[Russia — Kazakhstan] Day 131–133 of solo London to India motorcycle trip: Chelyabinsk to Kostanay…

[Russia — Kazakhstan] Day 131–133 of solo London to India motorcycle trip: Chelyabinsk to Kostanay ride [Aug 16–18, 2023]

Getting hosted & meeting some very talented Russian motorbikers in Chelyabinsk, accompanied by a Kazakh motorbiker who not only assisted with border crossing, but helped with getting cheap insurance, even paid for my petrol & gave me cash. When I tried to return the cash, his words were — motorbikers are like brothers, consider it a gift from elder biker to younger one.

This is part of my Europe India solo motorbike trip travelogue . Read here for details. My blog posts are delayed & I post more recent/regular updates on my Trip Facebook Page / Instagram . Also, I add all my stay places in this public google map list . Created the list to help budget motorbike travellers like me :).

Total Distance — 16,201 kms . Entire map link

I had stopped at a village taking a bit of detour from the Ufa — Chelyabinsk road which I mentioned in my previous post. I started by like 9 AM next morning to Chelyabinsk & reached around 3 PM in the afternoon. It is worth mentioning that I crossed Ural mountains between Ufa & Chelyabinsk. To be honest, it did not feel like mountain but Ural mountains separate Europe & Asia parts of Russia. The ride from the village to Chelyabinsk was uneventful & not many trucks (maybe because I started early).

When I reached Chelyabinsk, Mikhail, who has agreed to host me, was away for work. So I looked a coffee shop near to his place & made my way there. The coffee shop was pretty good & seemed popular among locals (could see quite a few locals out there all ‘dressed up’ :] ). The shop name was Delo Ne V Cofe . The flat white I ordered was pretty good for 170 Rubles. They also had good wifi.

My coffee at Delo Ne V Cofe

Mikhail came shortly & took me to his garage. Mikhail had recommended the Bike Post in Chelyabinsk but I suggested not to go there. I figured Bike Post usually has quite a few bikers & not everyone is comfortable talking in English but they are forced to, because of me. Mikhail’s garage was a decent one with a couch. There were no toilet & shower but for that I went to Mikhail’s home in the morning, which was around 500m from his garage.

Thats Mikhail. He works as a instructor for people learning to ride. He owns a Goldwing imported from America. Amusingly, Mikhail’s motorbike wasnt starting but when he brought me to his place, it started. He said, I am good omen for him :). Mikhail could speak some English but was not frustrated in the entire process & I liked interacting with him. The 2nd pic is inside of the garage. It was reasonably cold in the night so I used to switch off the fan.

Mikhail had mentioned about Dennis, who is riding from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad that spans the entire Russia & passed through Road of Bones & was in Chelyabinsk. Mikhail had invited Dennis in the evening & we had some good party later in the evening that day.

Thats Dennis in the picture. You need to zoom in the picture of front of his motorbike to see the entire path. He rides a BMW that is imported in Vladivostok from Japan (Vladivostok is close to Japan & its probably easier to import vehicles there). He lives in Kaliningrad & decided to ride his bike, pretty much like me who decided to ride a bike from London to India :). The 3rd pic is interesting. In Russia, you could get draught beer in bottles at beer stores & they are pretty cheap — like under 100 Rubles per liter. We got beer from one such store for our party.

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Next day morning, I went to Mikhail’s house to freshen up. I met his daughter Lisa.

Lisa, Mikhail’s daughter. She is very cute & asked me (through Mikhail) how people say hello in India. When I said Namaste with my hands joined, she repeated that back to me :)

I had earlier told Mikhail about seeing a mechanic for my fork issue. Mikhail had spoken to a mechanic & our plan was to visit him. I also wanted to change engine oil as it has been 5k kms since I got it changed in Trabzon Turkey. But later I suggested that we can skip the mechanic visit & maybe change oil ourselves. I also suggested that I would like to do it myself & if he can guide me (I have never changed engine oil myself :-/ ) & Mikhail agreed. I had bought engine oil & oil filter in Tbilisi (my earlier plan was to ride through entire Kazakh stretch & I was not sure if I could get good engine oil). Mikhail guided & I was able to do it myself with some help from him (& also some tools). I did end up damaging the nut a bit but it was not too bad. I used my tool spanner to unscrew it. I was carrying 2L oil & it turned out to be insufficient so Mikhail looked into his garage & found the same engine oil with him which we used to top up. It was all good after like 3 hours where we worked, talked & smoked :).

