Day 10 - Barnaul

 A day off in Barnaul

I certainly had deserved a day off. In 9 days I had ridden 4670 km. Taking into account at least one full day of services I have driven approximately 583 km per day. No wonder my butt aches a bit...

I took the morning very easy. I ate a long, slow breakfast and then laid on the bed until 10:30. Then packed only the necessary things to my backpack and started walking to the heart of the city. As soon as I got out I heard weird noise. Music, shouting etc. Like a football game or something was going on. But there was no stadium nearby.

A park close by was my first destination. It seems the park had been neglected for years and now it's under construction. Lots of trees cut down, new lawn etc. In the middle there was a planetarium or something but as I'm not a museum type of guy I went on.



I walked on and reached the main square (I suppose) of the city. There was some sort of carnival going on. Lots of people in nice costumes of different ethnic groups, booths and performers.

This guy tried to be the funniest man of the world like Ismo Leikola. Didn't succeed... Nobody laughed.


A carousel for the kids


This lady must have been Saara Aalto of the Altais. She sang very well. Too bad I didn't understand a thing.


I went on through the square. There were pigeons in cages. I don't know why. People were looking and pointing at them but I couldn't see any reason for that.




I reached the other side of the square still unaware of the main purpose of this carnival. There were a lot of police all over and I thought that at least Mr. Putin was going pay a visit in Barnaul. With the help of Google Translator and a little internet search I found out that it was a City Day in Barnaul. Some sort of Multicultural affair combined with just a celebration of the city.

The police have funny panniers in their bikes. I wonder if that light panel gives more downforce to the rear wheel.


I'd had enough of that party already.As some might know I'm not a crowd lover. I started to walk towards Bike Bar which had been recommended a lot by several travelers. My phone's GPS didn't want to find my whereabouts but finally I got there.

What a place it was! Motorcycles in all forms in the walls, springs on the seats, paintings, whatever you can and cannot imagine.















At the Bike Bar a met Christian (instagram: destination.earth194). A German traveler who's been on the road through Germany, Turkey, the Stans, Russia, Mongolia, BAM-road, Road of Bones and is now on his way back With his KTM 690. But with no rush. The goal is to be back in Germany maybe on March 2018. He shared me a great deal of information about the southern route in Mongolia. The easy and the hard parts of it. Too bad I didn't realize to take a photo with him but you can follow his journey in Instagram. What a nice guy. I hope we'll meet again some day.

Some scenery from Barnaul





Now I have to get things packed up to be ready to leave in the morning. I will eat some breakfast here in Barnaul and the head south towards Altai mountains to get more near to the border. I try to get somewhere about 150 km out of the border and continue the rest on Monday morning.

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