Kiev And Entering Belarus

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 Beast II parked in front of the "Turist Hotel"

The room Mike and Tino shared.

The room Mike and Tino shared.

The room Mike and Tino shared.

The room Mike and Tino shared.

Our old style bathroom with an oddly shaped tub.

Our old style bathroom with an oddly shaped tub.

The "Turist Hotel" 

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.

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.

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.

Alex and the mechanic discussing the car.

Our car on the lift at a mechanic in Kiev.

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.

An ancient WWI era pickup truck spotted in the garage where we got our car fixed.

The Motherland Monument in Kiev.

The Motherland Monument in Kiev.

Maidan Nezalezhnnosti (Independence Square) 

Maidan Nezalezhnnosti (Independence Square) 

Statue of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky

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.

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.

A Belarussian Customs form showing it took 22 minutes to complete the car paperwork.

Alex completing the car paperwork for the fourth time.

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!

Getting To The Ukraine

We left Brussels in the evening for Kiev. Unfortunately, because we were behind schedule, we decided to take the northern route through Germany and Poland, rather than our original route via Belgrade.

There was one small issue, however....We had yet to receive the permanent logbook for the car. Without this, we weren't sure they would let us into the Ukraine. The logbook had arrived just late enough to Alex's in London that no one would be able to overnight it in time.

A beautiful rainbow we spotted while driving on the autobahn in Germany. 

A beautiful rainbow we spotted while driving on the autobahn in Germany. 

Deforestation in eastern Poland.

Deforestation in eastern Poland.

We bombed 1600km in 14 hours, stopping only for fuel. Once we arrived, it took us about three hours to cross the border. First there was the hour or so wait to leave Poland and the EU, and another two hours in no-man's land waiting to cross into the Ukraine. We had our passports checked and stamped, and all was ok there, but getting the car through without the correct paperwork was, shall we say, fun. 

Tino doing what teenagers do best...sleeping.

Tino doing what teenagers do best...sleeping.

No photography allowed?....oops.

No photography allowed?....oops.

The queue for lorries to cross into the Ukraine. We were told it's an 8 hour wait for them.

The queue for lorries to cross into the Ukraine. We were told it's an 8 hour wait for them.

There was a lot of back and forth, but Alex stood his ground as he spoke with a customs official about the paperwork. After 20 minutes and being asked if our number plates were fake, we got what we needed. Finally, fed up with not taking no for an answer, they let us through.

We made it!

We made it!

Once we knew we would make it to Kiev, we had to find a way to get the new logbook ASAP as we didn't think the Belarussian authorities would let us through. So, in down-to-the-wire fashion, one of Alex's friends drove to Luton airport, and asked every person if they were flying to Kiev. Eventually he found a man willing to take the document. That night just after midnight, we picked him up at the airport, grateful that it had arrived.  

An excellent roast chicken and salad we ate for lunch in a tiny town right after crossing the border.

An excellent roast chicken and salad we ate for lunch in a tiny town right after crossing the border.

The Beast II

After much anticipation, and a midnight handover at the ferry port in Calais, I present to you The Beast II!

The Beast II

The Beast II

Sergej pulled off the impossible yet again and did the work in three days. Two of our good friends took the ferry from Dover to Calais arriving at 12:30am. We met them at the port and in a few short minutes, we had our new car! Excited, we drove to our hotel in Ghent, and got a few hours of sleep.

This morning, the real work began, when we drove to the garage to transfer the new battery, inverter, radio and light bar, along with putting on all new stickers. After hours of work, we left the garage and headed on our way across Europe!

 

A Trip To The Dentist

After the accident, we scrambled to find a replacement Beast. Luck was on our side however, as in less than 24 hours, we found a Toyota Land Cruiser just outside London, and bought it for the princely sum of £5,500. Once that was finalised, our mechanic Sergej needed a few days to do a tune up.

While he was replacing the alternator, water pump, and all the fluids, we took the time to relax and visit Alex and Tino's aunt and uncle in Germany. As their uncle is also a dentist, Tino and Alex got some dental work done. However, since there were no assistants around, we each played dental assistant while the other got their teeth done. We may not have had a car, but we had clean pearly whites!

Dentist Alex will see you now...

Dentist Alex will see you now...

This won't hurt a bit

This won't hurt a bit

Alex getting a cleaning

Alex getting a cleaning

The Beast Is Critically Injured

A setback – but the show must go on!

We set off on Friday from London in high spirits and with great anticipation of our trip. We thought that we were fully prepared for whatever would happen to our vehicle – we had a jack, spare tyre, extra oil, fuel, tools, spare parts and all the lubricants required. What we hadn’t accounted for was a drunk Belgian driver!!!

While on a slip road on the way to Brussels a car came screaming onto the slip road and proceeded to veer into our lane and smash into the rear of our car. The Beast was pushed forward a good 5 meters while the other car spun around and careered forward another 30 meters! The police and fire brigade arrived. The Police breath-tested both drivers. We were cool. The other guy was twice the limit! Most importantly no-one was badly hurt. 

