Viðtalið í dag / The interview today

Hér að neðan má heyra fimmtudagsviðtalið á Rás2 í morgun.  Aftarlega á línunni eftir Rod Stewart lagið.

 http://dagskra.ruv.is/streaming/ras2/?file=4331548

Tokyo, Japan

Loksins i Tokyo, Ótrulegt en satt eg er buinn ad runta um i midborg Tokyo a hjolinu ! Vid hjoludum þvert yfir Japan og tokum hraðbrautina þvi eg vil reyna ad nota timann sem best og leysa malin med flutninginn, og reyna sidan ad hjola eitthvad her. Anthony Hardie, Englendingur sem buid hefur her i 17 ar, hitti okkur og lanadi okkur ibud her i uthverfi Tokyo. Hann og felagar hans eru bunir ad bjoda okkur i skemmtilega hjolaferd um helgina og vona eg ad vid komumst med. Þeir hittast reglulega, utlendingar sem bua og vinna her og hjola mikid saman. Veðrið hefur verid mjog gott en mikid mistur yfir og i dag er 36 stiga hiti og rakt. Vid skildum hjolin eftir vid ibudina og tokum lestina inn i bæ, thad er svo erfitt ad hjola i borginni og i miklum hita. Vid forum tho i morgun og leitudum ad loftsiu i hjolin, thvi thaer eru vaegast sagt mjog slaemar. Thaer voru ekki til, en Einar og starfsmadur tharna skaru pappasiuna i sundur og settu olivaettan svamp i stadinn til ad leysa malin. Thad var mikil upplifun ad sja Tokyo Tower i gaer. Eg hreinlega vissi ekki ad their Japanar aettu sinn Eiffel turn. Their eiga turn sem er nakvaem eftirliking af Eiffelturninum ! Nema nokkrum metrum haerri. Mjog fallegt. Nu er eg i islenska sendiradinu i Japan og er buinn ad fa oll gognin sem eg let senda hingad. Simakort, kreditkort og tryggingapappirar. Gott mal. A eftir aetla eg ad reyna ad kaupa mer síma. En vona ad eg komist i tolvu fljotlega og blogga meira.

We’re finally in Tokyo and I’ve even cruised around in the city on the bike a little bit. We rode straight across Japan on the highway because we wanted to be on good time to be able to take care of all the things we need to. Anthony Hardie, The Englishman who has lived here for 17 years, met us and lent us an apartment here, in a suburb of Tokyo. He and his pals have asked us to join them on a little motorcycle trip next weekend and hopefully we will be able to do that. They get together regularly and they are all foreigners who live and work here in Japan. The weather has been good but sometimes foggy, today it’s 36°C and humid. We left the bikes by the apartment and took the train down town because it’s hard to drive in the city in this temperature. But we went to look for an air filter this morning because ours are not good. They didn’t have it where we looked but Einar and a man who worked there cut the paper filter and put a sponge smothered in oil instead. It was great to experience Tokyo Tower yesterday. I didn’t realize that Japan had it’s own Eiffel tower. They basically have a tower that is exactly like the Eiffel tower, just a few metres taller. But now I’m in the Icelandic embassy in Japan and I’ve got all the documents I’ll send here. Phone cards, credit cards, insurance papers etc. I’m going to attempt to buy a cell phone later today. Hopefully I’ll get a hold of a computer soon to blog more. Ttyl - Sverrir

Toyama, Japan !!!!!

