May 17 Inegen to Koo via Aktash, Olugan and Katu-Yarik

Today, we drove from Inegen to Koo, a hamlet not very far from the South shore of Teletskoye lake, where we were a few days ago. We had to climb over a mountain range to arrive at Chulyshman River valley. The distance was about 200 kilometers, but the satnav predicted an eight-hour drive (it did take us about 8 hours with all the adventures and stops we had, but how did the satnav know that our tyre will go flat???). After we drove from Inegen back to the main road, the first sixty kilometers went smoothly, with an amazing scenery that we can't get tired of. Anna was saying again that she could not believe she was in Russia.

The first town on our way was Aktash were we refuelled and got ready for 135 kilometers of road of suspicious quality. It started to snow and as we were climbing up the mountain green grass changed for snowy valleys and forests. Most lakes were still frozen. The road was a mix of low to average quality asphalt and gravel, but was still ok.

We arrived to Ulagan - the capital village of the Ulagan region with population of about 3.5 thousand. Again, a feeling of being in Mongolia. Locals speak both Russian and Altai, which belongs to the Turkic group of languages. We checked prices at local petrol stations: quite more expensive than what we paid along the Chuyski tract. But prices in a local cafe were a pleasant surprise. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, fresh fruit and vegetables cost here almost as much as meat. As we approached Ulagan, snow and strong wind started again and we were happy to spend some time in the cafe.

Once we filled up our stomachs, we continued to Katu-Yaryk pass. Well, if Anna found the road to Inegen bungalow quite scary, you can imagine her emotions as we had to go down almost 500 meters over 3.5 kilometers through a zigzagging road on the ridge of the mountain with no trees to stop the car rolling... At the top of the Katu-Yaryk, we stopped for a photo session and were unpleasantly surprised as we found a flat tyre. We (Pablo) changed the tyre and Anna was making sure to record this historic moment. And here we are, going down the Katy-Yaryk following the road.... We made it down safely, but we could see that not everyone did. There were a couple of car remnants all smashed and deformed from rolling down the mountain.

The road from Katu-Yaryk to Koo was much worse in quality, but very picturesque. As we arrived to Koo, we had another bungalow, but this time with less comfort. There was no shower, but toilet and sink were included, attached to the bungalow and not heated. In fact, this is quite a high standard for the region: there are no power lines and most toilets consist of a hole in the ground. If you want to wash yourself, you'll have to go to banya (Russian-style sauna) or a shared shower outside, if available. Neither was there any internet connection and phone.

We were also lucky to have a central heating in our bungalow, which consisted of a wood-fired stove. We had to chop fire wood ourselves. We used the stove to heat us and cook our dinner. We were afraid to get cold during the night, but the stove heat was strong enough to keep us warm until the next morning.