Day 27 – Barabinsk to Novobinsk

High Point – The city of Novobinsk. Surprisingly impressive with tree-lined streets, pleasant parks and a far more western feel to it than some of the cities we have experienced many miles earlier. Top restaurant, great bars and a plentiful supply of vodka.

  Low Point – After a solid night’s sleep in a trucker’s roadhouse, it has dawned on me that i will probably never experience a town quite like Barabinsk again. Obscurity beyond recognition. A ghost town shrouded in the monotony of grey, with very uniform but bland architecture. Helpful faces directing us to hotels that weren’t actually hotels. My fear is that i shall never again experience such an intriguing 2 hours in my life.

No Point – Having a navigator who doesnt know his left from his right.

Russian word of the day – parick-ma-her-skaya.  Hair Salon

Author’s comments

At our roadhouse, we met a group of four Italian bikers heading to UB, scheduled to arrive about the same time as we are. We were all impressed with each others’ tales from the road.

Drunken conversations about future challenges, post-FTFE. Sounds like the Stage 2 crew are climbing up Everest in 2012. Anyone else keen?

No swear Friday saw some interesting results. James followed up his silver medal from last week by storming to the top of the pile with some serious potty-mouthisms. Dave showed amazing self-control hardly venting any expletives all day.  

Ben

[flickr album=72157624598855901 num=30 size=Small]