Back in the USSR...

2nd of July we headed back into Russia @ 17950 kilometers - arriving at the border near Ulan Ude, Lake Baikal. Finally left 17th July @ 25933 kilometers - on a ferry that sailed out of Socci across the black sea to Trabonz in Turkey. ( That's 7983 kilometers in 2 weeks)

Due to the very complicated registration procedure, it was a primary concern to get ourselves checked into a hotel that could get that done for us within the first 3 days & we managed to get across to Irkutsk on our 2nd day to do just that. It was a very average soviet era hotel - read amazing lobby - shabby rooms - but the town had a very pleasant Bavarian beer hall - joy! - where we were served by a cute russian girl in pigtails & wench outfit who could speak perfect english & gave us an english menu (!!! how we missed such a thing) We got stuck into some fine lager & massive plateful of sauerkraut with various sausages, yum. At this point we were very optimistic about our return journey through Russia....

The next day saw the first of many hardcore driving days and rubbish roadside camps, in this case we started the day driving at 9.45 and didn't get to camp up till 1.40 am.
The day after we were away at 10.00, Adam drove all day, covering an amazing 771 kilometers. Most of camp spots are given names and this one has quite a descriptive name i think, Camp "Off linkroad mosquito sauna hell". It was still 28 degrees plus at 23.24pm and the car was literally being bombarded by mozzies so badly that we could not have nay of the windows open at all for fear of being eaten alive! We lay in the back of the landy that night and in our journal we each created a fantasy menu. The only condition was that it was on a Sunday afternoon at 3.40 and we had to choose quickly before it shut!!(Bearing in mind that for some time now our meals have mainly consisted of bread & cheese triangles for both lunch & dinner & if luck a packet of crisps!)

Adam

• 4 Cans Coppaberg cider (2 pear & 2 mixed fruit)
• fruit & nut toblerone
• real macoy salt&vinegar crisps
• smoked salmon
• tiger loaf bread
• wasabi mayonnasie
• lemon cashew & maccadamia nuts

Vicky

• 1 bottle castillero del diablo red wine
• taste the difference cannelonni
• tiger loaf bread
• salted butter

A few more days of monotonous driving followed, then as we were cruising along one afternoon we came across The biggest helicopter i have ever seen. I mean this thing was huge, the nearest i can compare it to would be a chinook chopper. N55 03.445, E82 11.334. Russian people being so very nationalistic we pulling over to pose with this beast, parked up about 0.5 k away from an army base. Adam took some great pictures of it.

The next day was probably our 2nd longest driving day ever in terms of mileage - we covered 964 kilometers that day. We had now taken to camping up at night in the many Truck parks that dot the motorways in Russia. Not glamorous but cheap & secure, often with a little cafe & a toilet that you wouldn't send your worst enemy in to use.
At one point on this epic journey across the worlds largest country, Adam decided to enter home as the destination on the SatNav - a mere 56 hours and 4305 kilometers! Think we were both pining for home a bit that day!

Considering that i was forced under duress to confess my traffic misdemeanours i shall mention that Adam got stopped twice in 3 days - once for doing a whopping 86 in a 50 zone, let off with a warning on this occasion. And a 2nd time for undisclosed (by him) speeding violation, caught both times by speed trap. Again no fine. :o)

It is well known that Friday the 13th is Unlucky but i think for us Monday the 13th is from now on going to represent Lucky. Let me tell you about our day.
It began when we woke up dirty & hungry in yet another truck park. We were packing up the car when a guy wandered over chatting on his mobile phone, gold teeth glinting in the sun. I assumed he was one of the Truck drivers and said good morning to him. He finished his call and came over chatting away in Russian - asking about the Maschine - car, and where we were from etc. He seemed amiable enough and when he asked if we wanted a coffee with him - no roubles no roubles - we agreed. What a great decision.

It turned out that Akhmet was the owner of the place and we were given mugs of steaming hot, sweet coffee. It had been a very long time since we had started the day in such a pleasant way. He offered us some food, which we were happy to accept and when a plate with fried eggs and sliced tomatoes arrived with a basket of bread we tucked in with great gusto. A fresh gerkin was picked off the tree behind us to complimet our breakfast, mmm crunchy. We were having such a lovely time & were surprised when our host presented us with bowls of hot goat stew and cracked open a beer for he & i to share. Poor Ads Driver as always had to refuse the beer - and it was such a hot day too, the hottest since our day in the gobi - i know he was quite envious!

