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| July 25th 2006. SCR crack on well, making it to beyond Vihnica by mid-evening. Sam and Rich both receive speeding fines within two hours of each other. Sam impresses the waiting policemen by pulling up with a violent tyre-squeal, having been distracted by an East German 'Barkas' van at the roadside. Both policemen are good humoured, and Sam is led to their Lada, where one of them spends a long time trying to speak Russian to him. Attempts at 'protocol' are eventually abandoned in exchange for 30 USD. Rich's custodians appear more official and less happy to see us, threatening to impound the CC unless a 'tax' of 150 dollars is paid. Fuelled by the relaxed joviality of their previous encounter, they haggle, and Rich eventually rummages for 60 as the police chief shakes Sam sternly by the hand. Vladimir, a friendly beer-drinking policeman in a bar, later tells them that they should have paid a maximum of 10 dollars each time. Stopping at what they believe to be a campsite, they pay for a camper van birth, but are led to a poky room with two beds less comfortable than those of the CC. They conclude that this is not a campsite, rather a poky hotel. The menu is in Ukranian, so Rich tries out his Russian enquiring about regional delights. After much confusion, they are overcharged for suspiciously flat 'roadkill' chicken on a bed of potato parts. The Ukranian solution to the long-running chicken/egg debate is to throw both into a deep-fat fryer until horribly entwined, brown and saturated, and let tourists' stomachs do the philosophising. |
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Current galavants:
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Future galavants:
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Past galavants:
'07 - Nurburgring
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'06 - Swindon-Vladivostok
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