Re: London 2 Jammu

Visas and a very little bit of pocket money of course

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 23: Thessaloniki to Istanbul by Road
[Written By Akhil]


Aarti giving a thumbs up

We both got up early, pretty excited and charged up and left for the airport to catch flight to Thessaloniki. Flight was on time and in around 2 hours we were back with our beloved Dhanno. I want to take a moment here to appreciate the hospitality of Hotel Royal, every single moment we were there they went out of their way to make us feel comfortable. Even after we checked out of the Hotel, they kept Dhanno in their parking lot while we were gone and even offered us breakfast once we were back.


Pitstop on way to Turkey border


Dhanno maintaining a consistent speed of 80 Miles/hr






Lunch at Turkey Border



Once all was good and we had purchased the insurance, had a quick lunch and were back on the road. Another 4 hours and we entered the hustle-bustle of Istanbul.





Aarti had booked us at amazing Pera Palace Hotel Jumeirah, Istanbul. While we were sipping our welcome drink and trying to digest the grandeur of the palace, people at the reception completed all the formalities and we were on the way to our room. We quickly freshened up and left to check out the market. It was indeed crowded and markets were brightly lit. Each and every shop was decorated to kill, and all that decoration did get our hunger triggered. Turkey is the land of famous Turkish Delight, so we bought our quote and then started hunting for a nice restaurant.


Istanbul-Turkish-Delight-Shop


Istanbul-Turkish-Delight-Shop


Istanbul-Turkish-Delight-Shop

It was quite a similar scene, restaurant employees were on the street distributing brochures with offers to lure customers in. We selected one restaurant and settled down. Food was really good and the kebabs i had were one of the best i ever tasted. Funny thing was, that we were served white butter. This was the white butter that we get back in India by churning curd, it is usually homemade. It came as a surprise because we dint knew if it was a delicacy anywhere else as well!


Istanbul-Restaurant


Istanbul-Restaurant


Aarti's Plate


Akhil's Plate

We thoroughly enjoyed the dinner and the walk back to the hotel. It was time to give some rest to our tired muscles, and there was nothing more welcoming then the palace bed.

Re: London 2 Jammu

That Turkish Delite is actually quite delightful!

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 24: Touristy Day in Istanbul, Turkey
[Written By Akhil]

We woke up pretty relaxed in the morning. Breakfast time was already over and we had planned to check out whole of Istanbul today before we leave for rest of Turkey the next day.

Hotel Pera Palace, itself is quite a magnificent place and has historical value attached to it. Iren; “The concierge lady” was very sweet and helpful. She also took it on herself to communicate with the travel agent in Trebzon to get us some update on when the ferry was planned to leave.

She gave us a kind of guided tour of the hotel and answered each and every questions that Aarti had, and trust me Aarti has a whole lot of questions :-p













We left the hotel and went directly to Topkapi Palace. Checked out the market area and then walked towards the Blue Mosque. It was a bright and sunny day, perfect for enjoying the location and clicking photos. We hung around the Blue Mosque square for some time and then decided to grab a nice lunch after checking out the Grand Bazaar.



























Walking through the Grand Bazaar made me reminiscent of good old bazaars in India. After burning some more calories on window shopping we decided to enjoy a good meal. The market was full of shops offerring local food and thats what we after as well, found a nice restaurant with sitting available in the open and we settled down.









There was a travel shop next to the restaurant, so we stopped by to check out their plan for Pamukkale. We still had half of the day left to our disposal so we decided to walk our way back to the hotel and check out few more local spots on the way back. From Grand Bazaar we turned towards Galata Bazaar, it was quite a scene next to the bridge. There was a whole lot of hustle and bustle and we both were totally loving it. From floating restaurants to people crowding either side of the bridge to catch and sell fresh fish was quite a view. We stood there for some time to soak in the experience and then started towards Taksim Square.















Your day in Turkey would be incomplete without Turkish Tea, we found a nice looking tea joint on the way and enjoyed our serving one sip at a time. It was a uphill climb towards the hotel and pair of legs on both of us had started to complain already. We reached back to the hotel and an unexpected update from the Trabzon contact was waiting for us.



Iren, told us that the ferry to Sochi was scheduled for Wednesday. Since that day was Monday, it essentially meant that we had to cancel all our Turkey plans and drive non stop next day so that we reach in time for our Wednesday ferry :-|

We both were kind of disheartened as we had so much planned for Turkey but at the same time missing the ferry meant there would be no other ferry in next two weeks! We thanked Iren and with a "Catch-22" expression on our face we started walking towards our room.

