B - reporting
Border Day! Always a bit stressful...and will our late registrations be OK?
We wanted to use up our Kazak money, so fannied around until the big supermarket opened at 9:30. We are now in Europe - it was kind of sad to be leaving Asia, but also the start of a new adventure: a new adventure with hopefully much better roads.
We then headed for the Russian border. We were soon back in the desert, with the small scrubby bushes and today, lots of flying sand as it was quite windy. And more camels - they seem like such supercilious creatures. Who knows, perhaps they are as friendly as donkeys.
After an exciting stop for a cappuccino in a brand new cafe (like, about a week old! the landlady was delighted) we had a rather stressful drive over crappy roads, wincing at every bump and new noise from Swiss. He is clearly not at all well, but there won't be a proper garage until Russia.
We reached the enormous queue at the border at about 3:45, though it seemed a lot later as the sky was dark with rainclouds. We've been so lucky with the weather till now, having no rain to speak of for all the dirt roads we've covered.
I had to walk to the passenger passport control, while G drove. But other than queueing, it was a very easy crossing. We then entered Russia! We lined up behind a busload of Kazakhs, and I noticed a small ginger cat sitting interestedly under the passport control window, his tail wrapped neatly round his paws, entirely unfazed by the milling! He was clearly a well-loved pet of all the gun-carrying Russian army guys.
Then we were in Russia! The roads are so smoooooth! We headed towards Astakhan, over an exciting pontoon bridge over the Volga, arriving after dark but with our trusty GPS we found the Gold Djinn hotel and settled in for the night. We have lost an hour with the time zone change, but frankly were so confused anyway that it hardly makes any difference. We are just delighted to have proper working showers and a warm bed!
Border Day! Always a bit stressful...and will our late registrations be OK?
We wanted to use up our Kazak money, so fannied around until the big supermarket opened at 9:30. We are now in Europe - it was kind of sad to be leaving Asia, but also the start of a new adventure: a new adventure with hopefully much better roads.
We then headed for the Russian border. We were soon back in the desert, with the small scrubby bushes and today, lots of flying sand as it was quite windy. And more camels - they seem like such supercilious creatures. Who knows, perhaps they are as friendly as donkeys.
After an exciting stop for a cappuccino in a brand new cafe (like, about a week old! the landlady was delighted) we had a rather stressful drive over crappy roads, wincing at every bump and new noise from Swiss. He is clearly not at all well, but there won't be a proper garage until Russia.
We reached the enormous queue at the border at about 3:45, though it seemed a lot later as the sky was dark with rainclouds. We've been so lucky with the weather till now, having no rain to speak of for all the dirt roads we've covered.
I had to walk to the passenger passport control, while G drove. But other than queueing, it was a very easy crossing. We then entered Russia! We lined up behind a busload of Kazakhs, and I noticed a small ginger cat sitting interestedly under the passport control window, his tail wrapped neatly round his paws, entirely unfazed by the milling! He was clearly a well-loved pet of all the gun-carrying Russian army guys.
Then we were in Russia! The roads are so smoooooth! We headed towards Astakhan, over an exciting pontoon bridge over the Volga, arriving after dark but with our trusty GPS we found the Gold Djinn hotel and settled in for the night. We have lost an hour with the time zone change, but frankly were so confused anyway that it hardly makes any difference. We are just delighted to have proper working showers and a warm bed!
 |
| Camels |
 |
| Brand new cafe |
No comments:
Post a Comment