We've made it!! 25,000km since London and we're finally here. Both just a little tired of sitting in the car, so we will enjoy a few days break in Vladivostok while we get the car sorted and shipped to Australia. It will be quite a change travelling by bus and train through China!
It's been a long, long drive from Moscow. Like Australia there's hundreds of kilometres of the same!... But we're glad we've accomplished it. We have been pleasantly surprised by the very few issues that we've had. Apart from a few exhaust welds that we've needed along the way, the car has held up very well. No flat tyre at all for the whole trip! And personally, apart from a few minor complaints, we're doing well too!
Russia is definitely not the dangerous place it's made out to be. Follow the rules, be polite and no one will bother you!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Chita to Khabarovsk
Distance: 2165km
This was the part of the trip that I had been dreading. From what we'd read, there was an 810km stretch that was unfinished, with large rocks and mud. Turns out the Russians have been busy as this stretch was the best we've had in Russia. Brand new, tarred road. They were still painting the white lines. There was only about 20km of gravel. A few hundred kms out of Chita there was a big party marquee tent and a map showing how much of the road was completed. We got out, took a photo of the sign, had a brief chat with one of the guys there, but then the boss came over and shooed us away. We have since learned that Putin was not far behind us, which explains why there was a marquee, and they were still working at 9pm... and why we had trouble finding accommodation in Khabarovsk and Chita. In Khabarovs, the Check-in process for the third-rate hotel we ended up finding was quite lengthy, she had to make a phone call because she was concerned we hadn't registered our visas for almost a week, and needed to see all our hotel registrations. Wehadn't had that anywhere else. Once you're checked in we got a hotel card, then had to go up 2 flights of stairs to get the key to the room... odd...
So, the fact that we've had a better run than we thought we would, is good for the car and good for our backs, but, may now have had the few extra days in Mongolia, ah well.
Not much to report otherwise on this stretch... lots and lots of forest, lots of random people popping out of the forest or just standing next to the road in what seems to be the middle of nowhere.
The approach to Khabarovsk is really pretty, lots of wetland, stalls on the side of the road selling fruit and veg... and we had a nice sunset... long bridge across the Amur River into town
This was the part of the trip that I had been dreading. From what we'd read, there was an 810km stretch that was unfinished, with large rocks and mud. Turns out the Russians have been busy as this stretch was the best we've had in Russia. Brand new, tarred road. They were still painting the white lines. There was only about 20km of gravel. A few hundred kms out of Chita there was a big party marquee tent and a map showing how much of the road was completed. We got out, took a photo of the sign, had a brief chat with one of the guys there, but then the boss came over and shooed us away. We have since learned that Putin was not far behind us, which explains why there was a marquee, and they were still working at 9pm... and why we had trouble finding accommodation in Khabarovsk and Chita. In Khabarovs, the Check-in process for the third-rate hotel we ended up finding was quite lengthy, she had to make a phone call because she was concerned we hadn't registered our visas for almost a week, and needed to see all our hotel registrations. Wehadn't had that anywhere else. Once you're checked in we got a hotel card, then had to go up 2 flights of stairs to get the key to the room... odd...
So, the fact that we've had a better run than we thought we would, is good for the car and good for our backs, but, may now have had the few extra days in Mongolia, ah well.
Not much to report otherwise on this stretch... lots and lots of forest, lots of random people popping out of the forest or just standing next to the road in what seems to be the middle of nowhere.
The approach to Khabarovsk is really pretty, lots of wetland, stalls on the side of the road selling fruit and veg... and we had a nice sunset... long bridge across the Amur River into town
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Irkutsk to Chita
Distance: 1206km
Had a cruisy start to the morning in Irkutsk, loaded some photos to facebook, enjoyed the breakfast buffet, complete with Vodka Orange! On the way out of town accidently ended up heading down a bus only street and inevitably got pulled up. Got away with it because the policeman eventually got fed up with us not being able to speak much Russian and being non-plussed when he went to put Matt's drivers licence in his coat pocket.
From Irkutsk the scenery really starts to improve, much less industry spoiling the landscape. We drove around the bottom of Lake Baikal, which, to use a phrase from Gavin and Stacey which we have just finished watching from start to finish, hilarious, is 'immense'! More like a sea than a lake. Unfortunately it was a bit overcast and very windy and cold so didn't go in for a dip, and didn't get much of a sunset.
