p87: we spent a good day and a half in Almaty to rest up, we snoozed the morning away and was needed. The next day we decided to drive to Semey in one day which was over 1000 km’s of rough roads, some roads were nice rolling hills in the mountains, some plain flat grasslands. We caught up with NAG Mongols and Pommes express. We had a small convoy with the NAG’s but only because they would not let us pass them :)…at that point it was starting to get late and decided to go to barnaul overnight. The road going in to semey at night was aweful… Lights on the truck are poor and was a dangerous experience due to no road markings and stupid dazzling lights passing cars. eventually got to the border at 2am and was out within 3 hours, they rushed us which was refreshing, but while filling out our declaration forms dan wrote a note on the office window for the nag team to see and to wind them up saying we were number one. At 5am we were through and we sat outside the border drinking coffee and were could see the NAG team still on the kazak side. We seemed to have a bit of luck with that border, even though dan upset the border guard by driving through the stop sign. We are now in barnaul and we have driven around 1000 miles almost, so we are a bit worked up. Tommorow we hit the mongolia border. Total stops: 16, 1 fine, 0 bribes, 1 souvenier and today we had 34 hours on the road inc border. Time for sleep!
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P50: we have just arrived in Almaty, very busy place, surrounded by mountains. We looked for hotels but was hard work at rush hour. We are now having a day off as we have been working hard since prague, even then it still involved driving. So we are not gonna drive at all and just chill and sleep and eat lots. Eating is difficult so we have both lost weight, the mongol slim fast diet contains no breakfast, small evening meal and lots of driving. I got stopped twice by the rozzers again today, big smile from myself and a handshake did the trick and we were sent on or way. Big moutains too way which looked gorgeous. Lovely mountain roads too. Sunday we are aiming for semey, not sure if it is possible to do in a long day? Heading back to that awful russian border for a nice long wait and being mucked about. One thing is the kazak people are so helpful and lots of handshaking. So 13 police stops, 1 fine, 1 souvenir, 1 tip to police for helping us with police escort.
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Early start away from the dirty hotel we stayed at, first impressions were good but in the rooms it was falling apart and when I pulled my bed sheet back there were bed bugs running across. Next day We drove all day to taraz and we have a Nice room. Dan got fined for speeding which worked out about 4 dollars from 75 originally asked. We also got stopped 3 times. Mostly to shake hands. We drank some holy water and had our vehicle blessed by this guy who had gold teeth and is also a boxer… When I shook his hand I could feel loose bones. Tommorow we are in almaty and we will have a day off as we are getting quite tired. So 11 police stops, 1 fine, 1 souvenir, 1 tip to police for helping us with police escort.
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P51:We stayed in a hotel in Aqtobe, really run down, but the city was ok, we ate in a nice turkish restaurant. As we had been up for 48 hours we decided to head back for some sleep… Only to realise there was an outside function until 12.30, so i went out for a beer with some guys who were riding motorbikes to china. We slept well afterwards regardless of noise. Next day we ate the crap breakfast and set off, we hit some nice smooth roads until suddenly whilst doing 80 I hit really rough road and almost launched off the ground. From that we hit about 100kms of off road pot holes the size of the car, it took ages and the truck took a beating but survived. We came across another team who got their ambulance stuck, we camped up and they gave us some nice spaghetti and a chat out in the desert. We pitched up the tent and got our heads down. About 5am a truck pull up outside our tent, we kept still as they were looking over our vehicle tapping our gerry cans, luckily we had already used the fuel in the cans. When they left we found they had started cutting the staps to the cans but they realised they were empty and left. At 5.30 am we left to make tracks and moved to aral where the roads got better and our spirits picked up. We had a look around aral and then decided to get to the next city, on the way out I got pulled for not having headlights on, we were sure a fine was on the cards, but then as usual the words chelsea got some laughs and we were all then laughing and shaking hands in the police station, we even had the cop doing kangaroo gestures, dan could not believe I talked myself out of it. We got pulled again 240km’s away and got asked by the rozzers for a souvenier, I gave the bloke some tetley tea and the gold teeth smile and lots of handshakes again. We are now in a run down hotel and just had a nice meal as I have eaten bugger all all day. Tommorow we are heading as quickly as poss to almaty. The truck is going well, scuff plates are dented but still loyal as ever. In total 8 pull overs, 0 fines, 1 souvenier, 1 tip for a police escort, need more pants too.
