Day 1 (August 25): We arrived in Novosibirsk at 05.20 a.m. and met up with the tour company’s next representative, Tatiana. We took our baggage to a Russian ex military ambulance and met the driver, Mischa. Thirsty, we had to show our passports at the door of the airport building to get back in to buy bottled water and visit the toilet.

We had a rest at the hotel in Novosibirsk until about lunchtime, then we went to a restaurant for something to eat. We had been asked to bring money with us to pay for the holiday in dollars, but were told that we needed to change it into roubles straight away, so we drove to a couple of bureaux until we had found enough roubles to change all our cash. Then we drove for hours, with the roads getting increasingly rough, had a light meal at a restaurant by the roadside and drove on again until it was dark.

Then we stopped for our evening meal at another roadside restaurant and Daddy hurt his cut finger when he trapped it in the roof vent of the van. The road was so dusty it was making breathing difficult, so we tried to get the windows and vents shut quickly. The one in the roof was spring loaded and landed heavily on the tip of the finger just where the cut was. It bled so profusely, Daddy couldn’t hold on to it with both hands and it dripped on the floor. The restaurant had a karaoke bar and everyone sat and listened to the locals while Daddy went to the loo to wash and dress the wounded finger. He wasn’t too impressed with the facilities. We were still relying on Tatiana’s advice for what to choose from the menu, but we were communicating better and enjoyed what we ordered.

Then we drove until it was very late, finally arriving, in the dark, at a hotel in the capital of the Altai region, Gornoaltaysk. We had driven about 520 km. The receptionist was more like a security guard and the facilities were very ‘Soviet’. Mummy and Daddy’s room was quite large but only had a single bed, so they had to make up another on the sofa for Mummy.