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Week 1 | Week 2 | Week
3 | Week 4
| Week 5
| Week 6
| Week 7
| Week 8
| Week 9
Week 10
| Week 11
| Week 12
| Week 13
| Week 14
| Week 15
Chor River
Day 16 -- Sunday, June 1, 2003
We encountered more rolling hills than we had the days before. It
was a nice change of scenery. At the top of one such hill, we saw
our first sign of animism -- a tree that had been tied with numerous
pieces of cloth. Traditionally, locals stop at a tree to make a prayer
or wish and then tie a piece of cloth on a branch.
At the end of the day, we set up camp along the Chor River. Since it was a Sunday, there were some families out enjoying a picnic. We saw some men fishing, perhaps trying to catch a meal for their picnic. Of all the Russian men I have known through the years, I have never met one who did not like to fish. The ones fishing at the Chor River claimed they'd had moderate success, though the women accompanying them said they had brought food just in case.
Near Khabarovsk
Day 17 -- Monday, June 2, 2003
We crossed the Amur River and entered the Jewish Autonomous Region. Declared an official Jewish region in 1934, its official languages are Russian and Yiddish. Part of the nationalities program in the early years of the Soviet Union required that ethnic groups have a designated homeland that would be identified in their passports. The Jewish Autonomous Region was the designated region for the Jews of Russia.
The anti-Semitism of Stalin's reign destroyed the push to make this
region predominantly Jewish. Today, less than ten percent of the region's
population is Jewish. That may explain why grilled pork was on the
menu of a cafe we visited.
We also saw signs indicating a Chinese presence in the area. A few billboards were in both Chinese and Russian, though the town names appeared in both Cyrillic and Latin letters, something which I have not seen elsewhere. We saw many ethnic Chinese in some of the small villages.
We stopped at the roadside to buy milk in one village and there were
neither Jews nor Chinese, but rather a few "reluctant" Communists.
The milk-seller had a tattoo of Lenin on his chest, directly over
his heart. When we asked him about it, he replied, "I cannot wash
it off."
Sagdi-Bira River
Day 18 -- Tuesday, June 3, 2003
A Russian friend told me it takes seven days and nights to complete
the entire distance of the Trans-Siberian railway. If we had left
Vladivostok by train, we would be spending the night in St. Petersburg.
Instead, we are 30 kilometers west of Birobidzan.
During the night, the wind became stronger but changed directions,
pushing us along our way. While much of the terrain was flat and marshy,
the weather was perfect.
Along the road, people continued to wave and honk their horns in support.
Today, we saw one man who was more interested in the potential labor
force a group of cyclists represents. He waved and then tried to call
us back to help him plant potatoes. Despite his generous offer, we
did not stop until it was time for our 50 kilometer break.
We stopped for our break at a kiosk that sold ice cream. The husband
and wife owners of the kiosk were from Azerbaijan and the Ukraine.
I was curious how they ended up there, but the man was evasive in
answering my questions.
At the outer limits of Birobidzan, the capital of the Jewish Autonomous
Region, we were welcomed by a sign in Russian and Yiddish. The city
was cleaner and more pleasent than I had expected. First, we went
to the city center. Rather than the usual statue of Lenin, there was
a sculpted gift of friendship from a city in China.
We went to the Jewish center to get an idea about Judaism in the region.
All of the services -- educational, administrative, and worship --
take place in the Jewish center because there are no synagogues in
the region. They are building a synagogue which should be finished
in the fall.
A woman who worked at the center estimated the number of Jews in the
region to be around 4,000. A man said that many of the Jews in the
area trying to leave for Israel.
Somewhere between Arhara and Kamenka
Day 19 -- Wednesday, June 4, 2003
I can still feel the taste of dust in my mouth.
Today, we started the unpaved section of the trip. The Russian road
maps indicate the roads are paved. The maps are more optimistic than
accurate. Russians speak of President Putin's declaration that all
major roads will be paved within a month. Its not clear what month
that will be.
The further into Sibera we travel, the fewer people we see. We did
go through a few small towns, one of which had a relatively large
cement plant, spewing black and white smoke into the air. For the
most part, we were alone in the hills.
And with over 100 kilometers of unpaved road, the hills were especially
challenging. The group had 14 flat tires. When the day was over, we
all switched over to wider tires, which should decrease the number
of flats.
We expected a large portion of the course to be unpaved, but did not
expect to reach that section until next week. Now we have a little
over a month before we ride on pavement again.
Kimkan River, Siberia
Day 20 -- Thursday, June 5, 2003
The dirt roads are grated, eroded, and get more uneven.
The rough roads have broken two of my water bottle cages. For others,
there have been broken racks, seats, and even a tire. No one has
been injured, but all of us are sore.
We saw few people other than road workers and truck drivers. We
contemplated taking a detour because cars were encouraged to avoid
the main road due to construction. In the end, we decided not to
because the detour would have added about 100 kilometers. Also,
the reports we got from drivers we stopped said the detour path
was unpaved.
As it turned out, the main road we were warned against taking was
not as bad as some of what we had been on earlier in the day.
Pribrezhni
Day 21-- Friday, June 6, 2003
Kids have magic.
Last night, a big storm kept many of us awake. I also had a difficult
day cycling due to a bout of the flu. Some children from the village
of Pribrezhni walked over to our camp. Natasha, an 11-year-old, came
over to see what I was doing. She watched quietly and assumed I did
not know Russian. When I said "hello" to her in Russian, her eyes
got big and she asked, "What did you say?"
I repeated my "hello" and then she yelled to her friends, "He speaks
Russian!" Within seconds, I was surrounded by ten kids wanting to
know everything about what we were doing. Their excitement and interest
made me forget about being sick.
A couple of them showed me around their village and to a place where
I could have a banya (sauna). After the banya, I returned to the camp
and was greeted by the kids. Some of their parents had arrived and
were anxious to find a Russian speaker who could tell them what a
group of bicyclists were doing in their remote village.
Some of the children and their parents staged an impromptu concert.
They asked me to sing, but as soon as I started singing a Russian
song, they turned to my Dutch colleagues and asked for a song in Dutch.
I assumed their lack of interest in my song was because they were
curious about what the Dutch language sounded like.
At my request the children and parents sang my favorite Russian lullaby.
About 20 Kilometers Before Svobodnii
Day 22 -- Saturday, June 7, 2003
The villagers from the previous evening, sent us off with a few
gifts. One family gave an old atlas of the region and another gave
a Bart Simpson doll to hang in our truck. The village is very poor
and yet they still offered items that they liked and probably cannot
easily replace. The gesture was quite generous and I will remember
Pribrezhni.
Today was the first full day of hard rain, which made cycling muddy
and difficult. As we arrived at the camp site, the sun came out
and a strong wind took over. We are about 20 kilometers before the
town of Svobodnii, which means "freedom" in Russian. I was curious
about the origin of the name of the town, but there was no one around
to ask. Maybe it refers to the expanse or the distance from Moscow,
but regardless, we are far from the end and tomorrow we will pass
"Freedom" and see what lies beyond.
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