Taking the long way home from Japan to Frome, UK
There is a really bad litter problem in Eastern Russia and Mongolia. Even in the most beautiful riverside and lake locations there are countless empty vodka bottles, plastic water bottles, millions of cigarette butts and general litter blanketing the ground. (Two litre bottles of Coca-cola seem to be the main suspect.) It’s widespread, utterly depressing and so unnecessary. Even by Lake Baikal, one of Russia’s most beautiful assets, and a UNESO site, there is litter everywhere.
This next video is a more contemplative affair – pretty much documenting my love affair with both Brian (our drone) and the Russian landscape 🙂
It covers our time on the road between Khabarovsk, Russia and the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, Russia.
Enjoy!
Right let’s put this into perspective first. Japan is the KING of toilets. They make a noise to cover up any untoward noises; they have heated seats; they can wash front and back bottom areas with various modes of spray; they release deodoriser and they flush as you arise…..they no doubt do even more marvellous things if I could only read Japanese. So…yes….we’ve been spoilt:)
There are sit down toilets here that vary in degrees of cleanliness and hygiene. However, most of the toilets, particularly in the more rural areas, are squat toilets – not the ceramic flushing ones but the hand built ones. These consist of a pit dug into the earth and then a building, of wood or brick, built up to provide shelter. Some of these are utterly gross: with pooh splattered everywhere, discarded used loo roll and they stink as a lot of the pits are getting filled up. At a visit recently Captain was greeted by a big pooh that had literally been curled out at the entrance – he went no further.
So we approached the town of Kyakhta that is the Russian border town. I don’t know if it’s the case that all Russian border towns are military bases too – but this one certainly is. It instantly puts the bejesus into us…..just don’t do anything wrong!
So in army style here is the outline of what happened:
09:45 – approach border – guard looks at passports – signals us onwards.
09:50 – park up behind some cars – man in the car in front tells us to go second floor.
09:56 – someone mopping the floor – one manned counter.
10:02 – man says we need stamp first from car inspectors.
10:06 – 3 guards with 2 Alsatian dogs inspect the car and engine.
10:16 – back to second floor – form stamped.
10:22 – called over – passports handed over.
10:26 – drive car to X-ray machine.
10:38 – car has X-ray.
10:44 – back to second floor – form stamped.
10:48 – to passport control.
10:54 – through passport control – drive through no-mans land and into Mongolia side of border control.
11:00 – car is registered and we’re given a white slip of paper
11:22 – drive car to be inspected – white slip gets a stamp.
11:26 – queue up for Mongolian passport control.
11:38 – through Mongolian passport control.
11:44 – into customs room – officer prints off form.
11:52 – officer inspects car – officer stamps form – white slip gets another stamp.
12:01 – drive to next stop – passports inspected.
12:03 – through border and surrender white slip – enter cabin that sells car insurance.
12:15 – £44 later insurance form received and stamped.
12:17 – we’re in Mongolia
Time spent: 2 hours 32 minutes
Considering it’s a border crossing that caters for foreigners it offered no guidance on how to navigate the system. If it wasn’t for the numerous kind Mongolians, who obviously traverse the borders routinely, I imagine the process would have taken a lot longer. With no common language, they pointed at particular places and particular forms and we eventually got the gist that we needed that form stamped or needed to go over there.
So here we are: our second visit to the truly beautiful land of Mongolia.
#11 There is a very garlicky grated carrot salad that is truly delicious.
#12Â Hoegaarden is easily purchasable – yum.
#13Â There’s basically one main road that runs from Vladivostok to ‘the west’ that varies considerably in degrees of quality. Parts are fabulous – long and wide that stretch onwards like a Roman road. Others parts are very badly potholed and literally falling to parts. Then there are the parts that are being rebuilt. The problem is, unlike England, there are no other roads on which they can create a diversion. So you literally drive on the roadworks, surrounded by huge road-building machinery, sometimes for several miles and often on extremely rough road surfaces. It’s a bone-rattling experience!
#1 I rock this look too so there’s no judgement whatsoever – the socks and sandal look is quite popular here! As is men in camouflage.
#2Â I’ve always been a big fan of borscht. It varies in quality but I’ve yet to have one that isn’t tasty.
#3Â Sour cream is a popular accompaniment to most dishes.
Six tried and tested methods of execution:
#1 Mr Miyagi – (1984 Karate Kid) – when it looks like you are only grabbing handfuls of thin air, but, as you uncoil your hand, you have actually caught a mosquito in mid flight and crushed it to death in one swift movement. This method is no doubt the coolest and deserves utmost respect.
#2 Nosferatu – (1922 vampire film) – when you splat a mosquito mid meal leaving a smear of blood on the skin. A bitter sweet ending maybe?
#3 The Guillotine – after splatting a mosquito on the wall you realise that you have cleanly and neatly dissected him into two or more neat parts.
#4 Splat-and-Smear – when a mosquito is flying between the roof of the car and the mosquito net. From a lying down position, with palm facing upwards, you splat. And then, not even sure if you have got him, you nevertheless smear by dragging your palm some three or four inches in any direction. This does have the downside of leaving an unsightly mess on the roof but is so worth it.
#5 The Stun-Gun – when you have splattered the mosquito and he literally falls, like a lead balloon, into the abyss below leaving no residue or trace behind.
#6 The Tweezer – you must merely stun the mosquito first and then, holding him in your fingers and being careful to not crush and kill him, you slowly and sadistically pluck each body part off him one by one. Enough said.
Enjoy 🙂
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