KMII
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50620
Once upon a time in the East - sand dunes, camels, buddhism, chess and Steven Seagal aka must be Kalmykia ♟️🐪⛩️
As several members have expressed interest in continuing with some less commonly chosen road trip itinenraries, here's another one - Kalmykia (previous ones can be found here:
Lake Baikal: www.watchprosite.com
Dagestan: www.watchprosite.com
Sakhalin: www.watchprosite.com
and Semipalatinsk www.watchprosite.com ).
Kicking things off in the morning you see the steppes / desert straight from the hotel.
The hotel is also placed next to some villas, one of which belongs to former US actor Steven Seagal (some might remember him). It was a present from the then president Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov. Steven seemed not to be in residence, though. What you also see in the picture is frost on the ground - it might be desert and it has the hottest place in all of Russia (top temperature of 45 degrees Celsius) but in winter it freezes.
An old school Kalmyk cavalryman... like in many places of the former Soviet Union such large scale wall paintings are common.
Elista is also home to the Exodus Museum - as a punishment for collaborating with the Germans in WW2 the Kalmyk population was exiled to Siberia and the Far East between 1944 and 1957, when a return was permitted by Khruschev.
The gentleman in the picture is the above mentioned Kirsan. A chess aficionado (and president of the world chess federation till 2018), he made Elista the world capital of chess, with several world championships carried out there (in spite of the city not having an airport), and chess being taught as an obligatory subject in elementary schools. He was a man of many a grandiose idea, including becoming the center for shipping cars into Russia, in spite of the republic not having a single port - details, details... Finally he had to leave, due to squandering too much of the republic's resources on chess.
The museum, housed in a railroad wagon, contains some elements of traditional Kalmyk life...
And the slogan, 'Repressed but not broken'.
What Kalmykia is additionally famous for is the saigak antelope (the same as in Kazakhstan), which is a protected species here. Unfortunately there was not enough time to see them in the wild, so a wall painting will have to do.
The rest of Elista is made up of smaller residential buildings, likewise with frost all around.
And then there is the monumental Buddhist temple. It is a sight to behold!
Leaving Elista you experience the country's road network, which seems to consist primarily of - straights. Given that the highest elevation is only 223 meters above sea level (not sure it can be called a hill anywhere apart from Denmark or the Netherlands) and that it's largely desert or steppe, there really is no reason to build it any other way. On the bright side, this does result in some excellent average speeds and overtaking is largely not a problem, as traffic is light on top.
The skies are vast and the plains appear endless.
The area closer to Elista appeas to be the more fertile one, with some light agriculture and a smidgeon of natural vegetaition around the road.
Is that a mirage? Fata morgana?
Actually, it is one of quite some shallow lakes in the area, however surprising they may be in the arid context.
Some cows are to be found grazing, so the overgazing of decades past has not fully deterred animal husbandry yet.
Using a drone for an elevated shot one can see the landscape somewhat better.
Including the mentioned lakes.
And natural vegetation, before driving deeper into the desert region.
Not a believer in little green men but the contrails in the skies certainly have an interesting shape.
As mentioned previously, Buddhism is the state religion (only place in Europe; actually most Kalmyks that have fled the Soviet Union after the Reds bested the Whites in the 1920s went to Belgrade (go figure) and built a Buddhist temple there; never made it to state religion, though). So for those of you not reading Cyrillic, it says 'Om mani badme hum'.
With some associated sheep, working on keeping the grasses short (and not yet fully succeeding).
Same slogan, different perspective.
Small town Kalmykia is usually formed of single story buildings organized into little hamlets or villages.
Just before getting to the desert, there is a small final patch of agricultural land...
And then the start of the desert...
Gradually getting there...
The village should have had camels but they were not visible from the main road...
The final village before the desert is Komsomolskiy, and the name and the Buddhist welcome sign form a strange juxtaposition but then nothing is fully conventional in Kalmykia.
The desert finally starts. With plenty of tumbleweeds - unfortunately didn't capture any as they tumbled across the road while driving,
Not quite sure which predator that was that left it's mark in the sand...
At this point we started looking for a suitable spot to leave the road for some sand driving...
One of our vehicles was built to withstand dune jumping and we had permission to do so but as the overall journey still had thousands of km to go and the nearest certified dealer was also thousands of km away we resisted the temptation. Would have been fun 😉
Did leave a mark in the desert, though...
Approaching Artezian, the place of origin of Artesian wells, the Kalmykian part of the journey came to an end.
