It’s 8 o’clock in the morning and my alarm has gone off and i haven’t slept too much last night. I am parked at a really high place where you can see the whole of Vladivostock you have to drive up a very small bumpy track and you can park at the top, not many people come up here mainly walkers and their is a sort of spiritual stone ring and a few Russians last time i was up told me that it was a sacred site and has special energy but i don’t feel the energy this morning,, yet!
I made a cup of tea and surveyed the surrounding city, its going to be a lovely dry day and I’m leaving i think, i say i think because you never know what is going to happen in Russia, my car still has to complete customs and i have to get through immigration too. I drove my car for the last time on Russian roads to the customs parking area.
I met Nick my new trusted friend that speaks english and he very kindly went with me to meet my shipping agent, at the dock area, we were then told to go with my agent to the Customs building about 2 km’s away, i gave Vladim my agent my Russian temporary import document which is held in the highest regard as the most important document that i had to carry and within 30 minutes i was walking out with Nick and a white document. rather hand made looking with stamps on it, this document is to say that the car is ready for export and it cannot be driven it has to stay in the port area till loaded for outbound shipping. With this i was allowed to make a booking for the Vessel MV Russ which is a Russian Ro Ro Ferry that operates between Vladivostock and Fishuki Toyama Japan, i had to sign a document to say i would pay on board the some of $940 dollars which is for the car and myself in a 4 berth cabin inc all meals for 2 days, which i think was a bargain, i thought it to be odd that the money would be paid on the ship and later found out that if the shipping fee is paid the next day aboard at sea then the company didn’t have to pay tax on its earnings and i have to admire the Russians for finding loop holes. So now i have the booking confirmation i felt a little bit closer to leaving and i was pointed to take the customs document and the booking form to the Port services building which is a wooden shed with 2 security points to go through and a couple of Russians one with his feet on the desk looked up at me and spoke to me in Russian, i greeted them in Russian and they said aarhh Americana i said nope Sctlandia Scotland UK and they laughed and called out “Rangers football” i don’t no much about football but Rangers got beat in Moscow by Zenit football club. This bonded us a little and he asked me for my paper work out and made me an invoice for 4600 rubles which is about £100, this is for not a lot really it is so they can drive my car onto the boat! I had to pay this at another part of the building to a big Russian lady in military clothes with rings of sweat coming through here polyester suit, she took the money and stamped a receipt and handed it me back looking at me and not smiling, i smiled at her and left the office. I met up with Vladim at his office and he told me that he would prepare the vehicle export documents and meet me at my car at 3 p.m.
It was now about 1 p.m so i went with Nick in his friend Misha’s car to buy two kittens that they bought from a newspaper and were going to sell for 100% profit we raced around the city in and out of traffic to be able to deliver the kittens to their new owners and be able to drop me off at the port in time to start immigration.
As i arrived to be dropped off two port staff in overalls and a man in a shirt jeans and office shoes were standing around my car looking bored, i got out of Misha’s car and said my goodbyes to them, i was hoping to have enough time to pack my bag to take on board with me but the man with the shirt and paperwork said that export paper’s have been completed early and they wanted to load my car now! i was told i would now have no access to my car so i was frantically rushing around my car trying to pack all i needed for the cabin’ clothes wash bag etc and also because all my possessions are in the vehicle all the crew have access to everything so i was also trying to lock stuff away into lockable places too. They took my keys and the two orange clad port staff one flicking his half smoked cigarette to the ground just climbed into my car and they drove away, also the agent had walked off!! Russian customer service you have to smile at it really. I was actually relieved to see my car driven off to be loaded as i knew that i had maybe more than a 50% chance to get on board now as all the tough documents are done. I just hoped nothing would missing from the car.
I walked into the main ferry passenger terminal where i asked where i could find immigration which is in the basement down two flights of stairs, my calm left me again as i saw a queue coming out of the waiting room and into the corridor, the room was 40 ft by 30 ft and many seats were full of people all Russian or white looking, no Japanese, i was thinking what sort of people would go on such a sea trip, i didn’t see anyone like myself, i was stared at as i walked around making my mind up as to weather to join the queue sit down or what! None of the information was in english so i sat down, i guessed that their wouldn’t be much point getting in the queue as we were all going onboard so you are going to either wait this side or the other, i started to read a book in between looking around scanning to find folk to talk to wondering who i would share a cabin with i had booked a 4 berth cabin to keep costs down. I could hear english being spoken with American accent’s
and looking up in the queue i saw a very tall guy with deep red shorts curly dark hair and round harry potter glasses, he was leaning on the pull up handle on his flight bad which meant he had to lean over quite a lot, as he must have been over 2 meters tall he had outdoor shoes on so i guessed he was a middle class looking backpacker type, he was listening to, two short Americans one looked in his 20’s and the other about 50’s, maybe they were farther and son, the Americans didn’t really fit into the picture both had similar clothes short sleeved shirts and a summer shooting waist coats in beige draping over big jeans both were tubby and looked friendly, as they sounded like they were putting the world to rites comparing Russia to America and mocking the general non organized queue i decided to keep quite and continue reading whilst keeping an ear open on what they were saying.
I heard them mention immigration application card and looked up again, the taller guy had seen a Russian waiving a white form around and it seemed like he wanted one too and also the other Americans, i got up from my chair and approached the taller guy, i asked “ excuse me do we need to fill in an immigration form” he said hello and his accent sounded a strange American which i couldn’t place, he was very kind and said he would go to find out where he could get forms from, about 5 minutes later he returned with the forms and handed them out, Ok its in Russian! the short tubby American told me not to worry as he had a template with english on it, and went in his bag and handed it too me, i sat down and filled it it, i then got my bag and joined them in the queue which was in fact jumping the queue and contradicting what i had talked about earlier but i now wanted to make friends with them and was excited to talk english and didn’t care if the Russians thought i was American, as i have to say over the last two weeks Russia have been at war in Georgia and the U.S.A have not been popular with the people of Russia for interfering and i didn’t want to share any political views i told everyone i was Scottish and that turned conversation to Football “Rangers” which is a far more relaxed subject.
The immigration control guards opened the door and let us through in groups of 2 to 4 people at a time it was about half an hour and all 4 of us english speakers were let in i was waived past baggage check which was also customs, i had my declaration form but wasn’t asked for it so i was waived on to the immigration, i wasn’t looking forward to this as my passport fell way short of the amount of registrations i had to make, you see in Russia they say you have to make visa registration in every town you stay but no one really knows the rules so i didn’t bother because it means i have to stay in a hotel or bribe a hotel so i saved money and stayed in my tent. The man at the desk asked for my Pasaporto and i gave it to him he looked at it for a while then back at me, i smiled and he went on his computer looked at me again and i heard him start stamping he gave me the passport back and now i am a free man, i walked out towards the corridor in the direction of boarding with a big smile,,, I had done it crossed Russia and now i had got out i am so happy,, i told everyone i saw goodbye and walked out onto the quayside no one in sight, i couldn’t see any other passengers either, just guards all a long the side of the ship, a practical looking vessel cleanly painted in blue and white MV Russ on the bow, i was pointed in the direction of the steps up the side of the ship, at the top i stood on the side and looked at the quayside, Goodbye Russia!!