Port Vladivostok Russia!

Welcome to Port Vladivostok!!

The bikes FINALLY get released from Customs after a completely full day (9 - 5!!) of going from office to office, paperwork after paperwork... fees after fees..  but we have been officially released!

No wonder the girls are grumpy, look at the work load on her desk!!














Walter organizes a guy from the local motorcycle club here, the Iron Angels, to meet us and he leads us back to his club where my bike needs a good service and new tires for the road ahead.

What's that girl riding??  Ohh.. Ka Te EMmma
I think it's that Safari tank that throws people off initially.. ;-)

Also at the club are they guys from Khazakstan,  the Steppe Riders, whom have just come in for a service from their journey.  Will my bike be looking like that soon??   And what's with all the dead hanging fish?

Very busy club.. it's late, so we leave the bikes there and head back into town.

We found cheaper accommodation the day before and moved in.. this wonderful Russian woman, Ira.. is very welcoming!  She rents out her rooms, in this big ol' concrete building that would be the safest place in the world if there is an invasion!

Check out front door(s)!  Double steel doors.. and what's with the padding?  Is it there in case you are behind it when the enemy blasts through with dyno-mite?

The entry door to the building is steel as well.. no signage to mark the entrance, and a passcode you need to enter and wait for somebody to buzz you in..

Good news is, I feel safe here!!  I might pull my funds out of my bank and store them here as well!

Here is lovely Ira..  and her very tiny kitchen.. where she offers us a welcome tea and homemade little pastry things with potatoes and mushrooms inside..

It's all about the tiger here in Vladivostok.. Ira proudly displays hers on the wall..

I also noticed these calendars on the wall at the Customs office.

They do love their tigers, and I do too!!..

Not much sleep the first night at Ira's.. So many people out side the door talking, t.v., etc, all through the night!

2nd night, a bit of the same, and when I walk out in the morning, they are all gone!  I ask Walter, why they come in during the night and leave so early.. He says that Ira also rents rooms by the hour.. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!  I am in another LOVE HOTEL and didn't even know it - again!!!  Took me 2 days to work that out this time.. gee whiz I am slow..






Accommodation in Vlad is very expensive... sounds to be the case all through Russia.  We are here for several days and must conserve funds.. but I can't help but to laugh that I have managed to stay in a Love Hotel in every country so far, Japan, Korea and now Russia..  Big business, I'm tellin' ya!