BILL'S AND BUCK'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

SIBERIA AND THE ALTAI MOUNTAINS

2-17 SEPT, 2016

(please click the thumbnails for larger photos)

 This was our second excellent adventure in Siberia having completed a trip in 2014 from Moscow to Beijing via the Trans Siberian and Trans Mongolian railroads. During our on-line research for the 2014 trip we discovered lovely photos and interesting stuff about the Altai Mountain regions of south-central Siberia and we decided it would be an enchanting and fun area to visit.  It was!!

We selected the company, Viaggio Altay, to arrange our travel itinerary, lodging, meals, ground transportation and guides.  Viaggio, based in the city of Barnaul, is run by Elena Shushakova and Elena is assisted by an American ex-pat, Sandy Krolick,  to arrange trips for  English speaking clients.

The Altai mountain region is located in southern Siberia in the Russian Federation and is shown on the map below where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan all come together. The Altai is roughly 1000 miles south of the Arctic Ocean and is included in the Russian "states" of Altai Territory (or krai) and Altai Republic. Most of the mountainous areas of interest are within Altai Republic with capitol city of Gorno Altaysk as shown on the map below.  Barnaul is the capitol of Altai Territory (krai) and is roughly 200 miles north west of Gorno Altaysk. 

 GETTING THERE

FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY  SEPT 2, 3, 4, 2016

Buck and I met at New York's JFK airport on Friday for a 7pm departure and  9 hour flight to Moscow via Aeroflot airline.  The flight arrived at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport at about noon local time on Sunday Sept 3 (there is a 7 hour time difference between Moscow and New York).  Unfortunately, there is a 10 hour wait for the first flight to Barnaul which departs Moscow at 10pm for the 4 hour flight. At Sandy's suggestion we had booked a reservation at the nearby Novotel Hotel so we got some comfortable rest and snooze time before completing our long journey.

We arrived at Barnaul on Sept 4 at 6am local time (there is a 4 hour time difference between Barnaul and Moscow), our luggage arrived safely and Elena was waiting for us!  We were expecting to see some mountains but were surprised that the land was absolutely flat and a chilly 40s as the sun was just rising.  After a short taxi ride into town we checked into our hotel for two nights and some local adventures.

Bill and Buck grew up together on the same street in Danville, Virginia , played and made mischief together, attended elementary school and high school together and were college roommates.  After graduation we eventually went our separate ways, Buck to Boston and Bill to California.  Then in 2010 we met again for our 50th high school reunion and decided we should do some things together again.  We did!  In 2012 we  did a Patagonia trekking adventure with our wives , the Trans Siberian railroad trip in 2014 and this trip.

DACHAS, BANYAS AND BARNAUL
SUNDAY, MONDAY SEPT 4 AND 5, 2016   

We had two full days to stay in Barnaul while we visited and recuperated from some severe jet lag due to the 11 hour time difference from New York.  I did not feel sleepy after our arrival so I did a quick walking tour around the vicinity of our hotel.  I saw this strange stairway  so I ascended and enjoyed a splendid view of the city and of the River Ob.  There was also a large "BARNAUL" sign above the river and I called it the "Hollywood sign".  Later, I discovered that the local folks also call it their "Hollywood" sign.

At about 1230 on Sunday Sandy met us at the hotel to take us out into the country (about 35 miles) to visit his family's dacha.  The dacha is owned (I think) by his in-laws, Anatoly and Vera.  Vera was very kind to prepare some real Siberian meals for us which included a rice and lamb dish (plov), grilled, seasoned pork chops (shashlik), fresh watermelon and, of course, vodka toasts.

It was a lovely, sunny "Indian Summer" day and we were impressed with the rich Siberian soil with vegetable and flower gardens in abundance.  Sandy took us on a walking tour of the neighborhood, briefly into the Siberian forest (lots of mosquitos but not so bad as during Summer months) and down to the River Ob. After the walk it was time to learn the correct Russian "banya" behaviors and Sandy was keen to teach us in his new banya. The banyas all seem to require  a wood -fire heated, hot steam room (hot rocks with water), a cooling off room with cold water buckets and a mild beating with a branch from a birch tree (venick).  Apparently, three cycles between the hot and cold rooms is sufficient for a proper banya experience and venick beatings seem to be optional (an option I chose to omit).

