Shipping day

Saturday, 30 July 2011

28 July Yekaterinberg


28 July Yekaerinberg
We have a two day stop off here to catch up on jobs and relax.
This morning we have a tour with our local guide whom is also called Veronika with a k. We go to the Church on Blood in the name of all Russian Saints. It is in town and has been built to symbolise repentance for the deaths of the Romonov Tsar family. This is the equivalent of the Russian Royal Family. They have now all been made saints. They were brutally murdered in the basement of a house they had been imprisoned in. There was no warning, they were just told to go to the basement as the army was approaching. There they were shot. But the women and girls had jewels sewn into their corsets and the bullets would not penetrate so they were beaten with rifle butts. The bodies were then  taken and dropped in a mine shaft and then moved again and butchered and dropped throughout the nearby forest.
No photos were allowed inside the church. Georgia and I had to wear scarves. They had these beautiful icons at the altar that were encased with large rings and pearls which had all been donated by believers. They believe that they have to suffer in order to get favours therefore they give their favourite pieces.

We then went to the forest where they have now built a monastery in the name of Saint Tsar Great Matyrs. There are 7 buildings here – one for each of the Romonovs. A lot of work has gone on and continues here but they seriously need to work on the toilets which were the most revolting on the whole trip yet. Maybe that is part of the suffering that they require for this religion. Very yuk. There are pits where I’m guessing the bodies were.
We stop at the souvenier shop and buy some books and postcards. Maurice tortures us with a CD of religious singing that he buys plays on the bus ride home. Everyone is too tired to walk the town today and we all retire to our rooms for the afternoon. George and I are gonna hit the sauna.





27 July Tyumen to Yekateringberg





Not too far to go today – just 400 odd kilometres. We moved another time zone yesterday so we are now 6 hours behind home. One day next week we move through two in one day and will lose 2 hours.
On the way out of Tyumen  we visit a monastery on the riverbank in town. It is truly beautiful. Through the old wooden gates is the brightest colourful flower gardens where the devoted are working hard. We have to don scarves for our visit today and we feel a bit like pirates but at least we fit in with the others. There are only a couple of worshippers inside –it didn’t feel right to take photos. They sold thin honey wax candles at the door for you to light inside. In the garden was the beehives where I guess they collect the wax.


The road sign says:
Yekaterinberg 190km
Moscow 2340km
St Petersburg 3045km
Nor far then….

26 July Omsk to Tyumen






600km today. We should be used to it but when we arrive at the hotel in Tyumen we are shattered. George and I order room service for dinner and chill for the night. Borsch, salad, cheese omelette, fries and pasta cabonara - what a feast. The boys hit the town but the power goes off and they end up having a romantic candlelit bbq dinner at a german restaurant.
For lunch we drove through a tiny lakeside village. We have noticed that when people take photos of each other here the women all pose like they are on porn shoots! Even nanas taking photos in fast food joints. When we left the tiny shop in the village there was another middle aged woman at it again – draping herself on the Landy – not cool. We turned around and waited for her departure. There was alsoa guy there who had a complete set of gold teeth - looked very shiny too! We then headed to the lakeside. As we were lunching a guy comes in on his blowup kayak with the days catch. About 6 fish in what looked like an eel net. He offered to share but we had eaten. We gave him a tea towel to give to his wife. He was very friendly and the boys chatted for a while.
In this village the water pipes are above ground – probably something to do with the freezing temps in winter – although they were not wrapped as we have seen in other villages.

Tuesday, 26 July 2011

Day 22 - 25 July Omsk


We escape……. George, Maurice and I decide that we are big kids now and drive all by ourselves to the shopping centres. We feel like we are very rebellious and only have to stop once to ask/gesticulate for instructions.  A successful day. Maurice finds a hat, I get some clean clothes and George gets a whole new wardrobe pretty much.
The landrover is going well – the only maintenance I have done is adding two cans of fuel cleaner. Gregs theory is “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” so as we are having no problems with performance we don’t need to use the layover day for vehicle fixing.
In the afternoon George and I wander down to the riverside to the Siberians equivalent of a beach. It is nice and hot but there is quite a bit of broken glass and cigarette butts in the sand. Almost everyone here smokes. After being at home where hardly anyone does anymore the smell is nauseous – especially when you are eating. They are cheap here – about $4 a pack. 


Day 21 - Novosibirsk to Omsk

Another big day of driving – 600+kms on good roads. We stop for a wee in the bushes and notice we are surrounded by redcurrants growing wild. Often we see people wandering by the roadside with buckets and now we know why.
We have passed quite a few bad accidents – unsurprising considering how some of them drive.  Today it is the remnants of a car and a large truck. There is only a smoking set of wheels and some car seats left from the mazda and the bottom half of the truck cab is missing. We all go quiet on the radios for a while.

