Poland to Häverstädt, 9.10.-10.10.2010

By now we really felt an urge to get back to Häverstädt again. It is hard to describe but in the weeks which led up to our return we had really warmed with the idea of ‘getting there’, seeing family and friends and starting the next bit of our lives. We were highly motivated and we started calculations as to when, if all continued to go well, we would be in Germany and where we would have our last sleep. We arrived at the border rather soon and again were lucky because in contrast to the trucks, cars were handled rather quickly. We were confident to be in good old EU soon, but how wrong were we!

Well, to say the most important bit first: We made it through. But for a few hours it did not look like it. When we were at the gate it turned out that Holger & Sandra were more than welcome to go through but that this was a different story for Melville because he was a non-European citizen. First they sent us from the ‘nothing to declare’ section to the ‘something to declare’ section. And it became very soon clear that the officials had no clue what to do with us but felt they should do something… The difficulties started with the fact that we had to officially import the car into the EU which we had planned to do once we were back in Germany as this would be the new country of residence for troopy. To us it seemed to make sense as we are German citizens. From what we had read this meant that once back in Germany we would go to the nearest customs office with our paperwork and declare troopy (including paying for road taxes). Simply driving through Poland therefore couldn’t be such an issue in our eyes and should at the most involve announcing the arrival of the car to German customs. This was also what the first Polish border guard had told us.

However, for some reason the border guards became increasingly unsure what to do with us and then decided that we would have to pay a bond in form of a Carnet de Passage and once back in Germany would get the money back. This was not a fee paid to the Polish government but to a private insurance company situated at the border which sells you a certificate where they vouch for you that you will not sell your vehicle while crossing a country. We found this all very weird but followed the young guy who was sort of responsible for our case to the office. It is probably not difficult to imagine that we lost countenance considerably when a rather indifferent lady told us that this would be 5000USD in cash, thank you. No they would not take credit cards and the next teller was in the border-town 20ks away, easily reachable with a cab… Despite the unsurprising fact that we of course did not have said amount handy we were outraged as to why all of this was necessary. Whoever has laid their eyes on troopy knows that yes, he is a strikingly good looking car and yes, his worth for us is rather immeasurable, but no, in plain money he is not worth 5000USD – and why would somebody in POLAND of all places be interested in buying him!?!

We spent a ‘fun’ afternoon in the border office, talking to different officials, persuading them that it was rather idiotic to ship a car worth 5000AUD for 4000AUD to Russia, drive it for several thousand Ks (not to mention several thousand dollars worth of petrol) through Russia and Mongolia to sell it in Poland while we are on our way to Germany… Until finally after about 2 hours of unnerving hanging out and lamenting, a lady-officer who spoke really good English listened again to our story, translated it to some higher ranking guys who after a discussion, that felt like the 123^rd that afternoon, decided that we had two choices: Either pay the bond or simply drive away. Aha. Their rather lame argument in favor of option a was that we might have difficulties with the German customs if we just drove off but how the bond was connected to this they could not really explain… hence we drove off, relieved and pumped with adrenalin. After all the places we had been through getting into Poland turned out to be the biggest issue – who would have thought that!

We drove deep into the night to make some mileage and stopped at a really nice hotel which had a room available. We had to revive our Frensch because the staff spoke Polish and French but no English :o) Finding a bed turned out to be difficult because it was a Saturday and most hotels we stopped were fully booked because of weddings taking place. The Polish roads were absolutely fantastic, road-signs told you the outside temperature, the street-temperature and we saw soooo many shiny new cars. Everything was clean and neat and the streets were lined with Carrefours, Mediamarkt and Lidl, Penny etc.

We were back in Europe! Now nothing could stop us and when we really made great progress thanks to German and Polish Autobahnen on Sunday we decided to arrive a day early.

The last K’s were weird and we talked about how the adventure was coming to an end but also about the new things awaiting us, it was very exciting!!! We arrived at around 10pm, and in Minden our families had prepared a spontaneous welcome (my branch had just returned from a holiday the same night). It was so great to meet them all again, it was a cheerful occasion and we had some champagne and exchanged a zillion hugs :o)

Ukraine, 7.10.-8.10.2010

Although we had initially intended to stay in the Ukraine a bit longer we soon decided that we would merely drive through. After all it was already October and the weather did not allow for a lot of outdoor fun anymore. Besides the first stretch of the Ukraine we went through was heavily industrialised and to get to the without a doubt beautiful Carpathian mountains would have meant a considerable detour which we were hesitant about. Kiew sounded promising but same as Moscow we would have preferred to visit these cities by themselves on separate trips and we did not feel like visiting big cities at the time.