There's still very little tourist development around this area of the lake, and there's a large area of nature reserve so was difficult to find somewhere to camp. We ended up staying in a basic soviet-era hotel near Babushkin, a couple of kilometres off the main road. It was 1740 for the room plus 100 for parking, so wasn't expecting much. Pleasantly surprised that we had an ensuite bathroom, with a cast iron bath, though the cold water wouldn't stop running so had to turn it off at the tap. 2 single beds that we could fee the springs of the mattress through, and a full-sized fridge. So, basic, but did the job. It was a nice little area with quite a few jetties, stalls selling birch bark boxes, a few kiosks, but getting into the hotel carpark was more like getting into Fort Knox! Least we knew the car was secure.
Had to get some yet more welding on the exhaust done, rear muffler mount, then had to get some brake pads replaced in Ulan Ude... Fingers crossed that's the end of the car complaints, though that split in the tyre wall from Morocco has gotten a touch bigger....
On the way to Ulan Ude, we took a bit of a detour off the main road to stay along the lake shore for a while longer. Glad we did, the villages along this route were really pretty and well-kept, and there was a great long sandy spit where people were fishing and kite surfing, just a pity it was so windy!
Just South of Ulan Ude the scenery was absolutely beautiful, lush, green rolling hills, meandering rivers, really really pretty.
Saw lots of overloaded vans on the way to Chita. The roads have a pretty good surface but are pretty bouncy, even the new bits! There was no room at the inn in Chita, so we had a nice meal in a Kafe with old wooden benches which was quite nice, but then started the trek out of town towards Khabarovsk, and the unknown quality of roads!
Went to the Supermarket to stock up on a few supplies, but found it quite difficult to find much veg and meat, and the food markets had all closed for the day... So for the next couple of days we're eating some kind of frozen rissole things and tuna pasta. Can't wait for a change of food in China!
Had a cruisy start to the morning in Irkutsk, loaded some photos to facebook, enjoyed the breakfast buffet, complete with Vodka Orange! On the way out of town accidently ended up heading down a bus only street and inevitably got pulled up. Got away with it because the policeman eventually got fed up with us not being able to speak much Russian and being non-plussed when he went to put Matt's drivers licence in his coat pocket.
From Irkutsk the scenery really starts to improve, much less industry spoiling the landscape. We drove around the bottom of Lake Baikal, which, to use a phrase from Gavin and Stacey which we have just finished watching from start to finish, hilarious, is 'immense'! More like a sea than a lake. Unfortunately it was a bit overcast and very windy and cold so didn't go in for a dip, and didn't get much of a sunset.
There's still very little tourist development around this area of the lake, and there's a large area of nature reserve so was difficult to find somewhere to camp. We ended up staying in a basic soviet-era hotel near Babushkin, a couple of kilometres off the main road. It was 1740 for the room plus 100 for parking, so wasn't expecting much. Pleasantly surprised that we had an ensuite bathroom, with a cast iron bath, though the cold water wouldn't stop running so had to turn it off at the tap. 2 single beds that we could fee the springs of the mattress through, and a full-sized fridge. So, basic, but did the job. It was a nice little area with quite a few jetties, stalls selling birch bark boxes, a few kiosks, but getting into the hotel carpark was more like getting into Fort Knox! Least we knew the car was secure.
Had to get some yet more welding on the exhaust done, rear muffler mount, then had to get some brake pads replaced in Ulan Ude... Fingers crossed that's the end of the car complaints, though that split in the tyre wall from Morocco has gotten a touch bigger....
On the way to Ulan Ude, we took a bit of a detour off the main road to stay along the lake shore for a while longer. Glad we did, the villages along this route were really pretty and well-kept, and there was a great long sandy spit where people were fishing and kite surfing, just a pity it was so windy!
Just South of Ulan Ude the scenery was absolutely beautiful, lush, green rolling hills, meandering rivers, really really pretty.
Saw lots of overloaded vans on the way to Chita. The roads have a pretty good surface but are pretty bouncy, even the new bits! There was no room at the inn in Chita, so we had a nice meal in a Kafe with old wooden benches which was quite nice, but then started the trek out of town towards Khabarovsk, and the unknown quality of roads!
