After the long ride, we don't get up till 11am. We do some filming on the balcony of our hotel room. We decide to change some dollars and then go sightseeing. Red square, Kremlin, lenin's tomb and of course Mc Donalds....... really - Mc Donalds next to the Kremlin... unbelievable!!. We wanted to go and see Lenin, however he's only open from 10am till 1pm. We find this out at..... you guessed it.......2pm - typical. Still we take photo's and some film footage. Brilliant, we still can't believe we're in Moscow. Had a look at the souveniers, the usual Russian dolls , hats full of old soviet military badges, paper weights engraved with the Kremlin on and even hip flasks with emblems on. As we walked around there seems to be a lot of English speaking people here. As we over hear people talking we turn around in amazment, it's nice to hear people speak English again after only hearing and speaking Russian. With the sightseeing done we head back to the hotel as it's 6pm and we are meeting Andrey at 8pm. We stop at a roadside souvenier shop and buy presents for Pauls wife helen and our mother, small gifts but with a big thank you behind them. Once back at the hotel, we quickly shower and are outside the hotel for 8pm. Andrey arrives at 8:20pm and immediatly apologises. We're just glad he turns up. He takes us to an Irish pub - thats right - an Irish pub and we meet 2 more outlaws ( little vitalie and big vitalie ). Big vitalie was a helicopter pilot in the Russian army 10 years ago but spoke better English than Andrey. Little vitalie spoke very good English because his father worked for the U.N as a specialist on diesel engines so has travelled the world with his parents. We leave the Irish pub and go on a quick drive to another bar. On the way, Andrey is stopped by the Police for speeding. To our amazment he pulls out his wallet, shows the Police something and they wave him on??. We find out that Andrey is anti - terrorist Police, to our amazment. We end up in a bar called " Che Guevare" - a fantastic little place. Andrey orders a jug of ice, a jug of coke , a plate of limes (quatered), a plate of mint and a bottle of 7 year old rum!!, and proceeds to make a rum and coke for us all. The drink is flowing and we really are enjoying the company of our Russian friends. After a couple more bottles of rum and more ice have been ordered and consumed, big vitalie say's goodbye and wishes us well. Andrey then takes us to another club where he tells us that many western Europeans tend to meet. He also tells us that you can have any women in there,and of course - they're all inclusive as well. We decline again and Andrey takes us back to our hotel. We can't thank the big man enough and are sorry to see him go. RUSSIA - The people are fantastic and so friendly. We leave the next morning with heavy hearts. Russia has been a fantastic experience, the people , the culture , the hospitality, has been mind-blowing. We will both miss these most generous and friendly people. Andrey had shown us on our map the road we need, and we suprise ourselves at how easy we manage to get on the right road for Belarus and its capitol - Minsk. Andrey had also said the road was good.... and it was. The weather was overcast and quite chilly. The rain doesn't last long but threatens all day. At the border and it looks like we could be there for hours!!. The line of trucks waiting to cross seems to go on forever. We showed our passports to the guard and he talked to us about our trip ( in broken English of course ). He pointed to where we needed to go with our passports and told us to park the bikes out of the way. The queue of waiting lorry drivers look fed up, especially as the guard took us to the front of the queue. Paper work done and we are on our way in only 1 hour ( quick for a border ). Minsk wasn't that far from the border and we were hopeing for an early night. We ask directions for hotel Minsk ( there's always a hotel with the name of the town ). We find the hotel quite quickly only to be told... no reservation - no room. Here we go again!!. We make a reservation for the following night and ask the hotels guest relations officer to help us find a room. Shock, horror - none going, all are full because of a convention going on in the town ( f**k). He manages to find us a flat for rent outside Minsk for $200. Its expensive but we are desperate. The flat itself was good - sauna, plunge pool, pool table, 3 bedrooms, secure parking and meals included - we'll take it !!. After a strange breakfast of sausage wrapped in pancakes, the young woman who prepared the food asked if she could have a ride on the back of one of the bikes. We agree and take the camping gear off my bike and Paul takes her for a spin while I finish getting our stuff together. Once back, her boyfriend or brother ( we're not sure which) gestured for us to follow him to Minsk which we accepted. Back in Minsk outside the hotel, we waved goodbye to our escourt and check in. Booked in, we quickly shower and take a walk down Minsks main street talking photo's and film footage. We stop and have something to eat. Where you may ask?? - Mc Donalds again. You can tell we are getting to more westernized cities, Minsk is clean and well presented with no graffiti or litter to be seen. With the filming done, we head back to the hotel and see an oriental restaurant and decide to eat there later. The restaurant is very nice but there's a problem - no cutlery only chopsticks - and we ordered rice dishes !!. It will take us weeks to eat. We manage to eat ok but seems there's a lot of pushing rice around aswell ( there's no fun to be had pushing rice round dishes ). Meal eaten we remark on the table next to us eating sushi, which we both say we wouldn't eat ( reminds us of the salmon in Ishim) and go back to the hotel for a few beers, only for some strange old bloke to come over and stat chatting ( he makes paul feel uneasy ). We make our apologies and retire to our room. Hotel Minsk was a 4* hotel and we enjoyed the night there. We pack the bikes and check the oil. Both bikes have used oil on the trip, so we top them up. We remember seeing a sign for Brest and take the road out of the city. As usual - there's no more signs for Brest and have to rely on my gps. We are heading in the right direction but are unsure, we stop when we see a Policeman and ask for directions. He assures us we are going the right way and 5km down the road we spot our first sign since leaving Minsk. We are quickly up to speed and it doesn't take long to reach the border were things start to go pear shaped. We are ushered to the front of the queue and get involved with all the beaurocracy. A guard ( who spoke little English )tells us to take our passports to one place and then another. No one seems to want to help and we stand around looking like fish out of water. 2 hours later and all the faffing is over and we tentatively drive on and into Poland. We spot 2 Policemen at the side of the road who gesture for us to rev the bikes and speed across the border........fantastic. We head for Warsaw and are 12 miles from the city when Paul spots a sign for a hotel, situated behind a petrol station and - you guessed it again - Mc Donalds ( Ronald's got a lot to answer for ) and decide to stay there. The hotel is comfortable and clean and costs us £50 for 2 nights with secure parking - happy days. Tomorrow sightseeing in Warsaw.