29 June 2009 Novosibirsk Russia

I rode motorcycle from Omsk to Novosibirsk. I met Alex at the hotel in the morning. He spoke some English which was very helpful. I had him proofread my Russian hotel check-in sheet I wrote up and the night before, and I charged up my Russian mobile phone and asked him to see if he could get it to work. He got it to work and I called Vasilisa in Samara to let them know I was ok and in Omsk. I asked Alex if he would get me through Omsk as he was also going to Novosibirsk. It was a brisk ride to Novosibirsk, 70 to 75 mph, and was the best highway I’ve ridden in Russia. We were in Novosibirsk before 8:00 p.m. and I had asked Alex to drop me off at a hotel before we hit the city. We ended up in the city before he stopped to ask about a hotel. He spoke with the police about a hotel and they directed us to Hotel Sibir, which turned out to be probably the best hotel in the city. It had the internet so I could live with the price. When we checked in we met Volker, a German guy who was traveling on a motorcycle. He will be traveling to Mongolia and to Kazakhstan and then back to Germany. I checked into the hotel, checked my bike over and spent the rest of the night talking with Volker and reading e-mails. I got to bed about 4:30 in the morning.