In the meantime I am working hard on the Kyrgyzstan drafts. We definitely have made a lot of pictures. Well I should say actually Larisa has made a lot of photos. It is hard to choose which ones to post as there are so many good ones.
On a good day my photographer made more than 500 photos a day. It is really a big asset to have such a good buddy! Thank you Larisa for the good photos!!!
Watch our updates here: http://www.expedition-east.be/?cat=6
In the meantime the Tajikistan section is complete. More updates can be found here http://www.expedition-east.be/?cat=4
I woke up first in our little room in the roadside hostel. We were just before Voronez and it was raining, again. This summer was definitely a pretty wet summer. I took a quick shower and woke Larisa. It was 7am and ready to move, we had still a lot of miles to do.
We got outside and immediately felt the cold outside. It was around 10 degrees, misty and raining. I could wish for better weather. We hit the asphalt and I had to ride with my visor open as it was damping all the time. We fueled up in Voronez and had some breakfast. Coffee and cheborek. My favourite cheborek, I will miss it!
We continued and the road was good but wet. The speed was good, around 140kph to 160kph and we advanced well. My rear TKC tyre was already well worn though. So I could not go too fast here.
We would go through the same city we came about 100 days ago, namely Donetsk in Russia. It is a town with a small but quick border crossing. We were still on the M4 when there was a huge traffic jam, I think at least 15 km. It was a good thing to be on a bike as I could ride next to the cars. Hey I could do some off road again 🙂
Sometimes it was a single lane road, sometimes a fast road. But when leaving the M4 the road got small. The dark clouds and rain was coming and going, and we were pretty cold on the bike. Until we reached the town of Donetsk in Russia by 2pm we had mostly rain.
The border crossing went smooth. The russians smiled when they looked at my passport. It was the third time I left Russia and I had a lot of other stamps too. Entering Ukraine also went smooth and we were quickly inside Ukraine. Larisa started smiling more and more now!
We had a fast road and I think it went a lot faster than the time we left Ukraine. Or maybe I was just racing a bit today 🙂
We stopped in a small cafe on the road, to have some tea and found some local girls dancing. There was a birthday party, with vodka 🙂 But we had to continue, still 120 km to go and we would see our family again. Now the final stretch started. The sun shined all the way though.
We got in Donetsk, Ukrain now, and the last miles seemed to last longer. We finally got to our destination and everybody was waiting outside to meet us. Nice! Erik was looking at us without saying a word for the first half an hour. He seemed a bit overwhelmed. But after a while he started talking, and not in Flemish but in Russian now! The girls have done a great job here, he has learnt a lot I could see.
We had a meal in the evening with the family, it was very nice but I was shattered. I feel like I could sleep for a week now. I just needed warmth, rest and my family…
The bike was sitting downstairs in the parking behind Godzillas. I had a bit of a problem to get out of bed, as I knew we will leave Moscow today. But when thinking about Erik, I got up quickly and had the last breakfast in the hostel.
Scott came to join us and we talked for the last time. I enjoyed the conversations we had, and hope to see him one day again. This is what travelling is about, not only meeting new places, but also new people. We were fully packed and happy to wear our bike suit again, although they are both very dirty by new. Can you imagine how they look and smell after being on the road for more than 100 days and not having had them cleaned properly? It will be a task for when we get back to Belgium.
All three of us went downstairs and loaded the bike. Scott waived us out and we were ready to hit the traffic in Moscow again. Honestly I prefered sitting on the bike in the traffic than going in the busy subway, walking in mini paces and being squeezed.
Today was a special day for Moscow as it is its 866th birthday. Military planes in the morning disperse the skies to make good weather on this day. The traffic was pretty much good though. It is only a bit difficult to turn around when you make a navigation mistake as a lot of roads are single direction.
After half an hour or so we got to the MKAD. This is the final big ringroad around the city. We were now on the M4 with direction to Rostov-na-Dony. Following this road we would need to ride about 1200km to get to Donetsk in Ukraine, but it is the better road.
We had a few showers but the road was ok. I was pretty shattered by 8.30 and we decided to stop in a roadside hotel and call it a day. Tomorrow would be our last ride with about 700km left to our son.
We finally got the call that the bike is ready and waiting for us in Moscow. We had a bit of mixed feelings. The price we paid was really good, but the timing of course was bad. It took double than projected. So to conclude you could say if you don’t mind waiting a few extra days in Moscow, go for the train solution.