The final Kalmykian to wave us goodbye 👋🏻🐈
This message has been edited by India Whiskey Charlie on 2025-09-25 13:50:49
Kalmykia is the only officially Buddhist republic in Europe, and one of the rare places on the continent featuring sand dunes and camels as common domestic animals. Given its arid nature it is relatively sparsely populated, with about 275k inhabitants spread over a geographical area comparable to the Czech Republic. Economically it's a combination of some agriculture (although more difficult since the desrtification after WW2 due to ambitious goals for sheep production leading to overgrazing), as well as oil and gas exploration.
I will start the journey in Elista, the capital of the republic. A relatively small town, it still boasts Europe's largest Buddhist temple and a handful of other surprises.
Kicking things off in the morning you see the steppes / desert straight from the hotel.
The hotel is also placed next to some villas, one of which belongs to former US actor Steven Seagal (some might remember him). It was a present from the then president Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov. Steven seemed not to be in residence, though. What you also see in the picture is frost on the ground - it might be desert and it has the hottest place in all of Russia (top temperature of 45 degrees Celsius) but in winter it freezes.
An old school Kalmyk cavalryman... like in many places of the former Soviet Union such large scale wall paintings are common.
Elista is also home to the Exodus Museum - as a punishment for collaborating with the Germans in WW2 the Kalmyk population was exiled to Siberia and the Far East between 1944 and 1957, when a return was permitted by Khruschev.
The gentleman in the picture is the above mentioned Kirsan. A chess aficionado (and president of the world chess federation till 2018), he made Elista the world capital of chess, with several world championships carried out there (in spite of the city not having an airport), and chess being taught as an obligatory subject in elementary schools. He was a man of many a grandiose idea, including becoming the center for shipping cars into Russia, in spite of the republic not having a single port - details, details... Finally he had to leave, due to squandering too much of the republic's resources on chess.
The museum, housed in a railroad wagon, contains some elements of traditional Kalmyk life...
And the slogan, 'Repressed but not broken'.
What Kalmykia is additionally famous for is the saigak antelope (the same as in Kazakhstan), which is a protected species here. Unfortunately there was not enough time to see them in the wild, so a wall painting will have to do.
The rest of Elista is made up of smaller residential buildings, likewise with frost all around.
And then there is the monumental Buddhist temple. It is a sight to behold!
The skies are vast and the plains appear endless.
The area closer to Elista appeas to be the more fertile one, with some light agriculture and a smidgeon of natural vegetaition around the road.
Is that a mirage? Fata morgana?
Actually, it is one of quite some shallow lakes in the area, however surprising they may be in the arid context.
Some cows are to be found grazing, so the overgazing of decades past has not fully deterred animal husbandry yet.
Using a drone for an elevated shot one can see the landscape somewhat better.
Including the mentioned lakes.
And natural vegetation, before driving deeper into the desert region.
Not a believer in little green men but the contrails in the skies certainly have an interesting shape.
As mentioned previously, Buddhism is the state religion (only place in Europe; actually most Kalmyks that have fled the Soviet Union after the Reds bested the Whites in the 1920s went to Belgrade (go figure) and built a Buddhist temple there; never made it to state religion, though). So for those of you not reading Cyrillic, it says 'Om mani badme hum'.
With some associated sheep, working on keeping the grasses short (and not yet fully succeeding).
Same slogan, different perspective.
Small town Kalmykia is usually formed of single story buildings organized into little hamlets or villages.
Just before getting to the desert, there is a small final patch of agricultural land...
And then the start of the desert...
Gradually getting there...
The village should have had camels but they were not visible from the main road...
The final village before the desert is Komsomolskiy, and the name and the Buddhist welcome sign form a strange juxtaposition but then nothing is fully conventional in Kalmykia.
The desert finally starts. With plenty of tumbleweeds - unfortunately didn't capture any as they tumbled across the road while driving,
Not quite sure which predator that was that left it's mark in the sand...
At this point we started looking for a suitable spot to leave the road for some sand driving...
One of our vehicles was built to withstand dune jumping and we had permission to do so but as the overall journey still had thousands of km to go and the nearest certified dealer was also thousands of km away we resisted the temptation. Would have been fun 😉
Did leave a mark in the desert, though...
Approaching Artezian, the place of origin of Artesian wells, the Kalmykian part of the journey came to an end.
The final Kalmykian to wave us goodbye 👋🏻🐈
Hope you enjoyed the trip! As far as driving adventures go, this one is not one for the rally minded (unless you really manage to get into the dunes) but the roads do allow for swift passage and the nature is fascinating, as is the history and strangeness of the place. Might be difficult to get to these days (unless you are a pal of Steven Seagal) but surely worth it at some point!