Lunch is in a paddock through a small rural village. Each house has a gaggle of ducks and we notice they are dyed different colours - I geuss so that they can tell whose is whose. The kids look a bit bewildered that anyone has driven through their village...ever.

We arrive in Omsk and park next to a couple of bikes that are also touring. they leave a card on our truck the next morning when they leave. www.strimstrum.blogspot.com and ridersoftheowrld.co.uk


Dinner is at an irish pub just down the road. The menus are in Russian only with no pictures and the waitress speaks no emglish. So we resort to drawings. She knows what we want but they dont have burgers. We manage to get her to understand sausages and fries and we all get the sae to keep it easy. We take a walk after dinner to the watersedge. They have a lovelock bridge here. Apparently there are a few in Europe. Couples come with their engraved padlocks and lock them on the fence sealing their love. Gay.  



Monday, 25 July 2011

Day 20 - 23 July 2011 Novosibirsk

We hit the shops this morning. Georgia was desperate to buy some 3 inch heels so that she could fit in with the crowd here in Siberia. The boys talked us into catching a trolley bus to the zoo. We had our directions for the bus driver written on a piece of paper by the hotel concierge. Catch bus no 2, pay only 65 roubles for all of us. That’s about $3 for 5 people. It was not far to go and we were dumped at the entrance to the zoopark. Being a Saturday it was very busy with lots of families. I’ve never seen Auckland zoo as busy as this. The blurb said it was the biggest zoo in Siberia with 11,000 species. I reckon 10,000 of those were rats. Georgia had salmonella wrap for lunch and I had the pork worm kebab. The meat in both was grossly undercooked and I hope it doesn’t haunt us tomorrow. We see black grizzly bears and foxes which are unusual for us. But then they also had some cats in a cage and a St Bernard dog too so maybe they are unusual for them?

We caught the bus back. It was very full and we had to stand. The bus conductor came to get tickets and tried to squeeze past me. I’m not small but this lady was twice my size and it was a very uncomfortable suck in of the bellies, this delighted my rally buddies who sniggered and laughed the whole way home.


We took the cars to a car wash today. Unfortunately for the boys it was not the bikini clad babes cleaning as they were expecting/ hoping but young guys in shorts who did the best job ever! The cars were filthy but they took about 15 mins to clean the defender the cleanest I have ever seen it. Cost about $30 – not bad.

As I loaded some supplies in the truck in the hotel Sibir capark a car pulls up behind me and the window goes down. “Were you in Krasnoyarsk a couple of days ago?” he asks. Yep. “ Oh my god, I saw you guys – you’re from New Zealand? That’s so cool…… He was very excited although his girlfriend did not seem impressed at all.

Day 19 - 22 July 2011 Krasnoyarsk to Novosibirsk

Our longest day today. 860km drive – have been dreading this day but it is not too bad. Maurice drives for a couple of hours to give me a break. It takes us 13 hours including our 3 stops on the way. One of the stops for a cuppa is in a wildflower meadow. It looks beautiful and we all hop out and start up our gas cookers. Within seconds we are covered in large mosquitoes. We put on head mosquito nets and try to sip our brew through the mesh!
Whilst Maurie was driving I took photos of a few of the local vehicles….






Saturday, 23 July 2011

Day 18 - 20 July Tulun to Krasnoyarsk








A long drive of 710km today. It thundered and rained all night so the roads were a delight in the morning! It started straight away muddy bogholes of roads with Kami Kaze drivers. Stock asleep on the road and gangs of asian drivers delivering cars from Vladivostok to Moscow. They only have 4 months before the roads are impassable so they work in shifts to get there and then turn around and go back for more.
There hasn't been much police presence. The are checkpoints every couple of hundred kms or so but we are passed through easily. Probably can't be bothered with the paperwork. We do keep US$20 handy in case we are pulled over for some misdemeanor.
We stop 4 times for breaks. I am grateful to Andrew for downloading 400+ song for the ipod. A good song helps me stay awake!
We arrive in Krasnoyarsk about 8.30 and head to the riverside for dinner. We are closeish to Iran so tonight we try persian. We order drinks all round and 5 x beef meals. Our drinks come...... and then 5 beers on top as well! Obviously the beef was mistaken for beers so we try again for chicken - All good.



Thursday, 21 July 2011

Day 17 - 19 July 2011 Tulun 407km

GEORGIA:

The last of our days in Irkutsk, not such an early get up today, due to the fact that there is about nothing to do in Tulun, our next destination, so no point arriving at the hotel early! We departed at about  8:30. We made our way to the local petrol station to fuel up for our 407km cruise.

We have to work out how much fuel we would like to purchase before it goes in the tank.  So we worked out some money and Maurice and I made our way to the desk, and asked for a diesel fill up. 
We did not get a good first impression of 'The Dragon', she was a bit furious. Gave us a free water which we thought we had paid for so we refused to take it until the roars came out, we made an act to take it and leave!
I then received a receipt that you give the gas lady, she fills up our vehicle. 

