Mongolian Mayhem

In the meantime I am having quite a sociable time:beerjug:, various people are around to hang out with and Cole has arrived in town.
He is my room mate and it turns out he is as messy as me:rolleyes:
He has been regaling me with stories about the snow in Siberia, and also displying some very cool dance moves in the clubs.:steptoe


Right thats enough propaganda ... get on with your trip :rob
 
Off Course

I had a one week wait in UB for the rotor to arrive from UK, in the meantime I visited the Christina Noble Foundation for children - bloody amazing work they do with the homeless, abandoned and disadvantaged kids of Mongolia - some of their stories are horrific.
I saw heartrending pictures of the 100 or so kids who live on the streets of UB- they go underground to survive in the winter and live in the tunnels that the pipes run through as often the temperature is -40 degrees for days on end.

Cole on a weird BMW that he has painted brown (-what a George and Mildred colour it is, naturally I couldn't help telling him what I thought of the colour) was in town for a while as well and had the very dubious pleasure of sharing my room - a dorm supposed to be for six but due to our combined messiness it looked like a full room.

From Mongolia, I was supposed to be riding home across Russia to Europe, but I thought, having got this far, I might as well go and dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean.
So I had a long, hard and freezing cold ride across Siberia to Vladivostock (a robbery of sorts, a stray Armenian cyclist sharing my tent one night and four welding sessions amongst some of the mishaps as well as the high speed blow out, men with guns outside my tent at night etc more details on the website).
Vladivostock- home of the Iron Tigers, a Russian bike club with a legendary reputation for hospitality towards bike travellers - their guestbook reads like a Who's Who in the bike travel world interspersed with a few names of people I know. They showed me around and were great- I just missed out on a major paintballing game as I got to town two hours too late - now that would have been fun - playing war games and shooting at genuine Russkies.


And once I found out there is a ferry to Japan well...as I always say, I enjoy a ferry as a method of transport because it means I can paint my toe nails whilst still managing to travel in the right direction.
and the fact that I don't have the paperwork to Japan - not a problem, I managed to find a way around it..

I just about scraped through the frustratingly convoluted and slow Russian customs procedures in time to get on the ferry to Japan. For some reason leaving Russia by ferry is a whole different ball game to leaving across a land border and customs took two days, whilst the land border procedures take 30 minutes.

So I here am in the land of the Rising Sun - possibly a bit off course from my original plan, but life's too short not to have reached the Pacific Ocean from the Asian side I reckon.

and now I am working out how to get home - I think I want to go via Nova Scotia as I've got some friends there I haven't seen for a long time.:beerjug:
 
Nova Scotia?! May see you around! If your place to stay fails give me a shout as I can sort you out with a nice view of the beach! (Just look for a place called Beach Meadows (outside of liverpool) and ask for the Porters). Have a blast!
 
Cole on a weird BMW that he has painted brown (-what a George and Mildred colour it is, naturally I couldn't help telling him what I thought of the colour) was in town ...

Its called 'sand' ... and its very cool. You are way too out of date lady! :comfort :hide

Cole ... had the very dubious pleasure of sharing my room - a dorm supposed to be for six but due to our combined messiness it looked like a full room.

Yes the pleasure was indeed dubious ... and I would add that the bulk of the luggage strewn over the place in that room was from madam ... how many pairs of shoes does a woman need to travel with??? How many yachts can you waterski behind? How many handwritten secret notes is a man supposed to find? How much radiator space does a woman need to dry her underwear??? How much is enough???

And I thought my companion TonyP had a lot of luggage!!! :rob:rob:rob
:ChrisKelly::hide
 
A Bit Off-Course

Supposed to be in San Francisco visiting friends but instaed I'm in a hostel in San Diego, hopefully crossing the border into Mexico tomorrow morning on someone else's KLR.

It's a long story and I'll let you know how I get on:augie
 
Mongolian Mayhem becomes Mexican Mayhem

The plan was that I spend the two to three weeks whilst waiting for Thelma's ship to reach LA, visiting friends in the west of the States. However, having recovered from jet lag and Korean poisoning I met some of Erdem's friends including Savas from Istanbul and heard his travel story- he is trying to reach Tierra del Fuego by motorcycle from California. He set off southwards a few months ago and got hit by a pick-up truck in Mexico. He broke his leg and dislocated bones in his foot and so was out of action for quite a while. His bike wan't so lucky and has had to be written off.

He had made friends in Mexico whilst recovering and they sorted out the paperwork for his motorbike. He then returned to LA, bought another second-hand motorcycle and set off once more, only to be turned back at the border as the Mexican Customs officials informed him his other bike was not accounted for and he could not pass the border with any vehicle until the paperwork was cleared. He's been told this process may now take several months.