The Ukraine was a mixed bag, and we did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped and in many ways it was a step down from the conditions in Russia. Entering the country in itself proved to be the first adventure and this was the only time ever that we had to pay an ‘extra fee’. Border procedures can be tiring and usually involve several stations: 1) Hand in papers for a first check to be allowed to enter the actual border compound; 2a) Do the immigration bit, optional: 2b) medical check; 3) Do the customs bit 4) When leaving compound hand in pieces of paper you have been given while doing 2) & 3). We thought we were lucky because apparently we had picked a border crossing which was not too busy. However, when Holger approached the first border point the following conversation allegedly happened:

Guard: You want to Ukraine quick?

Holger: Yes, only two days for Ukraine…

Guard: No, I mean QUICK!!!

Holger: ???

Guard (gesturing money counting): QUICK!?!

Holger shifting over 10 USD: ‘Ah, quick!’

Guard: You pay, you quick Ukraine: Two minutes!

Guard (gesturing more)…

In the end Holger payed 30USD ‘Extra Fee’ as apparently there were three people involved. In the end it took longer than 2 minutes because the border guards were in general confused (again I’d have to say) that two Germans would drive with an Australian car. We also had a feeling they were trying to get more money from us because suddenly one passport seemed to have gone missing but because their English was just as bad as our Ukrainian we were stubborn and after a couple of minutes the passport appeared and they let us go. We still don’t have a clue whether the 30 dollars sped anything up but at least there it was: Our bribe story ;o) Aaprt from the first 30 minutes, the Ukrainian people we met were again really helpful and nice. Even the policemen we met were cheery fellows, despite the horrible stories we had heard. To be honest, after the episode at the border we had expected to be pulled over regularly for money which had also curbed our enthusiasm for the Ukraine but thankfully this never happened.

In the two days that followed we had some fab Bortsch for breakfast...

...took the wrong turn several times, again came across a McDonalds (the last until Germany), slept in some really horrible beds where the linen had not been changed in a while but hey, it was half price because we only stayed 12 hours! We had some fantastic mushroom-omelette in a bee-style cafeteria we could just not drive by … The roads were pretty horrible and the landscapes and places we drove through ranged form heavy industry zones to the smallest little farming villages...

... and the living conditions seemed to be in general rather poor. In the end we were glad when we approached the Polish border but also sad that we did not get to see more nice sides of Ukraine – well, we have to go there again in summer, I reckon :o)

Volgograd, 5.10.-6.10.2010

We crossed the Volga at nightfall and did not get to see much of the river but had to drive over a very long bridge to cross it. The reflections of the city of Saratov gave us an idea of how wide the river runs. After some nights in rather crappy places we were looking forward to explore a bit of city life again in Volgograd (formerly named Stalingrad) and we were not disappointed: Volgograd was stunning. Although most of the city was destroyed in WWII during the monstrous battle of Stalingrad the remains of pre-war Volgograd displayed an aura of splendidness and grandeur. As per usual we spend about an hour driving though the city to find our bearings and discovered that the old city where the hotel was situated we were looking for is not where the city’s heart beats nowadays. ‘Downtown’ is a fairly modern affair with big shopping malls, designer shops and – tatterattatata – McDonalds! What a joy that was :o) The fast-food outlet had just been opened and was swamped with people, young and old. It was huge and quite chic, the staff had handheld POSs to limit the queues and in no time we had placed an order with a friendly lady who spoke some English.

After lunch we set off to find the hotel and some friendly locals showed us where to go to come to the old part of the city. The hotel was probably the most luxurious place we had been to during the whole journey. It spanned a block and had several restaurants attached to it, among them a premium coffee-bar and a very decent looking pizza-place.

The entrance hall was all marble with huge paintings, thick carpets, plush sofas and doormen in livree. The staff spoke several languages and because not all rooms (particularly the bath rooms) have been renovated they also had economy-rooms which were in our price range. The room was furnished in dark wood, had red curtains and high ceilings, it also overlooked a large plaza. Breakfast was included and the next morning saw us face the last Russian style breakfast on the tour which we made the most of :o)))))

After check-in we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the famous memorial park situated on a hill which was a main battleground in the battle over Stalingrad. The park is called Мамаев Курган (Mamajew Kurgan). At the heart of the richly decorated park is a statue of a fiercely looking Mother Russia stretching a sword into the sky.