Sandy is originally from the state of New York, spends a lot of time each year in the USA, received a PhD from the University of Virginia (Buck's and my alma mater) and has a lot of academic and industry experiences in the USA.  He has written several books, including a novel "Veronika-The Siberian's Tale", which contains a lot of descriptive narrative about the Altai areas and he is looking for investors to help produce his movie based upon the book.  Unfortunately, neither Buck nor I are in the movie producing business. Finally we headed back to the hotel after a family photo of Sandy, his in-laws, his son, Lucas, and his brother, Cliff, who is visiting from Maine. Sandy's wife, Anna, was not present since she was at home taking care of their 5 month old child.

On Monday afternoon, after a blessed full night's sleep and typical breakfast of coffee, tea, fried eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes, cold meats, porridge, bread and cheese we were off for a walking tour with Elena and translator, Vadim.  Barnaul is a fairly large city of about 700,000 population and was originally a mining town from around 1737 to 1893.  A man named Demidov is credited with discovering the sliver deposits and founding this mining town.  We read some confusing legends regarding Demidov but I like the version in which he lost the mines in a card game with Tsarina Catherine the Great.  Today there is no more mining but modern industries include agriculture, armaments manufacture, education, tourism and others.

Most of the walking tour focused on the 1920s wooden buildings, parks, monuments and a final stop by the River Ob which flows all the way to the Arctic Sea. The word, Ob, means something like "combined or both" since the Ob is created by the confluence of the Rivers Katun and Biya near the city of Biysk.  Later we crossed both these rivers during our adventures. 

In the evening we completed our Barnaul visit having dinner with Sandy, brother Cliff and Sandy's good friend, Igor, who speaks fluent English and is an educator at the Barnaul Pedagogical Institute of Languages.  Igor is also a life time resident of the Barnaul area.

INTO THE MOUNTAINS AND LEARNING ABOUT ALTAYANS BOTH ANCIENT AND MODERN
TUESDAY SEPT 6, 2016

In the morning we were off for our destinations in the Altai mountain regions.  The map below indicates our routes through those regions and we covered about  1400 miles during our circuitous journey. By 8am we had met our traveling companions for the next two weeks.  These included Elena (who would return to Barnaul on 10 Sept), translator Roman (whose day job is teaching English for kids 8 to 15 years old), Dmitri (driver and tour guide, on left in photo) and Gene (my name for him) who is a client of Elena's and he drove his Toyota Land Cruiser as a safety second vehicle for Buck and me. For most of the trip Buck and I rode with Dmitri and Roman while Elena was with Gene. 

At about 10am we arrived in Biysk which is  the oldest city in the area and is considered the gateway to the true Altai regions. We did a brief tour and asked a priest to explain the meaning of the three layered cross found on all Russian Orthodox Churches. After the translation it seemed the lowest, slanted level  has to do with Jesus suffering on the cross. Our driver/guide, Dmitri, seemed to be a devout member of the Orthodox Church.   We continued our drive through the rather flat and agricultural (lots of hay bails) areas,  crossed the Biya and Katun Rivers and by noon the distant mountains were in sight! We stopped for lunch at a yurt restaurant/resort spot near the resort town of Belakurika. Lunch was a lamb/vegetable soup, breads, beef burger, cucumbers (always), tea, strawberries and sweet rolls. Buck and I enjoyed all the meals during our trip.

At Biysk we departed the good, paved, two lane Chuysky Trakt Highway which is a major route into Mongolia. We would be on dirt roads with both good and bad driving conditions for most of our adventure. At 4pm we stopped at a "sacred spring" and learned about the very common tradition of tying ribbons to trees at special locations.  This is a tradition from the indigenous Altayan people and was meant to be a "thanks" to the local gods but now is mostly a good luck tradition for tourists.

Soon we came to a spot that was of great interest to me.  It is the Denisovan Cave beside the Anuy River and this cave is famous among paleoanthropologists.  A number of interesting artifacts have been unearthed here including a bone sample dated at about 40,000 years ago.  The bone is said to represent a species of early hominin that was contemporary  with Neanderthals but not the same sub-species.  Actually, the cave was rather unimpressive since all the archeological work had stopped for the coming winter and there was nothing much to see.  I was disappointed to see a lot of graffiti on the walls but soon realized that some of it dated back to 1913 which almost makes the graffiti of historical significance. Elena participated in some of the archaeological work in this cave in the days before she got in the tourist business.