Mikhail had taken the day off & took me for sight seeing of Chelyabinsk. We went to the city center & Mikhail showed interesting monuments there.

The interesting is the war memorial with statue of a soldier throwing grenade & an eternally lit flame behind him

We also tried Pelmini which is the Russian version of dumplings. They were smaller in size compared to Georgian Khinkali but were pretty tasty.

Russian Pelmeni. A plate costed under 200 Rubles.

Chelyabinsk tram. Most Russian cities still have the old style Soviet era trams. 2nd pic is a police officer standing on the road & stopping anyone who is breaking rules. This reminded me of Indian traffic police officers who do the same unlike in the west where police chases you in a vehicle from behind & stops you.

The next day, I decided to leave for Kostanay, Kazakhstan in the morning. Mikhail saw me off & I also decided to fill fuel in my jerry can (I had not filled it up so far but since I am getting into Kazakhstan, I wanted to put it to its actual use.

Mikhail seeing me off, I am putting fuel in jerry can in a petrol station & I noticed a car with my middle name ‘Kumar’. I later got to know that Kumar means something related to being drunk in Russian. So my name Ashish Kumar sounds like guy high on Hashish, which was very funny for people who saw my passport :).

The Kazakh border was like 100 km from Chelyabinsk. While I rode to the border, I noticed another motorbiker on a Africa Twin who was not riding too fast. I overtook him & then realized he is riding pretty much behind me. I decided to stop at next gas station & he stopped too. He was Alex from Rudny (a town further down from Kostanay). Alex & I spoke through Google Translate. Apparently, Alex had an accident in Russia & he had to leave his motorbike behind, go to Kazakhstan for treatment & now he is back to pick the bike & ride it back to his home.

Thats Alex. This picture we took in Kazakhstan. The 2nd pic is his bike at the petrol station where stopped & talked first.

Crossing Russia border & entering Kazakhstan on Chelyabinsk Kostanay route

Alex suggested that we ride & cross border together. I told Alex this is my first time & it may take time & Alex said its ok. I also told Alex that I need to buy insurance in Kazakhstan & Alex indicated he will help me do that.

Russian border crossing involved parking vehicle & going inside a room on the right & queuing up to see the officer who stamps you out. Alex got done pretty quickly, but for me, the officer asked me to wait a bit. I guess it could be because the slip that I filled while entering Russia, I had put my exit date as Aug 15 & it was Aug 17 that day. After waiting for like 15 min, the officer called me again to the counter & cleared me off.

After coming out to the bike, I saw Alex has crossed the barrier & waiting for me. I asked Alex if I need to go somewhere in sign language. Alex indicated I should wait. Apparently another officer was inspecting the luggage before opening the barrier. I waited for like 10 min. The officer asked me to open both my side panniers & top box. But quickly cleared me off & stamped a slip that was given to me when I entered the border crossing.

The slip that was handed to me while entering the border crossing. The custom officer put the blue stamp & I am suppose to handover the slip at final Russian checkpost.

On Kazakh side, similar process. I was handed a slip for my motorcycle, I had to park & go into a room & queue up (the room is on the left & not right unlike Russian border). It took a bit longer (like 30 min) as the officer was not good with reading my vehicle logbook in English. The motorcycle import document that I had got while entering Russia, it was also filled in English & that was also not help to him. Some folks in the queue told him that I am riding a motorcycle (I think he thought its a car). He asked for color of the bike through Google Translate. Also which country my bike is registed & I told him the same through Translate app. I had earlier thought that since I have got the bike import doc made at Russian border, they could just get all information from the document number but it seemed otherwise. Anyway, the officer took off & then came back after like 20 min. I figured, a Russian translation of my vehicle document could be a good idea. I would probably get it done before entering other stans.

As usual, Alex was waiting for me & after exiting the final checkpost, Alex gestured to me a shop on the right for insurance. He showed me a shop on the left for changing money but I had already withdrew Tenge in Chelyabinsk (thanks to Mikhail who helped me by taking me to a bank there). I had enquired about insurance cost through nomad.kz website. Alex from Horizons Unlimited had helped me find the same on asko.kz website. Online, the price was around 13k Tenge (around 30 USD) for 15 day insurance. But at the border, it turned out to be much cheaper. The shop had the price put up on a paper which was affixed on the wall. The price said something like 6k+ Tenge but then Alex negotiated for me. I think he sold the story of me riding bike all the way from London to India. They reduced the price to 5700 Tenge & on further push, I finally 5000 Tenge (although my document reads 5700 Tenge itself).

