Crossing Siberia? Run what you brung

Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation can throw up some pretty extraordinary numbers when one is talking geography and climate. Up until a few years ago, a trans-Siberian crossing still involved a significant distance on unsealed roads.

For better and worse though, our world continues to shrink. There is no more powerful evidence of this than the fact that Han and I just whisked across this great wilderness in air-conditioned comfort, listening to Dope Lemon and indulging the occasional bag of soft lollies.

We found ourselves sharing the road with everything from formidable military heavy vehicles through to 20 year old Japanese grey imports. Frankly many more of the latter than the former. The halcyon 1970s, when one would wisely tackle the trip in a Land Rover or UAZ, are firmly in the past.

We must now search for roads and journeys that test our equipment, or perhaps more importantly, test our resolve. Back off on the equipment however and one will soon restore the challenge: the distances, the biomes and the climate here remain brutal, even if the road is excellent.

Our path crossed with that of Takamichi Midorikawa in Vladivostok, and then again in Khabarovsk.

This intrepid landscaper is riding his box-fresh Honda Cub 110 from Vladivostok to Lisbon via Moscow and the Baltic states.

A man, his machine, a 74-language translator, credit card and the longest drivable distance on Earth.

Our time will come, we’re sure of it. Right now Takamichi Midorikawa is the real MVP.

Avengers Assemble!

Optimus Prime here has just turned up with the third member of the team.

After some scheduling SNAFU on the Pusan<=>Vladivostok shuttle we found ourselves with a few days more than we’d anticipated in town.

Notwithstanding when the ship did arrive, with Links Ltd acting as our shipping and customs clearance agents the container was processed, released from the port, transported and unloaded in less than a day after a coordinated effort from Yuri, Svetlana and Andrew.

…and the Disco was unscathed from the journey…

In retrospect the delay was serendipitous as we found ourselves with enough time to get a sense of Vladivostok, this most Easterly of ‘European’ cities.

Sat on the platform at the Vladivostok railway station is a milestone indicating 9,288kms from Moscow and the city around this final stop on the Trans-Siberian railway retains somewhat of a frontier quality - in the taiga of Primorsky Krai surrounding the city survive populations of Siberian tiger and Far Eastern leopard.

Locals were friendly with an initially sparse, no-nonsense turn of phrase that turned to chattiness once we got over the language barrier (GoogleTranslate, amazing).

As we drove Northwards on good roads into the countryside and out from Vladivostok’s thick midsummer fog the sky opened up into wide vistas - waterways, wet ground and thick low woodlands interspersed with arable land.

Next stop Khabarovsk, located on the Amur River about 750kms to the North!

Pride of the Fleet

In 1985, aged 13, and despite three paternal generations of infantry officer preceding me, I joined the Royal Australian Navy cadets. The result, perhaps, of years of watching Patrol Boat.

In those days, with China yet to invest heavily in naval power, Russia was seen as the key regional threat. Specifically, the formidable fleet of nuclear-armed submarines and surface ships based in Vladivostok.

In the late ‘80s, the USSR had three aircraft carriers under construction and it seemed that with those commissioned and 1-2 deployed in the Pacific they would be in a position to project force southwards to Australia.

You can see what we were worried about…

With the fall of the Soviet Union this did not come to pass, and by the 1990s the Russian Pacific Fleet was a shadow of itself.

Fast-forward 30 years and I find myself wandering the Pacific Fleet museum, encountering it’s rather extraordinary battle honours, history and legacy of innovation.

The Russian Navy has four fleets, the Northern (at Severomorsk), the Pacific (Vladivostok), Baltic (on the Vistula at Kaliningrad); in the Black Sea (Sevastapol), and a Caspian flotilla based for most of it’s history in Baku (now Azerbaijan).

Each of these fleets has featured in some remarkable way in military history, and collectively played a prominent role in the 1905 and 1917 revolutions, and of course in the defence of the Russian state. This contribution is acknowledged annually on the third Sunday in July, when Russia celebrates Navy Day.

A festive atmosphere, notwithstanding the soundtrack of gunfire and rocketry.

