Deep into russia now,baboushka territory!

Friday afternoon we arrived in Irkutsk and again had little luck in finding a room for the night, mainly due to the unhelpful woman at the reception desk refusing to register our visas! So after another night in the car we awoke to drive to lake Baikal. The lake is vast, surrounded by some amazing scenery and many tiny villages where we shared some vodka with a couple of locals. Now 200km north of the boarder, planning to enter Mongolia tomorrow.

After spending a week on the road and having a good time camping and seeing how many meals we can make around our base ingredients of tuna and pasta we finally came out of the siberian wilderness and landed in omsk to celebrate my 19th birthday and to generally let our hair down, sleep in a bed and eat in a restaurant. We reached the city and were immediately lost. With no clue about where to stay or who to ask. A russian man pulled up next to us and said he'd take us to the center. Once there we told him we needed a hotel but he offered to take us to his house instead.  read more »

just arrived at chelyabinsk after a short drive from our camp, the most picturesque so far; surrounded by tall forests and meandering rivers where we chilled out swimming and washing in the river for as long as we could bare the cold..About 30 seconds! Our fishing attempt hasnt happened yet, but we d [Missing part 03]

After a walking tour of riga with a man who had it in his mind that we cared about the architecure of the city rather than it's sad history we went to the museum of occupation to actually learn something about this country. We ventured out to a supermarket literally on the wrong side of the tracks and stocked up on Balzam. Latvia's number one spirit. A dark, gloopy, enjoyably poisonous drink. After having a few glasses of the stuff with a young couple of inner london teachers we headed out to a fun bar with good beer, weird bridges over grated floors and the only dj i've ever seen who, on a whim, wacks out his trombone to give something extra to the mix which made me rave my shoes to literal destruction. After oversleeping by two hours we found the car had been broken into. A small window smashed on the side which we have gaffa'd up and the new radio removed. Its a bit of a blow but i suppose we're lucky they didn't take anything else. We reached the russian border at 8pm and after 5 hours of slow queues, hard faced officials with ridiculous hats and endless lines of lorries we were through. After an hour of driving in dark fog we stopped the car and caught a few z's. Currently we are about 550k from moscow and pretty damned determined to get there before nightfall. Later on! R.

After another interesting night in prague we set off at 10 30 on the road to krakow. The drive was thwarted by rain for most of the journey but atleast it cleaned the car a bit. Reached krakow at about 6 30, found a hostel, went to the main square and had the most polish meal we could find: potatoes, mushrooms, sour kraut with bacon and the tenderest pork belly we had ever tasted. Contented we returned to the hostel after watching some crazy polish pop star performing to some appreciative fans. Rose at 7 this morning and are currently about 130k away from lithuania. Were hoping to reach Riga tonight and have a day of enjoying the last of eastern europe before the epic drive through Russia. Oh and i accidentally poked a hole through the coolant tank with my finger somehow. Gaffa. Later on!