Eastern Siberia: Journey to Khabarovsk

After a few hours of non-paved roads we were back on track and several hours outside of Khabarovsk. Joel and I took a photo with one of the first bus stops we saw along the way. The majority forest and mountain sides started opening up to the highway driving through small villages through rolling hills.

The weather finally stopped raining for the first time in several days and we knew we’d at least get to the city by dusk.

Signs pointed that we were yet near civilization again when we started noticing more frequent villages and were running parallel with the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Us approaching the outskirts and the first large bridge crossing the large Amur River.

Eastern Siberia: Fixing some tires and back on good paved roads.

After blowing a tire, one of the first things we did the next morning was get a spare tire changed over and checked to see if our rim would still hold air. Luckily news from people that were also changing their tires told us just under 30km down the road was paved roads.

Joel and I we’re amazed and almost forgot how nice it was to be on solid completed roads. Flying at a nice steady pace without the harsh breaking, swerving and swaying of potholed roads, but I was cynical expecting the nice road to run out.

Although the photo above is blurry, this us still running on good road solidly into the late night covering over 500km, a first in a real long time.

Eastern Siberia: Elmer + Driving = Almost Guartuneed Problems

The rain continued on, and it seemed that we were keeping pace with the weather or vice versa. Joel and I stopped real quick to cook up dinner and headed out during the night. Joel was exhausted and we had gotten news that on this part of the Trans-Siberian there weren’t any Police checkpoints and I wanted to add some mileage behind the wheel.

It was dark and the rain was slowly pattering down, I kept the pace slow, aiming for the smoothest part of the road which was near the shoulder. The unpaved gravel was wet and the shoulder would occasionally drag the steering wheel off the road if you weren’t careful and it did more-so than normal. On top of that we heard an on creaking when we went over certain spots, stopped real quick to see what was wrong, and eventually found that we had blown a tire and had been running on a rim for who knows how long. It was dark and the rain still hadn’t let up.

I sighed in frustration, it seemed to never fail us- I’m put behind the wheel for the shortest amount of time and I cause damage to the vehicle. Joel tried convincing me he could’ve made the same mistake and complaining or getting down wasn’t going to change the fact we needed to change the tire using our one and only spare.

We immediately setup a place to sleep and called it a night shortly after. I decided I wasn’t going to drive for a while.

Eastern Siberia: Problems with a Broken Belt, Towed for the First Time

Joel and I were making really good progress, good pace and the roads seemed less potholed than normal. We were somewhere in between Madalan and Skovorodeno in the Northern most part of the bend of the Trans-Siberian before heading South-East towards Khavarovsk just passing into the Amursakya Province. Suddenly our battery light came on the dash. The engine started losing power in smaller inclines and eventually died. We immediately jumped the van from our extra battery and it died yet again.

Joel popped open the engine compartment and thought it was something to do with the spark plugs, or maybe something with the distributor rotor and within seconds of opening it exclaimed to have found the problem. Our Alternator belt was shredded to pieces. We were in high hopes since we did pack a belt in our spares, but came to realize the length was completely different and that we got a spare timing belt, and not one for the alternator.  To make matters worse it started raining for the first time on our trip since Romania.

Joel was digging through our luggage to try and see if we had anything that might be able to use as a spare timing belt, and even tried piecing together the shredded one while I was trying to wave the smaller amount of traffic facing the direction we were heading. Most of the traffic was going the opposite direction, and the people that did stop indicated there wasn’t much in the direction we were heading and the best place to go was about 10km back in the direction we had came.

One guy I had stopped already had been towing another person and said he’d go and come back but sadly never did. A few people stopped and we tried to communicate that we knew what our problem was just that we needed a tow. Most trucks already had full loads, or weren’t equipped, or didn’t have the power, until finally a few guys in a truck towed us to a place where Joel could access a place that had a replacement. At first I thought Joel and I were SOL but Joel kept his cool and logically figured out where the belt ran from the cam and where it originally had spooled.

A bit of figuring out how to fit a belt that wasn’t made for our car and a few hours later Lall’ was running like new. All thanks to the magical calming mechanical genius of Joel.

Update: We made it to Vladivostok!

Hey everyone,

Sorry I haven’t updated in a while but look forward to more pictures from UB all the way here to Vladivostok when we get back in Japan on Wednesday.

We’re run into some problems with some hotel registration and the ferry company not being very helpful with our van, but we’re working on it until the ferry leaves on Monday. Wish and pray for us to sort things out before then but thanks once again to everyone who’s supported us this far. Just a little bit before the finish line.

Eastern Siberia: M-58- Chita towards Chevelinsk…where “Roads Disapear”

Well good old Lall’ made it to Chita. According to our 2 year old map of the Trans-Siberian, the highway indicated in thick red lines ended 300km northeast of the city.

I had talked to Alexander and Dima from the double decker bus on the Rally on the only night we had shared camp and convoyed together. His team had made the journey 3 years before from London to Vladivostok. It was quite eerie in the low light of the camp-fire in the middle of Mongolia, in his broken English he explained to me how the roads disappear, and couldn’t explain it any further. Today was the day when Joel and I realized what he meant.

At the security check point out of the city, the police searched our car, and saw if our documents and insurance were in order. They couldn’t believe how far we’ve come and was in further disbelief that we were planning on taking the road ahead. He motioned a windy, rolling road and wrote on our dusty window 300km, and then Joel and I couldn’t make out what he was trying to communicate.

 It made sense since the red thick line was for 300km of solid road according to our map, but where the lines on our map ended was this.

