Из свежих записей на сайте Эмиля и Лилианы:
"9/30/2016 – the date of our latest "News – September 2016" is a long time ago. However since that time we launched "what's
happening", where we mention sporadically in a shortened form information about our journey. Sometimes it's more, sometimes just a
bit: Hence our 3'100 miles [5'000km] = 100 driving hours transit from Gorno-Altaysk to Odessa was rather monotonous, even if
snowsqualls, icy roads, a broken differential in Ufa, a not working windshield wiper and a barely working heater catered for enough
entertainment. The Russian visa, expiring on November 11th, 2016, added another permanent stress as we had to have left the country
at this time either way.
Well, it worked out – at about 11am on 11/11 we arrived at the Russian-Ukrainian border! Later on, on November 24th, after
stopovers before and in Kiev, we reached Odessa, albeit winter was following always on our heels with freezing temperatures, even
with some flurries of snow. Kiev would be really a beautiful city at beautiful weather, but it would be wrong to bring up always only
negative subjects or talk in the form of possibility. With that said we experienced an extremely nice encounter: A long-time
"4x4-enthusiast" of an off-road club visited us in the hotel and overwhelmed us with all imaginable surprises.
But we received also here in Odessa special attentions. Obviously the Ukrainians are more interested in "adventures" than we
experienced before with the Russians. Probably it's also the communication – quite a lot more people talk some English than in Russia.
Thus we have been invited for lunch not only by another 4x4 enthusiast, but received real preferential treatment by the shipping agent
BSA.
Our LandCruiser is stuffed since Thursday in its 29th container cage, ready for departure on December 5th, 2016, with the Taiwanese
shipping line 'Evergreen' to Bintulu in the East Malaysian state of Sarawak on the Island of Borneo. We decided after careful
consideration to grant our "buddy" its third rejuvenation. It's not only that the partly really very bad roads in Central Asia (particularly in
Turkmenistan and Tajikistan) damaged the body in places (Russia is in this regard more advanced), but also the traces of the robbery
in Malawi on August 31st, 2015, are still clearly visible and started now rusting away. Even the damage from the Cape Verde Islands –
resulting from a not lashed case during a rough ferry trip, – which actually was "fixed" in a way, starts to break up and away. Due to our
"rage to overhaul" it can be inferred that we are not yet "resigning"!"
