Mike had a pretty busy day yesterday, getting the car fixed. We met the mechanic whom Russian speaking sweep Nicolai had arranged for us at 9 am (actually nearer 10 am which is what passes for on time in these parts) and Mike and the car went off 5km to his garage. He returned 13 hours later with the car in much better shape.

Figure 1 The car looks a lot better than yesterday….

As the picture shows, the car looks a lot better than yesterday with the drivers’ side front wheel operating in the vertical plane.

 

Even the back of the car looks vaguely flat.

Figure 2    Someone seems to have cleaned the back of the car

While Mike was getting the car cleaned I was doing more domestic chores. Fortunately I heeded the pre rally warning not to use hotel laundries – see Fig 3!

Figure 3 It’s understandable….

Actually the Marriott in Novosibirsk isn’t bad. But the high pressure impact of the whole rally descending on a hotel can be overwhelming. I’m told that one year an ex SAS man on the rally had to capture laundry that the hotel had grabbed using military tactics to befuddle the security.

 

We have a huge distance to go today – 620 km and a border crossing. Because Russia and Kazakhstan have both been in the Eurasian Economic Union since 1 Jan 2015, we have been told that this border crossing should be relatively painless. Obviously our past experience warns against this. But (as we Brits are likely to find out) there may be consequences from being in an economic union with other countries! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Economic_Union Tomorrow’s blog will update….

 

Anyway, now I have to pack my washing and get going. Hope Mike is recovered from his hard day yesterday with no proper food (living on locusts and honey or the near equivalents). Will see him shortly for breakfast.

 

Wish us luck!