As said before we had to go to Sibline, which is north of Moscow towards the MKAD to pickup the bike. As it was pooring down again today, we decided to get a taxi. It was an experience itself riding with this taxi 12 km through the city. I had to open a window!
We arrived at Sibline and saw the bike immediately in the box next to the railroad. A tajik guy came out with a hammer to help us open the crate. After 10 mins all wood was removed and we could put on our bike suites again. Actually I was really happy, because it would no more wet and cold feet. We had only packed some summer clothes on the plain, and it had been raining almost for the 10 days we spent in Moscow.
After connecting the battery the bike started up fine. I saw they had fooled around with my windscreen and not assembled it like it should. Some screws were even missing and I could not adjust my windscreen. Luckily I found the missing screws by remoIving a plastic, they had fallen behind them and were luckily not lost.
We made a stop in the McDonalds right next to Sibline for some burgers before heading into town again. I texted Tony P and he told me some guys were in town who attempted Road of Bones.
I rode back to Godzillas to drop off Larisa and then headed for Standard to meet the guys. I heard to their stories, and heard it was not possible due to the rain. Even the main roads sounded like hell, and I even heard a story of a guy who died on RoB this year by drowning.
In the evening I went back to meet Larisa in Scotland Yard, a pub close to our hostel. It was Scotland – Belgium on tv but unfortunately they only could show Northern Island – Portugal. Well it would be our final night in Moscow. Tomorrow we leave the capital and ride South-West to the Ukraine!
Today I got up early thinking we need to undertake some action. The train people had promissed us to give us a call when the bike would be here. But so far no news, I think we could wait another month here. So we packed our small backpack and headed out for the Yaroslavskii vogzal.
Like always we use the metro to get somewhere when it is a bit further. In our case it was around 9am. It was interesting to see how many people are on the subway at this time. Commuting like this every day does not seem like the easiest thing.
We got to the vokzal or train station and went looking for the bagage service. It was not so easy as in Irkutsk or Krasnoyarsk this time as the station is big and people are less friendly I find here. After half an hour asking about and walking around, we finally got to the bagage service and to the desk we needed to be. We asked the kind lady behind the desk and showed us our form we got when shipping the bike. But she shook her head. They did not know about the wagon where it could be on. Then another guy came in and suggested it would be in another station closeby named kazinsky vokzal. Another person said it would be still in Krasnoyark.
We were not sure, so we called the Krasnoyarsk station. There they told us, it should be in the Yaroslavskii vokzal for sure. After Larisa and the girl calling around for an hour or so, there was news. The company Logistika we used had used another company to do the transport. So we called this other company. They said us that the wagon indeed was here but could not be opened here as the wagon is sealed and to be opened only by this company. The goods would be ready however, only from tomorrow at this other company. Nice, but this other company is quite some distance from our stay, near the MKAT ring. The bike should pop up there tomorrow.
It was not too good for our stress levels, but what can we do… We will call the other company tomorrow and check if they have found our goods…
We are now almost one week in Moscow. But still no bike… It should be here, but the bagage people in the trainstation are still trying to find it between the bagage. At least this is what they are claiming. If we don’t get more news soon, we will have to go the station to find out more ourselves.
In the meantime we can have some rest and do some site seeing. In the last weekend there was a great airshow called MAKS. Unfortunately the weather was so bad we decided not to go. The alternative was a horse show on the red square. It was a fantastic show. We had seen a lot of horses in Central Asia and Mongolia. But the guys and girls here showed us a lot of skills. They seemed like gymnasts on horses to me.
The bad weather continued, this is no big deal as there are many interesting museums in Moscow. One of the best I believe is the Tretyakov Gallery. It has a huge collection of Russian painters. The only problem was getting there. We travel by using the metro like most people in Moscow, but I only have one pair of summer shoes here, and also no jacket. We put too much in the train cargo apparently. So we arrived a bit wet in the Tretyakov gallery. But we enjoyed the nice paintings here. I am already thinking to go back some time. One visit is not enough here.
Before visiting the Kremlin, we made a walk through the TSUM and GUM. They have more choice in clothes etc than in Europe I think, but the prices are a lot higher as well. Following the Red Square, and the eternal flame, we have also visited the Kremlin. The cathedral square here is impressive. If you take the tour in the Ivan the Great belltower, you get the overview of the Kremlin which is pretty impressive. The view from the top is also nice.
If you still have some energy left, there is the Moscow nightlife. We found a lot of American looking places. I don’t understand this very well, it must be some kind of love/hate relationship between Russia and America.