Continuing along the journey as indicated on the map above we soon passed through a typical Siberian town of Ust Kan and after dark arrived at our Hotel Argut in the village of Ust Koksa.  We had a late dinner which included a delicious local fresh water grayling fish, tomatoes (always fresh and local) and our first taste of cow berries with sugar.

MY FIRST WET ADVENTURE IN THE MOUNTAINS AND SOMETHING IS AMISS?
WEDNESDAY SEPT 7, 2016

Buck was not feeling well today so he wisely stayed in his hotel room all day while I was off for a pampered adventure with 2 cars and 4 escorts just for me! I thought we would have about a 2 hour rough drive and then start some hikes to the Red Mountain Lakes and by 10am we were off on a cloudy and rainy day.  After 2 hours of increasingly rough roads we made a stop to check out some "art" which I thought was some kind of fertility god but my companions insisted was just a joke prepared by idle hands of the local population.

During the long drive I learned that our translator, Roman, was a graduate of our dinner companion, Igor's, Language Institute. The institute prepares students for teaching and interpreting jobs using their language skills.

Finally, after 4 hours of extremely difficult 4 wheel driving I exercised my curmudgeon, old man rights and demanded we stop driving and start walking.  In only another 45 minutes of walking we reached the lower Red Mountain Lake for a few photos.  It was a fairly typical Alpine Lake but with lots of trees around it.  The trees in this part of Siberia are mostly birch, larch, spruce, fir and pines which are called "cedars" by the Russians. 

At 4pm we were back to Gene's Land Cruiser (Dmitri and his Nissan had to wait for us because his car could not negotiate the roads).  It was pouring rain, I was soaked and we got badly stuck on the very muddy roads but we eventually made our return trip to Dmitri's vehicle.  By this time the sun was shining and we enjoyed a snack of left over breakfast stuff and all rejoiced that we would not have to spend the night up there with broken or stuck vehicles!

Of course, we still had a long drive back to the hotel and we were still on the mountain road well after dark.  Suddenly, we came upon some vehicles and uniformed, armed Border Control agents who were checking "documents" and looking for illegal immigrants or drug smugglers coming across the borders from Mongolia, China or Kazakhstan. Russian citizens are expected to carry "passports" when traveling in this region and my companions all had their documents and were OK with the agents.  However, my American passport was of great interest to the agents and they had some discussions with Elena about what I did not know.

Anyway, we returned to the hotel at 9pm and there in the lobby were two plain clothes border control agents who wanted to know how Buck and I knew about Altai and why we were there. Apparently, they were not satisfied with our answers (translated for them by Roman) and "invited" us to come to their office tomorrow morning at 9am to "clear things up".

INTERROGATED (BUT NOT WATERBOARDED) BY THE KGB
THURSDAY SEPT 8, 2016

After breakfast we departed the Argut Hotel and were off for our "appointment "with the Border Control dudes.  It seems the Border Control is somehow under the authority of the FSB, formerly the KGB.  Elena, Roman, Buck and I were escorted through the gates of the imposing headquarters building (photo below) and into a large conference room with chairs along the walls and various posters on the walls.  A young man in uniform struggled to copy information from our passports and shortly afterward two gentlemen walked in.  I recognized Interrogator Alex from last night at the hotel.  He was still dressed in a suit with open shirt and carried his notebook.  He does not speak English.  Interpreter Yuri was dressed in jeans and sweats and appeared to have just returned from a camping trip.  He and Elena were acquainted and she told us she has been through this process several times before even with Russian tourists. She has brought a well know Russian "congressman" here and he was also interrogated. (more on this later). Interpreter Yuri spoke fluent English and could even use the F word as well as any American hip hop musician.  Again they wanted to know how we knew about Altai and why we were there.  Then the conversation became very political with questions about economic sanctions against Russia due to annexation of Crimea, NATO eastward expansion after the collapse of the Soviet Union and inquiries about our choice for Trump or Clinton for president. This conversation went on for about 1 hour with Interpreter Yuri's long anti-American tirades while Buck and I answered questions but mostly remained passive.  Finally, they lost interest and left the room.  We never figured out whether they just wanted some amusing conversations or if it was just an act to see how we would respond.  The bottom line is that a permit is required for tourists (including Russian citizens) to travel into this border control zone and our permit previously requested by Elena had been lost in the bureaucracy.  It was eventually found and faxed from capitol city, Gorno Altaysk, to our location.  By noon we were mercifully out of the Border Control building and on our way to our next destination!

