Vladivostok – Part 2
We returned to the bike club, where the guys were preparing for this weekends big feast and drink-a-thon, the 3rd birthday of the Iron Angels bike club. Sherri spoke to the mechanic who had been working on her bike, trying to communicate how much she owed him for changing and balancing her tyres and changing her oil. He however was having none of it. No charge. Just pay the club boss for the oil we used. That was her introduction to the friendliness of Russian bikers.
While she was sorting out Andrei, the club boss, for the oil, I had a Russian biker-ess trying out my bike. “A bit taller than my chopper” was all she said. I wondered to myself did she actually ride her bike with the hot pants and high heels?
A call came in, from one of the shipping agents regarding Magadan. One of the ships was in a day early and needed to be loaded tonight for a tomorrow morning departure. This was good news. The bikes would probably be in Magadan on Tuesday, same as us. We threw stuff onto our bikes and rode them down to the port, stopping briefly for the obligatory Vladivostok foto … in front of the submarine.
The young shipping agent met us there in his new Range Rover and told us we had to wait. We couldn’t ride the bikes onto the dock because its technically a border zone – we needed a Russian citizen … so a biker friend of the agent was coming down to help out. The friend turned up in a souped up Porsche Cayenne. He was about 28. SJ and I looked at each other and raised our eyebrows. Business is booming in Vladivostok I see.
The bikes were ridden away to be loaded on to the boat. We had secured a really good deal. It was unofficial.
A mere 4000 rubles each to ship the bikes to Magadan. Vladivostok to Magadan is a hell of a long way. Its 4 hours in a jet plane. 80 quid to send each bike over 2000 miles (3000km) was a bargain in anyone’s language. Two days earlier we had purchased our air tickets. And as luck would have it, we got an decent deal there too. Tony had paid 24,000 rubles last year from his Magadan to Vlad flight. Sherri and I scored them this year for 16,000 each.
The only thing left on the agenda for Vladivostok is the 3rd Birthday party for the Iron Angels bike club this weekend. Tony and Terry were at the 2nd Birthday party for the club last year … and we all know how that went!