Idea was to freshen up and go out and grab a nice dinner before we leave for Trabzon next day morning. The hustle-bustle of the market was quite refreshing. After the dinner we were happily strolling and checking out the market. This is when we came across this nice lady who was making some drink in a very peculiar way. This was strange enough to wake up the inquisitive worms in Aarti's brain, and it turned out to be traditional and quick way to make coffee. We did not try it as none of us is a coffee fan but we did click some pictures :-)









Our walkathon through the town looks something like this once plotted on Google Maps.



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he he .. True, no one can eat just one ;-)

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 25: Istanbul to Trabzon (Turkey) Non-Stop to board Ferry to Sochi (Russia)
[Written By Akhil]

We tried to wake up early, well we tried. We both still could not digest the fact that we indeed were going to cut short the Turkey stay and will have to reach Trabzon to catch the ferry in time. Whether the ferry will leave tomorrow was still uncertain, but missing the ferry meant we would had to forget about Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan!



Aarti quickly made a list of absolutely "To-Do" things in Istanbul before we started for Trabzon. It wasn't a big list i.e. To visit a Salon and do breakfast in a local restaurant. While she alone was witness to the services offered by the Salon i can vouch for the breakfast, it indeed was great and we did not miss on the dessert (Baklava) and off-course the Turkish tea ;-)



Restaurant was quite close to the hotel, so we got back in, did checkout, moved the stuff into the car, bid good bye to the hotel staff and in no time we were back on the road. By the time we left it was already noon, which essentially meant we would be reaching Trabzon by next day morning only if we drove non-stop for 1000+ KMs.





Istanbul is a crowded place, and that soon hit us as we were trying to enter the Asian side of Turkey. After spending few hours to get out soon we were happily cruising at greater speeds, thanks to the smooth and potholes free roads of Turkey.





I barely saw any cops or speed cameras, even the tolls were unmanned and i could see the amount displayed on the digital screen adding up every time we crossed the booth. Good thing is that we never got those bills ;-)



Missing cops/speed cameras, smooth roads, and darkness of the night are good enough ingredients for a passionate rider/driver like yours truly to push that accelerator a little harder (if you know what i mean), and by Shiv's grace we managed to reach Trabzon by 3 AM traveling at the speed of 110 MPH ;-)

Aarti had by mistake (yes she makes mistakes) booked the hotel in Trabzon on a wrong date, but the staff at Hotel Novotel was kind enough to accommodate us without a fuss.

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 26: Ferry from Trabzon to Sochi, Russia
[Written By Akhil]

We woke up praying to Shiv that the ferry does leave today. We were still not sure because we had no tickets, not even sure if there was any ferry leaving today! All we had was on contact whom Aarti was in touch with over the email and an address he gave us to come over once in Trabzon, around 9 AM. There is no point worrying on an empty stomach, so we treated ourselves to the breakfast that Novatel was serving.

Moment of truth was finally here i.e. 9 AM, so we put everything in the car and started towards the address we had from the email. It was pretty close to the harbour and 10 minutes drive from the hotel. So, here we were in front of the address which would tell us if the ferry was on schedule or not. Both of us parked the car and walked into the shop, and were greeting by the gentleman who was in touch with us over emails. That gave us some confidence and soon he introduced us to the Captain of the ship as well. All was going well and then he inquired us about who all were traveling and about the car, they told us the fare and it all came down to $400.00 including a cabin for 2 individuals and parking space for the car. However, the Captain was still not sure if the ferry would leave the shore as they would wait for a certain number of passenger before making a decision.





So, the ferry leaves every 2 weeks on a Wednesday, and their sales office in Trabzon is located at Alfa Gate (A Gate) of the Port (Google Map URL)

Email: [email protected]
Contact: Bahadir
Mobile: +90 543 894 1461 (International Call)
0543 894 1461 (Domestic Call)

Passenger Ticket: $120.00 for Seat & $150.00 for Cabin
Car Ticket: $500.00



So, the ferry leaves every 2 weeks on a Wednesday, and their sales office in Sochi at:

Sochi-Kiyitour
Kurortniy Prospekt St. 50 Htl.
Sochi Floo - 3
Telephone: 609702, 620221

Their headoffice is in Athens, Greece:
Ruzvelt 18120 Koridalos,
Athens, Greece











They told us to come back around noon, we were a little relaxed now and thought of grabbing a quick lunch in a nearby mall and kill some time as well while we were at it.