We had a short drive to Multa, our next destination, along a good dirt road under sunny skies in the beautiful Katun River valley.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch while we waited for our transportation up to our cabins near the lower Multinsky Lake. The transportation was a very impressive vehicle which we decided was a Russian Army truck and the roads up the mountain were unbelievable and I would have thought impossible for a vehicle to negotiate.  We arrived at the cabins after two hours of very rough riding and had a pleasant and chilly evening in our two person room.

 We observed that our Russian companions like to "graze" on the cow berries that grow in abundance everywhere we hiked.  They were a bit too bitter for my taste.  However, when sugar is added they are great.

SQUAT TOILETS, HIKING IN THE RAIN AND EARNING MY PURPLE HEART
FRIDAY SEPT 9, 2016

We had a pretty good night on very firm beds and then a breakfast prepared by Elena in the community "kitchen".  There were few guests at this "camp" since the summer season is over.  This was our first non-hotel stay and we were not looking forward to visiting the toilet facilities.  Indeed, the "toilet" was just a wooden outhouse with a hole in the floor and we agreed that it was quite unpleasant.  It is probably best not to describe it in detail but suffice it to say I exercised extreme caution to avoid dropping my camera in the hole!

The big trucks that deliver tourists and supplies to these lakes have really ploughed up the meadows as seen in the photos. Elena said that during the winters it is much easier to make the trip via snow mobile up the frozen river!  Also, she prefers to ride horses to the lakes.

At this camp we observed that the preferred  outdoor clothing for men here is a military style camouflage outfit. At 10:30 we were off for a hiking trip to the nearby lower Multinsky Lake and then up to the middle lake. It was starting to look as though rain was likely and Elena decided it wise to hire a boat to save some time in reaching the end of the lower lake before our ascent to the middle lake.  Anyway, our group was joined by two ladies and after about a 30 minute ride the 8 of us were delivered at the end of the lake.

As we reached the stream which comes from the middle lake we had to cross a boulder field which was to cause major problems later in the day! Anyway, we stopped at some shelters beside the middle lake for a cozy fire and lunch safe from the light rains. We all knew that crossing the boulder field (a classic glacial terminal moraine) was going to be tricky with now wet rocks and we attempted in vain to find another return route but we had to cross the field again.

Much to my chagrin I soon discovered that my well worn hiking boots have no traction whatsoever on the wet, slippery boulders and I slipped several times into the water and banged up my knees.  Buck also slipped in once and even Elena was moving with great caution.  Ramon and Dmitri seemed to have no real problems and Gene had disappeared while accompanying the two ladies to the upper lake. Anyway, Buck and I were soon nothing but a couple of helpless old dudes (especially me) and we had to be helped with each and every boulder step! Finally, we made it back to the boat for crossing the lower lake and were soon joined by soaking wet Gene and his two companions.

Before dinner we joined our 3 male companions for a banya.  Thanks to Sandy we were now experienced banya guys and it was very pleasant especially since we learned that one can bath with soap and warm water! We finished the day with a dinner prepared by Elena under an outdoor shelter with a nice campfire and we soon completed our bonding with our Russian friends as we did a vodka toast sitting here in the middle of remote Siberia!

BACK TO THE CHUYSKY HIGHWAY AND TO THE UCH ENMEK PARK
SATURDAY SEPT 10, 2016

This day was mostly the 2 hour "ride" from the cabins and back to our cars in Multa.  Then we retraced our path back to Ust  Kan and then on the paved road over the Yabagansky Pass and to our hotel at the Uch Enmek ethnographic park (dedicated to the indigenous Altayan cultures.). This hotel was functional, very sterile and not attractive.  As in all the hotels in these areas they insisted that all guests take off shoes and wear slippers or crocs.  I made the mistake of taking some guys personal crocs (they fit!) and he quickly let me know I was wearing his shoes! We noticed that there is an infestation of while moths everywhere we traveled. Ramon said they are "silk" moths and the caterpillars feed on larch trees and are quite destructive.  The winters have been unusually warm recently and this seems to help the moth eggs survive the cold and hatch out to feast on the trees in the summer.

