I got up early this morning, 5:00 a.m., and started loading my motorcycle. It was hard to believe this was my last day in Russia. I had mixed feeling about leaving. I wanted to leave so I could once again communicate with people in English and then again I really didn’t mind driving the absolutely horrible roads even though I complained about it, and had to speak pigeon Russian to get some food to eat. I will miss the ladies in the roadside cafes who put up with my bad breakfast menu hoping that whatever they served me I would be happy with. The great people who also were riding motorcycle to other countries who either helped me with my electronic gadgets or who interpreted for me, and the great conversation I had with them. I especially will miss the good Samaritans who helped me during difficult times when I was totally lost, or helped me navigate the Russian bureaucracy during my entry, stay, and exit out of Russia. I will miss the people who were so happy to meet an American and were so frustrated they couldn’t talk to me because I didn’t understand Russian. I know I will miss camping but I sure won’t miss the mosquitoes and the flies. I will miss the Russian people telling me how crazy I was to drive from
Chita to Khabarovsk in Siberia, especially the two Russian seamen who said I should be given a 1 yard/1 meter diameter medal for having driven the 1240 miles/2000 Kilometers. I won’t miss all the security at the hotels, grocery stores, gas stations etc. etc. I could go on.
I grabbed my tires and computer and headed down to my motorcycle. I was met by the night security guy who offered to carry my tires out of the hotel. I went out to my motorcycle and removed the cover from it. He wanted to help me pack it into its bag. By this time I realized he had already been drinking. I could smell it on his breath. He was a well-meaning guy but just didn’t get the hint that I needed to get going. He did his best to speak English to me. He said he had some schooling in English and really tried hard to communicate with me. He watched my motorcycle while I made four trips upstairs to carry my bags down. When I was checking out he told the receptionist she should marry me and go to the United States. She didn’t mind the idea of going to U.S. but not with an old guy like me. I don’t believe she was 25 years old. Anyway, my passport was registered, I had all my wallets and I departed, saying goodbye to the night security guy and receptionist. I was driving my last 30 miles/48 kilometers to the Port of Zarubino. It was an uneventful last few miles. I stopped at one of the Russian modern rest stops and took a few pictures. I arrived in Zarubino in 45 minutes and stopped at the corner grocery store. I purchased some snacks for the ferry and bought myself some breakfast. I ate my breakfast and waited one hour at the grocery store till 10:00 a.m. I then drove down to the Port of Zarubino customs office and presented my ticket that I was going to leave on the Ferry to Sokcho, South Korea. The gate guard looked at me a little funny like I was trying to pull something. I gave him the note which the travel agency had written for me. It told them to call Elena who spoke English and would help me navigate thru the paperwork I had to fill out. He got on the telephone and called her to come down to the Port Zarubino customs office to help this American out. He then waved me off to sit and wait. I waited from 10:00 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. I went and asked the guards again if she was coming and they just shrugged their shoulders. I went back and sat on my motorcycle again hoping she would arrive shortly. There was a sewage holding tank near the customs office and the wind was blowing the foul smell in my direction. I was starting to get sick to my stomach from the smell of sewage. At 11:30 a.m. Elena walked up to me and introduced herself. She asked me to bring all my motorcycle paperwork into the customs office and present it to the lady through the small window. The lady picked through the documents until she found the documents she needed. She then presented me with a 250 ruble bill. I paid it and received a receipt. Elena then told me to present my receipt to the Zarubino Port Security and then drive down to ferry terminal. While I was entering the port Elena started walking down to the ferry terminal. I’m going to say its .62 miles/1 kilometer to the ferry terminal and Elena was walking it in high heeled shoes. When I caught up to her she told me to drive down to the terminal and park. She said she would meet at the ferry terminal. I asked her how she could walk on the road and gravel with high heels on. She said she does it all the time and it doesn’t bother her. I said to myself I really wonder if it does bother her and if she isn’t admitting it. I continued on down to the ferry and found what looked like the parking lot. All the available parking was either dirt or gravel. I parked my motorcycle, locked it and went to meet again with Elena. She said I was parked at the wrong building. She said to move my motorcycle to the building where we were. So I hiked off to the building where I parked and rode my bike over to the ferry terminal. To me it wasn’t recognizable as a ferry terminal and looked more like a warehouse. I parked, locked it up and went inside to cargo section. Elena and I talked some. We were waiting for the lady who would write up the shipping documents for the motorcycle. She asked me more questions about myself and I asked about her. She said she was an English teacher in the Russian school system until the job at the ferry terminal opened up. She applied for it and was accepted. She said as she worked there she saw more and more English speaking travelers coming and going through the terminal who were having difficulty with the Russian language and filling out custom forms etc. etc. Realizing this she started helping them out and was recognized as the go to