On our 20th day of this adventure we arrived in Manzhouli, China, the major northern border crossing into our second country, the Eastern Siberia part of Russia. From Harbin, China north, the countryside opened up into broad grazing fields and tilled black earth that sometimes went as far as the eye could see. Herds of everything increased in size and real cowboys and cowgirls on real horses watched over sheep, goats, cows and horses in this vast open range country. No fences are present and it is probably more economical to have humans keep order in this animal world than pay for barbed wire. Animals have the right of way and we slowed and threaded our way through a lot of livestock.
             The border crossing was an exercise in patience and in filling out the most complicated system of small pieces of paper for no good reason that I have ever experienced. Just as we thought we were finished some official would discover that a stamp was missing. All in all though the staff treated us very well and we did take some -,just a little - precidence over a hoard of people, cars and especially trucks passing through, -  both ways.Trucks coming into China are carrying tons and tons of scrap steel and timber. Trucks going into Russia carry finished goods. China is winning the manufacturing game and more personal comment on that later. The border is highly fortified because of the territorial disputes of some 20 years ago. Fence and mine fields stretched away in both directions from the border post. NO photos please.
             That night, (5/18) we stayed in a mini-Russian Chateau type hotel in Zabaikalsk and had a first class Russian dinner with wine and vodka. From here on we will stick with vodka as the wine didn't meet any of our standards. The change from a few days ago was stark and welcome after having breakfast after lunch after dinner with chopsticks and much the same fare. Don't get me wrong, it was all very good but even filet mignon gets old after 25 days. I sure do love rice however.
             The next morning we suited (and I mean suited) up for the ride to Chita, Eastern Siberia and it was an interesting segment. The temperature dropped to freezing and we had great crosswinds blowing light flurries. Most of us kept adding clothes until there was nothing else to add but we made Chita without incident. Of course the new cord for my electric shirt ( and Dennis Bishop's new cord) decided to malfunction -- so we shivered.
             Early in the more modern history of western Russia the Czars figured that they really didn't own land that they did not occupy. Around 1653 they sent paid Cossacks to the area who then founded Chita and established settlements over thousands of square miles of Siberia and Manchuria. Incidentally the term Cossack means "brave adventurer" so after we had a few more vodkas we decided that our Globetour group were indeed Cossacks. Please address us properly from here on.
              Anyway the population grew as the Imperials back west sent criminal and political prisoners to boost the population in Chita, Ulan Ude and Irkutsk. Coal, gold, silver, graphite and many other minerals are in the area and many mines were run with prison labor even up until the recent collapse of the communist system. The trans Siberian Railroad, (opened to this area in 1904) finally made it possible to move the riches of the east to western civilization and growth continued. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union however these eastern Siberian towns and cities have suffered badly as the western governmental powers have pulled the plug on investment capitol and projects of grand scale started 20 and 30 years ago have been abandon. Big complexes of housing, concrete buildings with central heating inhabited by hundreds were closed and the inhabitants had to move back into the small wooden homes of the last century. Water now comes from a central faucet in town and serves hundreds of people. There is no sewage system and about the only thing that the villages retained was electricity. Government manufacturing plants were closed, stand abandon and are being slowly dismantled with the scrap materials purchased by the Chinese.      
             400,00 people inhabit Chita and the surrounding areas are heavily farmed even though there is a mere three month growing season. The farming methods are far more modern than central and south China as there is oil to power diesel machinery. The vast grazing lands continue with the omnipresent cowpersons. The vistas are vast - vast - vast. The area is called Buryatia and many of the indigenous Buryats are Buddists. We visited a temple, the Aginsky Datsan and had a very private one hour with the Lama in charge. Better understanding the precepts of the religion made some of us feel that they have an advantage over many of the other fighting religions of our modern times.
             Chita to Ulan Ude today, (5/20) 410 miles of beautiful country and the weather treated us very well. Somethings do not change with the political winds. The main square is notorious for having the largest bronze bust of Lenin in existance. We visited another Buddhist temple, - the Ivolgin Datsan with 30 lamas in residence, also an educational center.
             Probably the most outstanding evening of the past few weeks was our visit and dinner with the "Old Believers" of the area. The Old Believers is a village of decendants of Orthodox Poles, (at that time under Russian domination) that got crossways with Catherine the Great. She exiled them to Siberia and since there was no rail or air transportation they walked from Poland to the Ulan Ude area. It took these devout people one full year to cover the 4000 miles and they transported everything that they needed to set up a new life. They liked what they saw,in the Ulan Ude area, founded a village and being very industrious, prospered. We met their core group in a romantic way.
             15 or so miles out of town there are some rock outcroppings that take some effort to climb. One is a sacred place that we scaled to find seven members of the Old Believers waiting. After a brief introduction they welcomed us with seven part harmony of their traditional songs. The place was perfect, the view was perfect and the harmony magic. We then went into town to hear more history and singing and be involved in a mock Old Believers wedding. Our Dennis Bishop, in costume (and single) married one of the locals.They capped it with more singing and Champagne. We then went to the village mayors house for a great home cooked dinner by the mayors wife. It will not be forgotten.
             Ulan Ude to Irkutsk was a beautiful and bracing ride and as we skirted the south shore of Lake Baikal we could see floating ice along the shore. The history of this lake, 1/5th of the worlds fresh water supply, is that if you wash your hands in the water you gain 5 years life, wash your face and it's 10 years but go swimming and you pick up 25 years. So at every meal the conversation turned to who was going to swim. More on that later. We spent two days in Irkutsk and then moved down to the lake, a small town named Listvyanka and a beautiful small log hotel right out of Switzerland.
             This is long enough,  xoxo and love to you all.  

Norm and the Cossacks

Back to the Beginning of Norm's Adventure

1st Journal Entry - Beijing China
2nd Journal Entry - Shenyang China
3rd Journal Entry - Towards Russia
4th Journal Entry - In Siberia Russia
5th Journal Entry - Continues through Russia
6th Journal Entry - Marches on through Russia
7th Journal Entry - The Great Potato Field of Russia
8th Journal Entry - Russia Final (next Poland)
9th Journal Entry - Motorcycle Accident in Russia
10th Journal Entry - The Crimea - Ukraine
11th Journal Entry - We have Crossed the Finish Line
12th Journal Entry - Update on injuries
13th Journal Entry - Poland, Czech Rep.
14th Journal Entry - Returning Home