Otrulegt en satt ! Kominn til Japans a japanska motorhjolinu minu alla leid fra Islandi !!  Thetta er skritin tilfinning og varla buinn ad atta mig a thessu.  Thegar vid forum af hotelinu i Vladivostok kl 12:00  tha hjoludum vid nidur a hofn og logdum hjolunum thar og tha byrjadi bidin !  Ja undanfarna daga ma segja ad adalverkefnid hafi verid ad bida.  Klukkan 17.00 komust hjolin loks um bord i skipid og svo bidum vid fyrst uti og svo inni til kl 01.00 um nottina og loks um kl 02.00 for skipid af stad.  Otrulega mikil bid eftir einhverju.  Thad skritna vid thetta allt saman er ad thad er ekkert merkt tharna.  Madur er vanur thvi ad thegar um svona stora ferju er ad raeda og tekur mikid af bilum og folki, skyldi madur aetla ad thad vaeri einhverskonar afgreidsla eda bidsalur.  Nei, ekki hja Russunum, thar er ekki neitt !!  Enginn vissi hvar vid attum ad fara og thvi urdum vid ad leita og giska og horfa a annad folk med toskur.  "Bidsalurinn" fannst ad lokum og var thad afgreidsla tollsins og utlendingaeftirlitsins i kjallara huss tharna rett hja.  Merkilegt nokk.  En semsagt vid komumst af stad og thetta skip sem kom med 300 bila fra Japan til Vladivostok, for med 2 motorhjol til baka, ja motorhjolin okkar voru einu farartaekin um bord !  Og svo voru ca 180 manns med skipinu.  Siglingin var god og thaegileg, og kaetan okkar var nidur i kjallara og thad for vel um okkur thar.  I gaerkvoldi var svo hljomsveit ad spila, gamlir threyttir musikantar sem eru ad enda ferilinn sinn tharna, drekkandi kaffi og vodka og reykja mikid.  Svo var slegid i kvoldvoku, og fekk eg mer saeti framalega til ad fylgjast med.  Upplifunin var frabaer, thetta var svo skemmtilega hallaerislegt,  nokkrir leikir thar sem karlar og konur voru latin leika tviraed atridi, svo ad mikid var hlegid.  Fyrir Russa, er thetta mjog erfitt, og thurfti stjornandinn, sem var ung kona, oft og mikid ad hafa fyrir thvi ad fa einhverja upp a svid.  Inn a milli song svo ungur madur og greinilega buinn ad aefa sig mikid fyrir framan spegilinn, thvi ad tho ad engin vaeri ad hlusta,  let hann sem ad hann aetti salinn !  " ALLIR MED NUNA" !!!  Og enginn leit upp.  Ad morgu leyti minnti hetta a kvoldvoku i Kerlingarfjollum fordum daga.  En i dag um kl 11 komum vid loks til Japans og tha hofst enn ein bidin.  Fyrst var ad tolla okkur, leita i klefum og skoda pappira.  Sidan var utlendingaeftirlitid, meiri pappirar og stimplar en allt gekk vel en bara haegt.  Sidan hofst sagan um hjolin.  Thau voru tekin fra bordi og sett i laest voruhus.  Vid somdum vid skipa midlara sem var tharna um ad adstoda okkur vid ad fa Carnet tollpappirana samthykkta, thvi thad hefdum vid thurft ad vera bunir ad gera adur en vid logdum af stad, en engin let okkur vita af thvi.  Thess vegna thurftum vid ad fara skrifstofu JAF sem var i odrum littlum bae ekki langt fra.  Thessi skipamidlari keyrdi okkur semsagt a skrifstofu JAF og thar gekk allt ad oskum og tok thetta ekki nema um 3 tima ! Thad er mun minna en mer hafdi verid sagt.  En tha var okkar staersta vandamal eftir, thad var ad fa tryggingu fyrir hjolin i Japan.  Okkur hafdi verid tjad ad tad se skylda ad hafa tryggingu en enginn gat bent okkur a hvar og hvernig vaeri haegt ad nalgast hana.  Ad vera i Japan, skilja ekki neitt, hvorki skrifad ne sagt, akandi um i mikilli umferd, og thar ad auki i vinstri umferd, og vera ekki med tryggingu var ekki god tilfinning.  Fyrir tilviljun tha spurdi eg, eda Einar bilstjorann sem var ad keyra okkur um trygginguna.  Hann skildi nu mjog takmarkad i ensku, en vard svolitid hugsi og gaf nu ekki mikid ut a thetta.  Skommu sidar hringdi hann eitthvad og thetta endadi allt saman thannig ad vid forum til baka a skrifstofu skipamidlarans, bidum thar i 2 tima og viti menn, their utvegudu okkur tryggingu fyrir hjolin og malin leyst !!!!!  Thetta var thvilikur lettir fyrir okkur ad thad er erfitt fyrir adra ad skilja thad.  En loks fengum vid hjolin og vid logdum af stad ut i rokkrid, thvi nu var tekid ad dimma.  Thvi var ekki um annad ad raeda en ad hjola af stad og stoppa a fyrsta hotelinu sem vid findum, thvi ekki viljum hjola i myrkri. ( og thar ad auki i mikilli vinstri umferd !!)  Fyrsta hotelid sem eg sa var oskop fint og renndum vid ad thvi.  Thetta var svolitid skritid hotel ad okkar mati, thvi engin gestamottaka var, heldur for madur bara i staedi og thar var mynd af herberginu og verdlisti.  Ef ther leist a, forst thu bara inn um hurd og upp gang og beint inn a herbergi.  Okkur leist agaetlega a thetta og fannst verdid bara agaett og frekar odyrt.  En tha for mig allt i einu ad gruna eitthvad og eg veit ekki hvad thad var, en nidurstadan er su, ad thetta hotel er bara "drive in" melluhotel !! Og verdlistinn er midadur vid halftima, klukkutima osfr.   Otrulegt en satt.   Eg er hraeddur um ad thad hefdi ordid skritid upplit a okkur og domunni hefdum vid badir maett, i ollum motorhjolaskrudanum, med toskur og farangur og arkad inn a golf !!!   En vid misstum af theirri upplifun.  En thad sem merkilegra er, ad vid forum framhja nokkrum svona hotelum og thetta er greinilega business her.  En nuna sit eg inni a godu hoteli og er ad gera mig klaran fyrir spennandi dag a morgun.  Bless i bili.

