Introducing Arfur Ferrari...

Day 85 Saturday 25^th June 2011  

We had to get some more toiletries today so we went out into the Russian summer day in Vladivostok to the Gum (pronounced Goom) department store and went in search of all manner of washing aids to ensure that we don’t fester and become smelly. The added bonus was that being a hot summers day and a Saturday as well it had fed the shopping desires of all the pretty young things who all seemed eager to come out dressed in as little as they possibly could get away with. This was not good for my blood pressure and I soon found that it pointless just looking somewhere else because the city centre had become infested with this plague of under-dressed vestal virgins so I had to grin and bear it I’m afraid.

To try and get some normality back into our lives we headed away from the shopping area and went to the port. We saw cars that had been cut in half then imported as spare parts to avoid the large duty payable on whole cars that has been imposed in recent years on cars coming from Japan. Rather bizarrely we found ourselves looking down upon a black Ferrari body shell and a large crate of bits that were waiting to be collected. This collection of nuts, bolts and engine parts would soon be put together by a “Ferrari” technician and would become someone’s (expensive) pride & joy.

This is my mate ARTHUR - ARFUR FERRAI (do you get it half a ferari ha ha)

 

The walk back to the hotel has been getting progressively more difficult for me as my foot tendons seem to be injured in some way. I am experiencing a lot of pain on the bridge of my foot (not underneath on the arch) and it seems to be tendon/ligament related but has now started to make walking painful and has removed a lot of the joy of just having a look around. Any podiatrists out there ? I would welcome diagnosis and treatment plan.

The day finished with a big firework display at the hotel. This week all venues large enough are catering to the school prom nights which have engulfed the city this week – the Russians, like the Brits, have adopted the American style prom nights but the Russian ones seem to start around 9pm and finish sometime in the wee small hours – some as late as 4am.

Perhaps we should apply for Residency in Vladivostok

Day 84 Friday 24^th June 2011

The rain had gone, replaced by blue sky and sunshine so it had to be a beach day today. Not much going on though as it was still a weekday and most people were at work although the fishermen on the jetty were busy making catches, nothing big, but enough to feed themselves.   

Random Cafe sign that looked like an arty picture so I snapped it

There wasn’t much going on in the city so we headed back to do some washing and generally catch up on a few things.

We had a beer in the bar during the afternoon and had a chat with Elisabeth the barmaid and we also bumped into the third member of the Trans Siberian railway tour – Norman Handy – who we got chatting to.  He works in the commercial property department of RSA in Horsham and it turns out that we both know the same person in underwriting. This really is a small world when you can be so far away from home and meet somebody who happens to know somebody that you know. We chatted away until around midnight before we decided to call it a day.

Norman Handy from Horsham

Mark gives Elisabeth tips on how to use the camera

The End of The Line (for some)

Day 83 Thursday 23^rd June 2011 

A rainy day, hooray – something different at last  and also time for me to get a haircut. A brief spell of flicking through the pages of my Russian dictionary found the word for barber/hairdresser with another bookmark against the phrase “not too short please !”. We set off in earnest to find the shop with the right signage, found one but it was more of a ladies salon but we struck lucky a bit further along the road when a dingy shop entrance opened out into quite a modern salon.

The phrasebook was worth its weight in gold because no-one spoke English and my frantic stabbing with my stubby finger against the “not too short phrase” was understood. However, my heart sank when she got out the electric clippers and attacked my golden mop with gusto but even Mark had to agree that the final cut wasn’t as bad as I had imagined it was going to turn out.

So here I was now, newly shorn entering back into the Vladivostok traffic. We followed a familiar route to the local marketplace and then station and port before resigning ourselves to the trudge back up the steep hill to the hotel.

We caught up with Yuri on the phone, still no news of the bikes, so we went to bar where we met Jean, the French guy, and we agreed to meet up for dinner at eight. We know that we now have an evening meal included in our hotel package but a chance to get out was not to be missed.

Later on we got ourselves ready and sauntered down to the bar area ready to meet Jean although we knew that the French are always late so we got ourselves a beer and sat down. A couple next to us was speaking English so we introduced ourselves to Andy from London and Helen from Swindon who had just arrived in Vladivostok after taking the Trans Siberian railway. They were independent of each other but had booked with the same tour. There was also another guy who had started out with them but had decided to stay an extra day in Irktusk and so would not be in Vladivostok until tomorrow by which time they would have left for the airport.

We had a long chat and eventually around 10pm Jean showed up (just a mere two hours late) and we headed down the hill to the restaurant that we had eaten in a couple of days ago with the Fins. A good meal, good company but not a good night’s sleep because there was some sort of noisy party going on in the hotel – no change there then !

Andy from London and Helen from Swindon newly arrived on the Trans Siberian Railway from Moscow

Jean Ride eventually turns up for dinner two hours late (notice my new haircut Mwah )

Bon Voyage You Crazy Fins

Day 82 Wednesday  22^nd June 2011 

Today we had agreed that we would go to the port and wave off the Fins. Mattie has invited us to Finland to go fishing on the lake where his house is and we may just do that. At breakfast we discovered from Mattie that Juogo was fast asleep having only arrived back at his hotel room at 6am this morning – wow, what a party animal that guy is.