After brunch Akhmed dissappeared for a minute, then came back with an a4 brochure in a cellophane envelope. It was at this point that we learned that he was actually from Chechnya not Russia, and he wanted to show us this booklet about the construction of a Mosque in honour of the assasinated first president of Chechnya Akhmad Kadyrov. It was really great with loads of colour pictures and descriptions and passages in english. It is the largest Mosque in europe and can hold up to 10,000 worshipers. When i went to hand it back to him, he refused and gave it to me as a gift. :oD How cool!!!
He then insisted that we come down to the lake for a swim, we were unsure as we had already spent a lot of time there and needed to head off but when we got down to the lake we decided that we were pretty grubby and maybe a dip wouldn't be such a bad idea. So we washed with the lorry drivers in the river, Ad had a shave for the first time in about 2 weeks & we were given a loofa to get scrubbing with too. We washed some of our clothes and felt a millions times better and so refreshed. When it came time to leave i think we were all genuinely a bit sad having made friends & we gave Akhmed a small gift of a Zippo lighter with which he was very pleased. We took a few pics, i'm holding the brochure about the Mosque and the reason why i'm grinning so much is that with the headscarf on he said i looked like a chechnyan lady - he wanted me to stay behind i htink and adam said maybe i could be his new wife. We all thought that was hilarious as you can see from the pictures.

As i have been rambling on for quite a bit i shall skip on to our final few days in Russia, spent in the port town of Socci. We arrived here early evening on the 14th july in a big thunderstorm & headed straight to the information office to find out when we could expect to get a ferry over to Trabonz. The lady in true russian style was rude, abbrupt, non english speaking and fairly unhelpful. No ferry. Storm. No ferry.
We parked up that night in a layby & were pretty miserable, having driven so far in such a short space of time to get to our destination, only to be stumped at the finishing post. Still tomorrow's another day & all that, so early the next day we headed back down to the ticket booth to try to find out some more information. Adam had gone off to look for someone to help us when i was approached by the port police who wanted to know what i was doing. I explained in by best russian what i was up to & was surprised when they offered to help us. We were taken over to a travel agent where a lady who could speak english came back to the ticket office to help us with our purchase. We were told that if we came back the following day at 10.00 we could buy a ticket for the ferry and it would sail that day at around 6pm. Happy days.
We spent a pleasant day around socci taking silly tourist snaps and having a nice time, headed back to our layby for the evening & set the alarm nice and early. 16th july arrived down the ticket office nice & early - 9.30, and there was a bit of a queue already. When the office opened there was alot of pushing & shoving to get in to the little booth, at which point some of the port police arrived. Not the charming gentlemen from the day before, these chaps were very stern and began demanding to see people's passprts. At this point i knew we would be in a bit of bother. As i mentioned earlier, Russia has a very complicated & strict registration policy when it comes to foreigners & after our first stay in a hotel, we only managed to stay in one other hotel in Tomsk when we met our Armenian kebab shop owner. So i knew we hadn't followed the rules as strictly as perhaps we should have done. Anyway we were dragged aside along with some Belgian guys whose paperwork wasn't in order & asked why when our visas say Samara on them that we had registered in Irkutsk. This guy was seriuos and i could tell from the offset that even Adam wasn't going to be able to talk us out of this one!
Problem Problem he kept saying and it transpired that we had to go back to his office to fill out the paperwork for the fine of 1500 rbls each. Bleugh! On the long walk back to the office he stopped for a fag and casually informed us that the ferry was full for cars today anyway and that we wouldn't be able to sail.
Let me say it took a lot to hold myself together at this piont. Our aim had been to be in Turkey for my birthday on the 20th, & with the ferry crossing taking an estimated 14 hours i could see time ticking away and felt pretty low.
When we got outside his office things took a slightly more positive turn and managed to get away with a bribe of just 1000rbl in total. We ran back to the ticket office and waited all afternoon for an english speaking agent who arrived at gone 6pm to inform us that we could buy a ticket from him but that the boat wouldn't sail till the next day.
Back to the layby.
On the 17th july we went back to meet the agent as arranged at 10.00am to try to work out where we would actually board the ferry - and we finally boarded at 11.40pm, an 11 hour crossing hwich would see us in Turkey the next morning 18th july.

So relieved to finally have left, i don't think either of us will be Back in the USSR anytime soon!!!