They can’t resist not wearing high heels in Russia where ever they go.  So this chick  was wearing shitty overalls with some mint high heels? Not cool?

Filled our tank but we had some left over that we were either gonna put in the Jerry Cans or put the rest in Murray's truck.  So we did and the Russian chick understood us very well. Until this bloody Dragon comes out and has a massive roar at the gas lady, Dragon had realized that we were all chuckling at her tehe ^_^.  
The gas lady took it well and had smiles arrayed upon her face, The Dragon lady left. Then came back for a second time! She must have massive balls now, she scowled at one of us, she thought she was losing money and that her little gas chick was being too generous to us, she pulled a couple of faces and gave me a squint, not cool. I'ma waste her!

After de Petrol station we set of on the road!, we made a little stop at a cafĂ© almost half way to the hotel, we had numi foods, cold chicken , pickled veges and that! So numi right now, also with non recommended toilets, had a look, and a spew - not so good. Also meet some people from  Novosibirsk 4x4 club, they had just driven around lake Baikal, very noice people, they wanted to know a lot about our trip too, so map on car very handy to show. Also wanted a group photos with our group and theirs.

Set off on the road again, very noice senery, beautiful spots, with wild purple flowers, took a couple of photos very cool.

Arrived at hotel, shittiest one of all times, its alright though, had a walk around the little town, mainly for a patisserie for Murray and Ross - into their cakies a lot. We made a trip to the local super market, we have to buy dinner since there are no restaurants in the town where we are staying.  We had another numi feast just like lunch, fresh chicken legs, with numi bread swirls and some little coleslaws, and finished off with a banana and date cake thing, I no eat, because I avoid most fruity cakes! Blaaah

Found out there was a sauna! Yippee! So we asked the lady kindly to have a look, not  very big but good enough.  She had to turn it on so took about an hour to heat up. Ross paid for an hour for anyone to use so decided I would give it a try.  Even though I was to 'lala pants' to go in by myself with him! Spent 2 minutes and was sweating like a puppy, 84 degrees! Blaah. So we went in and out to the cold shower and back in, was very nice, and funny! I fink I might need to purchase yes.




Day 16 - 18 July 2011 Irkutsk Layover Day

We are all keen for a bit of shopping and wander down the hill to the markets. There is a chinese market with the same stuff as home markets. A fresh produce market and some large covered markets. Just like a supermarket but individual sellers sell the different things. Ie one sells cakes, one drinks, one pastas and rice etc.
There are some beautiful fur coats and jackets. We are looking for fur hats and maybe a blanket or a wolf skin. The shopkeepers are surly and seem to scowl. A few are friendly. Greg our guide says they soften up if you spend some time buttering them up – I can’t be bothered. Sell it to me or I walkout. Needless to say we don’t have our coveted furs……… yet. The boys go looking for a military market that has AK47s etc but can’t find it. Shame, we would have liked to have a look at that.


We have a lot of driving the next few days. One day is 800+km. But after each long driving day we have a layover day. 

Monday, 18 July 2011

Day 15 – 17 July – Ulan Ude to Irkurst

I woke up in the middle of night with my bed shaking from side to side. I dismissed it as ghosts and went back to sleep. But when we went down to breakfast everyone was talking about the 6.3 earthquake that happened in the middle of the night! George slept through it. There was minimal damage but it was only 10km deep.

We set off up into the hills today. Apparently these roads are all closed in winter or are at your own risk. Lake Baikal where we go for lunch is the worlds largest fresh water lake. It freezes in the -40c winter and trucks etc can drive directly over it.
As we get close we can smell smoked fish in the air. There are all these little stalls where individual people sell a few smoked fish direct from their gate.They smoke them at the roadside in drums. We buy a couple for lunch – they work out to about NZ$2.50 each. They are very tasty and flavorsome but have a gazillion little bones – hard work. We have also bought some fresh Russian bread, a salami, cheese and tomatoes for our lunch. We stop on the lake side and all the passengers have a swim. The drivers pull rank and refuse! It is amazingly smoggy for such an remote area.


It is Sunday afternoon so the roads get very busy as we head to Irkutsk. The stalls increase in number. Everyone selling their own specialty. Buckets of strawberries, bunches of branches for the sauna where they whip you with them. Some even sit out there with just one jar of blueberries. Not always outside their house, sometimes they are in the middle of nowhere. There must still be a lot of subsistence living here.
The roads are only good for about 4 months of the year. So all the transportation of goods including vehicle imports is in this time. There were gangs of drivers delivering imported cars from Japan driving flat out on the road. Apparently they work in shifts with 2 drivers. 4 hours on and 4 hours off. Then turn around and come back again.

Our hotel is beautiful. There is a market right behind it and we are keen for a layover day after driving all day today.