The insurance shop & my insurance document.

At this point, I remember, Alex actually gave me 5k Tenge in cash. I tried giving it back to Alex but he gestured saying its ok. We then started our ride to Kostanay & stopped at a petrol station as I needed to get some fuel. I did not know the process in Kazakhstan (in Russia, you put the nozzle in the tank, walk to the counter, pay for the fuel & the operator then starts the fuel flow). Alex went in first & when I went in after putting fuel nozzle in my tank & asked the counter lady for paying, she gestured something like she has already started. I went back, fill the fuel & came back, only to realize Alex has paid for my fuel. I said to Alex, I will buy coffee for us & he agreed. At that point, I tried returning the cash Alex has given me but then Alex through translate said something like — motorbikers are brothers & it is a gift from elder brother to younger one. He also said that when he had accident, someone helped him & I should help another motorbiker in my country & pay it forward. I was pretty moved with Alex’s gesture. Little did I know that it is part of Kazakh hospitality & in days to come, I could never pay for myself when I was local people.

Coffee stop. The ladies at the counter. Alex narrated them the story about my ride & they had a pretty awestruck face. It changed to a smile only when I asked them for this picture :)

Alex told me that there is a Bike Post in Kostanay & he reached out to the folks on phone. We were asked to wait at a certain location where another Alex from Bike Post came to pick me up. I told Alex if he can give me address & go ahead (he has to go further down to Rudny) but Alex took it on himself to ensure that I have company till I get ‘handed over’ to the Bike Post guys :).

While we waited, a group of curious people came to us & on hearing my story about the ride from Alex, wanted to click picture with me. One of the guys actually offered me Beshbarmaq (a Kazakh cuisine made of horse meat) if I stay in the city for a day :).

Soon Alex from Bike Post Kostanay took me to the farm house which is in outskirts of Kostanay. Sergey, the house owner met there. Alex then took me to a supermarket nearby where I bought a Tele2 sim. I had enquired about sim providers & I was given names like Beeline & Tele2. Alex told me Tele2 is the cheap & good. Also, it was not necessary to take a plan. You pay 1000 for sim (you get 500 Tenge balance) & just buy internet (I bought 8 GB internet for 1650 Tenge). So for 2150 Tenge, I had sim with internet. Alex actually paid for the sim before I could pay, but for topup, I had to bulldoze myself to pay :).

Tele2 price plans

We also bought food for the night & went back to the Bike Post where Segey, Alex & I had food. Alex was very funny & he asked me quite a few questions about India (he seemed pretty well informed about India & Indians).

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I also noticed an old bollywood song I am Disco Dancer being played on Kazakh Radio. Apparently, Bollywood & Mithun Chakravarthy (the number 1 Bollywood actor in 90s) was very popular in Soviet & the old guys still listen to those songs.

The Bike Post had dry toilets & there was no electricity in the night (it had solar panels that can help you charge phone during the day). But I liked the nature around the place. So I decided to stay one more day. Sergey came over the next day morning & told me that there will be another biker coming in the evening to meet & we will be having party with some beers etc.

I just rested for the day & went out in the evening for a short time. I went to the Russian McDonald’s (apparently when McDonalds shut shop in Russia, they came up with Russian version of it .. I went there because it had wifi & I could write my post). But as soon as I reached the place, Sergey messaged that he is at the Bike Post with the other biker. So I decided to head home. Later, Alex also joined us for the party.

In first pic, Alex on the left, Sergey in centre & Yuri on the right. Yuri later messaged about me in the biker group in Kokhsetau where I went from Kostanay & I got to see some great biker hospitality there.

I remember retiring early from the party & sleeping while Alex, Yuri & Sergey continued for some time. Alex did not drink & dropped Yuri back home. Sergey slept in his truck parked outside the house (I only got to know about it next day morning).

The distance from Kostanay to Astana was around 700+ kms & I did not want to do such a long ride in a day. I was being told that Kokshetau is a nice town at around 500 kms distance so I had decided to ride & stay in Kokshetau. Yuri ensured I had biker company in Kokshetau & the legacy to party with motorbikers continued there for me. More about it in the next post.