Day 36, Chita

Slept well and despite the sun beginning to hide from us again, it is a nice day outside. Chita is not very big, but it has a pleasant feel to it. The scale of the buildings and the general pace is a bit more human, more like we (I) know it.
… and about 1 person in a 100 actually smiles! My god, there might be hope for russia after all. Of course there is a lenin square and a lenin statue – yawn – but the streets actually have trees growing in front of the slightly (but at least not prefab) run down fassades. This place at least has potential and with a bit of initiative, privatisation and 2 or 3 smiles more, this could be turned into a pleasantly relaxed town.

Actually the above photo doesn’t really feature those fassades – well, just imagine them and it’s one more reason for you to come here yourself and discover the hidden gems 😉

As a little teaser, check this out – woman are actually very good looking in russia, although the majority tends to overdo the dresscode a bit – especially the high heels do often remind me of darker alleys in europe featuring the oldest trade in history. But then I only red about that …

Can’t seem to find a petrol can for the upcoming route with petrol stations thinning out a lot. Let’s see how things go – but don’t really want to be stuck on this stretch of road. It’s the wilderness and if you believe the russians (ask anyone anywhere in russia) this stretch is teeming with bears and bandits. Unfortunately A not very helpfull with this, so will try to find a solution later.

We also tried to get info on a re-entry visa for russia, so we could spend our extra days in china maybe. The chineese visa seems to be less of a problem then the russian part. Let’s see what happens – contacted our russian friend Luba in berlin. Maybe she can help in the matter – maybe via her old employer in Vladivostok who operates a travel agencies if I understood correctly.

Now for a thick hot chocolate (not as warm as in western europe outside).

Hours later and still full from the chocolate … Maybe I overdid it a litte. Took another stroll through the city centre

Found a jerry can and mounted it (hopefully) safely on the extra large rack in the back.