Onward from Kazakhstan

Moved on to Pavalodor where we got a small hotel. This place was on the outskirts of the town and we checked in. At the door a bloke asked us where we were going. When we told him Russia and onward to Vladivostok he drew his finger across his throat and said “ Good luck”. This is a common theme wherever we go. The ask where you are going next then tell you they are dangerous people there. We have still to meet them. Onward to the border where we spent 5 hours. Form filling and stamping was rife. They asked us if we had firearms or drugs as we opened the boxes. They looked in and told us to close them. That was the search. They noticed the IPA stickers and I think they thought we would be carrying a firearm due to our connection with the police. We convinced them by telling them we do not regularly carry firearms in UK. They pulled out the English speaking border guard and started to ask us about Scotland and asked if we had any photos. I got the Ipod out and they all gathered. She asked us why we were wearing uniform when we were on holiday. We had to explain that it was Hein Gericke bike clothing…..just shows they have very few bikers. They then asked for their photos to be taken with the bikes and then the English speaking guard had some practice with her English before wishing us good luck and allowing us to pass to the Russian side. More forms and photos, a cursory search and a chat then we were back in Russia.