Return of the Czars

After the Czars returned from Irkutsk to Moscow on Friday, September 25th, they had a demanding day ahead, the last day of the Czar Reunion trip. The most crucial points in their tight agenda were to 1. collect all the bags they left in Moscow, 2. visit the Kremlin, 3. have a royal lunch, 4. leave for home. Check the detailed minute by minute photo report file of the last prominent day below.

The last Czars photo taken on the trip
Czar Fredovich was leaving by train (because of the heavy luggage he brought at the beginning of his Russian business engagements) at 9pm, Czars Bonegovich and Madonovich were returning by plane at 8am the next day... therefore they spent a night out after seeing off their royal fellow.

The flight was unexpectedly smooth and there was surprisingly no hassle related to the fact that Czars’ visa were already checked out at the Mongolian border crossing (which the Czars were eventually not allowed to cross anyway) Well, expect for 1 thing: the Czars call it “just another nonsense” - hopefully this was the last one**.

Czar Fredovich’s train journey through Ukraine and Poland (with 12-hour stop-over in Kiev and furthermore changing trains in Przemysl, Krakow and Katowice) was not initially looked forward to, however turned out to be quite adventurous and pleasant end of the voyage.

Some secret sources inform there is going to be certain audio-visual material released in upcoming period, so let’s see what happens.

Long live the Czars:) !

10:35 landing in Moscow
14:21 in front of the baggage room, present at every Russian railway station: handing in all the bags after they were previously collected and repacked in the former Czars' residence
15:08 heavy rain has come
15:52 1-hour Kremlin sightseeing begins
(in the picture: the Czar bell and the Czar cannon)
17:37 lunch & dinner, the last royal dish of the trip after which the Czars split: Hudyslav and Martin carried on the Moscow sightseeing, and Zdenik left for the Kiev railway station from where he took his train to Ukraine, Poland and the Czech Republic
19:45 in the botanical garden
…oh, sorry, this was actually in the cinema, in front of the restroom
22:37 evening walk at the Old Arbat street in Moscow
0:29 just fallen asleep at the coffee lounge in a shopping mall near the Moscow Sheremetyevo airport
(the mall guards tried to make us leave when the mall was closing down, but because of many other sleepy squatting travellers, they eventually let us stay over till the morning)
8:47 about to touch down in Prague
** “Russian Federation no”
When Madonovich’s backpack was x-rayed, an old lady in charge spotted an interesting object – 15cm long metal object of supposedly apocalyptic destructive power. Czar Madonovich was ready to fight for his camping gear and requested an English speaker. It took some time. The output of the excited discussion was: “(pointing at the respective aluminium stick) Russian Federation no!” The stick was not sharp, nor explosive or flammable, not big or heavy, nor generally dangerous (definitely not more than knife and fork, also present in the backpack)… “No!”. Although it was accepted on the flight from Irkutsk to Moscow less than 24 hours ago (as well as in Thailand, India, Nepal and some other airports in the past), the answer was still clear: “Russian Federation no!” Another seemingly solid arguments, e.g. the fact the Czars were just about to leave Russia, or that the whole backpack was actually a cargo luggage, not a hand bag, were also refused without any sensible explanation. How logical, how ridiculous, how R. :)

The enchanting beaches of Baikal

From Novosibirsk, the Czars took a 40-hour train ride to Baikalsk, a small village (not too far from Irkutsk) at the shore of the deepest lake in the world - lake Baikal. After writing their memoirs and sending out e-pigeons, the Czars set off to walk along the Baikal beach. By luck they met unstoppably laughing sorceresses Tanya and Veronika, who offered them to stay in their magical mansion for the night. As czar Fredovich has mastered the art of cooking spells, the feast has begun.

Boarding a local bus in Baikalsk

The Czars in the magical mansion

Pancakes summoned by czar Fredovich

In the morning, a slow train came to transport the Czars further along the coast. On nose of the locomotive, they went through tunnels and birch groves to the end of the rails to a small settlement called Port Baikal, where old ship wrecks lined the pebble beaches.

Czar Bonegovich taking a nap on the train

The Czars at the locomotive nose

Wrecks around Port Baikal

After enjoying a sunny day on the shore and fulfilling Fredovich's resolution to bath in Baikal, the Czars took a ferryboat to Listvyanka, the most famous village in the region full of Russian travellers. Finding a comfortable room in a house of local landlord Mikhail did not take very long, so the Czars could even spare some time building kingdoms in royal games.

The Czars playing Eufrat & Tigris

Next day the Czars climbed the cliffs and explored beautiful view points of the lake (which rather resembles a sea) and mountains at the horizon. It would also not be a Baikal visit without tasting omul, delicious local fish.

Tasting delicious smoked omul

Czar Madonovich conquering Baikal cliffs

The mysterious atmosphere

Relaxed and with a classic travellers' feeling of how fast the whole trip passed, the Czars moved to Irkutsk to catch a plane to Moscow.