person whenever difficulties arose with English speaking passengers. She also told me she doesn’t receive any extra compensation for this service. It’s like an add-on duty that goes along with her job. She said to help me she actually left home two or three hours earlier than when her normal job started. I offered her a tip and she declined. I felt just the walk down from the customs office at the front gate to the ferry terminal deserved a tip. That was a hike. She asked if I had any children and I said no. She told me she had a single daughter who was 21 years old and was studying in medical school to become a Russian doctor. I told her she must be really proud of her daughter. She said she was and hoped in her later years to reap some benefits from her daughter’s education. The lady who was to write up my shipping documents arrived and Elena asked me for my passport, the motorcycle passport/title and different customs forms etc. so the lady could fill out her documents. I was one customs form short. She asked me if I declared anything when I arrived in Russia. I said no because no one spoke English on the border and I couldn’t read any Russian custom forms. She said that it wouldn’t be a problem. I still worried that just about the time I was to leave some customs official would walk up to me and say no you can’t leave till this problem is solved. I would then miss the ferry and have to wait another week for the next ferry. We got all the shipping paperwork filled out and during this paperwork shuffling the subject of age came up. I told her I was 57 years old. She and Elena immediately checked my passport for my birthday and couldn’t believe I was 57. Then Elena told me the paperwork lady was either 50 or 53 years old. I about pooped in my pants because I kind of thought she was 59 to 65 years old. After that bit of reality no more conversation of age ever came up. I was asked to wait in the ferry terminal so as not to interrupt the work in the cargo office. Elena made sure all my ferry passenger paperwork was in order. She even improved on my sleeping arrangements. I haven’t a clue what she did. I just said ok. From here on out till the ferry departed it was just waiting. I periodically would see Elena going about her job. She also removed her high heels to walk in much more comfortable shoes. Twice during the afternoon she stopped by and gave me a cup of tea and some chocolate candy. She hinted that she thought I might be hungry. I told her I had a stash of Snickers candy bars and two apples in my baggage on my motorcycle. I walked around the inside and outside of the terminal some. Some of the Asians or South Koreans had card games going on out on the docks. Some of the games were loud and others were quiet. I think they were all playing the same game. During one of my walkabouts, two Russian seamen who could speak English told me they liked my motorcycle. They asked the purpose of my travels and I told them I was just a tourist and was riding around the world. They asked where I came from and the route I had taken. When they found out I had driven across Russia through Siberia they thought I was totally crazy and said aye yi yi yi! They repeated I should be dead because someone should have robbed and killed me and then took my motorcycle. The guy who spoke the least English said I should get a large medal for my travels through Russia. He said the medal should be at least 1 yard/1 meter in diameter. They later wanted to hook up on the ferry for drinks. I didn’t see them again till the next morning. The day wore on and buses would arrive with 50 to 100 people. By the time 4:00/5:00 o’clock rolled around the terminal was full of people. We continued to wait till 7:00 p.m. The ferry itself didn’t arrive till around 7:00 p.m. and it was to depart at 5:00 p.m. By that time all the people were processed through customs and immigration. They were waiting in a secure area out of my sight. I continued waiting in the ferry terminal by myself until I could load my motorcycle on the ferry. Several times customs officials and Elena were talking and that always scared me. I always had a feeling I was the subject of conversation and I felt Elena was always covering or protecting me from customs. Maybe it was my overactive imagination. I probably waited till 7:30/8:00 p.m. until I loaded my motorcycle. I had the deck hands help put my bike on the center stand and then they threw two cargo straps over the seat. The hooks were hooked to the frame of the motorcycle and into the deck of the ferry. The straps were then ratcheted tight crushing the seat till I thought it would break. I asked the guys to loosen up the straps some which they did. I thought they would tear the seat covering or break the plastic frame under the seat. I always was under the watchful eye of someone. When I drove my motorcycle out to the ferry someone escorted me out there. I walked back and someone escorted me back to the ferry terminal. When I got back I knocked on Elena’s door. I needed to pick up my helmet, gloves and motorcycle documents. I always wanted to give her a gratuity for the translation help she provided but she always nicely declined. My helmet, gloves and motorcycle documents were sitting in her office where she stored her high heel shoes. So when I went back to pick them up I slipped two 500 ruble notes (About $31/$32 Dollars) into the toe of her high heeled shoes and went back out into the terminal to wait for customs personnel to motion for me it’s time to check in and board the ferry to Sokcho, South Korea. I didn’t wait long before one of the customs officials motioned to me it’s time to check in. He thought I’d have luggage but the only thing I was carrying was my motorcycle and personal documents and motorcycle helmet. I was able skip past any luggage inspection and went right to passport control. Here I sweated a little hoping there would be no problem with my passport. I’m talking about the eight days in Siberia where I wasn’t able to register my passport. The woman gave my passport a thorough looking over and apparently didn’t find any discrepancies. She stamped my passport and returned it to me. