Around the World in 800 Days

That long?

In that case, the GF and I tried Chimay last week (only because of your postings ), we agreed it was pretty damn good. It is a nice treat from time to time.

Love it!

I said 15 seconds not 15 inches LL

Really enjoying your ride report! Definitely jealous. Question though, who takes the pictures that you are in? Are u getting help from the locals?

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Sometimes I ask someone to take my picture but many times I just use the auto timer on the camera.
Like the pictures with Lenin were done solo........10 seconds to run and pose.

I like that way of Updates !!!

The reason for the different border formalities is that you have just left the European Union.
Ukraine is not part of the EU.

Sounds similar to the Integratron near Joshua Tree

Here I am in Lviv Ukraine.
I was sitting on a park bench in the main square in town in front of the Opera house and this gal sits down next to me.
Of all the girls in Lviv to come sit next to me, I get a crazy one.
I think she was drunk too.
She was sipping from a bottle of Vodka and I don't think it was her first.
The funny thing was she was actually kind of cute in a drunk and crazy homeless sort of way.
She was singing songs out loud and screaming the words. Everyone was looking at us. And I would just reply to the onlookers that my girl friend was drunk and crazy.
Then she started to grab me. At that point I started to walk away but she followed me. And kept trying to grab me.
I finally got away but she drew a lot of unwanted attention my way.
Why do I also attracted the crazy people in the towns I visit???

True
I from what I hear, I have some more coming up.
For example, there are certain countries that don't recognize Serbia as a country so their border is closed. I can exit Serbia but can't enter.
I need to do some more planning as I head further south.
Traveling thru the EU has been a breeze but you don't really feel like you are in a different country until you waste a couple of hours at a border gets your various stamps.

View of Lviv from the park overlooking the town

Away from the city center, you can see all the Soviet area apartments.
I couldn't imagine living in one.
I think my ex Gf did. No wonder why she wanted to come to the US so bad.

I am also going to say something else..........

I kind of figured that I would roll in to town and I would be fending off all the hot blonds here because they could sense I was an American and they wanted a one way ticket out. Let me dismiss this American fantasy right here.
The girls here couldn't care less.
There are plenty local guys here driving Porsches and BMW's. They don't need to go to the US or elsewhere if they want to chase a sugardaddy.
Sorry, that window of opportunity has all but closed.

Here is the hostel I am staying at.
It is nice they let me park my bike inside but it is such a dump
The roof is leaking
The people working here are not so friendly.
The bed is the second worst bed I have slept in on my trip (the first was in Ecuador).
Not to mention.............Spiders, mold and a bath pretending to be a shower
But it sure beats sleeping in a tent with the rain coming down like it has been tonight.

The infrastructure here in Ukraine is old and dying.
The sidewalks are cracked. The streets are buckled.
The parks are moribund.
And the buses break down a lot.
I have seen this several times before.
When a bus breaks down, it is just pulled around by these Soviet area military trucks until it finishes its route.
Here is an example.
It is completely holding up traffic on this narrow street until it can be moved out of the way.

I ate at a typical Ukrainian restaurant tonight.
You got to pick what food you wanted.
I just several plates.
The girls were laughing at me because I ordered so much food.
But I ate it all.
And it only cost about 10 euro and that included a beer.
In Norway, the beer alone would have been 10 euro

No sooner did I put my bike on its kick stand upon my arrival here in Ukraine did some guys invite me to sit down with them for shots of Vodka.
Some of the stereotypes are just plain true.
Good guys
The girls were a bit shy though

I have spent a decent amount of time in former soviet countries, Russia and Ukraine mostly. I agree that virtually nobody is looking for a sugardaddy to get out, especially in the big cities.

For me though I have found the peoples hospitality second to none. especially once you the small towns the people are amazingly nice. It does help for sure to have some Russian language.

One thing I have appreciated about many of the former Soviet people I have meet is their ability to seperate America and it government/politics from its people. I have had many people say "you know I really hate Americas government and/or its political policies.... BUT I enjoy the American people I have met."

In 3 years of living in Russia I have come to the conclusion Americans and Russians are alot more similar than different. We were both fed alot of propoganda about the opposite side... The biggest difference I see is that the Soviet people knew their government was full of a bunch of liars and cheats so they didnt believe most of it... Where as the American people at the time thought they could trust the government and bought into it and are just starting to realize their government is full of the same thing.

Its amazing how I can just barely remember anything of the "cold war" yet I know when I came here I was expecting the sun never to shine, its always winter, the people to be terribly cold and mean, everyone an alchoholic drinking vodka... In reality I have been completely blown away by how wrong I was!!!! You can find the cold and mean people and the alchoholics just let them be and move on. the rest of them are so amazing especially the bikers!!!

I hope you enjoy Eastern Europe its different but amazing in its own right