I’ve made it to Japan on my Japanese bike all the way from Iceland! It’s a strange feeling and I haven’t really realized this yet. We left our hotel in Vladivostok at 12 pm and rode down to the harbor and started waiting. We finally got the bikes on board at 5 and we had to wait until 2 am until the ship finally left the harbor. The weirdest part about this trip is that there were no signs, waiting rooms or services, simply nothing. Nobody knew where to go so we just had to follow other people. Also, this ferry that had carried 300 cars from Japan to Russia only went back to Japan with 2 bikes! Yes, our bikes were the only vehicles on board. But there were about 180 people on the ship though. The sail was comfortable, our room was down in the basement and it was nice. There was a band playing last night, old and weary musicians who are ending their musical careers there. There was also a lot of other things going on. Everybody was having a great time, people were playing games and everyone was laughing. But it wasn’t easy to make everybody have fun, especially for the Russians, so the overseer had to work hard. There was this young fellow who sang kareoke and had clearly been practicing in front of the mirror because he was feeling it there on stage and he obviously thought that he was a star although nobody was even listening. But we arrived to Japan at 11 am but that only ment more wating. First there was customs, searching our cabin and viewing our papers. Then the people from the Alien’s office replaced the people from customs. The bikes were then taken from the ferry and put in a locked warehouse. We got some assistance in getting the Carnet customs papers approved but we had to already have that approved before we even left Russia, but nobody let us know. That’s why we had to go to the JAF’s office which was in another town not so far from where we were. The shipbroker, who was helping us, drove us to JAF’s offices where everything got solved in less than 3 hours which was a record time. But we still hadn’t faced our biggest problem yet, getting insurance for the bikes here in Japan. We had been told that it was a requirement to have an insurance but nobody could tell us how or where to get it. It wasn’t a good feeling riding around in Japan, where you don’t understand a single sign, in heavy and left sided traffic and with no insurance. But we decided to ask our driver about the insurance, he made a phone call, drove us back to the shipbroker’s office where we got our insurances! It was a huge relief for us even though people back home might not understand it. We finally got our bikes and headed out into the twilight. We stopped at the first hotel we saw because it was getting dark. The first hotel we saw looked nice so we decided to stop there. We immediately noticed that this hotel was rather strange, because there was no reception, just a parking space where you could see a picture of the hotel room and a catalog. If you liked it, you were supposed to walk through a door, walk the hallway and to your room. The rooms and the prices were good so we decided to give it a try. That’s when I got a little suspicious. I don’t know how and why I realized it but I finally noticed that we were at a drive through hooker hotel!! So the catalog was just for a half hour, on hour etc. Unbelievable. But we kept on driving and realized that these kind of hotels are clearly a ralatively big business here. But now I’m sitting in a good hotel getting ready for an exciting day tomorrow. Ttyl - Sverrir

Vladivostok, Russland !

Borgardagur III og IV.  I gaer forum vid i godan gongutur fyrir hadegi og skodudum storan gamlan russneskan kafbat sem smidadur var 1936.  Hann er til synis nuna og er a thurru landi og buid ad gera hann ad syningarsal.  Thad var mjog skemmtilegt.  Um kl 14:00 forum vid til tollaranna og eftir ad hafa bedid thar smastund og horft a domuna stimpla og skrifa undir morgum sinnum, tha fengum vid ad vita thad, ad vid eigum ad maeta med hjolin til theirra a sunnudaginn kl. 16:00 og tha held eg, (vonandi) leysist malid endanlega.  Thetta a ad stemma thvdi skipid fer ekki fyrr en um kvoldid.  Restin af deginum for i rolegheit og hangs og gengum svo nidur hofn i gaerkeldi og horfdum a mannlifid.  Eins og venjulega var skemmtun i gangi alla nottina a hotelinu og vid thad baettist ad eg hef bordad einhvern andsk......@%^%$ og thvi margar klosettferdir hja mer i nott.  I dag er eg bara buinn ad taka thvi rolega og thegar lidur a daginn aetlum vid af fara a hjolunum nidur a hofn, thvi vid hittum motorhjolamenn thar i gaer og hittast their gjarnan tharna a laugardogum.  Thad verdur sma tilbreyting og skemmtilegt ef einhverjir maeta.  Einar hitti svo i morgun par fra Bretlandi, sem eru a leid um heiminn a Terracan jeppa og aetla ad vera i nokkur ar.  Komu keyrandi hingad fra Bretlandi og eru i dag ad reyna ad komast til Koreu. Halda svo afram naestu ar.  Otrulegt !  Einnig eru her Astralar, tvo por,  sem komu med jeppana sina og annan bunad til ad fara Road of Bones til Magadan, en thau eru svo oheppin, ad thau eru buin ad vera i 3 vikur ad reyna ad koma bilunum i gegnum tollinn !!!  Thau hafa meira ad segja thurft ad lista upp allt, og tha meina eg allt sem thau eru med.  Spritt a primusinn, - hversu mikid og af hverju, hversu marga gafla og hnifa,- og af hvarju, osfr.  Otrulegt.  Thannig ad ekki kvarta eg lengur.  Vedrid her er mjog gott nuna, sol og hiti og fallegt ad horfa ut yfir sjoinn og sja alla batana og skuturnar.  Eg er buinn ad vera i sambandi vid thyskan mann i Japan vardandi tryggingar fyrir hjolin og er hann ad reyna ad hjalpa okkur med thad.  Thad er svolitid brosott.  Einnig fekk eg tolvupost fra nokkrum motorhjolamonnum i Japan sem eru i klubb og eru ther tilbunir ad hjalpa okkur og keyra med okkur eitthvad og hafa gaman.  Vid sjaum til hvernig thetta throast.

