Day 121 Aug 08 Wed - Kanieskinov - River Frog Camp

Russian custom border

Many fishes and frogs in this river

The 2 km hell of riding
Eventhough the road is still looking good
A perfect camping spot for everyone who loves outdoor
Our campsite , is the former road surface before the new road and the bridge is built
The new bridge with the new road

Sweating while eating in a cafe at the Kazakhs border
Ferry to the Russian side ,another 15km to actual custom border
A new bridge under construction to take over this ferry very soon

On the Russian isde after crossing , the signboard show Astrakhan

Kazakhs woman and her grand daughter
A giant watermelon weight 15 kilos
Another watermelon stop. I had no problem to finish half while Heather is struggling the other half
Young sweet lady manning the stall
A detour landed us into a wrong gravel road and then were caught in this sandy path before we were back to the main road.

Today's Distance: 71 km
Today's Temp: 25 - 43 c
Average Speed: 14.7 max: 30.5
Time on Bike: 4 hr 49 min
Average climb: 2% max: 5%
Trip Altitude: 100m max: 174 m
Today's spending: 1465 T

Today's spending in Russian Rubble : 20 RR
Total Distance to date: 7815 km
Total spending to date:38695 T

" From Russia with Love " Wow ! we are now in Russia.A very special day as we cross over after 25 days in Kazakhstan to our very first day in Russia. We had lunch at the Kazakhstan border. We were sweating like mad while eating eventhough with aircond .The outside temp is like oven! Earlier on we were caught in a sandy path while went on a detour cos' the main road was closed under repair. We also went on a wrong direction of gravel.What a mess and energy sapping route. Changed all my Tenge 1260T to 100 usd at the Kazakhs Post before crossing a 50m wide river by ferry,the ferry was pulled by a small fishing boat . no fee charge for bikes . After crossing over to the Russian side,we were given a tag and an entry form to be filled up further down to the actual border custom. The 1st km on gravel then the hell of riding 2km of newly laid sticky black tar on the entire road, with no room to avoid them,slowly we rode to reduce the impact,our tires becomes heavier. The road was superb after the tar section and we also found a beautiful campsite with a beautiful river under a bridge. There were thousands of frogs around to keep us company for the nite.