Altai

first of all - Andrzej Meller - thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! If it wasn't for you we would never have stopped here and gone to the mountains and had the time of our lives :)

I promised myself that i would keep this place a secret, so that I could come back in a few years time and find the nature unspoiled as it is now. However, if you do find yourself in Nowosybirsk then do visit the Altai mountains. I especially recommend the tourist agency - Altai Voyage (Swetlana, Vicky, Anfrei, Valenteen, Dese)they're amazing people and they do their job with as much passion and diligence as they drink and party :)

When we first arrived in the morning by bus - hungry and very sleepy, we took a taxi and got to the camping site. We put our rucksacks in our tent (what a beauty by the way)and went to sit by some people's fire to make tea. We talked bla bla bla "we're from Poland" "oh haroshoye dyevechki" etc, etc after which they left us all the essential camping commodities - wood (lots of it)and potatoes, mayonese, cucumber, onion, garlic etc :) And that's how from totally unprepared we became the dyevechki with the largest amount of wood in the whole camping site :)

We met our neighbours in the evening by the fire. Three quiet lads who were biulding wooden houses on the camp site. The conversation was never very lively but we ended up in a local bar (open 24/7)drinking sibirska korona and smoking good altai weed oh and dancing to Russian hits from the 70's (i think :)

We soon met Svetlana who told us which places are "usrane" (Russian word) which means filled with tourists and which are still very untouched and beautiful. "Ah, kakaya krasota!" - she said. So we packed everything, bought a bottle of vodka (for the mountain people) and as we were quietly watching the fire die down our neighbours paid us a visit with delicious (Ania's opinion) shashliki. And thus the evening became a long one. the next morning i felt hung over. svetlana came to pick us up and to take our things to the base in Chemal. Next, we gone into a "gaz" which is basically a big car with wheels the size of our of half a human (or a whole one if you compare it with our president for example) and we began our 3-hour drive to the mountains. The first two hours were great after which i became really, really nauscious and I began hating the concept of driving a car (any car!) through rivers and forrest trails!!! we finally got there and then it was time to begin hiking. To make a long story short we only slept for 3 hours, we haven't eaten breakfast and i just nearly puked in the stupid gaz 66 - i was in no form to hike.

There was another option though.... you could get up to the karakolskie lakes by..... tank. oh yes! The Russian army must be in need of money or something - because they use tanks to take tourists all the way up to the mountains :) You get to wear the tank (sort of pilot) hats too :)We decided to stick to tradition and so our long, dreary hike began with quick breaks to pick rasberries and bueberries of the bushes on the way to fill our stomache with anything :) The hike was long and when it was my turn to carry the rucksack my face began to turn a white colour and our guide (they prefer to be called instructors) relieved me of my burden. Really nice guy by the way.

We finally got there and fucking hell it was all that Svetlana said it would be - beautiful and unspoiled. We had lunch (finally food!!)which the local warm and very handsome Altai cook prepared for us. Later we had tea with people from Bernau which we befriended on the way and then the rest of our group went hiking while i was fighting my nausea sleeping in our beautiful wooden penthouse :)

We spent the evening sitting at the kastyor (fire) and listening to shaman and altai legends and stories and drinking vodka the "chu chu" way - fill a cup with vodka and pass it round so that everyone can drink as much as they need. Andrei and his mother took Ania and I away from the fire to show us the star constellations and a spudnik(!!) / satelite. Then they made us wear these jackets and sit under a cedar tree with our spines glued to the bark and they told us to clear our minds for ten minutes. They left and we began to talk about how wonderful this place is! The trees, grasses, plants were all supposed be therapeutic and the people all believe that Altai is filled with ghosts and when a ghost visits you at night you have to tell them "if you come with good intentions then come in please, but if not then please leave". hmm... judging by the amount of vodka that went round ( and later the diluted spirit) no wonder that they've all had a ghostly experience :)Later that night we both got lucky and were escorted by beautiful Altai boys to look at the moon by the crystal clean and very cold lake. (by the way, the moon was reallly big...) ;)

The next day we hiked - even more beautiful. You'll see the pictures when upload them, probably in irkustk (in two days).We hiked back, drove back by gaz car again and drank for our health with the instructor team back at the base in Chemal. We met our sexy rafting instructor that assured us that eventhough a man died a few days ago because he chocked in the water, we will be safe and it's crucial that we bring a lot (!) of vodka for tomorrow. The next day on the way to the katuni river we had our first shot and sang to the Russian remake of "one way ticket", it went "sto gram vodkye, sto gram vodkye... etc. etc" :)

The trip down katuni river was... i'll suprise you here... a-ma-zing :) We took a little break and all those who are extreme and brave climbed up a 12-metre cliff and jumped off it. i was one of them :) although it took me reaaaaaally long to finally do it :)
The water was f****ing freezing, but then again what do you think the vodka's for ;)
We have the whole adventure on CD and we'll try to upload it onto youtube and post the link on our blog (all in good time my friends :))

That night we had a big party at the base - with new tourists coming with their families which meant meeting new people and new bottles of vodka appeared on the table and new toasts for everyones health kept on coming. Our vodka-downing was interrupted with a visit to the "banya" (sauna). i don't care if it is the most healthy thing you can do and if it even cures cancer, I cannot sit there without suffocating no matter how many handsome instructors are sharing the therapeutic experience with us!

The next day we had "sushnyak" (go figure). we went to the bank, cashed our cheques, made a whole big pot of french fries :) and waited for the evening for our ride back to novosybirsk. We left all the the staff a present - a toy-reindeer that i got from my family (oops) and we made a polish flag out of paper and an ear bud which we then sewed onto the reindeers hand :)we we're very proud of ourselves :)

we arrived in novosybisrk today at six in the morning. we already found a room and were going to spend the night in the city again and then take the train tommorow to irkutsk. We're scheduled to arrive on the 6th at 10 pm. We'll write from there or already from the bajkal area :)

p.s. Esme, you need to visit us in China!!!! thanks for the pictures and give your whole family an enormous hug!!!

p.p.s. Agata! what?? you're getting married??

p.p.s. hi mom, hi dad!!