This message has been edited by India Whiskey Charlie on 2025-09-25 13:50:49
Once upon a time in the East - sand dunes, camels, buddhism, chess and Steven Seagal aka must be Kalmykia ♟️🐪⛩️
As several members have expressed interest in continuing with some less commonly chosen road trip itinenraries, here's another one - Kalmykia (previous ones can be found here: Lake Baikal: www.watchprosite.com Dagestan: www.watchprosite.com Sakhalin: www....
Rarely I have to look up a place on a map, but even never heard of the region
Thx once more to share these pictures and the information with us. As always fascinating to read. Dirk
Glad you enjoyed it, Dirk 😊👍🏻🙏🏻
Time for some fresh ones but that would require a different car first 🤷🏻♂️ Still, nice looking back at some of the more exciting past road trips 👍🏻
I know someone…
Who drove to the Arctic Ocean in a Jaguar XF (on a seasonal ice road) - so everything is possible, on one wants 😉
Fascinating journey that seems to have been through a place I had never heard of, as they say every day a learning day.
Oh and by the way the predators tracks you couldn't identify, that would be from those little green men you have yet to meet. Marc
What a travelogue!
But then, you have spoiled us with raising the standard here by orders of magnitude 👏🙂. Very interesting and insightful commentary 😎👍
Glad you enjoyed it, Filip 😊👍🏻🙏🏻
And thanks for the kind words 🙏🏻 If you want me to expand on let me know 👍🏻
Any travelogue that in one breath....
Presents one of Steven Segal's residences, and then a group of people who decided to move to Belgrade is bound to be something to behold! 😁
Actually most left in 1944 and the temple closed in 1950
Here’s a link with more details: sacuvajmozelenuzvezdaru.org / The story is quite fascinating. The temple was only the second Buddhist temple in Europe, after the on in St. Petersburg and the Japanese ambassador to Romania helped source a bronze Buddh...
Wow!
That goes a long way to explaining why, myself having been born in December '84, never really learned the details of that sequence of events.... Truly illuminating! Cheers, Filip
History is an exciting thing 😁
Had I not checked up before writing the post yesterday I would not have known it, either 😉
I honestly wonder....
if even my mother, born November 1956, would know of these facts! Thanks again, Filip
I guess your grandparents might…
The Kalmyks were quite fascinating to the locals back in the day, as it was the first time they got in contact with very different looking neighbors for the first time.
I am way older than Filip's mother?
Wow (he said, grasping his cane and tottering down the driveway to yell at the kids playing in the street). I never heard of this place either but I do have a friend who has spent the last 25 years in Kyrgystan... which must be in the general vicinity, pe...
One is only as old as one feels 😁
And driving both a 2CV and a Lotus Elan is a fountain of eternal youth 😉🦾 As for the route, here’s the most direct one. I would perhaps choose a more meandering one, adding Astrakhan, some more things in Kazakhstan (such as the space port Baikonur, Turkes...
Wide is my Motherland, Of her many forests, fields, and rivers! I know of no other country Where a man can breathe so freely (Song)
Not the most tourist route even among Russians ps. Have you been to Kamchatka yet?
Unfortunately not 🤷🏻♂️
Kamchatka and Chukotka still missing. But did much of the rest 😊👍🏻 (there are links to some others in the post on top). Still some to post, though (Magadan to Yakutsk for instance, or crossing the Urals from Khanti Manssiysk to Yekaterinburg, then Arkhang...
It was on the cards but then I had to leave in March 2022 🤷🏻♂️
But was definitely on the list 👍🏻🤷🏻♂️ Amongst the most interesting places. Was difficult to convince business partners to get into a Mi-8 though 😂
Wow, thank you for that!
So many shots and info on a place I knew virtually nothing about and will likely have no chance to visit !
Glad you enjoyed it - the world is still full of places not on the tourist trail 😊👍🏻
Who knows, maybe one day it will become simpler 🤞🏻
Thanks you - and glad that you liked it! Several more on the cards…
And by then hopefully there will be new journeys to add 😊👍🏻
Always more places to see (as the decades go by, countries open and close like petals on a flower)
Thank you We have been fortunate to see much of the world and you keep showing us there's much, much more. Mike ...
What amazing looking adventures 👌🏻🙌🏻🌏
Thanks for joining in with some truly enticing pictures, Mike! As you say, there’s always so much more to see, it remains an endless quest 👍🏻 Really like the church spire between high rises and of course all your 2CV adventures 👌🏻
Sure thing! Glad you enjoyed the journey - has been quite an adventure indeed 😊👍🏻
Love traveling along the road less taken 😉