Ukrainian Magazine Penoptep

Thank you to lana2112 for this link showing our old ladies featured in Ukrainian Magazine, Penoptep

http://www.reporter63.ru/110621/article/pekinsamaraparizh.html

According to Yahoo's Babel Fish the text translates as:

At the beginning of the past week on the roads of Samara were noticed two British [vintazhnykh] automobiles “Austin -7” 1930 and 1927 of release, writes Lan's [blogger] [Kurolesova]. 

Governed “old ladies” on “Myrtle's nickname” and “Kotka” husbands of Carmen and Keep [Veystel] from the English town Of [kherefordshir]. Englishmen went from Peking to Paris, and by their tailwind it carried into our city. Purpose of path - collection of money to the charitable purposes. By the way, in the retro- machines there are no belts of safety. But according to travellers, their Russian traffic cops do not fine.

Kiev, a beautiful city even in the rain

Kiev church

We have been in Kiev for three days and it started raining an hour after our arrival and has not stopped since. The locals say they have not experienced this for years, which is not much consolation for us as we try to see the sights, and poor Myrtle and Kotka drown in the car park.

But it IS a beautiful city and we have visited a 50 acre monastery on the outskirts and descended 50 meters underground to see, by candlelight, 200 year old mummified monks. whose coffins the locals reverentialy kiss as they pass, the bodies being believed to possess healing powers.

Then to a service in the cathedral at the monastery, where a priest was being ordained. The beautiful deep voices , the fantastic golden robes and headpieces of the priests, the huge beards, the congregation constantly crossing themelves and bowing, made for a tremendous atmosphere.

Kiev military cemetery

Then last night we went to the opera house for a double bill- the first a one act opera by Rachmaninov, Aleko, then a ballet, Bolero by Ravel, and both were absolutely stunning.

We plan to leave tomorrow Tuesday, in spite of the awful weather, and take it very carefully to Lviv, and just beyond that the border crossing to Poland, which we hope to reach within two days

Baby Yar ravine, to which the Germans marched Kiev's 34,000 strong Jewish population in 1941, and massacred them all within 48 hours

More Smile Train Clinics

Today we visited the two childrens clinics, one dealing with just local kids, the other with kids from the whole of Ukraine. Here operations are free up to the age of eighteen, but the hospitals are underfunded, and the right equipment is scarce, so money from Smile Train helps a lot.

As with Peking,and Ulan Bataar, we were struck by the cleanliness and uncluttered appearance of the hospital, the professional appearance of the staff, the obvious organisation rather than chaos, and the relaxed and unstressed atmosphere. So how do we in Hereford, with all the cash we have, manage to have such a disorganised and sloppy hospital .

Operated on last week

to be operated on this week

---

You can donate through our JustGiving page

Or send us a cheque payable to Smile Train

Post to Kip Waistell, c/o 1 Fairfield Green, Fownhope, Herefordshire, HR1 4NL 

Free with donations of £25 +

Anyone donating £25 or more will receive a free DVD of Smile Pinki, the 2008 Academy Award winning documentary about a little girl whose life was transformed by Smile Train surgery. read more about Smile Pinki

Please help us spread the word by passing our details onto everyone you know! Help us make a real difference in the lives of children.

West from Chelyabinsk into Ukraine - Photos

coming up for a Siberian soaking

garage "facilities"

Carmen gets arrested for speeding

Bike shop in the Urals

Ural butterfly

accident traffic jam (body in road)

Ural honey seller

Ural farmer

Ukraine cop takes Myrtle for a spin

anyone for a stag night

Kotka goes to hospital again near Kiev

Myrtle gets religion

"who's an old bore then?"

The 5,000 mile barrier and the beautiful city of Kiev Ukraine

We have broken through the 5,000 mile barrier and are now in the beautiful city of Kiev Ukraine.

The journey from Novosibirsk has been hell. Kotka has suffered badly, her prop shaft coming loose, and also her starter has now broken so both cars have to be push started each morning- we means giving consideration to how we park them at night, so as to make pushing easier. Russian roads are truly terrible- and very dangerous. Obstacles everywhere, and whilst potholes are pretty obvious, there are hidden dips and bumps which you cannot see at all, which throw you about. In fact Kotka probably has a broken spring, but the springs are strongly taped up so leaving well alone, and I am just putting up with having a car on "the tilt". It is very very tiring constantly being on the look out, and looking at nothing but the next 20 yards of "tarmac".

We crossed the Urals some days ago- in 2007, crossing higher up at Perm, these seemed no problem at all and hardly noticeable, but this time we had a 100 miles or so of pretty severe climbing, bad weather and the usual humps and bumps.

We decided to give the Crimea a miss as Kotka has been suffering too much and it was not worth the risk of what we had heard were bad roads in that area, so from Chelyabinsk we headed more or less dead west, and crossed into Ukraine on 23 June, arriving in Kiev early on the 25th

The long straight roads- hardly a corner to be seen, have meant that petrol consumption has gone up to about 35 mpg on both cars, and they are running neck and neck on actual litres consumed, Kotka being just 5 litres behind Myrtle. Both starters packed up, both cars were leaking a lot of oil till I spent a morning taking bits off, tightening nuts and bolts, renewing some gaskets, and now we can stop at a hotel without leaving an oil well on the forecourt when we leave. Kotka's windscreen has cracked.   

We will stay in KIew three days then head for Cracow/Dresden

Only 40 pounds or so from our target!

