Biysk, Russia
Bombing through Russia in order to get to the Mongol border before they close for the weekend. Blown a shock and no time to fix it! Russia - best women and roads this side of Watford, must visit again when more time.
Korday, Kazakhstan
travelling thru the vast open wilderness of Kazakhstan. Been beautiful but very remote. Into the hardcore camping now. No shower or change of clothes for a few days. Spirits held high by negotiating bribes with the cops (bartered down $50 to 3 whiskey minatures) and drinking vodka with the locals. Time for Russia now, bring it on, and the showers!
Baku, Azerbaijan
What a country. Beautiful city with buildings made from sandstone. Pimped up mercs and oil money everywhere. Kindest people by far, except for the police who nabbed us for using the headlights(!?) and cost us $80 and 2 packs of Marlboro. Oh, also when u get to the port; pirates and scurvy everywhere. Landed on our feet with the cargo ship, leaving a few hours after we arrived. Craziest and most stressful process ever with lots of Russian and crisp US dollars being thrown about the place. The ship is like something out of Indiana Jones with a crew of sweaty modern day pirates with gold teeth and tattoos. Primark boxing day sale would even be safer.. Now for 24hrs on the caspian with warm beer and Streetfighter II for comfort.@
Rustavi, Georgia
After the last 48hrs travelling thru some of the most stunning sights seen as yet in the tea region of Turkey and the beautiful hills of Georgia, we're now waiting at the border with Azerbaijan. This should be interesting considering RHD cars are not allowed in, even in transit. People have been great so far, only hitch has been a damaged sump guard which saved Renata from certain doom! Next challenge after negotiating are way in to Azerbaijan, is negotiating our way out of Azerbaijan... via the Caspian.@
Samsun, Turkey
After a 500mile day we stayed in Samsun last night after eventually finding a cheap hotel (thanks to shrewd Vietnamese negotiating). Today we're headed along the coast to Rize and hope to get there early enough to camp. Starting to plan for our transit through bandit country in Georgia and negotiating our caspian sea crossing from Baku, Azerbaijan. Ran over a dead cat the other day, some van flicked it up onto our bonnet.
Istanbul, Turkey
Having stayed in an ace campsite next to the Black Sea, we left Bulgaria, oh with Mark getting pulled for speeding, a 20euro fine and a special handshake. Now in Istanbul. Crazy. Traffic everywhere, driven by lunatics. Thanking the guys at Kilburn Auto Centre for doing a great job on Renata and Toni - ride's been smooth as a babies ass... Day in Istanbul tomorrow chillin.
Bucuresti, Romania
wow! Bucharest, what a cool place! Anyway, kinda sad to be leaving Romania, despite the fact that 5 of us got stuck in a 3 person lift for 1/2hr. Onwards to Bulgaria and the Black Sea! Travelling in tow with Dotty and the Dice today :)
Bucuresti, Romania
SRR r here! fab drive from Radna. Few pot holes, some scary overtaking but great scenery. Off for some local culture...
Radna, Romania
Night spent in Radna, Romania. Had been raining heavily all yesterday and still wet today. Comfortable motel and having just had breakfast, now going to push through to Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria. Warnings of flash floods in Romania could make this interesting!@
Vienna, Austria
Mark and Shanti have their Azerbaijan visas and in record time! Now leaving Vienna for Hungary and crossing into Romania tonight, we hear the roads start to get a bit hectic from here on in! Update this eve