We found a restaurant serving food similar to Subway, i dint like it much but there were not many options so we were just glad that we ate something familiar :-)

It was almost noon, so we headed back to the harbour. We parked the car close to the ferry, did final checks in terms of what stuff we needed to keep out and what stuff in the car. Finally we got the news that the Captain has given a go ahead to the scheduled departure, we both were elated. Our journey had been trouble free ever since we left London and we glad that things had been working out, sometimes at the last moment but no complaints as long as it works ;-)



Aarti is the registered owner of the car, so she was asked to park the car inside the ferry. It was not as straight forward as car was supposed to be taken inside in reverse gear :-p



Finally she did it and stared checking out the ferry. I was still out and waiting for to clear the passport control. It was almost evening but we were glad that we dint had to cut short our journey and go back to London. Eventually, all passengers boarded the ferry and ferry left the port. We checked into our cabin which had stacked beds, and it was not bad.









I decided to get some stuff out of the car and was surprised to notice that cars safety alarm was on. I switched it off, took my stuff and came back up. I however, had this intuition and went back to check again and it was on again! My guess is that the alarm was going off because car's sensor was experiencing movement even though the car was locked. So, i disconnected the battery and locked the car as dead battery in the morning was the last thing we would want.











We were carrying some fruit for the journey, so we had some of it, enjoyed the view from our cabin window and decided to sleep off as we were going to dock early in the morning at Sochi port. We were really excited to in Russia finally :-)

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 27: Arrived at Sochi (Winter Olympics) & Unplanned Moscow Visit
[Written By Akhil]

The ferry from Trabzon was indeed comfortable, atleast i had a sound sleep. When we woke up, the sun had already started to turn the morning sky orange. We had our breakfast i.e. the Bananas we were carrying and were really excited as we were not at all sure if we would be able to get this ferry to begin with! Boarding this ferry essentially meant that atleast now we can complete our journey till India, offcourse subject to everything else working out for us as well :-)

We left our cabin and walked towards the ferry deck area, Aarti met her UK friend on the way (another British on board). From the deck Sochi skyline was clearly visible and that also meant we were dot on time. We enjoyed the morning breeze and the sunrise, clicked few photographs and went back to the cabin to wrap up all our stuff from the cabin and set it up in the car. I also had to reconnect the battery which i had disconnected last night because of the alarm.









In no time we were at the dock, ship captain finished the formalities and asked us to deboard along with Dhanno. Russian customs were rather welcoming and friendly, they were not too pushy about the insurance as well and instructed us to get one once we are on the road. Here we met Can Gonen, who is a Russian businessman and was returning from the bike trip from Turkey. As per the latest, he and 3 other friends of his are planning a cross country and will be crossing through India as well. He offered me to join them and i would have loved to as i want to do Leh/Ladakh on bike, but that is not going to be a part of their Itinerary as they will be outside the window when the roads are open so i might not. BTW Aarti will be doing their Indian Itinerary and for the connected countries as well. Their trip is being documented by the Turkish TV Channel.



We said good bye to the custom officers and Can, entered the address for the hotel into the GPS and we were back on the road. On the way we were also looking out for the directions that custom officer gave us for the insurance office, however with everything in Russian and majority population not speaking/understanding English it was turning out to be quite an ordeal. Android "World Lens" app came to the rescue and we were able to find a bank which had insurance mentioned in the banner outside their office. I walked into the bank but none of us could get to the point, we decided to continue without insurance and take help from the hotel staff once we check in.



Reaching hotel was not difficult, however since we were checking in quite early Aarti had to request them if they would give us the keys! Staff was indeed very helpful and after a wait for 30 odd minutes we were handed over the keys.

Once we had the room, hunger started taking control of our bodies. Aarti found some hotel online and we started walking as per the GPS directions, once we arrived at the location all we could see was a deserted place with no clear entrance. Since it was a new place and language was a big issue, we decided to give this location a miss and continued walking in one direction. After walking quite a while, we found a nice looking french restaurant and our hungry bodies walked right in. The waitress was a nice young lady and she spoke english as well which was quite a help in understanding their menu. We ordered our meals and gobbled it quite quickly. We thanked the waitress and came back to the hotel.

