Hi guys,just thought i,d write a few lines about the Ukraine,just in case anyone was ever thinking of touring the largest east European country,
I did an overland to the Ukraine in 2006 , to visit my Aunt and Uncle, It was quite an adventure,Most of the roads we were on in The Ukraine were like B roads,even the main "highway" to Kiev,was riddled with giant potholes,Fuel was cheap in 2006 approx £1 per 5lts,
beer 10p a bottle,Vodka 40p,per bot, :}The area where my relatives live approx 20km north of Lvov, is marsh land and thousands of dirt tracks,there are no visa requirements for the Ukraine,and the people are very friendly,in the countryside,
Taking a car into the city,is a different ball game,we were advised to park in secure parking lot,which we did, and it was guarded my some mean looking guys,Lvov is a fantastic city,and architecture,is something else,funnily ths city was spared by the Germans in WW11,
Driving in the countryside is something else every day is like "the wacky races"and we saw some weird contraptions masquerading as cars/trucks,
on one occasion we saw, a 1 horse power Lada,there was this Lada that had a horse,s backside in where the engine had been,two poles sticking out from where the headlights had been,and the driver sitting on the roof with a set of reins,and his family inside, {-)then there were the umpteen "6 wheeled tipper trucks "that only had 4 wheels the doubles that should have been on the back were reduced to one on each side,and they were,nt always in the same place,
Then there were the "Police Speed traps"they were "something else"we were driving up a hill and approx 200m ahead i spotted a blue and white, police car,with a policeman standing in front of it, holding a speed gun,although we were,nt speeding, i instinctivly slowed down,much to the annoyance of the other drivers around me,who were,nt slowing down, when we got closer to the "speed cop" i soon realised why the Ukrainians were,nt slowing down,The policeman and his car were only plywood cut outs,As it turned out there all over the place, and they get shifted around, but as the locals know what they are I failed to see what use they had,until i spoke one of my cousins,She told me that the police use these dummy cars for about a month or two, then,Bang,they put a real one there, in the middle of the night, and they catch hundreds,But the on the spot fines rarely see the inside of the police station
As corruption is rife,
Another thing we noticed was,the amount of Russian hardware that was left after 89 we saw loads of Russian Jets, lying in fields,tanks at the side of the road,just abandoned,
yes its some place,
I may go back someday
Wullie