Boris Šajtegelj, a world traveller who knows no borders, made an interesting trip yet again. Usually he either cycled of hitchhiked, or maybe took one form or another of public transport… but sometimes also took the car to countries close by. Yet this time he made a 30.000 kilometre trip by car.
How did you decide to travel across Russia?
Boris: »The main reason was, I never was in Russia before. And since I had enough time, I saw no reason not to get to know the country I visited really well. Unfortunately, if you want to cross the largest country in the world, you have to travel a long stretch of the same road coming back, as there’s no alternative.«
Boris travelled across the whole length of Russia through major towns such as: Voronezh, Samara, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita, Khabarovsk, and Vladivostok. A large portion of his travel was done on the famous Russian road named – Russian Federal Road. While north of Vladivostok he also took parts of the Lena Highway, Kolima Highway and Altay Highway.
How long did it take to visit all of these cities and how many kilometres did you have to drive?
Boris: »I was quite fast as there is almost nothing to see between the cities. You can make a few thousand kilometres without a change of the landscape. So I was back in Slovenia in three months’ time.«
As you made the journey in the spring, did you get to feel a part of the cold Russian winter?
Boris: »I sure have. I started the journey in the end of February and experienced temperatures as low as -35 Celsius. This was mostly seen on the car that accumulated ice on it, so it looked I had stalactites on it. And make no mistake, they were so large I had to use the axe to remove them. The whole undercarriage of the car froze over. There was so much ice around the tyres it was really hard to remove. Actually all the vital parts of the car freeze over. It’s best to just keep driving and not turning off the car.«
But the low temperatures don’t only have down sides in Russia. They make some distances shorter as you don’t need to take the ferry, but can just drive across a river or a lake. Many roads in Russia only appear when lakes and rivers get a thick enough cover of ice and traffic goes straight across them. Boris says that when he was there ice was about a metre thick.
Were there any other problems with the car apart from ice?
Boris: »Ice was both a problem and advantage. I got to some places in Russia faster, but had to keep removing it. Many roads in Russia are bad and have many holes. Even more strange to me is, that there are many nails on Russian roads, so it happened many times that I had a flat. Now I see why many people there have two spares with them.«
Boris takes care of his sleeping arrangements in the last minute. If possible he likes to stay with some local people for the night, at times also in the car. For this journey he completely lowered the passenger seat and placed a board on it, so he slept in the car most of the time. He needed a good sleeping bag, but was able to get thought the low temperatures.
What about food and drinks?
Boris: »I’ve bought quite a lot of food before staring the journey. I also equipped the car with a cooker so I had warm meals as well. Otherwise I bought food at local shops and water was no problem as it’s drinkable almost everywhere. Their traditional food is less varied than ours. The harsh climate is the reason they have less vegetables. But they use the vegetables they have in many combinations, mostly potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, beetroot, mushrooms and radishes. Fruits are even less varied, with some apples and berries, but many whets to be found. There is no way to get around pirozhki and there are many dairy products. As I don’t drink alcohol I haven’t even tasted their traditional beverage – vodka.«
It is hard to say, what to see along the way. Boris says you get to see unspoiled nature and lifestyle of the people, away from the tourist points. And there are cities in between that offer many things, but the countryside doesn’t. It just depends what you are looking for when travelling.
What did you see along this long journey?
Boris: »To me it’s all about the genuine connection with the people, to see how the locals live and get in touch with them. That was always more important than any tourist attractions. I also love unspoiled nature. I’ve stopped at every larger town to take a look at it and naturally I had to see Lake Baykal. I also saw the towers of Lena. It’s a natural rock formation shaped like towers. I also wanted to catch a glimpse of a Siberian tiger, but realized I won’t be able to. Even the locals rarely get to see one.«
And what was communication like?
Boris: »When you travel you don’t even realize how many foreign words you learn along the way. Anyway, you always get to communicate by waving your hands. Everybody can show that he’s hungry or thirsty and quite often I had to show it.«
But as with everything else, it all requires finances. Boris spent around 1.800€, which was according to plan, and as much as 1.100€ of which was spent on fuel. Although fuel is much cheaper in Russia, he made many kilometres. Had he more money to spend, he’d visit Mongolia as well and would not yet return. His next journey, Boris says, will be by bicycle again and will last for about a year.
