Kansas - Magadan

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Hi Jorge,

Did you go the Altai or are you planning to? We are also looking into it, and of course more than Altai alone.

How did you find the Russian traffic? I've seen the crazy dashcam videos. But then again, those might be the exceptions.
I've also been driving in India amongst others. Sometimes I think it cannot get worse than that, but in fact, while it is a complete mess in India, it is some kind of system. Whereas the Russian dashcam videos seem to show a little bit European kind of driving, mixed with people who aren't thinking at all at just go full speed into bad situations. That seems more unpredictable than the crazy Indian driving.
 
Hiace4wd said:
Hi Jorge,

Did you go the Altai or are you planning to? We are also looking into it, and of course more than Altai alone.

How did you find the Russian traffic? I've seen the crazy dashcam videos. But then again, those might be the exceptions.
I've also been driving in India amongst others. Sometimes I think it cannot get worse than that, but in fact, while it is a complete mess in India, it is some kind of system. Whereas the Russian dashcam videos seem to show a little bit European kind of driving, mixed with people who aren't thinking at all at just go full speed into bad situations. That seems more unpredictable than the crazy Indian driving.
Click to expand...
Yes, we did Altai this year. Two months of great time. Took me one week to go from Prague to Novosibirsk then went to Altai after changing couple of things on the cruiser. Wouldn't lie that driving 5000 kilometers in seven days in cruiser was easy.

Before the trip I did just following:
* changed the engine oil
* changed the oil in diffs and transfer case
* changed all bushings - this was big one
* complete brake job (new rotors, calipers, hoses)

I bought the biggest springs (2868) and changed them in Russia as I didn't manage to do that in Prague. Overall it was good, couple of strange situation on the road but not that bad.

Here are some pictures:
Altai

Nice was plateu Ukok which was on the border of Russia with Kazakhstan and also the region around Aktash city.

One random pic:
20170815_181724 by jorge sanchez, on Flickr
Jorge
 

Great to hear from you!
We will hopefully be there next year, and continue on to Mongolia and then Vladivostok. It is good to hear your recommendations and see the photos.

We've also been thinking about what to visit, because you apparently have to have permits arranged in advance when visiting the border areas. This is free, but you have to do it well in advance (they say) and you have to state which areas you're going.

Ukok wasn't on our list, but I had Sailugem area on my mind, which is down the same road. If you say it's worth it, we can continue driving up to Ukok plateau.
Also the Katu-Yaryk pass looks interesting.
I think just following the main road should already give some nice views.

Where was this glacier that I see on the pictures?

Thanks
 
half k cruiser said:
@Jorgito what do you mean the bushings were "a big one". Did it make a big difference in drivability or was it just a big pain in the ass ?
Click to expand...
It was pain to replace all the bushings, I did not manage to replace the driver side upper rear control arm bushings as the bolt can't easily be removed due to LSPV bracket which is on the way.
 
Hiace4wd said:
Great to hear from you!
We will hopefully be there next year, and continue on to Mongolia and then Vladivostok. It is good to hear your recommendations and see the photos.

We've also been thinking about what to visit, because you apparently have to have permits arranged in advance when visiting the border areas. This is free, but you have to do it well in advance (they say) and you have to state which areas you're going.

Ukok wasn't on our list, but I had Sailugem area on my mind, which is down the same road. If you say it's worth it, we can continue driving up to Ukok plateau.
Also the Katu-Yaryk pass looks interesting.
I think just following the main road should already give some nice views.

Where was this glacier that I see on the pictures?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Katu Yarik is nice but is getting overcrowded in the season, the glacier is Aktru glacier and it was fun to get there. Usually, only big Ural trucks and UAZ jeeps go to the ski alpinist center near the glacier. Really worthy to visit. My wife arranged the permissions with FSB (Federal Security Bureau), we had to state approximate passages and had to pick the permissions in Gorno-Altajskij. The way to the plateau is interesting, amazing nature with mid difficult trail to run, a lot of remoteness in that area close to the Mongolian and Kazakh border.


This year not sure if we will go somewhere as it is pretty expensive to do such trips, Prague-Novosibirsk-Prague is about 10000 km so only the gas costs a fortune, there is still a lot to explore in that area of the world - Sayan mountains with lake Baikal or Kyrgyzstan is on top of the list.
 
Thanks for the info. I guess there are a lot of nice hikes to be done in that area, we will be limited with our young kids. Your kids are older and seem to be up to the task :)
We will see how far we can get with our van.

Yeah these trips are quite expensive. Kygyzstan and Tadjikstan would be nice as well, we haven't been there but we have seen a taste of it from Northern India and Pakistan, I think it should be awesome.
Since we won't be the fastest travelers and don't have unlimited time, we have to make choices. So we will focus on Altai and Mongolia. Perhaps lake Balial depending on how we proceed to the east.
From Mongolia (or lake Balkal) to Vladivostok is some driving again, and I'm not sure what is worth to visit there. Because the interesting stuff all seems to be quite far away from the main road. Like Yakutsk or Magadan (as you have been) or even Kamchatka, enough to see but not something along the road to Vladivostok.

We will look into Altai, and check what we want to visit. I know somebody who can apply for the permits for us, but well in advance, so we already have to decide where to go.
 
Hi Jorge, I had one more practical question, about mosquitoes. I know they can be quite bad in a Russian summer. I don't know in which months you travelled. But how bad were the mosquitoes in the parts of Russia, basically anything north of Kazakhstan?
And in the Altai region not so much or is that wishful thinking?
Thanks in advance.
 
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