June 3 - 5 Vladivostok (RUS)

Contact houden met het thuisfront via e-mail 

De motozaak VLADMOTO in Vladivostok is zeer veelzijdig. Boven de zaak is niet alleen het clubhuis van de Iron Tigers (waar wij dus logeren), er is ook nog een repetitie ruimte van de rock & roll band "BRIOHIN" (wat blijkbaar het Russisch is voor brillantine) .    

At our hosts in Vladivostok the IRON TIGERS with their headquarters at the bikeshop VLADMOTO. Our home for 1 week. They also had a rock and roll band called "BRIOHIN" (which is hairgel in Russian)

 Max, Andrei en Tony (van links naar rechts)
From left to right Max, Andrei and Tony

VLADIVOSTOK

June 2 Vladivostok (RUS)

Luckily we met Michael and Andrei (old man) from the local motor bike club "Iron Tigers". They offered us to stay in their club house. Very friendly and FREE! So we will probably overstay our welcome, but decided to stay until next Wednesday, the day we leave for Korea.

 Club house "IRON TIGERS" in Vladivostok.

 Sommigen zullen deze T-shirt zeker herkennen. By the way, bedankt voor het adres.

Thanks to four2japan for the address

 Onze kamer voor de volgende week.

Our room for the next week.

Peter doet het zware werk (enkel Carl heeft toch een grijze zak ????)

Who's the real manager in our team?

Today we arranged our tickets for the Ferry to Korea. Including the transport of the motorbikes it comes down to around 25.000rub or 625euro. Not cheap but, we can save some money on hotels thanks to the Iron Tigers.

June 1 Khabarovsk - Vladivostok (RUS)

The end is near. The last part in Russia is a bit over 750km from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok, where we will take the ferry to Korea. It will be an adjustment for us after riding 5 weeks through Russia. We feel very comfortable here and like it very much. Somehow, we all have the feeling we will be back someday, so it is only goodby for now.
We drove the last part to Vladivostok in one day. The road was ok, but the traffic became very busy. This way time goes by very quickly, so we enjoyed the day. Arriving in Vladivostok is a big difference than arriving in a small town. Vladivostok is very big, crowded, and traffic is chaotic.

 De weg van Khabarovsk naar Vladivostok loopt langs de Russisch - Chinese grens. Onderweg probeerden we zo dicht mogelijk bij China te geraken. Wij staan in Rusland, en de overkant van de rivier is China.

Standing next to the Chinese border (across the river)

Carl's nieuwe look na 5 weken "helm dragen".

Finaly his hair starts to grow back

May 31 Khabarovsk (RUS)

Ontwaken in de Harley Davidson bar in Khabarovsk. Toegegeven, we hadden ons al beter uitgeslapen gevoeld.  

Waking-up at the Harley bar.

 De rest van de dag bleven we wat rondhangen in de stad.

We decided to stay the day (after the rough night in the Harley bar)

May 30 Belogorsk - Khabarovsk (RUS)

KHABAROVSK

The trip from Belogorsk to Khabarovsk was 680km. Before checking into a hotel, we stopped at the Harley Davidson bar for a drink. The owner offered us to sleep in his cafe, so we started drinking until the last customer went home, before we could finally go to bed. The bill was probably more expensive than one night in the Hilton, but we had fun.

May 29 Belogorsk (RUS)

We said it before, and we're going to say it again: Russia is great. Extremely friendly, helpful and interesting people. The Russian hospitality is something we can learn from in Europe. When we ask for directions to a gas station, hotel or restaurants, the Russian people jump in their cars and we follow them to our destination. Most of the time we are invited to have a drink or 2 later that day. A fine example of this is our friend Michael in Belogorsk. He proudly showed us his town, introduced us to his friends and took us to a Russian sauna. Thanks Michael for your hospitality.

Orthodoxse kerk in Belogorsk

Michael en zijn vrienden tonen ons de omgeving,

en nodigen ons uit voor een "Russian banja".

May 28 Pavlovich - Belogorsk (RUS)

Vandaag een trip van 720 km

In Pavlovich mochten we onze motoren bij de lokale brandweer stallen.

Het regenpak van Peter heeft de reis niet overleeft.

May 27 Chita - Pavlovich (RUS)

We had to drive from Chita to Khabarovsk, which is about 2300km. Needless to say that we did not do this in one day; our ferry to Korea only leaves on the 8th, so no hurry.

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Na zo'n lange tijd van huis, begon ook Carl nieuwe vrienden te maken



The road to Khabarovsk is brand new, so we drive an average of 135km/h. The road is so new that they did not have time to build enough gas stations. So after 300km the Yamaha's ran out of petrol and Peter was so nice to share some of his.

Even with this spare fuel, we could not make it to the next gas station, which was 100km further. Luckily we managed to make a deal with the Russian army and bought 20l of their petrol, and at a cheaper rate than in the gas stations.

Eindelijk het volgende benzine station / Finaly the next gas station



The first day we drove around 830km and came to a place called Pavlovitch, A run down town with nothing to see, but the railway station. We booked a room for one night and went "down town" for a shaslik. Probably the best shaslik we have eaten so far. The pork was juicy and delicious. With a few plastic bottles of beer we quickly made some new friends.

PAVLOVICH

Shaslik cook

Every men's dream; meat and beer