Dirt, sand, clay, potholed and corruagted roads. Roads that Joel and I had thought we had left long before us in Romania and Mongolia….we were wrong.

Sometimes a bit of paved road that was till under construction but wouldn’t be able to drive on for long.

A car that had rolled and driven off the road, at the start of potholed and corrugated gravel roads.

Daylight ran low again, and paths off the highway were fewer and farther apart. We tried on trail that lead us near ruins of an old building.  We weren’t sure how it fell apart, it didn’t seem like it was bombed. The building’s concrete walls however were decorated with bullet holes and for good measure there were a few tipped remains of a van that had been burnt. Quite the eerie sight.

We had no choice to camp, but sadly Joel and I noticed that the tent was no longer in the van and may have been stolen at the border. It was going to be close quarters from here on out.

Eastern Siberia: M-55 “Baikal” Landscapes Ulan-Ude to Chita

The highway that we jumped on actually starts in the city of Irktusk which is the large city on the Western Coast of Lake Baikal, explaining its name. The landscape and road winded through green hills and bits of forest trailing aside the pieces of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Baikal is the largest inland lake in the entire world, unfortunately we didn’t want to miss our ferry to we pressed on since it was a good 150km out of the way of our route to Vladivostok.

An interesting lake/river that Joel and I drove by eariler in the morning.

The interesting lighting, rolling hills and blue sky told Joel to woke me and asked, "Windows Background anyone?"

Our bearing was East North-East, and the farther up in elevation and north we got, the evergreens gave way to white trunked aspens and birches with fall colors all around, and a brisk autumn air.

The passing oranges and yellows confirmed that summer had gone and past during our trip. Joel and I reminisced of the meaning of autumn and its tie to the start of the academic year. We chatted about American Football games, barbecuing and tailgating, etc, what it was like to be back in University.

The rolling hills and forests cleared to flatter plains into a valley indicating we were getting closer to Chita.

It was calming to know what pace we could hold to make our ferry, on top of that the road to Khavarovsk was pointed out a lot easier than we expected according to this junction sign we saw just outside the city. Joel had completed a good 800km in one day, we were to look for a hotel to stay at to register our passports as foreigners are directed to.

Eastern Siberia: Back on the Trans-Siberian Highway, Towards Ulan-Ude

With the days of the Mongol Rally and the "Crisis Convoy" behind us, Joel and I were back to just us, the van and the remaining legs of the Trans-Siberian Highway towards Vladivostok. It was nice being on paved roads again, but the Russian Roads in comparison to the toll roads we took from Ulaan Baatar to the border were slightly rougher.

It was strange because of how much time we had spent in Mongolia, we had gotten used to the currency, the atmosphere and culture and then going back into Russia and hearing the Russian Language again. It was a mixture of missing the friends we made on the rally, another bit of culture shock and in retrospect to the whole distance we come we were so close to home, yet still so far away.

The time on the road meant that Joel would be driving the majority of the way because of loosing my license earlier in Taganrog. Large periods of silence would be interjected with a few conversations of what we’d be doing back home in Japan, or remembering a good memory from the convoy and wondering what they’d be doing now.

Our first day back in Russia, Joel drove around 100km short of Ulan-Ude since our time at the border took a decent amount of time out of our daylight, and we decided on just sleeping in the car and continuing on going in the morning.

Mongolia: On the Road Again, Ulaan Baatar back to Russia

It was strange to be back on the road, Joel and I was expecting more roads like the ones from the Western Boarder to Ulaan Baatar, but in actuality the road to the north was ALL PAVED, and really well paved too all the way to the Russian Border to the North.

A rarity, solid tarmac roads lined with trees AND street lights. Who knew roads like this could exist in Mongolia?

In the time that took us a day to travel from the Western Border on bad roads, we covered in several hours to the Northern Border. This is a relic with a large pedestrian overpass in the city of Darkhan.

While its not pictured here, just behind this building is where the infamous second graveyard of rally cars that were stopped at the border because of some logistical error in communication with the Rally.

Mongolia: Sights of Ulaan Baatar, Several Days of Relaxing and Repairs

Well we made it to Ulaan Baatar, and had to immediately look for a garage to do repairs on our shot suspension. Joel searched far and wide and tracked down one container and repair shop in all of Ulaan Baatar that specializes in Mini Truck Parts. It took a couple days to replace our shot shock absorber and get a few new spare springs and parts.

Here’s Joel talking with HQ and our boss Steve on Skype. Since it was going to be tricky to schedule our way points and catch the ferry that leaves once a week, it was decided between Joel and Steve that we were to take it easy in Ulaan Baatar, get in contact with some local importers and see the city. These are a few shots around town.

Mongolian Guards marching in town square around the capitol (from our messy window from the car).

Bits of the town have scattered old Buddhist Architecture, here’s a shopping center with a sharing landscape with a cinema.

Ulaan Baatar’s Main Square.

Ganvot and the Parking Lot Security Guard taking interest in the Rally Van. Ganvot spoke Japanese and trains Mongolian Special Forces, and used to coach boxing in Kyoto.

Live Mongolian Music at The Grand Khaan Brewery.

The remaining convoy wanted to celebrate the success of safe voyage at Club Mass.

Japanese Post Microvan spotted in Ulaan Baatar’s Peace Avenue.

The Global Peace Festival, Joel, Sheryl and Ben.

It was hard, the more time we spent in the city we started getting used to civilization. In the back of our heads it was difficult since all the rest of the ralliers had plans to fly or ride a train out of the city, and it was disheartening to know we still had a ways to go.