We were really glad that the ferry happened, and after we had soaked in this feeling an our tummies were full ;Aarti was back on her favourite task i.e. planning out the day, what else to eat, what to visit and so on. She checked the prices for return flight to Moscow and was surprised to find out that they were really cheap, we actually looked at each other in disblief trying to understand why we never had Moscow in our itineriey! She booked the ticket for next day morning and we set out on foot again to find the same place for dinner.

This time on exploring a bit we found another entrance which was going to the basement. We followed the stairs and there it was. It had nice ambiance, food was decent too. We sat there for a while, planning how our day in Moscow was going to be and what all we need to cover once we were there.

After enjoying the meal we came back to the hotel, asked the receptionist to book a taxi for our ride to the airport, packed our bags and called it a day.

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 28: Flight to Moscow and Exploring this Magnanimous Place
[Written By Aarti]

Initially we planned 7 days’ road trip in Turkey but due to last minute Turkey-Russia ferry booking, we reached Sochi before our pre-planned date. So, I booked round trip flights to Moscow considering we got 2 extra days in hand. We were lucky to find USD 150.00 round trip tickets online so we booked it and were in Moscow next day.

Welcome to Moscow – It is a busy city comparing Sochi which is a very relaxed & laidback city. People are much nicer and friendly in Sochi (wait till you read this). As we stepped out of the Airport and hired Airport taxi, our journey of Russian experiences started. Our Taxi driver was a Tajikistani who asked USD 50.00 approx to the Hotel. Oh man!! What a car ride it was. Seriously we felt as we are in some roller coaster ride from Airport to Hotel, This guy was probably the worst driver I have ever came across. He was not ready to listen to us. He played loud Uzbeki music, kept smoking while driving and was far beyond the speed limit. As soon as he saw the traffic on road, he actually started driving on footpath and believe me, he actually drove on footpath for roughly 15 mins and kept driving till he crossed all the traffic on main road. We were gobsmocked but stayed quiet. And then came the traffic light where he finally pulled his car to the main road.



If anyone knows what song it is, please do drop in a comment :-)





As we reached Hotel and as he was taking our stuff out of the car, he suddenly hiked the fare by some odd USD 20.00! We were in no mood to pay extra and conveyed that to him. To be honest we were bit scared too as the whole look and feel of the car including the driver and all the phone calls he made to his friends while driving in his local language where he was mostly yelling, gave us an impression that he may have a gun in his car too. But anyways we told him that we do not want to pay more as we are giving you what we agreed. Some how he agreed and left. Phew!! Finally we were in the Hotel.

We booked Courtyard by Marriott, Kazan which was very close to Kremlin hence explored Kremlin all day. We booked cab from Hotel to Saint Basil’s Cathedral and walked around that area. There are endless things to do in Moscow but we only covered Red Square, St Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow Kremlin, Kremlin walls and towers, GUM department store (Exceptional building and the most expensive brands you will get here) and of course, visited Moscow’s Metro which MUST NOT be missed.












While we were roaming round Red Square, i got super excited (as usual) and wanted to do a bunny jump in the air. Well Akhil always challenges me to do my best as i am honestly bad but if you see picture below, even you will agree that i did reasonably well. Isn’t it? Offcourse, that jump did not come easy! If you look closely, you will see my phone popping out of the pocket? Oh yes! I shattered the phone screen. So to put things in perspective, first mobile incident happened in Greece and second in Russia. Akhil was amazed thinking that i was still holding my phone and its neither lost or stolen!





After spending some quality time in Red square, we google searched for Indian restaurant and decided to dine there. We hired a cab and guess what another bad cab experience in Russia was waiting for us. We hired licensed cab and gave him location address. It was nearly 15-20 mins drive from Red Square and we knew it would cost us roughly USD 10-12.00 But as soon as it came to money he started asking for RUB 3500.00! And that was it for me. I was pissed off as I could see every taxi driver is trying to rip tourists in Russia. I asked him why he was not using his taxi meter and he had no answer. He started shouting so we decided to call police. He finally agreed to charge USD 15.00 and left. Gawdd! It was not fun at all but leaving all the bad experiences aside, we enjoyed yummy samosas, chai and fabulous Indian food.