HORSES, SHAMANS, BURIAL MOUNDS, PETROGLYPHS AND THROAT SINGING
SUNDAY SEPT 11, 2016

Starting today we are just us guys since Elena returned to her business in Barnaul. The main adventure for today was to ride horses up to Lake Aru Kem but first we made a stop to touch the good luck stone which is a tradition from shamans prior to their visiting the lake. Shamanism is a common religion in these parts although the Altayans have likely combined many beliefs with those of Christianity, Buddhism and whatever.

Although I have previously sworn to never ride horses again this ride was fairly short and tolerable for us.  At about 1:30pm we arrived at the lake and I was a bit surprised to see that it is not an Alpine lake.  Instead it is spring fed and our guide, Ucheral, said it connects underground to another lake far away and stuff sunk in this lake may eventually show up in that other lake.  Oh well, maybe? Ucheral led us on a short hike around the lake with a brief stop at a viewing spot with lots of the good luck ribbons. Before our return ride we had a nice picnic lunch and Ucheral showed us a Siberian treat which is simply barley corn flour mixed with hot tea, salt, sugar and melted butter to make a thick drink or porridge.  Buck and I thought it was pretty good! Ucheral is the senior officer in the park and he is a true indigenous Altayan with ancestors going back here forever.

After saying goodbye to Ucheral we drove back to the hotel with a few stops to check out burial mounds and petroglyphs. Dmitri knows a lot about the burial mounds which are seen in abundance in these parts.  Basically, they appear as a mound of rocks frequently surrounded by upright slabs of stone.  These are said to be the graves of warriors and the upright slabs are "soldiers" to protect the grave in the afterlife. Most of the graves have long since been looted but the one we were visiting was excavated by historians and Dmitri says the remains dated back to 3000BC.

At 6pm Dmitri stopped to point out two leaning stelae (stones)  near another burial mound.  These stones have some mystical powers and he claims there is an intense electro-magnetic field between them.  Naturally, we had to check it out since I happened to have my compass handy.  I carefully stepped between the stones and it seemed the compass did deviate about 20 degrees!  Our next stop was to look for some rock carvings beside the road but they were barely visible at this site.

Finally, we finished the day with a "throat singing" performance by a local music teacher and the performance was done just for us! It was a delightful experience and Buck and I got to accompany him with me playing the sheep bones while Buck was scratching on the ram's horn.  The music teacher was a resident of a nearby village and very proud of his Altayan heritage.  He is a Buddhist while his wife is a practicing shaman. He said that he speaks Turkic at home and that if we stay for about one month he could teach us throat singing in that language.

RIVERS, ROCK ART AND STANDING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO
MONDAY SEPT 12, 2016

We departed Ush Enmek at our usual 10am time and continued on the Chuysky Highway with stops for photos of the Katun River, for the standard cows, horses and sheep that were frequently on the road and to examine some more "stone warriors" with "belts and swords" carved into the stone. Dmitri said these are among the oldest in the entire Altai region.

At noon we stopped to see some more rock art (petroglyphs) at a place called Chuy Oosy (I think). Most of these carvings were on horizontal rock slabs but a few were on vertical walls.  This art, of unknown antiquity, appears to me quite different  from the petroglyphs of the American southwest.

Further along the highway we stopped at a monument that celebrates the vehicle drivers of World War II who moved war materiel from the east to Russian forces doing battle with Germans in the west.  The monument also acknowledged the assistance from the USA in providing trucks, jeeps and stuff to help the Russians in their fight. There was also a commemoration for completion of the Chuysky Highway and Buck and I got a photo of us standing on what they claimed was once part of the Great Silk Road along which Marco Polo must have traveled!

At 2:15pm we arrived at our Hotel Rasul in Aktash and then had time to drive further south on the highway to a good viewing and photo spot to see the snow covered North Chusky range of the Altai mountains.  At this point we were about 80 miles from the Mongolian border.

The final stop for the day was at geyser lake but we saw no geysers although we did see some sand moving around at the bottom of the little lake.

CROSSING MOUNTAINS AND A WHITE KNUCKLE DESCENT INTO THE CHULYSHMAN RIVER VALLEY
TUESDAY SEPT 13, 2016

At 9:30am we completed our breakfast at a cafe near the hotel, departed the paved highway and headed north along a dirt road toward our next destination.  We stopped for more photos at a place called Red Gate.  The authorities are removing graffiti from the rock walls but have decided that the graffiti in the photo below will stay. The poignant graffiti was written in 1946 by a returning Russian soldier who was fortunate enough to survive the war and it says something like "thanks to God I have returned to my motherland".

