MOCKBA MOCKBA MOCKBA

I set off for Moscow and met Alexey and Ilya at the Grand shopping center in Himky. They work for Ural-Rus: the distributor of Ural in Russia. They offered me a motorcycle cover, Ural cap and T-shirt as a gift. We then set course to the warehouse to pick up some more goodies: an oil filter and the missing throttle cable. Courtesy of Ural Russia. Thank you. Ilya then took me to a parts shop since I also needed a spare inner tube. In my "naïve tourist"-mode I asked Ilya to escort me and my motorcycle to see the Kremlin and Red Square. Big mistake. Moscow traffic is horror. You hardly move forward. Not advisable for an air cooled combination. Eventually it is Ilya’s Honda that breaks down and I feel bad for asking him to do me this favour. We abandon his motorcycle and with him on the buddy seat we go to the Ural Russia offices in Moscow. I met Tatjana, the director. They also have a wireless network here that I can use. Ural Russia is very interested in my trip and want to link to my blogspot. How can I refuse? They even have contacts with a Russian motorcycle magazine that would be interested in my story. Since I will be on the road for 4 months, they could even to a series. It might even earn me some cash. That would be cool. Ural Russia is very helpful and I feel much more at ease now in case I need parts. They can ship all over Russia. I spend the night in a hotel: 2000 rubles. In Pskov I could stay for 300 rubles.

Anyway, today I will update the blogspot some more and see the sights of Moscow on foot. Later today I will leave Moscow and set course for Irbit, the place where the magic happens.