Long live the Czars! :)

The Altai expedition

Close before the border shut, a car driven by Kazakh Medikhat arrived, bringing two other hopeless tourists from the UK - Ben and Kate. After elaborate discussion whether to take an expensive taxi together just to cross the border (and then try to fight their way to some local Mongolian village in order to find some local bus to continue the journey), the Czars decided to turn around and return to Kosh-Agach, the largest village in the area. Having come back, they gathered resources to make their own pancakes, went to local kafe for a beer with the locals and the UK couple and then spent a night in an excellent garden cabin in Medikhat's garden.

Rather typical view around Kosh-Agach

Sunny walk around Kosh-Agach

The Czars in the middle of the village

First day in Kosh-Agach (Sunday, Sep 13) was a planning day. The Czars slept-in to regain lost energy and then discussed the future possibilities resulting from unsuccessful border crossing. It turned out that any transportation options (jeeps, lorries etc.) to a village Dzhazatr (near Mt. Belukha, the highest mountain of the region and within the interesting area close to Chinese, Kazakh and Mongolian border) have already left, so the afternoon was spent climbing nearby hills in the middle of the amazing sun-dried steppe.

Herdsman and his sheeps

Beginning of the steppe

Having spent one more pleasant night in the garden booth, the Czars woke up early in the morning in order to catch the first taxi to Dzhazatr. As normal, the promise of Anatoly, one of the drivers, to "leave in 20 minutes" resulted into almost 2.5 hours of waiting, while Anatoly gathered literally anything that needed to be or could be transported and sold in Dzhazatr. On the way came another surprise, since Dzhazatr is located "near the border" and thus requires a special entry permit. One of the bandits guarding the road has been uncompromising and ordered the Czars to return. Luckily enough, the Czars did not have to walk back on their own (as they were the only ones who did not have the permit, so the whole car could have easily continued), but were taken back to Kosh-Agach by Anatoly, where the bureaucratic bullying continued. Local officers, having once again no clue what should be actually done and contradicting each other with regards to other pieces of papers with stamps to be acquired, disgusted the Czar delegation, which decided to set off to the mountains, where low level of similar administrative stupidity was expected.

Czar Madonovich taking in the heat of the situation

Having used the friendly help of local retired physics teacher Sergei, they arrived to a tiny village Maly Yaloman, where they planned on spending next 3 days camping and hiking. First two days went great, weather worked out rather well and nights have not been too cold (plus the Czars made fire every evening). Last day (Wednesday, Sep 16) one of the (unfortunately quite many) drunks in the village decided to steal one of the royal tents located across the river and drag it to its burrow. Furtunately, he has been disclosed by the sober village minority, which told the Czars where to look for the tent and enabled them to recover it. However, having found a hanged dog behind their tents in the afternoon and thus being unsure about how the last night would look like, the delegation rather decided to hold guards during the whole night.

Deserted huts in the mountains

The nature of Altai

The Altai cow. Boooh.

Packing up the tents in the morning

On the following morning of Thursday, Sep 17, the Czars stopped a van going by (after the "certain daily bus" to Barnaul that turned into "certain three times a week only bus"), got dropped off in Gorno Altaisk and caught a bus to Barnaul that luckily went literally 10 minutes after their arrival. Having found a nice accommodation in Barnaul, having had a normal dinner after couple of days and the third shower of the trip, they went to bed. The next morning they caught a bus to Novosibirsk, to continue the last part of their adventures - around lake Baikal.

Long live the Czars! :)

Czar Madonovich in an imperial combat vehicle

Subjugation of Mongolia: DENIED!

Although the Czars have fought the bandits of the Kingdom of Bureaucracy bravely and even achieved several victories, their final battle did not finish as expected.

Czars Bonegovich, Madonovich and Fredovich were mostly afraid of obstructions resulting from visa issues, given that especially Fredovich's documents have been a complete mess, enabling the border bandits to easily refuse the royal delegation the right to leave the kingdom of Rossiya (and thus to enter Mongolia).

However and once again, it proved right that even the border bandits (and any other servants of the kingdom) seem to have no freaking clue about how a correct set of documents (passport, migration card, visa, registration, invitation/tourist voucher) should look like.

As described in the previous post, the border crossing did not crash on incorrect documentation, but simply on ridiculous transportation system at the border and lack of time to be further invested into the border tragicomedy.

As a result, the Czars decided to fully explore the beauties of the amazing republic Altai and return to Mongolia as a part of some other journey, when time will enable them to experience the country to the fullest.

Long live the Czars! :)

Czars waiting at the the Russian-Mongolian border in Tashanta

On a winding road to Mongolia

On September 9, with one day delay according to the royal plan, the Czars arrived to the picturesque Altai Republic, the last Russian colony before Mongolia. The spies advised them to register at the Russian office in Gorno Altaisk, however the local officer refused their request and told them to keep telling everyone that they just arrived. The unbreakable bureaucratic circle had begun here which was yet to be discovered later on.

As they still had a few days buffer, they decided to relax for two days in Chemal, small but friendly village in the forests along Katun river that burst with middle-age atmosphere. After refreshing banya and with overfilled royal bellies, the Czars set foot again on the one and only street of Gorno Altaisk as there was surprisingly no bus from Chemal to anywhere else than back.

