which Taksimo hotel has wifi mate?

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Two other guys about to leave Ulaanbaatar ... I believe they are headed for the BAM and Magadan, so you will probably see them at some stage.

Noah on his 690 and Kurt on his 950 - I wasnt sure Kurt was going to make it as he had problems in UB with his unreliable orange machine , but it seems he has a fix.

Either way ... lots to help to come in the next 10 days if you break down!

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Back in Taksimo.

The hotel next to the cafe and the supermarket/ motor factors has wifi. It's on your list. It's East of the train station and the statue of the sea plane.

I'm in touch with Kurt, the G man whose name we shall not mention.

I made it about 50 clicks towards the Vitim Bridge but had to call it a day and turn round. The bike is too fat and heavy and the suspension is shite. I've also replaced the clutch the other day and the radiator is p!ssing water despite being doped up on rad seal. Today it's been topped up with anti freeze/ sparkling mineral water and swamp water. If I toast the current clutch I'm well and truly stuck in a mossie infested Siberian swamp.

Another 500 km of this track ain't gonna happen on this shed, sadly.

Went to the train station and I THINK there's a train on Thursday (today is Tuesday evening) that takes freight to Irkutsk. Will know more tomorrow morning. The freight woman at the station seemed v helpful. The next freight train to Tynda is in 2 weeks time.

I'm gonna fix the rad and just pound the slab and gravel to Magadan and possibly Vladivostok. I intend to re park the bike in UB. When I return I'll bring a new rad. There's one in my garage...

If the train doesn't happen, I'll be forced to ride back to Irkutsk.

I'll ride the BAM another time on a more suitable machine.

BOLLOCKS!

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Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

Bad news Chris, hope the bike holds up for you to finish you trip.
A few of us will be heading over to Vladivostok next summer riding to Vanino and then along the BAM. If you are around you can share the container or maybe join the trip (not on the trannie though!)
Good luck
Mark

I think Kurt will be ahead of Kim and I on the BAM. He won't be going to Magadan but we (Kim and I) will attempt the old summer road. *hopefully* we will be starting Aug 1 on the BAM. Kim is waiting on a rear shock then we will go north.

Yeah. Don't ride orange in Mongolia. They will leave you crying

Lessons learned: See post #8 at http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...433#post430225

Feeling much better after a couple of bottles of Baltika 7

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CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

In yuktali now. Should have some good roads before things go south on the eastern half. Pity you won't make it this year Chris.

Yuktali to Tynda is a freeway ... you will be drinking pina coladas and eating rib eye with mushroom sauce at the glitzy strip club / go go bars of Tynda in no time.

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While we're on it, any recommendations on places to eat a good shaslik in Tynda? I've been looking for one for a while, you don't get much fresh meat around these parts. Anywhere you recommend for a decent ?

Chris, my friend .....
... didn't know you were on the road.
Well, hope everything will be ok!
Take care and .... enjoy the

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When you get to Tynda, you will realise my allusions to rib eye steaks and strip teasing girls is all part of the BAM illusion. However I can recommend the following:

Shashlik - try Kafe Kavkaz 55.14555, 124.73791
Chinese - try the chinese place upstairs at 55.15288 124.74537

Beer available at either - you MIGHT find some black at the Chinese place. Dont quote me on that tho.

BTW, does anyone know where on the road Adam Lewis is at the moment? Is he part of the JABA Mundus 4some that has just left Khani?

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Adam was riding with the mundus pair and Pete Berry on his xr400.

I'm on the train to Severobaykalsk Thursday morning at 6am. Will then ride back to Irkutsk and come up with a (cunning?) Plan B on how to amuse myself for a month.

Is there by any chance a Tajikistan consulate in Irkutsk? Considering revisiting Pamir region as I missed it last year. I have a Kazakhstan visa that starts on 3rd August and don't need nowt for Kyrgyzstan.

Anyone know how long a Tajikistan visa and gbao permit takes to issue in Almaty?

Far East Russia might have to wait for a trip on the correct bike (LIGHT WEIGHT GOOD SUSPENSION GET IT BRIGHTY!)

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CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

I went there there last summer i think about 2 PM and as they were closing something like 3 PM or 4 PM they told me come back tomorrow morning and voila! my visa with GBAO was ready. I think you can get it easily during same day with few hours waiting. Only problem was finding that embassy. I spend like half day looking for it.

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I think Adam is in Yakutsk.

We are in UB now also, couple of days here to service the Landy and we will head to Irkutsk and the BAM shortly after.

We went deep south in the Gobi following old soviet maps for 10 days so I have some fresh stuff for OSM. Need some time to look after the truck now before we head north.

How has the weather been this week guys? are we expecting big water or so-so?

G

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On the topic of food. My Russian is worse than shite, so I downloaded a translation app onto my phone the other day. In the cafe next to the hotel i was being served by one of the few Russian women who has drunk from the fugly spring. I ask for shashlik : niet. I type into my phone beef: niet. Ok, I type in pork and one of the predictive spellings is porker. I think she wondered why I was smiling :-)

Griff: Adam is definitely with the Mundus boys and Pete the Babs Rocket Boy. He's not in Yakutsk yet another unless he fuelled nitrous in Chara where he was earlier today. I'll let him and the mundus boys comment on whether your Landy will make it. All i can say is Mongolia is a piece of p!ss compared to the BAM. Then again the Kudu Exped backup car made it a couple of years ago.

Sami: thanks for the news i was hoping to hear. Do you have a gps ref for the Tajikistan embassy in Almaty? Or is it on Walter's waypoint list? Can't check at the moment as I am writing this post on my phone. Need to boot up my tablet pc to check the file on Mapsource.

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CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective