I woke up early to pack my suitcase, hoping to leave around 10:30 AM. However, Anna suggested waiting so we could all leave together. In the end, I left at 11:30 AM, taking about an hour to cross the city. The weather had been good for the past two days, but today, the rain made its presence felt again.

Out of fuel

Just past the city limits, with only 260 km left to my destination, I stopped to refuel. Unfortunately, about 20 km from Elista, I ran out of petrol. It was my fault for not filling up earlier or keeping fuel in my emergency jerry can. To make matters worse, the petrol stations I found after my reserve light came on only had diesel or LPG, or were closed.

The night was falling, and the rain hadn’t stopped. I managed to send a message to my host, Aita, about my situation, but I couldn’t share my location due to poor signal coverage. Additionally, my SIM card wasn’t working properly, making things even more difficult. After about 20 minutes of waving on the roadside, a car finally stopped. The driver was kind enough to siphon about 10 liters of petrol from his tank. I offered to refill it for him, but he refused and drove off.

A few kilometers ahead, I passed two more petrol stations. One was only for diesel and the other was completely closed. When I finally reached Elista, my phone regained signal. I saw that Aita had gone out looking for me, and we had unknowingly crossed paths on the road. He had turned back to find me, but since I had stopped to refuel, he missed me and was waiting further down the road.

A warm welcome in Elista

Once I met up with Aita, he took me to his home for dinner with his family. Later, we headed to the House Club of the Steppe Brotherhood Elista, a local biker gathering spot, for a few drinks. There, I met Sasha, Kolia, Nikolai, and Valeriy. It was a great opportunity to connect with the local biker community.

Afterward, we returned to Aita’s house, where another new friend, Andrei, met us. We had another drink before finally going to bed around 2:00 AM. It had been over 15 days since I last rode my motorcycle, and I had almost forgotten how reckless the driving could be in this region. Earlier in the day, a truck had overtaken me on the right in a construction zone, nearly hitting both me and another truck driving on the hard shoulder.

A unique Buddhist city

The next morning, the family woke up early, preventing me from sleeping properly. Aita invited me to explore the city with him, including a visit to the Golden Abode of the Buddha Shakyamuni, the largest Buddhist temple in Russia and one of the biggest in Europe and Central Asia. The temple, adorned with golden roofs and intricate statues, is a key spiritual and cultural landmark for Kalmykia’s Buddhist community. However, when I looked up information about it, I found conflicting claims about whether it truly was the largest Buddhist temple in the region.

We continued to the Kalmykia History Museum, which provided a deep dive into the region’s unique culture and heritage. Kalmykia is the only Buddhist-majority region in Europe, and its history is a blend of Mongol, Russian, and steppe traditions.

A stop at Chess City

After the museum, we visited Chess City, an unusual district built specifically for the 1998 Chess Olympiad. It consists of a chess-themed complex with a grand tournament hall and several modern buildings. Kalmykia’s former president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, was a major chess enthusiast and heavily promoted the game, making Elista a surprising hub for international chess.

For lunch, we had borsok, a traditional fried bread, accompanied by a soup made from entrails, a typical dish in the region.

Strolling through the parks

In the afternoon, we walked through the Semi Dney pagoda to the park behing it. From there, we continued to the Eternal Flame, a war memorial honoring those who died in World War II. Further along, we reached a children’s park, a lively spot filled with families and laughter.

We returned home for a nap, but I couldn’t get any rest because the children wanted to watch TV. Later in the day, Aita came back, and I ended up playing chess with Adam, his eldest son. Unlike my last game against a child, which I had embarrassingly lost, I won twice and a bit of self-satisfaction overwelmed me.

After dinner, we went to bed around 10:00 PM to prepare for an early departure the next day. Our next stop would be the home of Aita’s friend, who lived on the outskirts of Khasavyurt.