We stopped for a rest break at the Ulagan Pass (6600 feet altitude) and then stopped again for views down into the Chulyshman River valley, the hairpin road down and, far below, the cabins which were our destination. This view reminded me very much of the Copper Canyon of Mexico. At 2pm we arrived at our lodges, checked in, had lunch and while our companions crossed the river for a hike to a waterfall, Buck and I just hung out and enjoyed the peaceful environment.

A SLOW DRIVE ALONG THE RIVER TO LAKE TELETSKOE
WEDNESDAY SEPT 14, 2016

This morning we said goodbye to Gene who was driving back to Barnaul to his job as a banker with the Russian Central Bank. Dmitri, Roman, Buck and I made a slow and rough drive along the river to the south shore of Lake Teletskoe.  It took 5.5 hours to complete only 50 miles distance! The drive in the canyon was very impressive and there were only a few small settlements along the way.  We did encounter one "cowboy" who was driving his herd of cattle along the dirt road and I noticed that one poor cow had fallen into the river. I hope the creature was able to climb out although the future for all these grass fed beef cattle is not promising.

At 2:30pm under cloudy and rainy skies we arrived at our lodging for the night and had lunch at their cafe.  We were the only customers.  After lunch Dmitri departed because he had to return to Aktash the same way we came and drive 400 miles in order to meet us at the north shore of the lake tomorrow!! Buck and I had imagined the south shore to have an actual settlement with boat docks and maybe a ferry option for Dmitri.  Apparently, there is some kind of ferry only during summer vacation months and there is no settlement-just a few cabin lodges.

At this lodge Roman, Buck and I occupied a fairly large 5 sided "ail" (pronounced ah eel). It was rainy so we mostly hung out and napped all afternoon. Dmitri had previously explained to us the proper etiquette for ail living.  There is a single entrance and women occupy the right side and men on the left.  There is also a rule about walking in the center but I never understood that one.  Anyway, we ignored the rules and selected whichever bed pleased us.

Since we had some time to kill this rainy afternoon Buck and I summarized a few  items we wished we had brought along.  These includes cups for drinking, napkins and a hammer and nails so we could hang stuff in the cabins.

ACROSS THE LAKE TO ARTYBASH
THURSDAY SEPT 15, 2016

After breakfast for the three of us in the "cafe" we packed up and prepared for our boat ride to Artybash at the north shore of Lake Teletskoe.  While we waited Roman said he had a brief political discussion with an Altayan man who works at or maybe owns the cabin resort. Russia will hold national elections for their "congress" (Duma) on Sunday Sept 18 and the man said he plans to vote for the communist party. He thinks the current ruling parties ignore the Altai regions and he would like more responsive government  (Actually, the elections were a victory for Vladimir Putin's majority party so I guess our friend's vote did not accomplish much). With the exception of our visit with the KGB we had few discussions about politics.  My attempts to bring up such subjects as economic sanctions against Russia and the current talk in the USA about Russian "aggression" did not result in much comment (possibly because of language difficulties).  Elena said she had once arranged a mountain tour for Vladimir Putin and did talk to him for about 15 minutes.  She did not elaborate on anything they may have talked about.

At 11am our boat skipper showed up and started loading our stuff for the ride to the north shore.  The lake is at an elevation of about 1300 feet, has a depth of 1000 feet, is 50 miles long and averages  nearly 2 miles in width. Lake Teletskoe, which is fed mainly by the Chulyshman River, ranks highly among the earth's largest fresh water lakes. Our skipper, Vlad, said the lake rarely freezes in the winter! He also claims that with high winds the waves can reach 20 feet in height!  We were glad it was perfectly calm for our trip.

The boat ride took about 2.5 hours including two short stops to admire waterfalls and to fill up the gas tank after the outboard engine sputtered to a stop.  I took a few photos of Vlad but he later said he does not like to be photographed.  This seems to be a common superstitious belief among the local folks. We thought it amusing that Vlad does not like the photos but was quite comfortable using his smart phone to do English translations for us -"OK google-say in English ??????

We checked into a nice hotel on the lake's shore, had lunch and did a short walk to another small waterfall. At 6pm Dmitri arrived having completed his brutal drive around the lake. He said he spent last night back in Aktash where they had a few inches of snow!  He also had stopped to help a motorist who skidded off the road and came upon a scene where a truck had killed two cows standing in the road in the dark.  The truck was covered with fresh steaks but probably not too appetizing.

