Food glorious food

I'd like to say we made it down the big hill to Barnaul without incident, but that would be a lie.

After crossing back into Russia we were faced with the magnificent Russian Altai. It knocked spots off the Mongolian side. Great asphalt, great expansive views. As we rounded bends, either a  new peak would appear, or the river would roar between rocks. Even I was stopping frequently to take pictures. There was over 400 kilometres of if it.Without a doubt one of the worlds great roads.

Our plans to take in some of the side tracks were put on hold as sorting Jean's bike was a top priority.

What we had not bargained on was my bike having an ignition melt down just as we entered Barnaul.

It is a known fault in the Pegasos, the two ignition wires solder failing, an issue which I had happen to me previously in Almaty, Kazakhstan. I thought we had "pre fixed" it on this bike, but patently not.

This threw our plans a bit. We managed to arrange a trailer lift to the garage where Jean's radiator was. Then we switched my clothes etc to Jean's bike and rode two up to our hotel. All the way there I was being sprayed by coolant, as the radiator condition deteriorated with each pothole I failed to avoid.

The next two days were all about fix and mend. As we fixed we found numerous loose and missing bolts.

We even had to get a pannier welded.

The replacement radiator is doing its job. And is now coping with the heat of Kazakhstan.

The high spot for us in Barnaul was the food. Although it had improved by Oglii in west Mongolia, they did a mean meat dumpling and fried kushoor, but if we could not find them it was back to grey mutton soup. 

Back in Russia vegetables had reappeared and now in Barnaul it was the return of multiple soups, salads and various meat dishes. We started to fatten ourselves back up.

Each night we ate at the same cafe, we would point at an item on the menu, our waitress would either show displeasure at our choice or smile and nod in agreement. If we had gone in for a fifth night we could have just sat there and and let her choose for us.

Our hotel was also next to a fruit and vegetable market, we stocked up on our fruit quota. It was a pity we could not self cater.