Day 3 and 4 in the city. We went to see an old submarine yesterday made in 1936. It’s for display on dry land and has been made into a showroom. It was really interesting to see that. Around 2 pm we then went to the customs and found out that we needed to bring our bikes at 4 pm and then the problem will finally be solved (hopefully). It makes sense because the ferry doesn’t leave until sometime in the evening. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and just hanging out, walked down to the harbor and just watched the people. As usual, there was a party for the whole night at the hotel and it didn’t make things better that I ate some bad food so I spent most of the night on the toilet. I’ve just been relaxing today but later today we’re going down to the harbor because we met some bikers there yesterday who told us that they usually all meet there on Saturdays. That’s going to be fun if somebody actually shows up. This morning, Einar met a couple from Britain who are travelling the world on a Terracan jeep and they plan to travel for several years. That’s unbelievable. There are also two couples here from Australia who are going to drive their jeeps along the infamous Road of Bones to Magadan. But they haven’t had any luck with the customs because they’ve been hassling with the people there for 3 weeks. They’ve even had to list all their stuff, from forks to spirit lamps. After hearing about that I don’t complain any more. The weather here is excellent, it’s sunny and the temperature is good and it’s beautiful too look out over the sea to see all the boats and vessels. I’ve been in contact with a German in Japan about insurance for our bikes and he’s trying to help us with that but it’s not going too smoothly. I also received an e-mail from several bikers in Japan who are members of a motorcycle club but they are willing to help us when we get to Japan. We’ll see how that’ll develop. Ttyl - Sverrir

Viðtalið í morgun / The interview today.

Hér að neðan er viðtalið í morgun á Rás2.  Aftarlega á línunni eftir fréttir og auglýsingar.

 http://dagskra.ruv.is/streaming/ras2/?file=4331543

Vladivostok, Russland, - dagur 45 !

Borgardagur II.  Enn erum vid i borginni og i morgun byrjudum vid daginn a ad fa okkur godan morgunverd her a hotelinu.  Skemmtilegt fyrir mig, ad their bjoda upp a 3 tegundir af ponnukokum i morgunamat !!!  Ekki slaemt !  Og ad auki eru their med eggjabraud eins og mer thykja svo god.  En i gaerkvoldi thegar vid vorum ad fara ad sofa og vonudumst nu eftir rolegri nott, tha heyrdi eg ad 2 - 3 rutur komu og stoppudu fyrir framan hotelid og ut komu 150 - 200 ungmenni, klaedd i sidkjola og finiri og thrommudu inn i veislusalinn og skommu sidar byrjadi tonlistin ad duna !! Frabaert ! Onnur partynott framundan og bara veltisvefn.  En thetta er hluti af ferdinni og aevintyrinu og thvi sneri eg mer bara ut i horn og brosti og sofnadi skommu sidar.  En semsagt eftir morgunmatinn forum i gongu og var markmidid ad finna verslun med uppthvottabursta og sapu til ad thrifa hjolin, og einnig aetludum vid ad koma vid a skrifstofu skipafelagsins til ganga ur skugga um ad vid myndum orugglega fa far med skipinu.  Vid roltum goda stund og forum i nokkrar matvorubudir, en thar voru ekki seldar hreinlaetisvorur.  A endanum sa eg litla bud med myndavelavorum og blomum og thess hattar, og eg veit ekki afhverju eg akvad ad fara tharna inn, enn viti menn ! - i einu horninu sat kona a bakvid glerbord og a bakvid hana var stor glerskapur og thar inni blostu vid tuskur, uppthvottalogur, burstar ofl.  Otruleg stadsetning innan um allar hinar vorurnar. En svona er thetta og vid gengum ut gladir i bragdi, klarir i allt.  Sidan gengum vid nidur ad hofn og heimsottum vinkonu okkar og thegar eg gekk inn leit hun adeins a okkur og helt svo afram ad vinna, eins og vid vaerum ekki til !  En eg nalgadist hana og eftir sma spjall og umraedur myktist hun og eg endanlega nadi henni thegar eg tok mynd af henni !!  Tha leystust oll mal.  Eg hef komist ad thvi ad Russar eru feimnir og lokadir eins og eg hef sagt adur, og vilja ekki lata taka myndir af ser i fyrstu, en thegar madur faer tha til ad samthykkja thad, tha eru their svo gladir ad their brosa i langan tima a eftir.  Mjog skemmtilegt.  Vid semsagt fengum loksins ad kaupa midana i skipid, thratt fyrir ad vid faum ekki tollapappirana fyrr en a morgun og er eg anaegdur med thad.  Vid forum orugglega a sunnudaginn.  Sida gengum vid til baka a hotelid, klaeddum okkur i drullugallann og forum med hjolin a bakvid hotelid.  Thar skiptum vid um oliu og oliusiu og sidan faerdum vid okkur til hlidar vid hotelid thar sem vid fundum vatnskrana og thvodum thar hjolin hatt og lagt.  Mikill munur ad sja thau.  Nu er klukkan rumlega fjogur og aetla eg og Einar ad fara i gongutur nidur ad strondinni og taka nokkrar myndir thvi vedrid hefur lagast og er nu solskin og fallegt vedur.  Vid fengum hringingu fra Svianum sem vid hittum og var med bilada BMW hjolid, og var hann nykominn til Japans og var ad gefa okkur god rad vardandi pappira og annad.  Vid vorum svosem bunir ad komast ad ollu saman sjalfir, fyrir utan thad, ad thegar vid komum til Japans, thurfum vid ad taka lest eda leigubil i adra borg, sem er um thad bil 2 tima i burtu.  Thangad thurfum vid ad fara til thess ad lata samthykkja Carnet tollapappirana sem vid erum med.  Thad er JAF - Japan Automobil Federation, sem tharf ad samthykkja thessa pappira adur en vid megum fara med hjolin fra bordi !!  Thad mun thvi taka okkur heilan dag ad koma hjolunum fra bordi.  En hvad um thad, svona er thetta bara.  En gott i bili, farinn ut ad taka myndir.