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We pushed on through russia, stayed in a few small towns. Yesterday we knew we were going to the border so we decided to wack a fair few miles on the clock and do an all nighter. When approaching the town at the border we though it would be a good idea to fuel up. It was 11 pm and the garages were manned by women in kiosks in pitch black darkness. No hope of finding one we asked a local and then the rozzers pulled up and gave us an escort to fuel station. We gave the cops a tip for helping us out. We reached the border at 12 and what a pain… We had to fill out forms that were in russian.. Turns out another team passed through that day and we used their forms as a template… Scarey moment when they searched the car and nearly found my hidden cash. We then had to cross the kaz border control… One guy sat us in his office and spoke crap, we were confused… They then said we had to wait a few hours to mess us around. It was quiet at 3am and were stuck there waiting. We made friends with a guard and he helped fill our forms for us. He also offered us ciggies… Yes he offered us one not the otherway round. In the end They let us through and when we was buying insurance, dan was holding the insurance ladies cat saying that she had a nice pussy, we giggled so much. So we then drove on in to the nearest town looking for atm for cash. We then pushed on to aqtobe feeling real tired. We are in some worn hotel dying for sleep and the loud music outside which was annoying. Yestrday we were stopped 6 times in russia, no fines as we always smiled and asked if they liked chelsea, worked a treat. Today we were stopped twice by kaz guards.. No fines. Ukraine guards were never interested in us. Kaz roads are terrible, beating the suspenion on the van.
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Yesterday we spent 7 hours at the border in massive queues, blistering heat with no food and very little water, we then had to drive 300k to a city, we were hungry, thirsty and tired. Today we are heading for saratov and may be at the kaz border for today or get in early tommorow. Last few days have been very hot, road heat got to 48. No more nice hotels from here for a while we reckon. Russian locals are much nicer than ukraines. We found that if you smile and mention chelsea then they seem to like you. No fines or bribes yet, we had one pull by the police but we mentioned chelsea and he smiled and said “good work” and off we went. Truck is good, no problems yet.
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p151: We finally made it to kiev through some dreadful wheel busting roads… We drove over 600 kilometers with about 400 of them through roadworks and contra lanes. We arrived in kiev at about 9pm but we found it hard to find a hotel, we then had to desperatly find fuel. It took 90 mins to find a hotel, we are wacked out. We have eaten cold tinned food on the road and no evening meal. Tommorow we will try and stay near the border of russia, sort out our stuff. Looking forward to kaz, and the truck has been amazing today as we really pushed it.
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We have made it through the ukraine border with no problems.. They did mess us about asking for a green card but we did not have one.. They were probably looking for a bribe.. They got fed up and waved us through. Roads are really bad but finally found a decent road and now heading for kiev. Truck is good but I am gonna run out of pants soon
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We are 1 hour from the polish border. We spent 24 hours in prague to have a good look around.. We loved it. Early yesterday afternoon we made our way to the church of bones. We then got stuck in bad traffic trying to get out due to an accident between a harley and a car. Afterwards We pressed on until 8 pm then found a hotel in a lovely small town. Its been really warm in czech too. The 4×4 has been great on motorway,cruises lovely at 70-80 even full loaded. Will do another update later today.
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We have just got in to prague. The roads from boulogne through germany and czech were fantastic. But probably get worse after poland. First night was in france, we stayed on a french farm with geese and donkeys in the fields…nice place. Few beers and a good nights kip. Next day we drove nearly 500 miles and got a hotel off the motorway in an empty and weird hotel… Dan tried some german and failed.. I managed a few words..most odd place and the town was dead. We then went out a beer but we almost got lost, picturing us with no bags as we left them in the hotel and it was dark. Next day we ate a crap hotel breakfast and drove 250 miles in to prague which is quite warm and we are now out for a beer and sightseeing. Tommorow church of bones, then off to poland. Steve
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