
ism. After all, what could be better
than exploring new wonderful places,
laying new routes, selecting the best?
But the most exciting and important
part for me is sharing all of it with the
other riders who are keen on the same
values as I am ... YK
Yuri, a native of Russia, loves this vast land,
exploring and sharing. His stories inspire
and encourage, as does his travels which he
shares through Uventure Moto Tours. Con-
tact Yuri if you want to share in some of his
adventures - www.uventures.tours