Went to the Supermarket to stock up on a few supplies, but found it quite difficult to find much veg and meat, and the food markets had all closed for the day... So for the next couple of days we're eating some kind of frozen rissole things and tuna pasta. Can't wait for a change of food in China!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Omsk to Irkutsk (via Tomsk)
Distance: 2673km
Starting to lose track of what time it is! Have crossed quite a few time zones, and are now at Moscow + 5 hours. We think! Lucky I'm keeping a diary or I would have no hope of knowing what day it is!
Officially in Siberia now. Lots of wetlands and marshes. So experiencing lots and lots of mosquitoes. Even just stopping for a quick loo stop you're likely to get bitten!! It is very flat. I think I was expecting more mountains. The traffic has started to thin a little bit, but the roads are definitely not what I would call quiet.
Where the M51 ends and the M53 starts near Novosobirsk, there were roadworks so we had to come off. But the detour wasn't very well sign-posted so ended up in the city and coming out the wrong road. We're working on 1cm = 15km map so didn't have much detail!. We ended up having to go cross country otherwise we would have had to take a further 150km detour to Kemerovo (we wanted to go to Tomsk, otherwise that wouldn't have been an issue). It was an 'interesting' drive, though not ideal at dusk and then dark... The road eventually thinned out to dirt and corrugations, with lots of potholes. About half-way we needed to ask directions on which road to take out of the town (which surprisingly given it's location had lots of high rises and quite heavily populated). Almost everyone was intoxicated! But friendly and willing to help. One wanted to get in the car to show us the way, but thankfully we don't have room!
Tomsk is a nice university town. There's a concentration of nicely refurbished wooden buildings and good places to eat and shop. Was a good place to have a break for an afternoon and we stayed overnight in a hotel to update our registration. We ate at a place near the hotel called Pastamama, and were a little surprised to see prices for Vodka and other spirits, not just per 100mL but also for the whole bottle! Although the road to Mineersk looked like a minor road on our map, it was pretty good. It was only gravel for about 20km, where there were also some nice, well-kept villages.
The road is getting progressively patchier. Some parts are great, others are none existent, particularly where the new road is being built. Quite muddy and rocky in places. Where the landcruiser overtakes all the little jap cars. Right-hand vs left-hand drive cars are now just as common as each other.Some other Overlanders - We usually see at least one other 'Overlander' a day. Usually they are sensibly doing the trek in the other direction.
Yekaterinburg to Omsk
Distance: 1086km
Not much to report on this leg of the journey! Lots of wheat farms, and again changeable road conditions. Roads were really good for the first few hundred kilometres from Yekaterinburg but then there were long bumpy and rocky stretches which were 50 zones. So some of it was quite slow going.Stoppe
d for some 'Maclo' (oil) to do the oil change and as we were pulling off noticed a bad noise from the exhust. Turns out a weld had come sheer off at the base of the extractors. It was Saturday (town day) so had trouble finding an open mechanic ('CTO'), but did eventually. Had some fun trying to have broken English/Russian conversations with a few of the locals while we waited.
d for some 'Maclo' (oil) to do the oil change and as we were pulling off noticed a bad noise from the exhust. Turns out a weld had come sheer off at the base of the extractors. It was Saturday (town day) so had trouble finding an open mechanic ('CTO'), but did eventually. Had some fun trying to have broken English/Russian conversations with a few of the locals while we waited.Have been eating mainly at Kafes on the way, preferably ones with at least a couple of trucks parked out front. We're starting to pick up a few words, but it can be hard to decipher the handwritten cryllic so often just point at something random on the menu!
Moscow to Yekaterinburg
Aug 17 to Aug 20 via Kazan and PermDistance: 1881km
We left the comforts of our hotel at approx 10am on Tuesday, heading East into the unknown. Weren't sure to what extent we would be impacted by the bushfires, it was hard to get exact locations of affected areas, only that the Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan regions were all alight to some extent. There was a lot of traffic heading out of Moscow so we didn't get very far very quickly. Stopped off to top up on some groceries. As we'd expected some items not as cheap as you might expect. In particular 1.5/2L bottles of water are around 25-30 Roubles, at least double what we had been paying through Europe.