So we’re still in the city but we started this day by having a great breakfast here at the hotel. It’s a good thing for me, because they have 3 different kinds of pancakes!! Not bad! They also have egg bread which I like so much. But yesterday, when we were about to go to sleep, I heard 2 or 3 buses arriving in front of the hotel and out came around 150-200 young people. Soon after that the music started playing and there was a party almost until morning. But this is just a part of the experience and I just turned on the side with a smile on my face and fell a sleep soon after that. But after the breakfast Einar and I took a walk with the purpose of finding a store that sells wash up brushes and soap to clean our bikes with and we also were going to stop by the office again to make sure that we would definitely get a place on the ferry. We walked for a while and stopped by a few supermarkets but none of them sold hygiene products. Finally a saw a small store which sold camera products, flowers and other stuff. I don’t know why I walked in there but I did and what do you know, in one of the corners they were selling exactly what we were looking for. It was a very strange position of these products around all the other products. But after that we walked down to the office and said hi to our friend there. When we walked in she looked at us and then she kept on working, like we didn’t exist! But when we approached her and talked to her a little bit she got a little bit nicer but what made the most difference was when I took a picture of her. Then she got really happy and all problems didn’t exist any more. I’ve noticed that Russians are really shy and don’t really want anyone to take pictures of them at first, but when you get them to agree they will smile for hours afterwards. But we got the tickets to the ferry even though we don’t get some of the papers tomorrow so we are very happy with the way things are right now. We are definitely going on Sunday. After our visit at the office we walked back to the hotel, put our dirty clothes on and took the bikes to the back of the hotel where we cleaned the bikes. It’s a little past four pm now and Einar and I are going to take a walk down to the beach to take some pictures because the weather is much better now, sunny and beautiful. We got a call from our Swedish friend whose BMW bike broke down. He had just reached Japan and gave us some tips that we can use when we get there. Among other things, he told us that we need to take a train or a cab to another city, about 2 hours away to get the Carnet tollpapers accepted. JAF – Japan Automobil Federation are the ones who need to accept those papers even before we leave the ferry. It’s probably going to take a whole day to get the bikes off the ferry! But anyway, this is just the way it is. But I’m off to take some pictures, ttyl  - Sverrir

Vladivostok, Russland, - dagur 44 !

Borgardagur !  I morgun for eg og Einar nidur a hofn a skrifstofu skipafelagsins sem ser um ferjuna til Japans.  Eftir smaorduleika med ad finna stadinn tha endudum vid a rettum stad og thurftum ad bida vegna thess ad thad opnadi ekki fyrr en kl. 10:00.  Gott og vel eg rafadi um i husinu og skodadi glugga og kikti inn i thaer tvaer budir sem voru opnadar.  Tad er merkilegt hvad alla verslanir her eru litlar og throngar og allar vorur a bakvid budarbord og helst thar inni i laestum skapum.  Eg hef einnig minnst a allar lugu budirnar, stundum eru lugurnar svo littlar ad vorurnar komast varla i gegn !  En semsagt tharna rafadi eg um i smatima og settist svo fyrir framan hurdina inn a skrifstofu skipafelagsins.  Thegar klukkan var ordin rumlega tiu og ekkert gerdist, opnadist hurdin skyndilega og einhverskonar oryggisvordur kom ut og lokadi a eftir ser.  Hann var alvarlegur a svipinn, trulega i starfslysingunni, thvi ad thegar hann kom aftur nokkrum minutum sidar, var hann jafn alvarlegur og fyrr, en sagdi ekkert tho ad vid reyndum ad gera okkur skiljanlega vid hann.  Klukkan var ordin vel yfir tiu og enginn kominn.  Eg og Einar litum a hvorn annan og brostum, skildum vid hafa hitt a eina fridaginn hja theim eda hvad ?  En skommu sidar birtist ung kona og frekar ill a svipinn, og tharna var thessi elska sem allir bidu eftir, - greinilega sofid yfir sig i morgun.  En - eftir ad hafa spjallad pinulitid vid hana, - hun taladi smavegis ensku, tha gerdi hun okkur ljost ad vid thyrftum ad fara til tollayfirvalda og fa einhvern pappir i hendur til ad mega fara med hjolin i skipid !!  Tha hofst klassiskur russneskur pappirs og skriffinna leikur, thad er, finna stadi, og bida, og bida, og bida.  Eftir tvo tima i bid eftir einhverju, kom i ljos ad vid thurfum ad maeta a thennan stad, thar sem allir tollararnir sitja, a fostudaginn kl. 14:00 og tha aettum vid ad fa thessa pappira.  Dagurinn er semsagt buinn ad fara ad mestu leyti i thetta stuss.  Her er thoka yfir ollu og ekkert sest, en hitastig thokkalegt nuna.  Her er mikil umferd eins og eg hef sagt adur, en her eru 99,9% allra bila med styrid haegra megin, thad er, fyrir vinstri umferd ! Mjog serstakt, meira ad segja sa eg logreglubil thannig lika !  En thad er greinilegt ad bila "businessinn" er gridalega mikill herna, thvi tharna a tollastodinni, snerist allt um bila, greinilega Russar ad flytja inn bila fra Japan.  Einnig er her mikid af bilaverkstaedum, bilasolum, bilavarahlutabudum ofl ofl.  Leigubilstjorinn sagdi mer ad her vaeri uppgangur, en mikid af smaerri vandamalum sem thvi fylgir.  Greinilega vaxtaverkir.  Thetta hefur madur svo sem sed vidar i Russlandi og einnig i Mongoliu.  Allt ad byggjast upp haegt og rolega.  Takk i dag.