Despite his brutal drive Dmitri was happy to take us for a ride in the Artybash area and to visit a special spot above this lake.  He collected some water from a spring which had something to do with converting the local folks to Christianity.  Also, there was a 600 year old sacred "cedar" tree and if one makes a wish and then walks around it 3 times in a counter clockwise direction the wish is very likely to come true! In my case, the wish did come true-legends confirmed!

RETURN TO BARNAUL AND A BRIEF VISIT WITH THE ALTAI PRINCESS
FRIDAY SEPT 16, 2016

Wow! This is our last full day in Siberia. Hard to believe the visit is almost over.

We had a long drive back to Barnaul and the highlight for today was a stop in Gorno Altysk to visit the natural history museum.  We departed Artybash at 9:45am crossing the Birya River which flows out of Lake Teletskoe to join the Katun River in Biysk forming the aforementioned Ob River.

At 1220 we arrived at the museum, I paid extra to take some photos inside and we were off for 2 hours of viewing the displays of natural history stuff dating from the Stone Ages and up to modern Soviet Union times. We had learned much from Dmitri and Elena about the burial mounds (also called "kurgans" and ancient Altayan cultures and it was interesting to see some of the actual artifacts from those periods.

The most famous exhibit in the museum is the mummy of the "Altai Princess". Unfortunately, her mummy is rarely displayed since they want to preserve the 2000+year old remains and she was not on display when we arrived.  However, we had resourceful Dmitri with us and he somehow convinced the museum staff that Buck and I are very important American professors of archeology!  Soon Professors Buck and Bill were hustled off to the Princess's coffin for a very brief one minute observation. No photos were allowed but I have copied some pictures from web sites below. I have also copied some information from Wikipedia and there is a lot more information about her on-line.

The Siberian Ice Maiden, also known as the Princess of Ukok (Russian: Принце́сса Уко́ка), the Altai Princess (Russian:Алтайская принцесса), Devochka and Ochy-bala (Russian: Очы-бала, the heroine of the Altaic epic), is a mummy of a woman from the 5th century BC, found in 1993 in a kurgan of the Pazyryk culture in Republic of Altai, Russia. It was among the most significant Russian archaeological findings of the late 20th century. In 2012 she was moved to a special mausoleum at the Republican National Museum in Gorno-Altaisk.

I made a few photos of displays of various Stone Age people and of very lovely outfits for women of the area. Below is a depiction of a grave.  Basically, a big hole was excavated down to at least 30 feet, a small wooden cabin was built in the hole and the remains placed inside along with various items needed in the afterlife.  The princess had 5 fully equipped horse interred with her! Also, a diorama depicted the many species of wild life in the Altai but we did not see any of the real thing.

 Finally, we were back on the paved roads and  reached Barnaul at 6pm.  We were soon joined again by Elena and she took us to a "honey museum" since we wanted to take home some honey which is specialty of the Altai. We did a honey "tasting" and admired some of the curator's impressive work using the bark of birch trees.

Finally, we said farewell to our wonderful travel partners, Dmitri and Roman, checked into the hotel and then met Elena for a short walk to a restaurant for dinner. As we were leaving the hotel for our dinner with Elena we encountered the same Russian "congressman" aforementioned  regarding our KGB interrogations. Vladimir Ryzhkov was campaigning for a seat in the Duma.  His political party is in opposition to that of Putin which may explain his being detained in the Altai Republic Border Control Zone.  I do not know how he did during the elections of 18 Sept but here is a link for some information about him.

RETURN TO NEW YORK AND FLIGHTS FROM HELL
SATURDAY SEPT 17, 2016

Elena picked us up at 5am for our short  ride to the airport and farewell to her.  Unfortunately, the 7am Aeroflot departure flight from Barnaul was delayed 2 hours, we missed our connection in Moscow, the new departure from Moscow was also delayed several hours and two very tired travelers reached New York after over 24 hours of travel time.  I stayed in Brooklyn for two nights and Buck had another 3 hour wait for his Boston flight!

Anyway, we said a sad farewell to each other and were still in a bit of shock to realize this excellent adventure was over after 2 years of planning! We were well pleased with seeing the Altai, getting to know some of the local people and we wish them all the best (well, maybe with the exception of Interpreter Yuri)

THE END