Here - but bikeless

27/7/11.

Well I've been in Vladivostok for three nights now and have enjoyed the city - but there is just one small hitch; I've yet to get my bike which is still going through the customs process! The ferry may be drive on , but its very definately not drive off.  The bike gets lumped in with all the cargo to be processed and we are not  a priority. It looks like I'll get the bike tomorrow which is Thursday so three full days after arriving.  I'm told not to complain as the previous weeks ships delivery took a full week to clear.
Vladivostok is a much bigger city than I expected - population officially three-quarters of a million and I'm told unofficially over a million.  Its also a giant building site as the next Australian Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) government summit occurs here July next here and the town is getting a massive spruce up in preparation.  As well as the usual tidying up of building facades, new parks and general roadworks they are also building two huge suspension bridges across parts of the bay.  When you see the current state of progress on construction all I can say is I'm glad I 'm not the project manager.
In the photographs below you can see some general shots of Vladivostok in its slightly faded beauty.  Its easy to criticise it but just as easy to forget this was a closed military city between the '50's and 1992 where obviously maintaining beauty was not a priority.  But with imagination (sometimes a lot) you can see how given another decade or two of work it could regain some significant glory.On the ferry I teamed up with two Croation guys, Patrick and Robert who are doing a round the world trip by bike.  They are on the back-half of their trip having done Europe and the US and now planning Vladivostok to home.  We will probably ride the first couple of days together in Russia but they will then run on ahead as they want to be back in Croatia by late August - thats around the world in 4 months definately faster than I'd like.
The first couple of nights here in Vladivostok I stayed in a hotel I booked off the internet - mainly based on price.   I booked as a single person and so, unbeknown to me, the staff decided that meant as "my" room had two beds they could also let it to someone else.  This I only found out as I registered and when it was too late for me to do anything about.  As it was they failed to find me a room mate for the first two nights so it didn't matter, and then for reasons I'll explain in a minute I moved out tonight almost as soon as my room-mate moved in.  The hotel itself had a very flash lobby and lovely pictures of beautifully furnished rooms on its walls (and use on the Internet advert) but it turned out it was only partially renovated - my room was definately in the to be done part, very 1950's or 60's soviet, tired but fortunately quite clean and functional (though the bathroom only just scraped into the male version of that category).  It was fine though as a first stop and it had a good reception and cafe/restaurant staff who cheerfully tolerated my attempts at murdering their language.
I was also due to stay at the hotel again tonight,but then I along with Robert and Patrick got an offer to stay at the clubhouse of the local motorcycle club, the Iron Tigers.  This group is well known for helping  travellers so I happily accepted and it turned out to be great decision.  The club is 10km out of town so one of its members Andrei picked us up and drove us there and given the state of Vladivostok traffic was a major effort on his part.  It is located within an old building which contains the clubs president, Mickaels, business, which is re-building and selling imported bikes (dozens and dozens of them).  Within this building they have a room termed "the box" which is outfitted for travellers to stay with camp-beds and the like plus a toilet and washing machine etc.  At the end of the day they simply leave and tell you to lock yourselves in.  They have been offering this hospitality for a decade or more and it is hard to imagine someone in Australia being as open and trusting. The visit to the Iron Tigers has been a bit of a highlight of the time in Vladivostok and has made the wait for the bike worthwhile.
Well thats about all the news for now - hopefully when I next post it will include news of the bikes safe release and the start of my forward progress.