The plan was to enjoy Moscow’s luxury at a leisurely pace but I think I have to accept the fact that Leisure and I don’t go hand in hand many times. When we got back to Hotel, I went to take a nap while Akhil was working from hotel lobby. My mind is always planning what happens now, so i pulled out both of our passports to plan our next country i.e. Kazakhstan. While looking at Akhil's Kazakhstan visa i saw something which neither of us expected. Within 5 minutes, I walked fast towards the lobby holding Akhil's passport. I called him and pointed towards his Kazakhstan visa. I asked him to look at Kazak’s visa expiry date, and you should have seen the colour on his face! His Kazakhstan visa was expiring same day when we were soaking Moscow’s luxury at our leisurely pace. Yes, which means today was the last day we could have been in Kazakhstan!

Let me get you guys to understand the gravity of the situation.. We were 1392 kms far from Astrakhan (Kazakhstan border point) while our car was parked in Sochi which was again 1100 kms away from Astrakhan.

Wohooo!! You know that goose bump feeling which has little extra stress in it. Thats what i was feeling, and Akhil was literally shitting bricks :-p



It was already 8:00 PM in Moscow and we had no direct flight to Sochi available same night. With no other option we went to sleep hoping to get first flight next day. We knew some serious adventure was awaiting us around the corner!

Did Aarti & Akhil reached Kazakhstan border on time?
Did Aarti & Akhil completed their journey as planned, or they had to take a detour?

Stay tuned for our next blog entry.. ;-)

Re: London 2 Jammu

Waah, this is getting more interesting Waiting for more!

Re: London 2 Jammu

he he .. Here you go Monk, Day 29

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Day 29: On way to Russia-Kazakhstan Border, Left from Sochi
[Written by Akhil]

We had an early morning flight to Sochi, landed on time and rushed back to the Hotel. Cleared our stuff and were in the car in no time.

Agenda for today was really unrealistic but Aarti and me looked at each other and eye-to-eye asked ourself two question:

Who are we?
The Pathania's

What do we believe in?
Nothing is Impossible :-)

That was it, and another second we were on the way to the Russia-Kazakhstan border.

You must be wondering, what is this fuss about?
Well, we had totally forgotten that my Kazakhstan visa was only valid till today i.e. 4th October and ideally we were supposed to be exiting from Kazakhstan into Uzbekistan today! But our touristy side had gotten the better of us, we totally forgot about it and had gone to Moscow. Now, plan was that if we could somehow enter Kazakhstan today, then will figure out the rest.

However the ask was a little too much, we have to cover close to 1200 Kms in roughly 14 hours. Was possible if we could have driven non-stop at a speed of 85+ kmph! But problem was the terrain, it was mostly hilly with speeds max at 50-60 kmph.



There was still some hope thou. A friend of my Jijaji lived in Kazakhstan and he told that Kazakhstan people love Mithun Chakarborty, yes our own Mithun Da! He suggested us to be prepared to sing/dance to his tunes and Kazakhstan border might be a piece of cake for us. Sounds unbelievable at first but after you think about it for a while and fact that we did not know anything about Kazakhstan! So plan was to download all Mithun and Kapil pics where they were together, and since we had Kapil's photo on our car, we would co-relate and voila! Also we planned to download popular Mithun songs which were a rage in the Stan's i.e. Jimmy Jimmy, Disco Dancer; and me and Aarti were actually discussing the dance steps :-p



For first 4-5 hours we had really bad traffic, long jams thanks to a marriage in one town on the way. And to make things worse, there was something about the sub we picked up on the way from one Subway and as a result Aarti was feeling sick and we had no other option but to call it a day 5 hours short of the border i.e in a town called Elista.



Using our offline GPS, we found one hotel (which seemed more like a hostel). Even thou it was a crappy place but with Aarti's health and considering the time of the day, we checked in and crashed on our beds after gobbling whatever we could get our hands on.

Now, 4th October was gone too. Our masterplan now was to enter Kazakhstan on an expired visa, banking heavily on our dancing skills and Mithun's photographs!

What song of Mithun did Aarti and Akhil dance to at the Russia-Kazakhstan border?

Did it work? Did they enter Kazakhstan?

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 30: Driving Towards Kazakhstan with Expired Visa
[Written By Akhil]



Today was 5th October, meaning my Kazakhstan visa had expired! Aarti was feeling much better, and we decided to carry on towards the border hoping our Mithun Chakraborty performance will work for us and we will be let in.

We had quick tea with some biscuits and left towards Astrakhan. Russian roads are excellent and landscapes are just plain flat, wherever you see there are just flat grounds. While on the way, we were practicing a popular Mithan Da song and some moves to go with it. Wherever we could find internet we download photos of Mithun Da with Kapil Sharma, since we had Kapil's photo on our car so from 1 and 2 we were going to prove our relationship with Mithun Chakraborty.