This morning, Einar and I went down to the ship company’s offices. We had some porblem finding the right place and when we finally found it we had to wait because it didn’t open until 10 am. I killed time by looking through shop windows and the few stores that were actually open there. It’s strange how all the stores here are small here and the products are usually in a locker behind the counter. I’ve also mentioned the hatches before but sometimes they are so small that the products don’t fit through. But after wondering around for a while I set down in front of the door of the offices. When it was a little over ten and nothing had happened the door suddenly opened and a security guard walked through the door. He had a serious face, probably just a part of the job though, because when we saw him a few minutes later again, he had the exact same look on his face. He didn’t speak a word but we tried to communicate with him and make him understand us but it didn’t work. It was well over ten now and nobody had arrived yet, was there some kind of a holiday today? But after a little while this young woman showed up and she also had a serious look, or maybe it was just an angry look. But she was the one everybody had been waiting for, aparently she had overslept. After we talked to her (she talked a little English) we knew that we had to get some customs papers filled out in order to get the bikes on the ferry. So now it was time for the classic Russian bureaucracy. After two ours of waiting for something we found out that we had to go to this certain place on Friday at 2 pm to solve this problem. So the day has pretty much gone into doing this kind of stuff. But on other notes, it’s a lot of fog here and we can’t see a thing but the temperature is fine. There’s a lot of traffic here but almost every car has the steering wheel on the right side, so there’s a left side traffic here! But it’s obvious that the car business is huge here because everywhere when we were at the customs station everything was about cars. It’s also a lot of car dealerships and car repair shops here. But there’s a lot of infrastructure going on in the city but everything takes it’s time...Ttyl - Sverrir

Vladivostok, Russland - dagur 43 !

Jaeja, tha er Russland a enda !  Komnir eins langt og vid getum i Russlandi.  Thetta gridarstora og langa land.  Ferdin hingad til Vladivostok var frekar leidinleg, mikil umferd og svolitid vilt.  Eg verd nu ad segja eins og er, ad vera i borgunum er bara hundleidinlegt !  Leita ad hoteli og reyna ad finna eitthvad er frekar erfitt thar sem madur talar ekki tungumalid.  Mer lidur vel thegar eg er i sveitinni og tharf ad takast a vid vegi og vegleysur, flugur og vedur, babuskur og primus, - thad a betur vid mig.  En,- nu er eg semsagt kominn i sidmenninguna (????) og sestur fyrir framan tolvuna.  Vid erum a gomlu hoteli sem att hefur sinn fifil fegri, en er bara agaett.  Tolvan sem eg er ad vinna a atti sina godu daga fyrir xx morgum arum !  Thannig ad thid getid imyndad ykkur hradann.  Samt auglysa their ad their seu med nyustu tol og taeki !!  En svona er thetta bara og gaman ad upplifa thetta.  Skipid fer a sunnudaginn og a morgun forum vid ad byrja ad undirbua brottfor.  Vid munum heimsaekja skrifstofu skipafelagsins og fa upplysingar um afgreidslu a hjolunum, tollamal ofl.  Einnig thurfum vid ad hreinsa og thrifa motorhjolin mjog vel og hofum vid heyrt ad Japanarnir geti verid svolitid erfidir med thad.  Thad verdur semsagt thrifingardagur a morgun og hjolin thvegin i fyrsta sinn.  Tho ad thad se fult ad bida her, tha urdum vid ad reikna okkur frekar ruman tima, thar sem ferjan fer bara einu sinni i viku, og vid vitum ekki nakvaemlega hvad vid thurfum ad gera, og einnig urdum vid ad eiga inni einhverja daga ef eitthvad myndi bila eda koma fyrir.  En sem betur fer hofum vid nu verid heppnir ( Klarir ! )  Eg segi ykkur meira fra borgarlifinu a morgun en bless i bili.  ( Eg get ekki sett inn myndir, tolvan hikstar eitthvad a thvi. )  Her er 11 tima timamunur og teljarinn er rett rumlega 17.000

