Ethnographic Expedition 2008. Part I

July 24–27, 2008

The idea of driving all the way to Vladivostok and back came to me right after I drove around the perimeter of the US. The Range Rover I purchased with my homeland’s expanses in mind was christened Moumousique; the trip itself became the Ethnographic Expedition.

As a result of various events whose description lies beyond the literary format of this website, five cars with fourteen other people joined the expedition.

The composition of our group changed over the course of the trip due to various circumstances—a crew would intermittently get stuck in a city or catch up. Two cars flipped over and went out of commission; one car hit a cow. Moumousique’s engine mount brackets fell off four times (the bolts broke twice, the bracket itself broke the other two times). As a result, the engine finally gave up and broke entirely, mixing the coolant with the engine oil (twice).

Over the summer of 2008, Moumousique became the most famous Range Rover in Russia. As a direct consequence, countless people ultimately opted for other car brands.

Wretched Moumousique ended up staying behind in Ulaanbaatar for lengthy repairs, and I returned to Moscow to wait for the service center’s call. Two months later, I resumed the trip—it was already winter, but the return from Mongolia became a search for yet another vehicle to tow or transport my car.

Moscow

Between getting together, traffic downtown, the Ring Road, and yet more traffic, it took us five hours to get out of Moscow. This was the only time we encountered such a nightmare throughout the whole trip.

Forest Industries

Nizhny Novgorod

They still keep mixing French with Nizhnyese here.

cafe Versailles

The main distinctive local feature is red and white stripes on the utility poles.

Cheboksary

Behind this unappealing name (I had always been convinced there couldn’t be anything good in Cheboksary) lies a true paradise. Manicured slopes, fountains in the water, people relaxing on a weekday, a warm evening. This is the kind of photo you’d normally find on the cover of a brochure. It’s not a city, it’s a downright resort.

And the Chuvash language doesn’t seem to be that difficult.

Philharmoni/Philharmonic

Yoshkar-Ola

They forgot the dash in the city’s name on the sign just outside the city.

YOSHKAROLA

Yoshkar-Ola reminded me of Syktyvkar in some ways. They also slap traditional ornaments on everything imaginable there.

Some relics from the ’80s have survived here.

Mari Dry Cleaners

The city’s main item of interest is the capital T with the subtitle “rolleybus.” No other city has anything like this.

Trolleybus

Pomary

The words “Urengoy—Pomary—Uzhgorod,” the name of some gas pipeline, had been rattling around in my head. Turns out, Pomary is just a village. But it does have a sign with a novel term on it. Attentive readers will remember that this is the same thing they call an “accident cluster site” in Gorno-Altaysk.

Attention! Dangerous area of high road accident concentration. 2 km.

Volzhsk

A complete hole. But, for some reason, one with an above-average concentration of gambling venues per square kilometer.

Kazan

Very little has changed here since last time. Five-foot-tall telephone numbers continue to advertise hookers’ services.

Naberezhnye Chelny

This is where Kamaz trucks are manufactured. Nothing else happens here.

The curve of the traffic light poles with countdown timers is interesting.

It’s immediately clear that this is an autobus stop.

The streets are as wide as rivers in Naberezhnye Chelny. That’s why a city square looks like the distance between two towns.

People don’t use mailing addresses here. Instead, everyone knows the number of the complex and the building inventory number. In other words, if you ask how to find 60 Mir Avenue, no one will be able to tell you. But if you ask where 3/19 is, they’ll immediately show you the way.

Mir Avenue, 60 (3-19)