Day 88 Tuesday 28th 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 1st 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 30th 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.
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| We have aroof over our heads again - our room is top floor (11th) follow line of entrance upwards |
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| 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.
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