I made it !!!
Hello everybody,
I am safe and sound in Vladivostok. The internet cafe here does not allow me to connect my computer or USB memory card. Hence no photos and no extracts of my diary. I will post them later. Just to give you some info on what's been going on and my future plans, I will write a short text below.
Anyway, the road was terrible. The worst part was from Chita to Skovorodino. No asphalt and very bad gravel roads. Washboard type. Construction zones of over 100km. Riding over rocks and through deep puddles. It was hell. I was about to give up and take the train to Habarovsk. I thought it would keep going on like this for 2000km. It didn't. Around Skovorodino detours over local roads put the worst behind me. After that it is gravel road intermixed with some asphalt parts. The quality of the road ranges from good to very bad. Just before Habarovsk there is one last construction zone, very bad, but only 50kms or so. Reaching asphalt again was a joyous occasion. I made it through. The scenery was nice. I had two of the most scary nights in my life. While camping out in the middle of nowhere giant thunderstorms would develop during the night. Lighting was bad for hours on end. It struck within 50-100m from my tent, if not closer. I was scared to death. Mosquitos and other biting insects very bad. A relaxing evening stroll through Birobidzian could leave you drained of blood. It is really nasty. No bears to be seen anywhere, except caged as a tourist attraction near some cafe.
The ride from Habarovsk to Vladivostok was normal. Nice scenery and decent roads. I arrived in Vladivostok on the 10th of August. I met Doug again. It was great to see him. We rode to the bike show in Nahokda together. It was a big well organized event. We were interviewed so many times for newspapers, magazines and TV that I lost count. Everybody wanted to take our picture. We met some people here from Tomsk and Chita. When the bike show was over we came back to Vladivostok.
Doug has contacts that can get me and my bike on a train to Novosibirsk or Krasnoyarsk. I am looking into arranging that now. I miss Nadya so bad. I want to be in Kemerovo as soon as possible. Doug will be going to Korea by ferry and then on to LA. I wish him well on his journey. He is a great guy. We will meet again.
My Ural is the best bike in the world. It has taken such a beating, but just keeps on going. Front and side car shocks are gone. The jerrycan holder is broken. The luggage rack on the trunk is bent a bit from this one big dip in the road I did not see in time. The engine made a funny sound for a while but it seems to be gone now. I found a lot of iron chips on the oil drain plug magnet when I changed the oil last friday, but the engine just keeps on going. My battery might need replacing as it seems a bit weak. I will have a couple of days (maybe even a week) of time to kill on the train, so I will give it some TLC during my trip to Novosibirsk.
I have no fixed info on my train trip yet. I hope to arrange this today. I will post more info in Kemerovo. Sorry about this people.
I am doing fine. My motorcycle is still running. I am halfway now.
Take care and greetings from Russia's Far East,
Dom
I am safe and sound in Vladivostok. The internet cafe here does not allow me to connect my computer or USB memory card. Hence no photos and no extracts of my diary. I will post them later. Just to give you some info on what's been going on and my future plans, I will write a short text below.
Anyway, the road was terrible. The worst part was from Chita to Skovorodino. No asphalt and very bad gravel roads. Washboard type. Construction zones of over 100km. Riding over rocks and through deep puddles. It was hell. I was about to give up and take the train to Habarovsk. I thought it would keep going on like this for 2000km. It didn't. Around Skovorodino detours over local roads put the worst behind me. After that it is gravel road intermixed with some asphalt parts. The quality of the road ranges from good to very bad. Just before Habarovsk there is one last construction zone, very bad, but only 50kms or so. Reaching asphalt again was a joyous occasion. I made it through. The scenery was nice. I had two of the most scary nights in my life. While camping out in the middle of nowhere giant thunderstorms would develop during the night. Lighting was bad for hours on end. It struck within 50-100m from my tent, if not closer. I was scared to death. Mosquitos and other biting insects very bad. A relaxing evening stroll through Birobidzian could leave you drained of blood. It is really nasty. No bears to be seen anywhere, except caged as a tourist attraction near some cafe.
The ride from Habarovsk to Vladivostok was normal. Nice scenery and decent roads. I arrived in Vladivostok on the 10th of August. I met Doug again. It was great to see him. We rode to the bike show in Nahokda together. It was a big well organized event. We were interviewed so many times for newspapers, magazines and TV that I lost count. Everybody wanted to take our picture. We met some people here from Tomsk and Chita. When the bike show was over we came back to Vladivostok.
Doug has contacts that can get me and my bike on a train to Novosibirsk or Krasnoyarsk. I am looking into arranging that now. I miss Nadya so bad. I want to be in Kemerovo as soon as possible. Doug will be going to Korea by ferry and then on to LA. I wish him well on his journey. He is a great guy. We will meet again.
My Ural is the best bike in the world. It has taken such a beating, but just keeps on going. Front and side car shocks are gone. The jerrycan holder is broken. The luggage rack on the trunk is bent a bit from this one big dip in the road I did not see in time. The engine made a funny sound for a while but it seems to be gone now. I found a lot of iron chips on the oil drain plug magnet when I changed the oil last friday, but the engine just keeps on going. My battery might need replacing as it seems a bit weak. I will have a couple of days (maybe even a week) of time to kill on the train, so I will give it some TLC during my trip to Novosibirsk.
I have no fixed info on my train trip yet. I hope to arrange this today. I will post more info in Kemerovo. Sorry about this people.
I am doing fine. My motorcycle is still running. I am halfway now.
Take care and greetings from Russia's Far East,
Dom
posted by Anonymous | 7:49 am
1 Comments:
Hi Dominik, Congrats (I'm proud of you)!
Perhaps an Ural is as good (or better) than a Pan European ?
Keep up the good (SCS ?) spirit.
Enjoy your time with Nadia.
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