The Chemal "beach"

Lake near local monastery

Chilling after busy day and hot banya

After a short sleep in a dusty warehouse arranged by its watchman Rashid, the Czars set off towards Mongolia with the morning light.

Fairy-tale countryside of Altai

Amazing Altai village covered in the fall melancholy

Royal walk into the hills

Through spectacular mountains, fairy-tale river sides and small wooden villages, they were finally transported by Ildar and his magical vehicle by Friday evening to Tashanta, the last settlement at the borders. However, the gates to Mongolia were already closed for the day. With 60 inhabitants, 50 dogs, one tiny shop and freezing wind from the mountains, there was no other option than to ask for a bed in a shack of one of the peasants.

Shack where the Czars slept

The Czars had spent comfortably warm night and then in the morning (Saturday, Sep 12) they approached the heavily guarded entrance to a promised land of Mongolia. To their surprise, pear-looking soldier denied their access explaining that a walk-through by foot is prohibited. Only those on a vehicle are allowed in. The road closes every Sunday which meant they needed to pass till the dusk otherwise the Mongolian adventure would blur into hasty race among planned checkpoints.

The atmosphere of the village of Tashanta

So the Czars started to ask passing cars for a helping hand. Some of them had own difficulties to get through, some asked too much in return and the others were simply full. As there was still the whole day ahead they just kept trying and played soccer with local kids in the meantime. However there were less and less cars coming ...

After a soccer match (kids beated the Czars and won a juice)

Seeing the poor results, czar Fredovich used his charisma and royal treasure to persuade a jeep driver to squeeze 8 people into the car. The first tollgate was overcome. The Czars were in the no men's land between the borders. Unfortunately, the second security check discovered discrepancies between number of seats and persons, especially czar Madonovich did not looked like a luggage although he tried with all his actor skills.

Trying to add 3 more people and 3 big bags into an already full jeep

Game restarted. Still half a day ahead.

Nevertheless, the frequency of incoming vehicles decreased from very few cars per hour to almost no cars per hour. Even such circumstances could not bring down spirit of the Czars. They were waiting patiently with eyes hypnotizing horizon hoping to see a smoke from a rescue car ...

Long live the Czars! :)

Trans-Siberian railway adventures

Similarly as there are no earnings without work, there is no reaching the countryside without passing through the cities. And in such cases, even the Czars are not having an exception: they passed 4 cities in 5 days on their way from Moscow to the magnificent Altai republic.

Czars Fredovich and Bonegovich in the train.

The daily routine got soon into steady pattern - hopping off the train in the morning, setting the day objectives during the breakfast briefing in a local buffet, slowly completing all particular tasks (commonly including photo documentation of the key locations, spotting the Lenin square (present literally everywhere), ice-cream tasting), and boarding the Trans-Siberian carriage again in the evening.

Ekaterinburg (Sunday, Sep 6th)
After 27 hours in the train from Moscow, the Czars finally got off in Ekaterinburg at 5 a.m. Strolling across the super-wide streets with no traffic, resting on super-large (Lenin) squares with no pedestrians, and trying out local metro by random stops in the suburbs of Russian 4th biggest city, the Czars pleasantly spent the whole morning. In the afternoon they were picked up by their colleague Kristina (arranged in advance by their Russian ally Vitalik) who facilitated an excursion to nearby Ganina Yama - a pit in the mine 15 km far from Ekaterinburg where the dead bodies of Romanov Czar family were found. It was an emotional and touching afternoon for all the Czars and their souls.

The memorial of the Russian Czar family.

Comrade Lenin - seeing everything.

Omsk (Monday, Sep 7th)
It was raining - for the first time on the entire trip. And the Czars benefited from the misty atmosphere that covered the whole city. At first it seemed they all accidentally travelled back in time by 50 years, then the Czars started enjoying the old-school design of everything around. The evening stop in Rostik's-KFC and thrilling blockbuster in local cinema at 2 a.m. was a nice close off before boarding the train again.

The Omsk townhall.
The Omsk market.

Novosibirsk (Tuesday, Sep 8th)
While Ekaterinburg and Omsk definitely managed to conserve their specific atmosphere, Novosibirsk turned out to be fairly ordinary city - not bad, not astonishing, not old, not flashy. Nevertheless, the Czars had good time, as always: trespassing the docks while following the river Ob, having a traditional Russian lunch in a traditional construction site trailer, or messing up with smoky clown would surely be the highlights.

Russian speciality: "grichka s kotletoi" (Russian "rice" with ground meat).

Cheese!:) ...the Czars at the bank of river Ob.
Mafia disneyland in the background.

Biysk (Wednesday, Sep 9th)
Reaching Biysk on Wednesday morning meant the Czars had to leave the train for some time, as they finally arrived to the Altai republic and were eager to head to unknown Russian-Mongolian-Chinese-Kazakh borderlands. With the guidance of one of the local girls, Katya, who they met on the train, they briefly discovered the small but charming town and set off deeper into Altai. Let's wish them good luck!

Church in Biysk.

Czar Madonovich in the bus, heading to Altai.

Long live the Czars! :)