From Toyama, Japan to Vladivostok, Russian Federation - June, 2002

We had the information from Rob and Dafne about shipping the bikes from Japan to Russia. But some things are changed.

We contacted Mr. Funaki from FKK travel agency and he made the reservations for us to go by ferry from Toyama (exactly Fushiki port in Tadaoka, 15 km south of Toyama) to Vladivostok in Russia.

We paid Mr. Funaki USD 210/person, USD 130/bike and USD 40 of handling fees. we sent the money in special money envelopes by mail, this is common in Japan and safe. When we arrived at the Fushiki port in Tadaoka, we met Mr. Funaki.

He received the money by mail and took us to the captain of the Mikhail Sholokhov. There he paid the captain, but we never got a ticket. The captain wanted our passports and our invitation letter. We never saw our invitation letter because it was sent to the Russian embassy in Tokyo and they kept it there. So Mr. Funaki called the embassy and there they could not find our invitation letter. But we had our visa and after a long discussion the captain accepted us and we got a room.

When all the cars were loaded on deck and in the ferry, we could ride our bikes in the ferry. The Russian shippers are friendly and helpful and secured our bikes. On board we got 3 good meals a day. The next morning we arrive at Zarubino in Russia where everybody has to leave the ship and go to customs. They check 3 times the passports and when everybodies passport is checked and stamped we all go on board and sail for 6 hours more to Vladivostok.

The 'cruise' takes 48 hours and the second day a shipper made our 'bill of lading' for USD 5. When we arrive in Vladivostok we are free to go, because we went already through customs. The steward that speaks English tells us that the ferry is unloaded the next day and then we could collect our bikes.

So we went to hotel Vladivostok (USD65/room). Bloody expensive! They registered our visas and the next morning we walked back to the ferry in the port. We were sent to the Business Intour Service (BIS office) in the customs building. This building was in July 2002 under construction. A lady from BIS, that speaks good English, is 'responsible' for us and helps us to get our bikes through customs. Immediately she tells us that it will cost USD 50 per person, we agree.

She takes us to temporary custom office buildings, 15 minutes by car from the port, where she makes copies of our papers (no carnet necessary) and get inline. After a dozen of desks and 2 days we pay 30 Rubles tax (USD 2), she has all the required documents and takes us to the custom zone at the port where our bikes are waiting. There she pays USD 50 at the last custom officer and he releases the bikes.

We are in Russia! We drove to the Iron Tigers club house 'The Box', where we stayed 2 days and worked on our bikes. They helped us also to get the invitation letter required for the visa. We emailed copies of our passport and info of our itinerary to vlad...@mail.primorye.ru (fax + 7 4232 461160).

They took this to Primcore Invest (PKI) that made our invitations for visa. PKI faxed our invitation letter to the Russian embassy in Tokyo where we got our visa (cost YEN 1000 (USD 8)/pick up after 1 month) and YEN 3100 (USD 28) for consulate fees.