The fatally injured Beast.

The fatally injured Beast.

Our car was totalled. The rear axle had sheered off its mount and there was no way we could continue the trip in our car. The Beast was in trouble! What to do? The show must go on!

The drunk driver's brand new Jaguar....

The drunk driver's brand new Jaguar....

We bought another car. At this moment in time our mechanics are working on it and it will be with us on Wednesday evening to leave here on Thursday morning. In the meantime we will carry on exploring the joys of Belgian beers!

We'd like to introduce you to The Beast II, our replacement car!

We'd like to introduce you to The Beast II, our replacement car!

Tino and Alex in neck braces as a precaution. And Mike with an eye patch because his eye got infected. (Totally unrelated to the accident but it makes for a good photo!)

Tino and Alex in neck braces as a precaution. And Mike with an eye patch because his eye got infected. (Totally unrelated to the accident but it makes for a good photo!)

Down To The Wire

It’s Saturday – just under a week to go before the trip. Our car has been held up with various garages around the country but the majority of the work has not been done.

Sergej and Maris - our mechanics getting the beast ready for her trip

Sergej and Maris - our mechanics getting the beast ready for her trip

So Sergej and Maris, our resident mechanics now have the unenviable task of getting the beast ready in under a week. We have gone wildly over budget with the repairs added to which a lot of parts have been discontinued and some others need to come from Japan. Alex has spent the past two days non-stop on the phone sourcing aftermarket parts from backyard spares sellers, breakers garages and farmhouses scattered around the UK. Will the car be ready in time? Look at the photos and make your bet!

New springs and shocks being installed.

New springs and shocks being installed.

The underbody of The Beast

The underbody of The Beast

We added an all important snorkel so we can fjord rivers when we reach western Mongolia, which has no paved roads.

We added an all important snorkel so we can fjord rivers when we reach western Mongolia, which has no paved roads.

 

 

Our Car: "The Beast"

If you were crazy enough to drive 13,000 miles across a number of deserts, mountains, and steppes, you’d probably choose a 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser too, right?

"The Beast" in the shop.

"The Beast" in the shop.

Our car, a white Amazon edition with a 4.4L V8 and countless tens of thousands of miles, is currently getting work done at a shop in Birmingham. Both differentials are being serviced, we’re adding a snorkel for fording rivers, doing an oil change, adding a roof rack for our spare tyres and it’s having a full tear down to pieces to make sure every bit is fit for the trip.

The car has handily also been converted to run on LPG, and with the flip of a switch whilst driving, we can change over from petrol. This adds about 150 miles to our range, and also makes the car much cheaper to run as we pass through Europe, where LPG is considerably cheaper than petrol.

Playing in the snow.

Playing in the snow.

Adding to the fun, our car is right hand drive. The only country where you want RHD is….England, where we start our trip. This means we get to have the fun of driving the next 12,800 miles with the steering wheel on the wrong side! Adding some shall we say, “excitement” to the questionable driving tactics employed by drivers in Iran and other countries, we are expecting some hairy driving.

While definitely not the most economical, we picked it as it gives us the off road abilities we’ll need in places like Mongolia, where there are no paved roads (if you even want to call them roads to begin with) in the western part of the country. It also has the space we need to store all our equipment and even sleep in. Once we complete the rally, we’ll be shipping it back to London, where she’ll continue to do duty on London streets.

Our Car on the lift in the garage in Birmingham.

Our Car on the lift in the garage in Birmingham.

The "Fun" of Obtaining Visas

Going through 23 countries is going to require at least a few visas. In our case, Mike needs 9, Alex and Zico each need 10. We have less than a month to go and still need three more!

Mike's visa for Uzbekistan

Mike's visa for Uzbekistan

Sometimes getting them is easy. Belarus simply required a hotel confirmation. Others, such as China, are simple on paper, but in practice extremely difficult. As we were unable to book an appointment at the Chinese visa centre in London, our only choice was to drive to Manchester for an appointment there. We left early one morning and stopped off in Birmingham to get the car for the trip, a 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser, serviced.

Continuing on to Manchester, we arrived at the centre late, missing our appointment. Thankfully, they took us anyway. We rushed over to the window to hand in our application, hoping to receive our visas in a few days. The visa centre had other ideas....

Zico's Mongol Visa

Zico's Mongol Visa

Mike's Russian Visa

Mike's Russian Visa

We were told it is now illegal to drive through China without special permission! Gutted, and very annoyed since we were told something different by the Chinese embassy in London just days before, we left. After much back and forth between the Embassy, visa center and us, we were finally told the correct information on how to get an invitation letter....which required calling a specific travel agency in Beijing at 3AM! Not only that, but they also require temporary driving permits, temporary number plates, insurance, and a full time guide for the duration of the trip! Now two weeks after we initially tried to get our visa, we are still awaiting the letter.....