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Altay
Travel Advice:
There
are four main ways to travel at Altay: taking a packaged
tour, hiring a local guide with his own transport,
traveling "wild" with local buses or hitchhiking,
and traveling with your own car.
Each way of travelling has its pros and contras,
but in this section we will focus on basic stuff
that may be useful for any traveler. This list is
not full and will be updated from time to time. If
you have anything to add, please, leave your Feedback.
Practical Info & Addresses:
ATMs by Sberbank (Sberbank telephone in
G-A: (38822) 4-26-87)
ATM in Gorno-Altaysk: Choros-Gurkina St., #13 (24
hours)
ATM in Maima (on Chuysky Trakt): Lenina, #11 (24
hours)
Cellular Networks:
There are two main providers at Altay: MTS and BeeLine. As
of August 2003 MTS had better coverage and the signal
went as far as Manzhrok tourbase (about 20 km from
Gorno-Altaysk along Chuysky Trakt). After that, the
only way to connect to the world is to use international
phone service in settlements along the way.
Internet Access:
There are no public internet access places yet in
Altay Republic. There are many internet cafes in
Barnaul, so send all your e-mails from there before
traveling to Altay. However, dial-up service is widely
used, so if you ask nicely you could use it at the
tourbases (or any place where there's a phone). A
local ISP is "ElektroSvyaz", phone: (38822) 9-52-52.
e-mail: aku@gorny.ru, operator@gorny.ru
Internet Resources:
The main Altay internet resource is the Official
Altay Republic web portal. It has a full version
in English and is very comprehensive.
Safety:
Reportedly, Russian tourists sometimes have problems
with local people. The problem is that alcoholism
is very wide-spread at Altay and some men, when drunk,
behave agressively towards strangers. However, if
you are a foreigner, you will most likely be treated
with respect.
To avoid any problems it's better to be with a knowledgeable
guide. If you are alone, NEVER drink alcohol with
local people - they get drunk very fast and start
to become agressive.
Local Rescue Team. (MChS - Ministry
of Exceptional Situations) - If you are traveling
to Altay alone or plan a dangerous venture in the
mountains, you can leave data about yourself and
your planned route at the local MChS branch. Only
for authorized and official tour groups. Also, if
you have any problems, you can try to contact them.
Address: Gorno-Altaysk, Ulagasheva, #13. Contacts:
(38822) 3-10-54, 2-29-14, 2-22-54.
Souvenirs:
Altay is famous for its traditional crafts, beautifully
woven carpets, local honey, national music instruments
(most popular: kumys) and music itself
|
Traditional Altay carpets |
(especially
throat
singing). There's
a good souvenir shop in Gorno-Altaysk on Choros-Gurkina
street, where you can buy all the traditional crafts,
photo albums, carpets, and honey. Also, there are
souvenir shops along the first 50 km of Chuysky Trakt
after G-A (near Bogotol and at Tsarskaya Okhota tour
base)
If you are thinking about a few things to bring from
Altay it should be a CD with traditional music (the
most famous ensemble is AltaiKAI), the musical instrument
Kumys (the little iron arc that is put
close to teeth and makes strange vibrating sound
- costs about $10-$20),
traditional carpets (from $20 to $100), a pot of
Altay honey ($2), and a set of postcards ($2).
More to follow soon... Send your suggestions.
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