Finally managed to get the motorbike. After many many days of trying it all happened yesterday evening about 6pm.

The paperwork was like nothing i have ever experienced before! Just for cusoms alone we handed over more than 100 A4 documents, all of which had to have official stamps and be approved by many different people. We made about 6 trips to the other end of town to the customs office and about double that to the office of the shipping agent. In the end we were told that even though we had all necessary papers we could not get to the container because foreigners are not allowed to enter the port! After that we were told that we could not get a truck to bring the container out of the port for us becuase there was nowhere to put it once we removed our bikes and it returned to the terminal. We blew up at this stage and made a real scene (basically a tantrum) until things turned around. I ended up demanding that the manager of the shipping agent 'f***en run, and i mean run' to the customs office to process release documents!

Anyway all is good now. I would sum up this country so far by saying that the people here are fantastic, the country is great but the system is terrible. I have heard a saying here that says ' in russia we dont need results we need processes'! Can you believe that!

I have been spending a lot of time with Tim, Ben and Kate and will most likely begin riding with them northwards tomorrow after this storm passes over. It will be a shame to say goodbye to Alexey and Kristy, whos apartment we have packed ourselves into. They are the most generous people i have come across in my travels so far, giving anything they can without question.