The Pacific Fleet dates all the way back to 1731, first moving to Vladivostok in 1871. Accordingly here in Vladivostok Navy Day is no small event, with a sail-past by the fleet; various military displays and an evening of fireworks.

Of course all of this was new to us, coming to light only when we wandered in to town to find it rammed with punters, being buzzed by cars flying Russian Navy flags; and with the waterfront subject to an assault by Russian marines.

What’s most charming however is the deep affection and pride demonstrated by the people of Vladivostok towards the fleet, and the sailors - past and present - that serve on it.

For more pics around Vladivostok, see our latest gallery.

2 nights in Beijing

In planning our flight into Vladivostok we stumbled across the Chinese transit visa, which is ideal for a quick stopover.

”Just a couple of days to decompress” was the reasoning, so we signed up for a two-day tour. We admittedly weren’t picturing 38C and 50-60% humidity with 12-15kms on foot each day.

Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City are a touchstone of China’s imperial history and together with the mausoleum of Mao Zedong are a bucket list destination for Chinese tourists.

They can each process 8 million visitors per DAY and our visit, falling in school holidays, was a sellout. The numbers are not quite enough to overwhelm the architecture but by sheer weight went someway to rather explain it.

Next stop from there was a visit to the Great Wall, again a testament to what can be achieved with manpower and organisation.

Day Two centred around a visit to the Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven.

All of these places are I think UNESCO World Heritage sites and jewels in that list. I’m really delighted we made the detour and placed a foundation for our experiences to come as we travel westwards - first through the lands of the warrior shepherds so feared by the Ming dynasty, and then along the path taken as products of China travelled overland to markets in the West.

Notwithstanding all of that, the highlight for mine was our tremendous guide Nancy, from China Travel.

Check out the Beijing gallery for more pics.

You know nothing, Jon Snow

It’s pretty much a house rule for us back home in Sydney, that if Peking duck pancakes are on the menu, they’re going to get ordered. Really no matter the circumstances, restaurant or procrastination on our part… that’s just what happens.

Needless to say a trip to Beijing was inevitably going to be a culinary pilgrimage of sorts.

Turns out we had a bit to learn.

First learning was around how/why Peking came to change it’s name to Beijing. Which of course it hasn’t (transliteration has simply been tightened up). So Peking duck is Beijing duck, no problem, and irrelevant as here actually in Beijing of course it’s just roast duck.

So we found ourselves faced by several options on a spectrum of upscale/modern through to more rustic/traditional, and stumped for the Liqun Roast Duck Restaurant.

Next learning was around preparation of the duck. I’d sort of grown up with those photographs on the wall of BBQ King showing Peking duck production at scale, never imagining the sense experience of ducks roasting over fruit woods in a brick oven in the next room.

Thinking ourselves more prepped we weighed into our pancake course with enthusiasm, only to be pulled up and given a specific walkthrough as to how they like to prepare the duck in the Liqun family:

1. Take a stack of pancakes onto your plate

2. Paint the hoisin onto the pancake with a meatier slice of duck

3. Add a less meaty slice and then a piece of straight skin, and a couple of shallots

   DO NOT add cucumber, as this will make the pancake bitter and wet, cucumber is provided to cleanse/refresh the palate between repeats.

4. Roll the topmost pancake, tucking at one end to prevent spills

5. Enjoy from the hand (“Now do the same with the rest!”)

This was a simple meal, with beer alongside and a convivially informal atmosphere.

Thank you Kevin for the recommendation!

Track your package

Anyone that’s relocated internationally would be familiar with a range of anxieties. Will a favourite watch get pilfered? Did the art glass collection get safely packed? Is the Louis XIV credenza being treated like an Ikea sideboard?

As the days and weeks pass these concerns mutate into irrational fears, with the apex reached when one finds oneself wondering “is the boat even still afloat?”.

Enter the Internet of Things.

Following one’s cargo around the world is actually now more precise than tracking an online purchase. Input your Container No. on the website of the shipper and one is provided information such as the vessel name(s) and transhipment ports where the container will be transferred from one ship to the next.

