Sokcho, Korea:

Now that I had found my bike, I set about finding Sherri, my co-rider for the challenging Sibirsky Extreme 2010 journey from Magadan to Irkutsk. As recently as 6 weeks ago I had 5 people coming along on the trip – 4 guys and 1 girl. Slowly but surely, all the guys pulled out citing a variety of reasons, leaving me with a single female co-rider. Tiffany Coates had suggested to me last year I should lead an all girl ride on the Road of Bones and that guys couldn’t be relied upon! As it turns out, that’s what I have now. I found Sherri at the hotel / hostel place near Sokcho port where we had agreed to meet. She is on a kitted out KTM 690R.

Sherri has recently departed from Australia to ride solo around the world. Leading up to this point, she has crossed Australia, then Japan and now Korea. So it’s still early days for her. She was bold enough to want to take on the Road of Bones, so I am happy to help her get a grip with how things are done in Russia.

We had half a day to kill while waiting for the Dong Chun ferry that runs regularly in the summer between Sokcho and Zarubino in Russia, (Zarubino is the most southerly port on Russia’s Pacific coast, and lies 100 km southwest of Vladivostok) so there was time to wander the streets of Sokcho where we saw some curious sights and store names.

Grilled and Skewered Octopus’s Balls anyone?

Or perhaps giant bulls balls?

Tired of fast food? Here’s the antidote:

What kind of sport are you into?

On a girls T-Shirt … not 100% sure what kind of leakage “fairy sweat” might be referring to for a girl, but my mind was being quite creative at that point.

Funny Love ? … That’s one way to put it … If it involves “Kolon Sport” and “Fairy Sweat Leakage”, it indeed sounds rather funny.

A lingerie store “Yes” had this promotional literature on the wall … a conversation between a girl and her boyfriend – it was enough to convince me to buy some. I was inspired. I stocked up on brassieres for myself.

Sick of being ugly and uncomfortable? You need to go to this store:

But our educational exploration of Sokcho’s stores had to finish sometime. That time was when the ferry came into view …

And before long we were Russia bound!

The ferry pulled out of Sokcho harbour 4 hours late … but better late than never. I realised while on board that I couldn’t remember seeing my heated vest and heated gloves while rummaging through my luggage earlier that day. I went down to the vehicle deck and searched again … and nope, my heated gear was not with me.

It was no problem in the short term … it was 30 degrees and humid. But Magadan was a long way north of here, and I was going to be in Russia a few months. Damn. I was sure I took it to the shippers, but I had taken a lot of loose plastic bags that were to be thrown into the packing crate when it was built up around the bike. It must have been missed, and I assume sitting somewhere in the James Cargo warehouse.

The Dong Chun ferry was air-conditioned, but it was a bizarre form of air-con that seemed to cool the air without taking any moisture out of it. If you cool air without removing moisture, it just becomes more wet and sticky – humidity increases. It was a sticky wet evening on board the boat that night.

I see why Terry was so restless when Tony and I met him in Vladivostok last year. After a flight to Korea, a few days in Korea and a boat to Russia … you feel there is not a whole lot of riding being done. Is does make you pretty restless. It’s two weeks since I sent the bike away from London and began this journey, but I have ridden just a few hundred metres in Korea so far.

And the reliance on other modes of transport is not over yet. Despite being on a plane from London to Seoul, a bus from Seoul to Sokcho and now a ferry from Sokcho to Zarubino … there is still a 5-6 day boat ride ahead from Vladivostok to Magadan. The only saving grace is a short ride from Zarubino to Vladivostok. It will still be another week (at least) before we are in position to start riding properly.