After driving close to 5 hours, we were in Astrakhan. While anyone in their right mind would have stayed in Astrakhan and applied for a new Kazakhstan visa (could have easily taken 5-10 business days) but since we knew that if we did not enter Kazakhstan today or in a day or two, the whole trip would jeopardize and we would have to return! So, another hour or so and we will know which way we were heading.



Getting through the Russia-Kazakhstan border is a 2 step process. First they issue you a coupon, then you drive through the no mans land which is quite some and then once you reach the Kazakhstan border, there was a long queue and the border check-post seemed unlike anything we were imagining, it was a pretty big building and clearly a modern day office with plenty of army personnel walking around. Both of us knew that dancing to the tunes of popular Mithun Chakraborty songs were not going to work for sure. We planned to be oblivious of the visa expiry if it was brought to our notice, plead our case and see if they will let us in. Almost after an hour wait, it was our turn to get cleared. Aarti went first and since she has UK passport she did not need additional visa, the officer at the counter was a lady and she called me at the counter and started looking at the visa. She asked us a couple of questions and then started looking for the stamp to let us in. She stamped the stamp pad and then was about to stamp the visa page when it stuck her that last date on my visa was yesterday! The scene was very much like the last scene from movie "Argo", however we were acting taken by a surprise and pleaded everyone we could. Fortunately, we met a soldier who had spent enough time in US and spoke fluent English. We explained him everything and spoke to his commanding officer but we had no option but to go back to Astrakhan and apply for the Kazakhstan visa.



Positive thing was that incidentally i had Russian visa (Aarti dint require one) with 02 entries allowed (not multi entry) and Astrakhan was less than 2 hours away. By the time we started towards Astrakahn, it had gone dark and while crossing the border control i hit the car really hard on the gap between road and the bridge. I knew it was hard to tried hearing for any rattling or other sounds, check engine light but all seemed good so carried on towards the Russian border. This time at the border there was an insurance guy available as well, so got insurance too this time. Aarti arranged for a room in Hotel Park Inn, by this time i had started feeling tired and feverish. Aarti checked with the receptionist about Kazakhstan embassy and work hours, we request her to call them in the morning and inquire about the details so that we could apply for the visa as soon as possible.

I was dead tired, we ordered some food from the room, had it and dozed off.

While plan to sing and dance on Mithun Da's tunes did not work but will we able to get the visa stamped on time? That question remains ;-)

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 31: Visit To Kazakhstan Embassy & The Wonderful Kazakhs
[Written By Akhil]



While i did sleep through like a dog, i wasn't feeling too great in the morning. Was still feeling tired and weak. Thanks to the medicine i took in the night (from the receptionist), the fever was gone and i was hoping to be back in travel mode by afternoon.

Thankfully Aarti had recovered fully and while i continued to rest after having my breakfast, Aarti coordinated with receptionist's help with the Kazakhstan Embassy and fixed up an appointment for afternoon. They din't convey much on the phone but we both were really keeping out fingers crossed that things will work out.

Had to leave that comfortable bed to leave for the embassy and by now i was feeling quite well too. We had lunch, put together all necessary documents and left for the embassy. Thanks to our offline GPS software (Sygic), we did locate the embassy but looking at the location where it was and the way the street was deserted, we had our doubts!

It seemed more like a house, we ringed the well and a nice looking gentleman welcomed us in. We explained to him our situation and requested if we could get the visa stamped today itself! That was quite an ask, and was denied immediately (for obvious reasons :-p). However, he suggested that we talk to the ambassador and present our case to him. To say the least, they were a bunch of really helpful guys. They listened to us very patiently and gave us visa forms. We submitted the forms along with all supporting documents and they told us they will inform us when the visa is ready, they did not confirm anything except they will try their best and usually it takes up to 5 business days.





We tried all we could, now it was time to sit and play the waiting game. We drove back to the Hotel Park Inn as i wanted to use this time we had to relax and get my strength back. Ordered some nice food, spent some time on the internet, prayed for our visa the next day and called it a day.

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 32: Visa Stamped, Entered Kazakhstan, Car Broke Down
[Written By Akhil]



We had a nice relaxing sleep and woke up just in time to catch breakfast. The window for us to go through all Stan's was getting narrower day by day and any delay in getting the visa would mean, we might have to cancel our trip and take a flight to India!