One can then enter the vessel name into marinetraffic.com for a real time location and speed.

So for instance, as I type this on Wednesday morning I see the YM Seattle (pictured above without the Disco onboard) is berthed at the Nankokita dock in Osaka.

So it’s not sunk, at least as yet.

The Seattle is due to arrive in Pusan, South Korea tomorrow. Once there the container will be transhipped onto the AS Fiona (which I see is presently doing 9.2kmh as it enters the port of Pusan). We’re looking good so far.

With shipping proceeding to plan, on Saturday we fly to Beijing en route to Vladivostok. Next update from China!

Thanks to Brent at Bikes Abroad for the tracking info, and Adam and Kym for Shipspotting 101.

It’s OFFICIAL

Car is delivered to freight forwarder bonded storage facility. Customs determines whether an inspection is necessary (no). Freight forwarder puts it in a box and transfers the box to the dock. Stevedore moves box from dock to boat. Shipper confirms it’s on the boat via a Bill of Lading. Australian Border Force (fka Customs) confirm export clearance, thereby activating the Carnet de Passages de Douane.

At least I think that’s the sequence. Fortunately Brent at Bikes Abroad is on point with the shippers and to ensure our agent Yuri in Vladivostok knows what’s coming and is ready to get it off the dock there.

I was worried that an obstacle was looming today when Border Force’s initial reaction to our paperwork was puzzlement. Surrounded by little signs pleading for civility, they were altogether cheerful and soon enough tracked down a colleague across this type of export.

Stoicism clearly reigns at the ABF. Overheard at the next booth: “24 hours in a day and 24 beers in a box. Coincidence? I think not”.

37 borders to go…

Thinking INSIDE the box

After a final service with Trivett Land Rover Alexandria the Disco was off to Trojan Transport at Botany for loading into a 20ft container. Handy to note there’s about enough space left over to squeeze in a bike, so perhaps we might split a future shipment. If all proceeds to plan the container will transfer from the bonded storage facility to the port tonight, ready for immediate loading. The next time these doors will open is in Vladivostok!

The loaded container was weighed at some point of the process, and after subtracting the weight of the container itself I find myself with a revised curb weight for the car.

I’ll geek out in another post about the mods that we’ve made to the vehicle, but suffice that they’ve added about 30% in mass to LRs standard specification.

Adding in Han, myself, luggage and a full fuel load places us right on the gross vehicle mass/maximum laden weight for the Disco Sport.

This is great news and a little bit unexpected, as it means driveline and suspension components are operating within design parameters. Hopefully this means less failures - although that remains to be seen!

A passport for the car

A couple of crucial administrative and logistical gates have been passed over the last few days. Carnet de Passages en Douane (‘CPD’) is like a passport for the car. For Aussies this is issued by the Australian Automobile Association, who kindly produced this for us stat. CPD is essentially evidence for a Customs Officer that your car is staying in the country in question temporarily. Arrangements differ around the world, but generally the car is approved for entry to a country for a duration matching the duration of the visa carried by the owner of the vehicle.

Carnet is phasing out as a process around the world, replaced typically by Temporary Import Permits (TIP). Regardless of this, it’s mandatory for a few countries on our itinerary and will simplify repatriating the car to Australia at the back end of the expedition.

With this and visas in hand we met the prerequisites for confirming our freight slot… and with this domino falling we’ve locked in flights and accomodation in Vladivostok. Final service for the car is on Monday, then it’s off to the shippers.

Visas and vaccinations…

After three weeks worth of running around we’re delighted with progress down our pre-trip checklist. We’ve been issued visas by both Russia and Mongolia, which are two of our three more challenging Asian borders (the third being Iran, given tensions in the Gulf).

Thanks to Sydney Travel Vaccination Clinic we’re setup as far as possible on that front and are equipped for various medical crises. Travelling through a range of climactic zones means a pretty wide barrage of shots, so our ICVs are like sticker fun books.

Next items on the list are Carnet, tenants and freight confirmation to Vladivostok.