Intro

Hi, my name is Phil and this blog describes a Solo Round The World Motorcycle Trip I am starting in May 2012. The blog also contains info on other motorbike trips I have made. It is named after the Lee Marvin hit from the 1969 film Paint Your Wagon. It just seems to sum up how I feel when I am on the road. I was born..etc..etc..

If you would like to give your support and make a donation to the Anthony Nolan Trust please use the Virgin Money Giving link on the right. If you would like to advertise on the blog please email me at philjones060@gmail.com.

Wednesday 6 June 2012

30 - 31 May 2012

Wednesday 30 May – Day 27

Woke with a slight hangover. Only had five beers with the American guy but my resistance must be at an all time low. I haven’t been drinking booze at all since I left home and haven’t missed it. I made my way up to the Kazakhstan embassy and spoke to the duty consular official, a pleasant young woman who spoke pretty good English. She told me that the 30 day tourist visa was $40 but would take 5 working days to process.
However, she also said that if I apply in Baku the cost is the same but it only takes 3 working days and I can apply on Monday. I decided to wait and apply in Baku. I took an application form from her and went back to Xtours to give them my passport.  I was told by the girl on the desk at Xtours to come back tomorrow at 5pm to collect it with the visa inserted. This means I will be on the road to Baku on Friday morning if all goes to plan.

The whole invitation letter thing is a complete farce and appears to be a completely out dated method of vetting people which is being used now purely as a business opportunity to fleece tourists.  It’s about time the embassies all got together and developed a better method of obtaining and submitting references.  So far I have had to purchase invitations for Russia and Azerbaijan at a combined cost of around $280.    

I have been looking for a post office to send my damaged laptop home using the box of my new one but haven’t spotted one. Internet research suggests it will cost around 50 – 60 Lari to send to the UK. It rained heavily all evening so I stayed at the Hostel, mucked around on the internet and slept.  I wish I had done some basic Russian tuition before I left home. It would have been really useful here and I suspect also in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and of course Russia itself.

Thursday 31 May – Day 28

Awake early and had to plug the internet router in again on the managers desk. I think the owner un-plugs it to save power but he hasn’t complained about me plugging it back in yet.  

I can’t believe I have been on the road for 4 weeks.  I am slightly behind schedule but hoping to make up some time once I get into Kazakhstan. I updated my blog to include some comments about this Hostel and showed the owner using the Google translation tool.  He was made up and 5 minutes later he came and offered me some ‘very special Georgian wine’. I had to decline his offer as I was riding later and it was only around 10.30am.

In the afternoon I went to Gori to see Stalin’s home town. I used the ATM and had coffee in a cafe opposite the impressive Town Hall. The locals seemed rather suspicious and I guess this has something to do with the recent history of the town with the Russian occupation and bombing.


There was previously a huge statue of Stalin infront of the town hall but it was removed as part of the Georgian de-sovietisation process.




 
I needed fuel desparately and the parking attendant directed me to a garage where I filled up. The guy pumping the gas was really interested in the bike and kept saying ‘Harley Davidson, Harley Davidson’. I laughed and tried to explain that a Harley might struggle to get through Siberia.  I set off back to Tbilisi. About five miles down the road the bike developed a really nasty knocking noise and it felt like I was doing some serious damage to the engine. I could only think that this was due to c**p in the Benzine but the symptoms were totally different to the problem I had in Albania.
I thought about the Harley Davidson pump attendant who had sold me the fuel and really wished I could get hold of him.  The only thing to do was to press on and hope I could nurse the bike to the next town, or possibly to turn round and go back. I decided to press on and fortunately, the knocking gradually eased and after about 35 miles of nervous riding things were back to normal.  I am definitely going to get some fuel additive when I next see some at a petrol stop.

I got back to Tbilisi for around 5pm and went straight to Xtours office to collect my passport with the priceless 30 day Azerbaijan visa inserted. No hitches, so I can head for the border in the morning.
I had arranged to meet Babek at 9pm in the Hangar Bar so I set off to walk there around 8.30.  I knew vaguely where it was and wasn’t expecting it to be difficult but nobody that I spoke to could direct me.  Eventually I gave up and stopped for a beer in a pub called the Dubliner.  They wanted 8 Lari for a small beer so I had just the one and moved on.  I was only paying 3 Lari last night and the bars around the Radisson Hotel seem to be aimed at tourists and foreign workers and are definitely more expensive than the more Georgian bars.

No comments:

Post a Comment