We sat and watched the boat gradually fill with passengers and saw Clyde and Robert go aboard and a few minutes later Mattie and Juogo appeared and went up the gangplank appearing  not long after on the top deck. Last to board was circus boy and his group who made it on board literally as they were getting ready to leave port. Circus boy was just as quick to hit the top deck and even before the boat had begun its departure he and the Fins had managed to locate and start on a bottle of hard liquer – they will all be pickled by the time they get to South Korea tomorrow, that’s for sure !

Mattie walks the gangplank

Juogo & Mattie the Fins on Deck

And off they sailed into the sunset

We phoned Yuri and asked him to meet us at the hotel and sort out a small problem we were having with extending our stay and he and Svetlana turned up and we have now managed to secure a good rate which has with it not only breakfast included but also an evening meal.

Eager to see just what an evening meal consisted of we were not at all surprised to find a buffet with most of the things on offer that we also find at the breakfast buffet but we did have the additional fare of salmon and meat dumplings, but we can’t complain as this will help keep our total costs down to around £80 per day or just over £40 each including beer.

Never Drink with a Fin !

Day 81 Tuesday 21^st June 2011 

The day was relatively boring as we are fast running out of things to see or do in Vladivostok. 

Vladivostok art

Yuri has told us that our ship will not dock now until at least 24^th June and so that means, with the weekend looming, we should not expect to get our bikes until the end of next week at the earliest. This news has made us a bit despondent, Mark especially, as it is fast making us aware that with our Russian visa slowly ticking away we may not have enough time to get a Mongolian visa and this news has hit Mark particularly hard as this was to be one of his main reasons for the trip. The Russian visa cannot be extended  and overstay is a serious matter.  This is the last night for the Fins before they leave tomorrow so we agreed to meet up for a drink and a meal.

The rendezvous was the 4^th floor hotel cafe at 8pm and we all arrived on time. We were just having a beer when Yuri turned up. He had agreed to meet another biker, Jean from France, to go through some paperwork. Jean arrived and we introduced ourselves and, after he finished his paperwork, he joined us and our little international party of two Finnish guys, one Frenchman and two Brits headed down the hill towards the station where we found what was to be a very good restaurant. 

We knew we were heading for trouble when the Fins ordered firstly beer for us all and then vodka. Not a glass though – a bottle. And so the evening progressed with beer, vodka and after the Fins had insisted on paying for the meal we insisted on ordering and paying for liquers. Then it was back to the hotel for more beers and vodka.  We met a Moscovite and one of his troupe, Natakyia, – they were in a circus and were travelling to Korea for a show on the same ferry as the Fins – more vodka to celebrate.

We left the party relatively sober at around 1am and slept like babies.

There's A Boat Comin' In

Day 80 Monday 20^th June 2011  

The Fins still had a happy smile on their faces when we saw them at breakfast.  We left them to reflect on their previous day’s conquest and went shopping for an electrical adaptor to allow American style plugs to be used in Russia (Russia uses a two pin plug very similar as those used in France). We trawled around the Gum department store and we were directed by one sales guy to another floor which had an electrical store stocking just what we needed. Pleased with our purchase (Mark even more so because now he can charge his shaver and give himself a haircut) we decided go to the Maritime port to see if we could catch the arrival of the DBS cruise ferry from DongHae that was due into the port this morning. The weather was hot and we wished that we had the suncream with us as the sun started to turn our skin red.

Arrival of the DBS FGerry from DongHae, South Korea

The ferry was late as usual and Mark gave up and went back to the hotel to do some laundry. Not long after he left the familiar shape of the small ship came into view and it edged its way slowly to its berth with the help of the little tugs dancing at its bow.  

I met the Fins again back at the hotel and they told me that they had paid a return visit to the sauna but were disappointed this time because the girls had been younger at around 18 and not as experienced as the older ones they had been with the day before – these guys were now becoming choosy on what sort of whore they go with ! They were also celebrating the fact that they had finally managed to get tickets for themselves and their bikes for the ferry which leaves again on Wednesday bound for South Korea. These are the same tickets that had “sold out” so we are keeping our fingers crossed for the Fins that their purchased tickets are valid. 

Later in the day we met up with Clyde, the American and another English guy, Robert and went for a meal . We found a restaurant nearby and sat down but Robert made his excuses and left the table and went to the bar saying that he had eaten earlier. The remaining three of us had a good meal, Robert having rejoined us at the table with his drink,  and we treated Clyde by paying the bill wishing them both Bon Voyage on their trip to Korea on the same ship as the Fins.

Have you Finnished (sic) ?

Day 79  Sunday 19^th June 2011

The weather was still good so we headed back down to the beach area gratefully avoiding any further contact with the husband hunting Svetlana from Kazakhstan. We looked out to sea willing our ship to come into port with its precious load, our bikes, knowing that it would be tomorrow when the magic day finally arrives. 

We strolled along the promenade stopping from time to time to watch the fun and frolics on the beach below and then headed to the small jetty where the fishermen were still hauling in small fish even as the ferry came in to land. The ferry had no sooner discharged its cargo of eager day trippers than it was ready to go back full yet again with its travelling load. 

Passat Ferry Boad with eager beavers waiting to board

We had reached the limit of our interest in this area so we slowly headed back to the hotel and had a beer in the bar. We met and spoke with the Fins who certainly knew a think or two about drinking and one of them told us that they had been to the sauna and had special extras ie a little bit of rumpy pumpy for the bargain price of 3000 roubles plus a 500 rouble tip – that’s around £80. Paying for sex doesn’t feature in our journey but they seemed more than happy with their little shopping trip.