RTW East to West: Novosibirsk and the Russian Banya Experience...

Sunday night we found a Dutchman camp in a farmers field a few clicks off the main road. He was still harvesting the field and stopped by to say hello. Ken played the farmer card, showed off his book of pictures from Virginia and he was all smiles - and even returned later to drop us a giant jar of honey. It went great for breakfast on the fresh bead I had bought yesterday in the ski town at the base of the Altai's.

Yesterday we rode the 300+ km to Novosibirsk - Russia's third largest city. There was a bit of traffic coming in but luckily we just beat rush hour getting to our hostel. We are at the Stop House Hostel near the center of town. 400 RUB ($11) each per night. We will layover tomorrow and explore the city while waiting for Ken's shock. Novosibirsk is the administrative capital of Siberia and has significant historical significance in the industrial development of Russia.

We met some local bikers while searching for the hostel and made plans to meet up later that evening. They insisted on treating us to a Russian tradition called Banya (translation is basically sauna). None of us had any idea at the time what we were getting in to, but we were game for the experience. Mikhail and Yujin picked us up at the hostel around 8pm and we proceeded to the grocery to pick up dinner supplies. We then stopped at a shop where you can buy tap beer to go poured fresh into 1.5 liter plastic bottles - brilliant! There were about 12 different drafts to choose from. Why don't we have this in the US? I want to start up one of these when I get home! We then pulled up to the Banya. Inside there are several rooms (we had the Moscow room - the walls were decorated with iconic Russian buildings and monuments) each with sauna, plunge pool, outdoor grill, refrigerator, dinner table, shower and bathroom. It was sort of like a clubhouse. Soon we were joined by Alex, Kirill, Alex #2 and his wife Margarita. They first prepared a feast of grilled chicken and vegetables, tomato and cucumber salad and fresh watermelon while we started on the draft beer.

It was a festive time as we shared stories and past adventures on motorbikes. They all were members of the local Gold Wing club, so all had the big Honda touring bikes. After enjoying a bit of food and drink Mickhail said it was time for Banya. We all undressed and got in our wraps and proceeded to the sauna room. It was hotter than any sauna I had ever been in - and that was before pouring water on the hot rocks. Once the water hit the rocks the hot steam was almost unbearable - my ears felt like they were combusting. After about 5 or 10 minutes of cycling steam onto the rocks and being barely able to breath - we all get our and jump into the cool plunge pool. The cool water felt so good after being cooked by the steam. After a few minutes in the pool we get out and proceed to gather around the table eat more food and drink more beer and whiskey.

This cycle was repeated 4 or 5 more times that evening. During the second cycle the leaf branch came out and it gets dipped in water, waved over the hot rocks and then beat on yor skin. This procedure ramps up the heat factor even more. The best part is that we definitely got the Mongolian dirt expelled from our body. We were commenting earlier that day that even after showers we couldn't get the dirt cleaned from our skin - it had become a part of us but not any more. Read more about the Russian Banya experience at www.masterrussian.com. It was a great night that went well into the next morning - we arrived via cab back to our hostel after 5am. Many thanks to our new friends in Novosibirsk for sharing your tradition and the Banya experience with us.

The Banya group with Marga on the camera.