600 Km to Vlad

It is a typical sunny and hot morning in Khabarovsk. Temperatures round here are uncomfortably hot day and night sweltering in the mid 30s.
We had a late night walk and then retired to our room. The hotel is good and very well equipped. Hotel prices vary very slightly from one to another. But the variation in quality can be huge. We don't have a list of hotels for each city and GPS tools don't give us decent info. We usually drive into a city and ask a cab driver to recommend a hotel. They normally give us something decent and reasonable. Rooms can be pretty good for the price of say 15 USD each which is cheap according to European standards. The hotel we stayed in last night was well equipped and will get a good review from me on trip advisory.

600 km to go. Mojmir is currently driving his stint. He is a biker and seems to like 1 hour driving stints at the wheel and then he stops for ice cream or begs to stop. We don't let him. He seems to survive on a diet of ice cream, chocolate and beer!!
I have learned 2 polish words on this trip. DUPA!! Not sure what it means but it seems to fit everything. The other. Is Bankur!!! Won't proceed to translate. But truck drivers and other nasty drivers have been called this when they cut us up.
One other phrase I have learn is Nouveau Rusky. This is mentioned when the big Toyota Land cruisers or Range Rovers pass us. It means the new Russians!!! Plenty of them about.
We seem to be entering civilization as the cafés are more organized. The staff have uniforms, the cables are neatly tucked away, there is air conditioning and the TV is not as grainy and we have a clear picture. It is amazing how TV is so uniform around the word. Morning shows are by a man and a lady both in mid 30 dressed in smart casual on a sofa making life look simple. Whom are they kidding!! People from the planets watching our TV sets. Then in the evening the TV set was showing chefs cooking. This guy was also singing songs of the Rolling stones. It was hilarious. But a lot of these chefs come out and give you some little tip as if it was their secret recipe. But it is some old stunt that was used by cooks years ago. The one my mum used was to bash a piece of beef with what was called a tenderizes. It was like a block of wood on a long handle. Apparently it softened the beef by doing so. You are supposed to cook it after that. 

Here's the other secret from my mum- put a raw piece of papaya in the meat curry and it softens the meat while cooking. Apparently in some parts of India they put a form of the herb you are not supposed to have or smoke into the cooking of the meat. You know the herb I mean. It is not available at your local supermarket thou.  Apart from making the meat soft and tasty the dish also gives you a HIGH! You heard this first on our Blog!!

As we head into Vlad we are planning what to do while we are there. The lads wish to visit the submarine parked up there. I don't think I will. Claustrophobic. They also wish to go to the beach and have a swim in the Pacific. I don't think I will do that. Radio active!! Visit the museum. Look around the city. Wash the car before hand over to the transport company. Go to the airport and buy our tickets to Moscow and beyond.