He is stuck in America trying to sort it out and also looking into shipping past Mexico which is going to cost a lot of money and also take a quite a bit of time.

Once I'd heard all this, I said the answer is simple, I ride the bike across Mexico for him. Once he had got over his surprise at the offer, he said yes and within hours we were on the road together, heading to the Tijuana border crossing. Pausing only in San Diego to transfer the official ownership of the bike into my name at the DMV (DVLA).

The Mexican Customs procedure was a bit nerve-racking as we weren't sure if they would accept just the temporary ownership documents, Savas wished me luck as I headed in on my own. I presented my documents and after a few questions and a very long wait they passed me a form to complete, took $400 as a refundable deposit/bond for duty and asked for a name to go with the deposit.

When I asked whose name, they replied without smiling

"If you die, who shall we give the $400 to?"

I'm not sure if they have a lot of tourists meeting their maker in Mexico (though the roads do have a reputation for some very wild driving), but it was a bit unsettling to be discussing my imminent death with Maria from Customs.

When I walked back out to the bike with the documents in my hand to take the bike across Mexico, Savas high-fived me and we took off down the road before they could change their minds.

So this is how I happen to now be riding Gullu (Rosie) the Kawasaki KLR 650cc bike across Mexico to Guatemala. I'm on the wrong bike going in the wrong direction.

Savas is with me as well and we are sharing the riding though I suspect he was a bit white-knuckled to begin with as I don't think he takes naturally to being a pillion passenger and he has never been on the back of a bike ridden by a women before. I'd had a practice ride at the DMV carpark whilst we were waiting there and I don't think I inspired much confidence in him with comments from me such as :

"Where's the on/off switch?"
and
"Oooooh this is a bit high" whilst struggling to get my foot on the ground and then had a tussle for a few minutes as I couldn't get the side-stand up either.

Several days later and I'd got used to the height though the side-stand was still a bit of an issue, as it's too long for the bike - says the woman who rides with a ridiculously short side-stand.
I've introduced Savas to camping rough and riding off-road with two up on the bike. Hmmm, perhaps I should have enquired as to his off-roading experience, capability and confidence before I directed him from the tarmac down a sandy track then up a gravel covered hill, not to mention dodging the cacti and the cow carcass on the slopes.
 
Direction

Three years ago (almost to the day) I enjoyed the same border crossing to Mexico. As to, "I'm on the wrong bike going in the wrong direction", I can't speak of the bike, my GSA worked out nicely for me:) - the direction is perfect though for this time of year:rob

Hope you have time enough to really enjoy the people and culture in Mexico. Baja is nice enough, but if time is an issue make sure you spend it wisely in Mexico proper:bounce1

Damn, wish it was me:mmmm
 
Beach Life

We made it to Guatemala, and although there was a bit of an awkward moment at the border when we were doing our slightly dodgy document swapover (details on website, to tired to replicate it here). I got him into Guate and we celebrated with Gallo beer.

the next day I hoofed it northwards with helmet and leathers in hand to the Yucatan and its famous white sand beaches and turquoise sea. Did I mention the bars on the beach that serve the perfect pina colada to sip on:Motomartin as I watched the sun set on the Caribbean sea (I was on Isla Mujeres in case someone clever tries to point out I was on the east coast).

Blissful paradise and well earned after the painful experience of the hard seat on that KLR - I was a bit Princess and the Pea.
 
We made it to Guatemala, and although there was a bit of an awkward moment at the border when we were doing our slightly dodgy document swapover (details on website, to tired to replicate it here). I got him into Guate and we celebrated with Gallo beer.

the next day I hoofed it northwards with helmet and leathers in hand to the Yucatan and its famous white sand beaches and turquoise sea. Did I mention the bars on the beach that serve the perfect pina colada to sip on:Motomartin as I watched the sun set on the Caribbean sea (I was on Isla Mujeres in case someone clever tries to point out I was on the east coast).

Blissful paradise and well earned after the painful experience of the hard seat on that KLR - I was a bit Princess and the Pea.

A just reward for your charitable work:thumb:thumb:thumb
 
the next day I hoofed it northwards with helmet and leathers in hand to the Yucatan and its famous white sand beaches and turquoise sea. Did I mention the bars on the beach that serve the perfect pina colada to sip on:Motomartin as I watched the sun set on the Caribbean sea

Can we have some fotos please, just to rub it in ... pina coladas, white beaches, sunsets.
 
How about this picture?

Is this what you were thinking?
 

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Typical Coates Fashion...

...not only the wrong signpost in Siberia, but I've posted the icy December in Seattle pic rather than the Yucatan Beach shot!
 


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