It’s now 9:30 in the morning and the fog hasn’t burned off yet and my tent fly is all wet. I need to get going if I plan on making it to Khabarobsk today. I started packing up the dry gear and got it ready to go into the motorcycle. By the time I had everything mostly packed up and on the motorcycle, the fly on the tent was 95% dried out. I folded up the tent and finished loading the motorcycle. Off I go to Khabarobsk. As I used up my gas I poured in one more jug of my spare gas off the tour box into my motorcycle. By the time I reached Khabarobsk my spare gas was used up and I could fill up with 92 octane gasoline. On the way into the city it was pretty obvious it must have been raining for days because all the low lying areas were flooded. There were trees that were standing in water that would never get their feet wet other than when it rains. I stopped one more time to make sure Matilda was up to speed and offloaded my three empty 4 liter jugs. In the 15 minutes I spent checking over Matilda I found a dead sheep rotting only four yards/four meters away. Every time the wind blew in my direction, oh the smell! I had to wear my bug face net over my face just to keep the black flies out of my eyes and nose. They were bad too. Once everything was squared away I continued on into Khabarobsk. I stopped and took some pictures by some signs and then drove into the city. If Matilda does her job, finding the Parus Hotel should be pretty easy. I missed the first turn right off. I turned around and let Matilda re-calculate. From that point to the Parus Hotel I never missed a corner. Once I got in the area I asked someone to show me where the hotel was. I found it on the second try. First I asked a guy standing on the street and second a taxi cab driver parked on the street. Matilda was right on the money. I parked my motorcycle on a real hilly street. I really feared that thing was going to fall over on its side. I went inside and remember, I haven’t bathed or shaved in eight days and might have smelled some. I asked for a room, which was available. I then presented my passport and assorted documents. They came back and said your passport hasn’t been registered for eight days; we cannot let you stay at this hotel. I told them I couldn’t register my passport in a hotel because there were no hotels on Highway M55 from Ulan Ude to Khabarovsk which is 1240 miles/2000 kilometers long. They told me its a Russian rule to register your passport every three days. No questions asked. I asked if they could help me out and they referred me to Hotel Molly a short distance away. I asked her to ask the hotel if they have anyone who can speak English and do they have secure motorcycle parking. She said yes to both questions. It took me two hours to find Hotel Molly. It’s not written that way but it’s kind of pronounced that way. I finally had to ask the police how to find the hotel, and when they found out I couldn't speak Russian and was an American, they promptly helped me out. It took the policeman walking about 15 minutes to find the place. We walked about a quarter mile. The hotel was set back 100 yards/100 meters off the street. I would have never found it by myself. I actually stopped in the parking lot of the Moscow Bank when looking for Hotel Molly. I was 100 yards/100 meters away and didn’t even know it. After the police officer left on police business the hotel administrator walked me nearly all the way to my motorcycle and then walked back to the hotel entrance and waited to make sure I made it to the hotel ok. I was looking pretty rough when I arrived at the hotel and the women instantly took pity on me starting with the boss lady, receptionist and hotel staff. They told me not to worry about my passport and they would get it straightened out. I went to give them my passport and couldn’t find it. I thought I lost it. I dug through all the usual places I put it but no passport. I checked one more pocket that I would never put it and there it was. Thank God. They realized I was in deep trouble and promptly set in motion the gears to bail me out of it. They were on their mobile phones talking to Immigration etc. etc. They told me I had to provide receipts from all the hotels I stayed in and the days I stayed in them from the time I entered Russia. They then had to write a letter to Immigration with a copy of my passport, visa, and all my receipts with dates when I stayed at them. They said they'd do that in the morning. I unloaded my motorcycle and one of the security people helped me carry my bags to my room. The hotel administrator let us into the room and showed me how everything worked with the keys. I then took a shower, ordered some food and checked my e-mails. It was about two in the morning before I went to bed.
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