The Onedin Line Comes to Vladivostok

Day 90 Thursday 30^th June 2011  

Can’t believe that we have reached the end of June already – day 90 of our trip means that we have been away for almost 3 months and if all goes to plan also means that we are at the halfway point in our trip – that’s halfway in terms of time rather than miles left to travel because that would leave us three quarters of the trip left to travel.

Thank goodness the weather has been kind to us. Today has been bright, warm and sunny so we went again off in search of a bookshop detailed in an online post on the Lonely Planet site but when we got there it seemed like there are no English language books so we put that one on the shelf for later (pun intended).

A glance over to the port revealed three masts towering above the ferry terminal so armed with this exciting change of view we pointed ourselves in the same direction and came upon the tall ship Pallada berthed at the dockside in the same space normally occupied by the DongHae ferry. What a magnificent ship. Mark did some research and found that its home port is Vladivostok and it was built in the 1980’s and is used to train young people in the dark art of sailing.  

Pallada at the quay in Vladivostok

 

The beach acted as our next haunt and we sat at a harbour-side cafe with a drink (non-alcoholic) and watched the sea like ancient mariners looking out across the ocean in the hope of seeing the vessel with our bloody container on it.

Back at the hotel we had a drink with Jim, Barbara, John, Amanda and little Lana, a group of Aussies from Brisbane whose 4x4 vehicles are in containers aboard the same vessel as our bikes. They are desert lovers and chose Russia to get lost in as a bit of a different adventure – or at least it will be when they get their vehicles.

No news from Yuri so just another day in paradise 

Stop Press - Vagina Making Competition Cancelled

Day 89  Wednesday  29^th June 2011

We are smug today. We are counting our blessings that although our departure from Vladivostok is delayed we at least have hotel accommodation in the city centre.

If no hotel accommodation could have been found I was seriously thinking of flying home and coming back next week when the bikes should have then been cleared and the shuttlecock gang would have left town leaving space at the Inn for us poor mortals trapped in the Twilight Zone.

In that the arrival of the DongHae ferry was late the departure too today was not going to schedule so we gave up on that. This was to be the highlight of our day. We had set out to find a bookshop with English books so that I could replace my now finished Jeffrey Deaver thriller but, as we suspected, this was never going to happen and even the more simpler task of finding foot powder to take away the growing stench of my Goretex walking boots proved fruitless.

Surprises of the day (and surprises are few and far between here) have been the fact that the hospital ship which has been a feature of the harbour scene since the day we arrived has disappeared during the night – a huge white liner with big red crosses slipped out under our noses and biggest surprise was that we actually got chips as a buffet choice in our dinner tonight – OK they were cold but Hey !  Chips is Chips

No pictures today because I inadvertently left my camera in the room so you will ahve to use your imagination.

PS : Incidentally, a few people have asked “Who won the vagina making competition?”  Well, I have to report that the competition was abandoned when it was discovered that the raw material at breakfast were not of a standard high enough and did not have the right constituency to reproduce a realistic looking vagina so we decided to wait until stock improves before continuing with this task.

Homeless in Vladivostok ? Possibly !!!!

Day 88 Tuesday 28^th June 2011  

Our day started with an email from Yuri telling us that the bikes had been delayed even longer. The ship with our container is in the harbour, has been for a few days or so, but they cannot unload because a crane at the pier has broken. We understand that it has been fixed but there is a backlog and unloading will not be until 1^st July (at the earliest) after which we need to wait two or three days for the landing paperwork before we can start customs clearance which can take between one day and two weeks – welcome to Russia folks.

Our hotel booking was due to expire on 30^th June so we needed to extend our stay. We met Jean in the car park. He was packing his bike and he gave us the grave news that he cannot extend his hotel stay because the hotel is full. We later find out that there is a badminton tournament in Vladivostok this coming weekend and all the hotels are full. Jean has found a place some ten kilometres outside Vladivostok but he has transport and we do not – PANIC !!!  It is bad enough being Bikeless in Vladivostok but Homeless in Vladivostok is not something that we want to experience especially as all our camping gear and sleeping bags are on our bikes in the container on the ship in the harbour.

We called Yuri and explained our situation and later that evening he dispatched the wonderful and pretty Svetlana to meet us at the hotel. Using her best charms she secured us a further 9 nights at the hotel full board breakfast and evening meal so we are now very (and I mean VERY) relieved. We decided to go to the local liquor store a few metres down the hill to buy a bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey (plus a bag of ice) which set us back over £40 but well worth every penny. 

We have aroof over our heads again - our room is top floor (11th) follow line of entrance upwards

Jameson and a sunset over China in the distance - what could be better

Great helpings of patience must now follow for the next few days.

The X Factor - Vladivostok Style

Day 87 Monday 27^th June 2011

The weather broke and rain was the order of the day. A lot of noise from the main square in Vladivostok drew us to it like bees to honey and the large stage that had been there empty since we arrived here was now live and humming with life. 

It seemed like there was some sort of variety show on the go but I couldn’t make out what the common theme was because one minute we had a naval band playing swing and jazz numbers, then folk dancing, girl drum bands, singers, a comedy act – not funny though, dance troupes ranging from dancing school type routines to modern plus salsa, hip hop and rap singing – all this to an audience of around 50 or 60 diehards who were willing to stand in the rain to watch. We had raincoats and nothing else to do so we were amongst that number. The Russian way of life is gradually unfolding before our very eyes and it is wonderfully crazy and confusing but we have to remember that we are actually in Far Eastern Siberia and only 50 miles from China.

The X Factor comes to Town

 

We walked over to the port to await the arrival of the weekly DongHae ferry from South Korea but the weather was closing in, the fog was getting thicker and it looked like the ferry was not about to arrive anytime soon so we gave up and had a beer in the bar instead.

Laziest of Lazy Days

Day 86  Sunday 26^th June 2011

We did absolutely bugger all today – thought that I would catch up with emails and washing – Wow