Mini-Thailand

After a decent breakfast in the hotel again, left Piyatigorsk, heading for Elista....

Slow roads, lots of traffic.

And then it opened out.

Straight roads, barren countryside.

Selfies while riding.

Water stop.

And more of the same in the afternoon.

Until we reach our destination, Elista.

Strange, is that a Buddhist temple ?

Kids seem happy to play with sticks.

Go for a walk in the evening ... more temples.

Walk through this park full of statues....

.... but at least with Russian connotations.

Highlight of the show.

Not sure if funeral or wedding at first.

Bit of a break dancing competition going on.

And the celebrations went on into the evening  ... fireworks too.

All a bit strange .... after walking around, I could not get over this place .... it was just full of Chinese-Thai looking people, but all speaking Russian.  There were no guys to be seen, but loads of pretty young mothers & kids.  I could not work it out - it was so different to the Russia we saw yesterday ... smiles, happiness, laughter.... just like Thailand !

So, talking with Jeremy, turns out Elista is a sort of enclave that Mongolian, (or Kalmyk to be correct) people got forced to settle in by Stalin in the 30's, then got exiled to Siberia a decade later.  They returned in the late-50's to give the city the feel it has today, and explained the Thai feel ... at least to the unwise, such as me !

Found a Cafe to eat in and as the menu was completely in Russian, enlisted the help of Google Translate... for those who are technically naive, it allows you to hold your phone over the menu, and its translates what it sees.  However, the end result can often be, well, quite entertaining.

The beef in Thai sauce didn't taste like beef, and the Thai sauce turned out to be Chips !

Finished the night back at the "hotel", which was a sort of converted house, used as a Biker bar at times, but sadly empty on this Saturday night.  Had a beer with Jeremy, and he mentioned he had seen a disco 5 minutes away, so after he went to bed, I went to investigate.

One of those "in hindsight, I should not have bothered" occasions .... 3 people there at 11pm, one hour later, still just 3.  Then a load of arrogant Russians walked in (must have come from another city!), stole my table & chairs while I was sitting there, and proceeded to speed up their lung cancer process.

Using the smokescreen as cover, I made an exit, and to bed.