Keeping our fingers crossed and with a positive outlook, we got all our stuff packed and were waiting for a call from the Embassy regarding our visa approval and stamping. And the call did come, we were very happy and thankful to the Kazakhstan embassy for approving our visa in record one day. They called us to the embassy with all paperwork. We checked out from the hotel and left to collect the passports and leave on our way to Kazakhstan border.

At the consulate, the Counsel general himself welcomed us and after talking to him we realized he actually was a big Bollywood fan. We talked about Mithun, Raj Kapoor. We told him about our trip, the fact that we were distributing T-Shirts signed by Kapil, they were all excited and happy that it worked out just in time. We clicked photos with them and bid farewell.

In a matter of an hour, from being worried about completing the trip to actually being on our way to Kazakhstan border, we went through a roller-coaster of emotions and were glad it worked out.







We were not too far from the border, we left almost immediately and after getting lost on the way we were at the border in 2 hours. We were greeted by familiar faces and the fact that we got our visa stamped in record time, they felt good for us and we shared some laughs as well. It was a long process at the border thou, and all formalities we got back into the car trying to play down with our excitement, the moment we were out we could not help but scream with excitement and in the process jumped the red light right outside the border control premises. Kazakhstan Police Office cam out from their office building on the side of the road after the traffic signal and waved us to stop.



Me and Aarti looked at each other as if someone had poured water on excitement. Keeping fingers crossed, i took my document folder with me and followed the officer into their building. It is now we realized that communication is not going to be as easy hereafter (even though English is not a widely spoken language in Russia as well, but cops had access to technology and with the help of translator tools they were keeping their pockets warm), and it kind of played to our advantage as after spending close to 10 minutes in making me understand that we did a traffic violation and we need to pay fine, the offices gave up and asked me to leave :-D





Thanking God for the visa and getting away with the violation, we setup the GPS and started moving. The road was in a very bad state, reminded me of roads in rural Jammu (my native). I was hoping the things will get better since it was a highway and i could see trucks and other cars on the road quite frequently, but on the contrary now i have to drive zig-zag or on the side to avoid large potholes. I don't know if it is applicable to most of you but sometimes when you are in a peculiar situation and suddenly you realize that you have a solution for that, while you do not spell it out for others in the room but you have that grin on your face! It was that moment for me and parked our car, extended my hand towards the switch to raise the air-suspension of our RR and looked at Aarti for her reaction.









I heard the air-pump comes to life, the front of the car rising and in an instant the whole front just dropped down. I tried again a number of times, again the sweet sound of the air-pump but nothing. I was still avoiding Aarti's questions hoping soon the RR will rise and we will be on our way but nothing like that happened. Now i had to explain to Aarti, while everything was working fine, i decided to experiment and now we are in a bad situation! "No Front Suspension" was not the only problem right now, if you guys recall i had winch upfront and that too quite low and the fact now it was touching the road!

After accepting what just happened myself and explaining to Aarti that everything will be fine, my initial troubleshooting idea was to checkout the air-pump. Air-pump in a RR is mostly the main issue in any suspension related issue and to my smartness i was already carrying an air-pump repair kit. We were on the main road, so we started moving slowly with the winch scrapping against the road, trying to find an open place where i could park the car and check out the pump. In another 10 minutes we found an open area on the side with some small houses, i pulled the RR over and started removing the luggage from the back in order to get access to the air-pump. I was quiet confident that it was an air-pump issue and after i repair it we will be good to go. Opening up the pump was not going to be straight forward, to get some guidance i took out the printed document that came with the kit and while going through it i realized none of the issues that can arise because of a broken pump fit the situation we were in! So, after pondering for a while, i put the stuff back in while strong winds were blowing carrying quite some amount of sand with it. Now, the idea was to remove the winch from up front and put it on top of the roof until we are in a area where we can find a mechanic. I could have tried dismantling the winch but after the suspension came down and after all the scraping the screws were unscrew-able, so the task was out of my hands. We asked some villagers looking at us with a surprised look on where to find the mechanic and what we could understand was there was one 10-20 minutes away.

Luckily it did not take us much time to find one, explained them the situation and they started working on it happily. It was a father-son duo and they were excited to see a SUV and strange faces. One point i want to highlight is that if you are from Hindustan and you tell that to anyone in any of the Stan's (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan), you get so much love and warmth from them. It is a great feeling and one of the moments you wish India was not called India but by her old name "Hindustan".