We took the M7 and did see a lot of smoke, particular near Nizhny Novgorod, and quite a lot of smouldering embers and back burning. No raging fires in sight. So one area of concern now dealt with!
The quality of the roads vary considerably, and there is a lot of roadworks and towns to slow down for. The worst area would be between Kazan and Perm, the best between Kungur and Yekaterinburg. Though where the roads are good, there is also a much higher concentration of police!
Came across a group of cars from France who were on their way back having driven to Beijing. They had a total of about 60 cars, everything from Patrols, old jaguars and even motorhomes, with local guides for each section. Thought we were a bit crazy doing it on our own! Stopped at that cafe for a coffee... very very sweet, have since discovered that without milk the coffee is quite tasty.
First night we camped in truck parking for 70 Roubles. Locked gate so felt quite secure. Second night we bush camped, well attempted to bush camp on the road between Ishevsk and Igra. We pulled of the side of the road and down a little track. Were well hidden from the road with a field the other side. Cooked our dinner and set up the tent and went to sleep. Problem was, a couple of hours later I needed to get up to use 'the facilities' and could see a light coming over the field. Could swear it was a car and big torch coming directly for us. Had to wake Matt up and in the end we packed up and moved on... at 2am! In hindsight, the road probably curved around and it was just headlights I was seeing, or there are lots of oil rigs in the area, could have been lights from one of them. Drove about 1/2 an hour up the road to a truck area and tried to get some sleep in the car. Needless to say we didn't get much. Damn me and my paranoia! So we were very, very, very tired on arrival in Yekaterinburg, after 3 pretty full days of driving and a bad sleep. We tried to find camping on the outskirts of town, though "Kemping" or camping as we know it, is not camping. That or they didn't want foreigners, we got turned away. Ended up at the brand new Ramada Hotel on the road out to the airport. We were able to use their free wi-fi connection in the carpark outside the hotel to double check the rates, and this was one of the cheapest places in town at 4,500 Roubles. Good hotel, free parking and wi-fi and that rate includes taxes. The rates you initially see on hotels.com or other booking sites do not include taxes but get added on when you go to pay. The Ramada price was cheaper walking in than on booking sites.
In terms of touristy highlights. We stopped at a little town called Bogolyubovo just outside of Vladimir, where there is an old church quaintly positioned next to a river, and floodplain. Kazan's Kremlin is very pretty, with white-washed walls and beautiful church and Mosque. The town itself is also generally very pretty and much more well-kept than other places we have been. It is the capit
al of the Tatarstan Republic which we discovered held on to much of its autonomy during the soviet era so was able to keep much of its wealth internal. Around Ishevsk, Perm and Kurgan there are many prisons, very depressing looking places. Along with Siberia, a lot of political prisoners were sent to the Urals during Communist times. At Kurgan, there are some ice caves, that were quite interesting, and it was nice to get out of the car and have a bit of a walk! Entry is 300 Roubles each with a guided (Russian) tour. The guide seemed quite good, everyone was laughing and nodding... we caught the odd word. 
Had originally planned to spend 2 nights in Yekaterinburg, though the weather isn't great, so we saw some of the main sights, like the church of the blood and the site where the Romanovs were murdered, all by car then wandered the markets and the main street (Lenina) by foot and had a pizza for lunch. Was only 3:30 so decided to make a start on the next day's driving.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Terehova (Latvia) to Moscow
Aug 15-16
Distance: 619km
Crossing the border from Latvia, at Terehova near Zilupe, to Russia was a pretty painless exercise, but very very long. 8 hours in total.
We arrived in Zilupe mid afternoon hoping to buy the Russian car insurance before entering, turns out you can now only buy it at customs. [Once you are cleared through Latvian customs you can park and enter the building to purchase the insurance which cost us about 2300 Rubles. For vehicles up to 3.5 tonne, the premium is based on engine size]
We went to check out the queue at the border and while there were km and km of trucks waiting, there were very few cars, so after a couple of beers with some of the drivers we decided to head off somewhere to cook some dinner and try and get a couple of hours sleep. Our Russian visa didn't start til the next day.
