Mission Impossible
24 JulAn impossible day planned for today, 850 km to Volgograd, including crossing the Russian border. This was due to an addition error in the original schedule.
We weren’t expecting to make it, but thought we’d just do our best.
Crossing the border is a major malarkey. First the Ukraine side. Do you have adequate insurance for Russia. Yes we do. No you don’t, you can’t pass until you buy insurance. A small argument, then we buy insurance. Then we drive past a man who gives me a slip of paper, but he’d like a present, from Australia.
Then we show the passports to the Ukraine border guard. We all have to get out and fill out a card. The man is not happy, do we have any Australian trinkets? I give him an open packet of Kangaroo Jerky. He takes this and we laugh, but then he calls us back and says he likes Australian coins. We have none, but we can add some English coins to his collection. We get back in the car and wave goodbye. Then we are in no mans land, between the Ukraine and Russia. If we can’t get into Russia then we are stuck, as our Ukraine visa was only single entry. The Russian border guard takes a long time with our passports, but he is happy with our papers. Then the car is inspected, including using a mirror to check for items smuggled underneath. Then past the insurance office, where you can buy the same insurance as we bought from the Ukrainian side of the border. What is the price difference? I’m too afraid to ask. The thing is, what if that office wasn’t there, and our insurance wasn’t valid? It was safest to buy on the Ukrainian side otherwise we’d have to leave the car and continue on foot, get some insurance and then come back! Now we wait in a queue to get the car into Russia. There are only 3 cars in front, but it takes an hour to get to the front. Now there is a problem, we haven’t filled out the form that no one has given us. The form is entirely in Russian, and we have no hope. 20 more minutes and the customs official comes back. I plead for some help, and he points to the insurance office. Back to the insurance lady speaks some English, and she fills the form out. It’s not free of course. Now wait in the queue for customs again. This time I spend about 30 minutes as he processes the papers. Finally, stamp stamp stamp, and we’re out of there! A touch over 3 hours. It was boiling hot, and we’ve drunk all of our water!
Onwards to Volgograd. We stop for fuel. They take my credit card. There is a problem as they ask me for my pin through the payment window, and I won’t tell them. They open the back door to the station and I go in and type it in. They will only accept for fuel from the card, so no water for us. He offers to accept $US for the water, but I refuse. We don’t have that much $US left. We ask directions to a bancomat (atm), but when we get there it’s out of order. We continue, stopping here and there for water or to get cash, but it’s no good. This situation escalates to 11pm, 150k’s from Volgograd. They won’t accept my card at all now, and nor will they take $US. No cash and no water. Every petrol station tells us it’s 30k’s more to a service station with a bancomat, but it never arrives. We find one in a town, but it won’t accept our card. Finally we reach a cluster of service stations.
They keep telling us there is a bancomat nearby, but are unable to give good directions (they don’t seem to be able to draw maps!). In desperation I re-enter the first of the cluster, and try and do a charade to say we will die if we don’t get water. The customers are amused, and an old man tells me to get in his car and he’ll take me to a bancomat. No thanks, but we’ll follow you. 5k’s down a dark road, and we are in a small town. Off the main street, and down some winding back alleys. I say to Tim, ‘he is pulling our leg’ and then there it is, next to a block of flats. Even better, it works! We go back to the petrol station and buy some beers, some water, some juice, anything liquid!
Across from the service station is a dodgy roadside café. Just a wooden house. It’s our only option to buy food, other than cook for ourselves in the dark. We discuss the options, and decide to risk a dodgy belly. The girl inside is really nice, and we have a great laugh trying to order. First she gives us one small plate of macaroni and boiled pork. Tim trys to use our phrase book to ask for a larger serving. She comes back with a big plate of pork, with no macaroni. Eventually we get three plates the same as the first, and settle for that. It’s quite tasty.
Now what do we do? The Police have set up camp just past these service stations, and we’re not sure if foreigners are allowed to drive at night. We take a side road and look for somewhere to camp. Stephen is driving and pulls into a side road. It’s no good, but a car has pulled up beside us. It is a Kazakh man who was also at the café, and spoke a couple of words of English. He asks us what we are doing, and we lie and say looking for a hotel (in the middle of a forest). He looks at us strangely and tells us the man at the café has a hotel, and we should go and speak to him. Back to the café, and it’s true. We follow him in his car to the hotel, which of course is his house. We sleep the night. It’s blisteringly hot inside, and full of flys, but the beds are clean and comfortable.
Strange motorway sites
Pollution everywhere in Russia
A bad photo of an impressive monument, towards Russia’s effort in 1942 against the Germans??
Stephen and Tim with our hosts for the night (taken the next morning)
The road to the hotel!
617miles today, hyde park 2077