 

So now the Russian adventure is over! The trip to Vladivostok wasn’t much fun, a lot of traffic and other stuff that’s not too exciting. But I’ve got to be honest, staying in the cities is simply boring! It’s really hard to find a hotel in the cities because you don’t speak Russian. But I feel good when I’m in the country where it’s just Einar, I, the road and mother nature. That’s just who I am. But like I said before, we’re in Vladivostok now and I’m sitting in front of a computer writing this blog. We’re staying at a decent hotel even though it’s quite old. The computer I’m using was probably at it’s prime a decate ago so you can imagine the proceccing speed! But they still brag about that they have the newest technology and computers!? But that’s just how it is and it’s fun to experience all of this. The ferry leaves on Sunday so Einar and I are going to start preparing for the trip to Japan tomorrow.  We’re going to visit the ship company’s offices tomorrow to get all the information we need. We also have to clean the bikes very carefully because we’ve heard that the Japanese can be really picky about those things. So it’s going to be a lot of cleaning tomorrow where the bikes will be cleaned for the first time. We obviously have some spare time now in Vladivostok but it was necessary to be on time because the ferry only goes to Japan once a week so we had to have some extra time if something would come up. But fortunately we’ve been lucky (smart!). I’ll tell you all more about the life in the city tomorrow but the time difference is now 11 hours and the km counter shows 17000 km. ttyl - Sverrir

Khabarovsk, Russland.

Undanfarnir dagar hafa verid mjog serstakir.  Long og strong baratta vid endalausan veg !!!  Vegurinn fra Chita til Khabarovsk er ca 2000 km langur og af honum er malarvegur um 1600 km.  Thessi vegur er yfirleitt slaemur og mjog of mjog vondur.  Thad er skritinn tilfinning ad aka veg sem er svona langur.  Madur hjolar dag eftir dag og alltaf eftir sama veginum !  Thetta er eins og ad aka yfir Sprengisand, nema bara 20 - 30 sinnum.   Stundum tekur thetta a taugarnar og thegar rykid baetist ofan a thetta og hitinn lika, tha verdur thetta mjog erfitt.  En nu erum semsagt komnir til Khabarovsk og bunir ad fara i langthrada sturtu og smahvild.  Vid skruppum ut a lifid i gaerkvoldi og var thad gaman, ad undanskildu thvi ad eg var raendur veski og sima !!!   Sem betur fer var ekkert i veskinu nema Visa kortid og svo bara eitthvad omerkilegt, thannig ad tjonid er litid.  Buinn ad bidja um nytt kort og nytt simakort.  Thetta verdur sent til sendirads Islands i Japan.  En, thad er otrulega fult ad lata raena sig svona !  Audvitad reynir madur alltaf af passa sig, en thetta eru atvinnumenn og eg vard aldrei var vid tha.  Tharna var mikid af folki og vid aberandi og margir ad koma og tala vid okkur og vid thvi kannski audvelt skotmark.  Vid hofum nokkrum sinnum verid spurdir hvernig vid forum ad thvi ad ferdast um svona stort land og geta ekki talad tungumalir.  Ad sjalfsogdu vaeri betra ef madur gaeti talad, thvi tha vaeri haegt ad spjalla vid local folk og fraedast meira, en allt er thetta haegt.  En thetta breytist thegar vid komum til Ameriku.  Tha er haegt ad spjalla og thad tharf vist ekki ad draga neitt upp ur Amerikonum, theit nenna alveg ad tala !  En nuna erum vid ad fara til Vladivostok sem tekur okkur ca 3 daga og fer ferjan til Japans naesta sunnudag.  Tha tekur vid enn einn kaflinn.  Mjog spennandi.

 

The last couple of days have been quite special. It’s been a hard battle with the endless roads. The road from Chita to Khabarovsk is around 2000 km and about 1600 km of that is gravel.  It’s a strange feeling to ride on roads that are this long. You’re riding for days but still you’re on the same road. This can sometimes get on our nerves, especially when the dust is heavy an when it’s hot. But now we’re in Khabarovsk and have gotten our much so needed showers and a little rest. We went down town last night to relax a little and that was nice besides one unfortunate incident when I realized that someone had stolen my wallet and my cell phone!! Luckily there was nothing in the wallet except a Visa credit card and some other insignificant stuff, so the damage is not a lot. I’ve already asked for a new credit card and a new cell phone card and it will be sent to the Icelandic embassy in Japan. It’s just so frustrating to be robbed like that! Of course I try to be careful but these thiefs are professional and there was no way that I could notice this. It was really crowded there and we were notable so we might have been an easy target. We’ve often been asked how we’ve been able to travel through this big country where nobody understands us. Of course it would be easier if everybody understood us but we’re always able to manage and make us understandable in some way. But this problem will be over when we get to the USA. But now we’re heading to Vladivostok but that will take about 3 days. The ferry will leave next Sunday to Japan but we’re really looking forward to get there. Ttyl - Sverrir