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was then shown the exit to the ferry. It was hard to contain my relief at getting through customs successfully. As I exited the terminal I saw an excellent photo opportunity. I was able to take pictures of the ferry knowing this was my exit out of Russia. I was the first passenger into the Zarubino Ferry Terminal, the last passenger to exit it and the last passenger to board Dong Chun Ferry to Sokcho, South Korea. I felt relieved to finally be standing in front of the Information Desk on the ferry. I asked the girl behind the desk for the key to berth/room 223-1. She told me there was only one key. I asked one of the stewards to show me the room. He did. I went to it and the door was locked. I walked back and told the Information Desk the room was locked. The Information girl gave the steward the master key to unlock the room and we left. We got to the room and he unlocked it. I open the door and there stood two young people thoroughly surprised that they would be having a roommate. I also was surprised because I thought I would have this room for myself. Well somebody had to say something. I walked in and introduced myself as Dave. This young Russian married couple was from Khabarovsk, Russia, the same town where I had all my passport problems. I think they were planning a romantic voyage of sorts and I spoiled it for them. I felt bad and awkward about that. Sleeping arrangements, naturally, was the first problem we solved. I slept against the wall opposite the door or the farthest into the room. I didn’t realize this but on this particular Korean Vessel there were no beds. You slept on the floor on mats, with sheets and blankets. The pillows were leather about 5 inches/13 centimeters in diameter by 12 inches/31 centimeters long. They also had rectangular pillows about the same size as the cylindrical pillows. We sorted out the mats and bedding. They had the rest of the room to sleep however they wanted to. I hung up my document bag, put my jacket over it, and my helmet on another hook. I wanted to take off my red riding pants so I could cool down but was afraid to do that because I’m sure I smelled of body odor. I really didn’t want to offend anybody or be remembered as the stinky American. I had been sweating in these clothes all day and in these small quarters I’m sure they’d smell me. I then left the room telling them I would be back in two hours and they could keep the key. I wanted to go outside and explore the ferry. I found the upper deck but you really couldn’t see off it to watch the ferry being loaded. I went down one more deck and watched over the railing while the fork truck and container trucks loaded the ferry. The fork truck was interesting. It was the largest I’d ever seen. It could lift anything that was put into any one of those containers you see on rail cars or container ships. It was huge. To me the whole operation of loading that ship was pretty slow. If you’re interested in watching loading and unloading ferries, the port you want to watch is the one at Dover, England. I wish it hadn’t been raining when I crossed the English Channel. I would have taken a picture of the sign telling how many vehicles cross that channel every day. It’s unbelievable. As we were watching the loading of the ferry one of the Korean guys asked me about my motorcycle. I told him I was riding around the world on it. He was really impressed. He also asked my nationality and I told him I was American. Now he was really interested. I took out my map and showed him my route from London, England. I told him I rode motorcycle from England to France, Belgium, Nederlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Ukraine and Russia. While I was telling him that he was telling the rest of the Korean men standing around about my travels. In about 10 minutes I was a celebrity. Everybody wanted to shake my hand. After all the talk I told everybody I needed to get something to eat. After that, the guy I was talking to always waved and smiled every time he saw me. He seemed like a real nice guy though I didn’t understand everything he said. Another case of I wish I could have understood those people better. I walked back into the ferry and found a small shop selling more candy than food and bought something to eat. I bought some cookies and Snicker bars. The cookies were my supper with a bottle of water. While I was sitting down eating two Swiss guys invited me over to visit with them. They were a father and son. The father was in his late 40’s to early 50’s the son was 27. They told me they traveled from Switzerland to Moscow, Russia. Then from Moscow they travelled east to Vladivostok, Russia by Trans-Siberian Railroad. If I remember correctly I believe they said it took them one week to get to Vladivostok. They were traveling from Vladivostok to South Korea and then onto Japan. We also talked of my travels. I really enjoyed these guys' company. I think the ferry finally pulled out of the Port of Zarubino sometime around 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. It was suppose to leave at 5:00 p.m. I was wondering how that was going to affect arrival time Sokcho, South Korea. I went back to my berth. The door was open and my two roommates were sleeping. I turned on my flashlight and crept back to my sleeping mat. I laid out the mat, covered it with the white sheet and then covered up with the blanket. Before I fell asleep, I lay there thinking that today was the last day I would ride my motorcycle in Russia, and it was also the last day I would need to speak Russian for a long time. I now had to focus my attention on getting this motorcycle thru South Korea and flown back to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