The statue is huge, apparently about 80 metres high and can still be seen from very far away. Many vendors have stalls set up along the steps leading up to the statue and the memorial hall, selling souvenirs ranging from beer mugs to medals. Old grannies sell flowers and the memorial hall with its eternal flame and the massive rolls of honour was a prominent spot for photographs. In summer the place is probably buzzing with tourists but the approaching dark and the chilly wind saw only a few people explore the area.

Next day we set off to organize a ‘green card’ for troopy which is obligatory for cars not registered in Europe but roaming European streets. While trying to find the right building we encountered again numerous adventures: I was nearly imprisoned because I entered the wrong building (which was a bank and had a security gate I kinda ignored on my quest); we met the slowest teller machine ever (which needed 5 minutes to give us the cash – I am not exaggerating here); walked into a shop where you could buy really big bolts for tractors and the like before finally entering the right building!

Getting to the Ukrainian border took us another day and a half and the drive was not very memorable because the road was full of trucks and since we had left the Ural the country was heavily plastered with industries and large agricultural facilities.

Barnaul to Volgograd, 31.9. – 5.10.2010

Ok, it’s been a while since we arrived back home and because there is a bit of free time in the Christmas-break I thought I might finish the blog with an account of the last two weeks of our fabulous trip! Where were we… ah ja, in Barnaul!

Altogether we stayed a full week in Barnaul waiting for mail Borut had kindly posted in Perth for us. I have to say the staff at he Barnaul Hotel proved to be unbelievably helpful in retrieving our parcel (which Post Australia was not, actually that was quite a frustrating ‘customer service’, or rather ‘non-service’ experience). Once we had communicated that we were waiting for a delivery receptionists called the Russian Postal Service to find out about the whereabouts of the parcel containing some 4WD goodies and did the best they could to get things going. Meanwhile we enjoyed living in a clean modern hotel room which was for our standards unprecedented luxurious, i.e. the bathroom appliances did not fall off the wall and there was hot water all day around :o))))) The price for the room was one of the most economic we had come across on our tour and so we took the time to relax, read books, go for coffees, do some internetting, plan the route to get back to Europe and to sample Russian food-stalls (restaurants are really expensive and our budget did not include any extras given that we stayed in a hotel).

However, we were glad once we got the parcel to able to head off. In Barnaul we had decided to drive first a bit up north to go around Kasachstan and then head west along the Southern border of Russia via Omsk, Kurgan, Ufa, Saratov and then stay a day in Volgograd before reaching the border to the Ukraine. The weather was by now surprisingly chilly and every night was below 0° degrees hence we had to skip our plans to enjoy some more camping. As a consequence we stopped over in truck stops and motels the numbers of which were increasing as this was a major truck route through Russia. I have to say from now on accommodation deteriorated significantly until we reached Poland with the exception of Volgograd. There were many deserted army barracks on the way which served as privately run ‘motels’. The little huts with a communal ‘bathroom’ and two or three bedrooms/dorms were often arranged like satellites and connected by a pipe system delivering hot water for showers and heating. One camp was situated in a copse and enclosed by a fence, to enter the compound and get to the administration office you had to pass a turnpike and fill out a form with a stern looking military-clad guy. Usually, there hardly was more furniture other than a table and some beds and chairs in a room. For the sake of the experience and because the better-looking truck stops were often fully booked we stayed in one for a night. By the looks of it, in this army barrack they had not even bothered to change the mattresses which were really a bit disgusting and very likely the original mattresses – good thing we had the sleeping bags and hence did not have to touch the mattress and the linen :o)


To go easy on the budget we planned to do the last bit of driving through Russia in a week which basically meant doing around 600-800k’s a day, with an average speed out of town around 80-90Ks. The road conditions were most of the time good, even with some stretches of Autobahn in between, but still it was a hard drive and we had to pull long hours sometimes driving for 10 to 12 hours.

Of course with this schedule we were less inclined to stop and cook therefore we fed mainly on the widely available goulash. It is usually the most economic option, the quality and the meat contents vary greatly and it is either served with bread and rice or pasta or, that was a bit odd, fries.

We drove once more for a while through Siberia and had one of the most surprising encounters on the whole journey. While we were taking a nature break a large 4WD truck honked and once the inmates left the car we were staggered to realize that we had met these guys, father and son, before when driving from Khabarovsk to Chita in Far Eastern Russia where they had stumbled in a road side café with their pet-snake Jeanette. How weird is that to meet the same people twice in a time period of 7 weeks in a different place in a vast landscape such as Siberia!?! They had easily recognized Melville, couldn't believe and stopped. After a big hello, we each made some pictures. Such Lovely guys, as a farewell present they gave us a CD of a Russian singer and we gave them some German schnapps in return.