350 km frá Khabarovsk / 350 km from Khabarovsk

Undanfarnir dagar hafa einkennst af erfiðum vegum og erfiðri umferð og bara hreint og klárt puð og eftir daginn liggja rúmir 480 km.   Svo hafa verið hættur víða og var t.d. ég næstum keyrður niður í gær og drepinn.  Rétt slapp frá biluðum bílstjóra sem í beygju kemur bara yfir á minn vegarhelming en hann hafði verið búinn að svinga hægri vinstri á milli vegarhelminga að sögn Einars sem var töluvert fyrir aftan mig og sá þetta gerast.  Og þarna stefndi hann bara á mig og munaði ansi mjóu að hann æki mig niður!  Þessir bílstjórar sem ég hef minnst á áður eru að flytja bíla inn frá Japan og höfum við sé þá nokkra henda bjórdósum eða öðru sterkara út um gluggana og jafnvel hefur maður sé þá vera að staupa sig á ferð svo þessi hefur greinilega verið fullur á ferð og lenti hann ofan í skurði og get ég ekki sagt að ég hafi harmað það mjög.  En það voru fleiri bílar þarna á ferð með honum og við ákváðum halda áfram vissir um að þeir myndu bjarga sér.  Gjörsamlega bilaðir á götunum !  En  svipaðir dagar undanfarið semsagt og síðstu 5 nætur höfum við verið í tjaldinu fyrir utan nóttina í Chita þar sem við sváfum illa vegna hávaða og dýnanna.  Við finnum núna fyrir töluverðri þreytu og þörf fyrir að fara að hitta fólk sem skilur okkur.  Við erum drulluskítugir eftir vegina, stundum er rykið svo mikið að maður þarf að stoppa til að hreinsa glerið til að sjá út og þetta ásamt þreytunni og málleysinu er aðeins farið að segja til sín.  En ekkert að annað en þreyta en maður vissi að þessar stundir myndu koma og vera erfiðar.  Flugurnar eru að gera mig brjálaðan núna og ég er illa bitinn á fótum, hælar og tær eru verstar. Er í þykkum sokkum og mótorhjólastígvélunum til að halda þeim frá mér.  Margar eru mjög stórar og ég fékk eitt rosa flykki á handarbakið sem ég ætlaði að slá burtu þegar hún stakk mig á kaf og þá gat ég ekki hent henni af mér heldur varð ég að bíða í eina mínutu meðan hún drakk og drakk og ég sá hana fyllast að blóði.  Mjög sérstök tilfinning.  Það er gaman að segja frá því að þegar við höfum stoppað í litlu bæjunum og hitt local íbúana að við erum oft beðnir um eiginhandaráritanir. Rússunum finnst mjög gaman að sjá ferðamenn þó svo að þeir tjái sig nú lítið að fyrra bragði. Eigum að minnsta kosti 3-4 daga til Vladivostok þannig að við verðum fljótari en ég hélt og vegurinn að skána.  Svo við fáum nokkra daga til að þrífa hjólin og OKKUR í Vladivostok  !!  Ferjan fer á sunnudeginum til Japans sem við ætlum að koma okkur í .  Kílómetramælirinn er í 16.000.  Kveðja.

 

It has been rough for the last couple of days, difficult roads, bad weather and traffic. It’s also been really dangerous at times e.g. I was almost ran over the other day and killed. I barely managed to avoid this driver who suddenly drove over on my half of the road but Einar saw this happen and told me that he had been swinging right to left before that happened. I’ve talked about drivers before who are importing cars from Japan and I’ve seen some of these drivers throw beer cans and Vodka bottles out of the window and I’ve even seen some drivers taking shots while driving. So this driver who almost crashed into me was clearly drunk but he ended up in a ditch soon after that happened and I can’t say that I felt much for him. There were other drivers around him who could help him so Einar and I just went our way. So basically, some people here are simply crazy in traffic. But anyway, everything has been pretty much the same for the past few days but we’ve been sleeping in the tent for the past nights. We are getting really tired and feel the need to meet people who actually understands something that we’re saying. We’re extremely dirty from the roads, there is so much dust that we sometimes have to stop to clean the glass to be able to see. This, along with the tiredness and the mutism is making it really hard for us now. The mosquitoes are also driving me crazy and I’ve got bad bites on my legs but the toes and heels are the worst. But I’m just wearing thick socks and motorcycle boots to keep them off me. Some of them are huge and I saw a huge one on my hand the other day and was about to hit it when it bit me and I had to watch it drink my blood for a whole minute. That was a strange feeling.  But sometimes when we get to the smaller towns and meet the locals we’re often asked for autographs. Russian people obviously like seeing travellers even though they don’t talk alot unless they have to. We have at least 3-4 days left to Vladivostok so it’s going to take less time than we thought. So we’ll get a couple of days in Vladivostok to clean our bikes and OURSELVES there. The ferry sets off on Sunday to Japan. The km counter is at 16.000. Ttyl - Sverrir