That was a bit of a mistake! We got back to the border at 10pm Latvian/11pm Russian time and the queue had grown significantly. It seemed they were prioritising the trucks at this point, because our queue moved once after half an hour, about 6 spots up, then about 6 more after an hour and so on... 4 hours just to get to the front of the queue!
Border process
1) Once you pass the traffic light go up to the first booth and pick up a slip of paper which has a stamp of which number car you are through for the day. We were number 69. They had a computer which had hundres of licence plates and you have to identify which one is yours. Not sure where it got scanned, but the number plates seemed to be in order of arrival at the gate.
2) Shuffle up a bit further and go through Latvian passport control. Matt was able to take both passports up to the counter
3) Customs - Took a cursory look over the vehicle, in the boot. Didn't seem too concerned with us. Most other cars they even checked under the bonnet.
4) If needed, buy Russian auto insurance from the building at the Latvian customs. There are places to park once you've been cleared.
5) Drive up to the next booth where you need to hand back the slip you were given at the first booth.
You're now in no man's land!
6) First booth you come to you will need to show passport and pick up a migration card. Fill this out while you are waiting for a spot to be available at passport control
7) Passport control do a thorough check of the passport and the visa. They seemed to check that everything on the visa was exactly as per how it is written on the passport, so make sure there are no spelling mistakes on your visa!
8) 2 booths up is then customs. There is a form that needs to be completed, all in Cryllic. We were lucky that the Latvian driver in front of us was nice enough to translate the form for us. Still we had made a mistake but the border guard changed the form for us! We found all the border guards to be polite and helpful. All were interested in our journey. We experience none of the issues we were afraid of. Hopefully the process at the other end will be just as smooth.
The car got another cursory look, and the vehicle importation stamp and passports are double checked at stations on the way out (we had to wake one of them up, they'd fallen asleep - don't blame then) then we're in Russia!
The queue to get out of Russia looked just as long.
We took the M9 into Moscow, straight-forward enough. The road is very very bumpy though. Some big pot-holes and deep ruts from the trucks. The other thing to watch out for is the constantly changing speed limits, sometimes for no obvious reason. Being tired we missed that we'd just entered a town. Sure enough there were police waiting there. Smiley smiley but we did get fined. Paid about £4 and lesson learnt! We saw about 3 more checkpoints, got stopped at 1 as we entered the main motorway into Moscow near Volokolamsk. Just a routine check of drivers licence and insurance and we were on our way.
We stopped at a Kafe on the Motorway, looking out for one with plenty of trucks. Good hearty potato and meat stew and we were on out way. For those that are interested we did see a few camping grounds, mostly attached to a petrol station, but there were a couple that looked to be set up on a river and looked relatively decent.
Road conditions on the Motorway were great but the drivers got a bit crazier! We stayed near Izmailovo Park so took the ring road all the way around, huge big apartment blocks with crazy electricity cables going between them, big retail centres and one very space age looking building. 5 lane freeway all the way round - that's what the M25 needs to be!
Got to the Hotel (Izmailovo Vega) and just crashed. Including stops for fuel and a quick lunch it had taken us 10 hours to travel 600km. The restaurant at the hotel had exorbitant prices so we ate at Taverna nearby. Slept very very well.
While it is a bit hazy here, it is not very smokey. Apart from when the wind blew up a little bit we haven't been able to smell smoke at all.
We have only had one day to look around Moscow. The Red Square and Kremlin (St Basil's Cathedral is so unique and something really worth seeing) were obvious highlights, as were the pastries from the self-service supermarket in the GUM department store! We spent a few hours wandering through Arbat, Katay Gorad and Tverskoy. Ate to My-My (pronounced Moo-Moo) where the service is buffet-style and prices are really reasonable, it was recommended both by some people we met in Lithuania and Lonely Planet). We also stopped at a placed called Bar BQ in Tverskoy, only for a coffee, but the food there is also reasonably priced and look good. It is only a short walk to the Gallery.
Heading further East tomorrow. Would love to spend another few days in Moscow to explore the galleries, but am more keen to get going, want to know what's around the next corner! It also makes sense given we only have a 30 day visa to get to the other side and ship the car and Moscow is also expensive!
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