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Time to head west young - whoops old - man

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But first Vladivostok. A very nice city with lovely old buildings - no grey drabness anywhere 

We visit the naval museum which is important as Vladivostok is the main place for “ looking after “ America. I do like the poster of yesteryear 




Now why is Germany referred to as the Fatherland but Russia as the Motherland ? I wonder. 




Lovely buildings and boulevards 




And of course the onion domes 




But it is time  to head west. The day dawns foggy -




But off we go. Then I take a wrong turn in the fog. The GPS throws a fit and  stops working. It is back to navigation out of Vladivostok by the  sun, moon and stars ( which of course is not easy in a fog !) 

Tonigh however  I see this article in an overseas newspaper on line 



The GPS has worked perfectly ever since ! 

But we hit the road. At the first petrol stop we meet up with Lenus from South Africa who we met during the bike clearance process. He has shipped his bike in from Thailand where he bought it. We enjoy his  company  for two days. 

We come to a big road junction where the road veers left. But we go right. Wth inspection the road to the left heads to North Korea - no thanks! 

Mid afternoon on the first day of across Russia thunderstorms appear. So does a roadside hotel. We opt for the hotel - a nice country inn and a truckers stop 



On the wall of the hotel is a faded picture of a familiar sight 



And from an identical spot some 6 years ago -



The hotel is nice and cheap.  Breakfast  is about $3.00 in NZ dollars. I would have willingly paid  $3.50 for it !  Above that - well?

Actually talking of price, petrol is nice and cheap at NZ$ 1.00 per litre. Normal petrol is 92 and 95 octane and also green biofuel  if you want it. But some of the bowsers also have 101 on the them. I imagine the bike taking off like a drag car with smoke and flames belching out the back if I put that in the tank. It might perhaps be fuel left over from the rocket launching program which is not too far from here - only 5000 km away ! 

Talking of petrol remenber the days in New Zealand in the 1960’s where girls sold us petrol, cars , cigarettes and vacuum cleaners. Well , here is a blast from the past - - 





Houses and towns on the roadside look poor. Mind you we have seen the same sights in America and closer to home in New Zealand 




On day two on the road we hit the thunderstorms again and  just wait them out on the side of the road

,

We are close to the Chinese border and the thunderstorms have a distinct “ made in China “ look to them. Blame the Chinese! 


We cross over the trans Siberian railway a number of times as we follow its route 




And after 500 km and a long day we get to a very grand 5 star hotel in Khabarovsk which in itself looks a very attractive city. So attractive in fact that we decide to have a rest day and a look around. The next  5 days are going to a long slog of 2100 km with “ quite a lot of not a lot “ on the way. We are getting to feel very comfortable in Russia 

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