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Off we go - 89 yo Yelena on a trip to Vietnam. Picture: TRK7/The Siberian Times
Yelena Yerkhova is just back from a solo trip to Vietnam where she rode a bike, splashed in the sea and explored local cuisine. She doesn't speak English, but it didn't stop the Siberian adventurer from getting herself exposed to new cultures and making friends.
Two female tourists from Moscow noticed her as she was trying to explain to a Vietnamese waiter that her dinner was too spicy.
They volunteered to help and got so taken by her story that they posted about the round the world babushka (grandmother) on social networks.
Since then her story has captivated Russians.
Yekaterina Papina, one of the Muscovite tourists, said the daring pensioner wasn't scared by a stormy sea and went for a swim.
'Me and my friend went into the sea with her, holding each one of her hands so that she wasn't knocked over by waves. She wouldn't have managed to swim on her own,' said Yekaterina.
Yelena with her Russian friends and alone on a trip to Vietnam. Pictures: TRK7/The Siberian Times
The story about Yelena went viral on Russian Facebook, prompting interest from a TV channel in her native Krasnoyarsk.
'I feel like I've just started to live,' she told TRK7 TV channel. 'I lost both my parents when I was three, Then, when the WWII started I was 14.
'I spent my young years working at the front, then had a miserable marriage, left my husband and kept working ever since. It was like I saw nothing, and suddenly the whole world has opened up for me.'
Yelena was born 1927 and went abroad when she turned 83. Picture: TRK7/The Siberian Times
If it wasn't for her girlfriends, she wouldn't dare to leave Siberia, Yelena said.
Her first foreign trip was to the Czech Republic which she enjoyed so much that she came back four more times. Then she branched out to Germany, Turkey, Poland and Vietnam.
Yelena travels twice a year, saving her pension to afford the trips.
Tour manager Yevgeny Yevtikhov who usually makes her next booking said he never seen a senior so eager to explore the world.
'This is my eighth year in tourism, and Yelena is certainly my first and only client who has enough stamina to go for destinations up to 7,000 km away from Siberia,' he said.
'There are no limitations from our side, we just have to make sure she has a special insurance cover.'
She is my first and only client who has enough stamina to go for destinations up to 7,000 km away from Siberia. Pictures: TRK7/The Siberian Times
Yelena will turn 90 in April, and right now she is on way to her next destination. This time it is Israel.
This is what Domodedovo airport in Moscow where she stopped over en route to Israel posted earlier today:
'An infamous grandmother Lena visited us! She is 89 years old and a secret of her incredible stamina is that she never stops going.'
Shalom! Yelena pictured earlier today transiting through Domodevo airport in Moscow. Picture: dme.aero
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Stay healthy and mayyou travel the rest of your life