Tiny flowers and huge clouds of mosquitoes mark the arrival of summer. Already it is too hot, but it is still snowing. I find this weather extremely confusing.

Little has happened, but we do now have a primitive running water system! The cows go off every morning, goats roam the streets, and the forest is full of birdsong. One house in the village still flies a ragged hammer and sickle. I have seen a man suddenly pull down his trousers to pick off a tick, and another man showed me a small plastic bag in which he was storing ticks until the evening fire when he could burn them.

Red Bench celebrated its first birthday for the second year. I couldn’t quite work out why, but it was probably a branding exercise (see my videos below…). I went cycling through the forest (not the real wild taiga though according to the pale northern hippies) and cartwheeled, and went and helped in the village bakery. But in my excitement I fell off the bike and sprained my arm.

In the evening of the birthday, we took the red 60s hippy bus to the lake, all sitting cross-legged on the floor. We set fire to the driftwood and listened to psychedelic trance until the children started screaming to go home at 3am. It was cold and boring and my arm really hurt, but I did get to hear some amazing throat singing.

I am now abandoning the trans-Siberian route to go to the sacred waters and mountains of Altai.