Still in Vladivostok! Cant get out!

Well, there have been dramas with the arrival of our ship from Sth Korea. It took about 5 days extra, the international arrival dock was full so it went to the fishing dock first. Then we were waiting on documents from our shipping agent to take to customs. We need to get those documents stamped along with details of exactly whats in the container to pass through the customs inspection which can take a while. We then need some stamps from some officials to make our important papers become offical documents! Anyway things are looking hopeful for this afternoon and if all goes well I may be on the road from tomorrow, although i am not holding my breath!

Vladivstok has been great, Alexey and Kristy have been fantastic having us stay at their apartment. It has been great getting to know them and find out about their way of life and how things work for people here. Kot, their cat is the coolest cat goin round too! Met some people who have helped along the way, including the president of the shipping company who I've had a couple of 'official meetings' with! You can imagine me in this kind of environment hey! We were at the customs office briefly yesterday and there seems to be 2 kinds of people there; 1) people who are milling about not achieving anything, and 2) people who walk in circles from office to office getting paid presumably by the kilometer! Anways fingers crossed for thisafternoon. Our translator is battling with customs on our behalf as i write this. Beaurocracy, beaurocracy, beaurocracy!!!!