Great kindness, bloody-mindedness and long, long legs

Roadside stall selling stuffed animals and birds

The Russians are as much of a mix as ever- great kindness has been shown to us by some, and others are bloody minded. But the girls ..in towns..are as stunning as ever, gliding along on never ending legs.

Lake Baikal dried fish stall

The countryside, and there is a lot of it, is medieval still- log huts in verfy dilapidated condition, no running water or drainage, dust and dust and dust everywhere, yet people with mobiles. We have noticed that many of the villages we passed last time are now bypassed, so the old fashioned Russia is to a great extent now hidden. For very many life is very hard, but for those in the cities, and they are hundreds of miles apart, life is very different indeed.

We have never had any response from the Smile Train clinic in Volgograd in spite of several e mails, so because of that, and the fact that the roads even now are pretty bad (but improving), we have decided to cut out Volgograd and the Crimea, and cut across from Samara to get to the Ukraine border asap, and then spend more time in beautiful Kiev. We hope to be there is 12-14 days.

Typical Russian wood house

Tomorrow we hope to break the 3,000 mile barrier, still averaging 30 or so mpg and in terms of litres of petrol used, Myrtle is just 4 litres ahead of Kotka. We are averaging ten hours on the road a day so it is pretty tiring

Rubble road in Russia

You can donate through our JustGiving page
Or by cheque payable to Smile Train. 
Post to: Kip Waistell, c/o 1 Fairfield Green, Fownhope, Herefordshire, HR1 4NL

.. and into Russia

Repairs finished in Ulan Bataar

Mongolia/Russia border control

We left Ulan Bataar last Monday, taking two days to get to the border as our visas did not operate till Wednesday 8th.

It then took four hours to cross the border into Russia, having queued from 6.30am in the morning. One of the customs officers on the Mongolian side recognised us from 4 years ago, and did her best to ease our passage, not helped by one officious individual who said we should have been given a special bit of papers when we entered Mongolia.

Then off into Russia hoping that their roads would have improved over the last four years.
We quickly discovered that (a) the roads are still atrocious, with many kinds of dangers- the ridge and furrow road, the pothole road, the dip and undulation road, the no road at all road with just dirt dust gravel and stones, the pox road with lots of little tarmac mountains to avoid, etc etc and the cars got shaken to bits.

Prop shaft repair under way with feline onlooker

Kotka has suffered particularly, with part of the prop shaft having to be replaced yesterday, and repairs necessary to a sheared bolt on the engine block. Her block is still leaking a lot of oil and I feel we will just have to put up with it. Her gearbox has started to leak a lot of oil via the speedo drive, and Myrtle's speedo has packed up altogether, likewise her starter. The starter is not too great a problem as once Myrtle is warm, I can start her on the handle, but every morning it is a push start for her.

Job done!!

We were very lucky re the prop shaft repair- it was a public holiday but luckily one of the many Russians pausing in their car to photograph us halted when we signalled distress, knew a local mechanic who just happened to be working, who knew a spare parts shop that just happened to be open. The repair took five hours, and now the prop shaft at least is in good working order again.

and (b) Russia is a lot more expensive than when we were last here - for example, a stuffy room with no shower or basin or loo cost us thirty pounds last night, that giving us the right to use a separate shower, which at least did have hot water, and a single communal basin and loo on the ground floor, both of which were filthy.

A worrying time...

As I type, waiting to hear from garage re possible differential failure in Myrtle and fan pulley failure, and terrible running on both cars hopefully due to lousy contaminated petrol. Also Kotka's steering repair bodge up to be made safe!

Then to Russian Embassy to bring forward our visas if we can, as hope to leave Ulan tomorrow and cross into Russia tomorrow night- but current visa only runs from next Wednesday as it would have taken us many more days to cross Mongilia east to west, rather than taking the northern entry into Russia

A worrying time not helped by Delhi problems

Kip 

1,000 Miles Done

Arrived in Ulan Bataar after 13 and a half hours driving, to clock up our first thousand miles at an average of 31 mpg

Hotel Kempinski- superb- putting us up for three nights free, or more if we want, so we are having a rest and having cars checked by local Merc dealer, free, as part of sponsorship.

Seeing press tonight after visit to local cleft clinic this afternoon which was very very touching. To see the awful probs these kids have and how easy it is to fix really makes you think that there are very good ways to spend money. We were then invited out to dinner with the surgeon and orthodontist, and presented with a plaque to thank us for our efforts in raising money.

We will now definitely exceed our fundraising objective, and if any of you have a spare pound or so, please consider giving the fund yet another boost. If you could see the smiles on the faces of the parents and kids you would be as touched as we have been. Our next clinic visit will be in Kiev.

Big change in route plans as we now have horses mouth news of roads in western Mongolia (from a Mongolian geologist whom we stopped to ask directions to exit from Sainshand) - presently terrible with very deep ruts which we simply cannot manage. So we will repeat more of our 2007 route, and exit nothern Mongolia to go to Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, then onto original planned route at Novosivbirsk. Russian roads pretty terrible and drunk drivers very common, but at least the cars will not get so shaken about, and we have no more steering spares!

PS No wonder the Pope has Swiss guards. They are made of stern stuff the Swiss, and watching Carmen drive on and on, hour after hour is something to behold. She and Myrtle are quite a team. I am still trying to understand Kotka and our relationship is a bit fraught.

Best wishes
Kip n Carmen. Myrtle and Kotka

Herders north Mongolia

Campsite, North Mongolia

Visitors

..and more visitors