We arrived into Kiev and spent the night in the "Turist Hotel". Back in soviet times, almost every city had a "Turist Hotel." They're not the name of a chain, just a common name for a hotel. But it was all very traditional...The ancient tiny CRT TV on the wall, old style bathroom, and traditional furnishings. But, it was cheap, at £30 per night.
The Beast II parked in front of the "Turist Hotel"
The room Mike and Tino shared.
The room Mike and Tino shared.
Our old style bathroom with an oddly shaped tub.
The "Turist Hotel"
Our night in Kiev was great, except for Mike, whose eye infection came back with a vengeance. The medicine given to him in Belgium was as useful as a pop-gun against a raging elephant. Half-blind, weeping and miserable we dragged him off to a clinic to see an opthalmologist.
She had one comment - "Western medicine is awful"
Mike getting an injection under his eye to reduce swelling.
Luckily the medicine is working like a charm, and Mike is almost back to normal. Which is rather unfortunate for Alex, because he can no longer make fun of him and take embarrassing pictures (for his eyes at least). Obviously he'll still take the piss about everything else.
Mike puts drops in his eyes by the side of the road whilst Alex attempts to take an embarrassing picture.
We also discovered that The Beast II was leaking fuel. The car is the 40th Anniversary Edition, and came standard in 1997 with two fuel tanks. Somewhere in the history of the car, an owner removed one of the tanks. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but they sealed the second fuel line with an oil can top - not exactly the right thing. So we took it to a mechanic, who for a bag of tea, was happy to seal it properly.
Alex and the mechanic discussing the car.
Our car on the lift at a mechanic in Kiev.
An ancient WWI era pickup truck spotted in the garage where we got our car fixed.
The Motherland Monument in Kiev.
Maidan Nezalezhnnosti (Independence Square)
Statue of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky
After some sightseeing and the trip to the mechanic, it was time to head to the Belarussian border. We legged it north and arrived to a huge queue. Seeing that, we decided to take bets on how long it would take to get through, with the person the furthest off buying the others a beer. Mike lost as he guessed 1.5 hours....it took us three.
Just a kilometer or two from the border....The evening light and forest was so beautiful, we had to stop and take a picture.
Crossing the border itself was an experience. At first we waited for over an hour and a half in a queue just to get to the Ukrainian border post. A visit to the loo was needed. The loo however was a mosquito-infested outhouse with a hole in the ground. Alex bravely went in - he came out much relieved but with mosquito bites on his bum!
The border guards told us we would have to wait until midnight at first. In the end however they were more interested to hear our opinions about Brexit and they let us leave the Ukraine fairly quickly. The Belarussian border was a much more serious affair. We all had to fill out migration cards. Once this was done a customs declaration had to be filled out both for the car and for us - Alex managed to take 4 goes to fill it out properly as mistakes and corrections were not allowed! In the meantime quite a few of the customs officers had become interested in the car and our trip. At one point Vova and Alex had to give a push start to an old Ford Fiesta with Moldovan numberplates that wouldn't start!
A Belarussian Customs form showing it took 22 minutes to complete the car paperwork.
Alex completing the car paperwork for the fourth time.
Once all the paperwork was done, we crossed the border and were on our way to Minsk!