While they started cutting the winch off, we asked how much will they charge us. Dollar is a very popular currency in Russia and the adjoining areas, and we were planning to give them 1-2 dollars and leave them with smiling faces but to our surprise they asked for $5000.00! While we were shocked, we knew there was some non-trivial calculation involved which went wrong somewhere. Finally we had the winch move to the top and we parted with $5 and were on our way. While there was nothing scrapping against the road, but the whole front suspension was dead with 3+ Ton of weight.

Original plan was to drive through Kazakhstan non-stop (not stopping for tourist activities as we had to get out of Uzbekistan before the visa expires), as if driving through the worn out roads was not going to be difficult enough, now we had no suspension as well!

Sticking to the plan we started driving towards the Uzbekistan border via Atrayu. We have been driving for miles and miles and road was not getting better even a bit, there were no lights nothing. I was driving literally on the extreme right side of the road as it was all sand and stones instead of potholes filled tarmac. In addition i had to maintain a minimum speed of 80 miles/hour in order to make it on time. And full marks to RR, even without the front suspension and rear suspension stuck in off road mode, it appeared as if the suspension has just gone hard and not missing.





After driving for more than 6 straight hours, came the first major city i.e. Atyrau. We were confused if we would stay overnight here or carry on as there was still a lot to be covered and driving with no suspension on Kazakhstan roads did get us tired little bit. While we were looking for a hotel in sight, we could not find any on the mail road. Also we had to get diesel, so stopped by a gas station but to our surprise they refused to accept dollars. Luckily Rustam was at the gas station as well and offered to help us, he accepted dollars for the local currency and answered all our questions which we would had google if internet was available ;-)

We filled the gas, bought some snacks, cup noodles, clicked photos with Rustam and were back on the road. Road was now better and smooth, we managed to drive for another 3 hours and checked into a really bare-bones hotel in Kulsary. Even thou the room was not too comfortable, our bodies were tired enough to not complain and sleep :-)

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 33: Drove Non-Stop Towards Uzbekistan Border
[Written By Akhil]



Even though the bed was as hard as it gets in India, we slept pretty well and i would like to thank the broken suspension and long day on the road. The first thought in my mind was maybe some magic would have happened overnight and when i am going to turn the RR on, the suspension will automatically come back to life. That bubble busted pretty soon, as there was no breakfast in the hotel so we got up, cleaned up and got back to the RR. Put in the key, switched it on and bam .. reality check :-p













My blood group is Ab +ive, so positivity comes naturally to me (i wish i could say the same for Aarti!). Thanking god that the car was still running, we left for the border as we had to get out of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan & Turkmenistan within 07 days including today. We decided to take a pit stop at Beyneu town before we leave Kazakhstan. RR needed a bath as well, so we found a service station and while we were waiting for it to be washed decided to grab some quick local snack from the shop nearby. We entered this shop next to the workshop and it was empty , soon a young girl approached with a smile and the menu.

Re: London 2 Jammu







Ok, before i tell you guys what happened next let me bring ot your notice some peculiar things that had happened ever since we entered Kazakhstan. Almost every time we stopped and interacted with the localities, they spoke with me in English but with Aarti they would talk in the local Kazakh language! It din’t strike me then but after a larger interaction with the workshop guys and ladies inside the restaurant, i could safely say that we found Aarti’s motherland :-p he he

Coming back to the restaurant, that young girl din’t know english and she was accompanied by a lady and they both kept looking at Aarti and smiling. Then they started naming Star Plus Serials i.e. Aanandi etc. and thought that Aarti was the girl playing Aanandi :-p









There were some fun moments in the restaurant, we enjoyed the local food and got the leftovers packed, clicked photos and got out. RR was squeaky clean by then, inquired them where could we get diesel as we wanted to fill our tank and the extra container we were carrying with us as there was no diesel in Uzbekistan.





We reached the gas station but the situation there was pretty grim, on inquiring around one guy agreed to arrange it for us at a premium. We were running out of time (as the next 80+ kms till the border had no road, and with the front suspension not working, we were kind of prepared to be stuck in the middle of nowhere) and had no patience specially after looking at the queue at the station so we took his help and did the top up.







We thanked the guy and started looking for the way to the border. The road was non-existent and was just dust and gravel, luckily it was all leveled otherwise things would have been more difficult. It was pretty much a straight drive except one point where it diverted into two paths and we had to take a pick.