In the village called Voronsovka we reach the main road leading to the city of Krasnoperekopsk. This is the worst section of the road so far! It is one of the two roads connecting the Crimea with other parts of Ukraine, so the traffic is enormous. No hard shoulder. On two occasions a truck almost "sucked" me under its wheels, while another B-double truck (driving towards me and overtaking) forced me to hit the ditch. Solid lines, "no overtaking" signs, speed limits – no one cares about them here! Igor did not exaggerate calling this section "the road for suicides". Additionally, there are some road works going on which we do not comprehend – they lay crushed stone and pour tar mixed with something over it. Crushed stone comes off and flies from under the wheels, tar sticks to tyres while sand sticks to tar... What a nuisance! We decide that out of concern for our lives we will try to get out of here by train or taxi. We arrive at the railway station in Krasnoperekopsk. Miraculously, there are available tickets for tomorrow’s couchette train to Odessa! (UAH 73 times 4 bunks). It is unbelievable, because usually you need to book a ticket one month in advance! Unfortunately we will no longer stand a chance to explore Crimean wild beaches and rice fields (outside Skadovsk) – after all you cannot see everything. Actually, in the evening we come to a conclusion that is probably for the better since local mosquitoes are breaking all bloodsucking records! All repellents help just for a moment, and still these desperate insects will find some flesh to thrust their "stings" into.

We find a room in Fantasia Hotel. There is a surprise for us in the hotel – a bathtub! I have tears in our eyes – it takes so little to be happy... The hotel also has a garden restaurant with a fountain and live music. We eat shashliks, drink beer and wine, dancing to the rhythms of salsa, samba and disco. Utter bliss – the last time we felt that good was in Mexico. Such moments of happiness caught somewhere along the path of life are later recollected during bad days. However, to maintain balance in nature, on the next day we would have a rough ride. We are waiting at the station, the bikes are packed up and Igor goes to ask about carriage numbers, to avoid running with all the luggage. Supposedly we are at the right place. The train arrives and unfortunately the carriages are in reverse order. We are next to carriage no. 4 and we start running towards no. 18! We only have 5 minutes – the train will not wait any second longer! By the carriage no. 8 a female 'prowadnik' (the head of each carriage) orders us to get on and we have to carry the luggage through the carriages – 10 of them. Igor went back to carriage no. 8 four times, so he went through 80 carriages in total, opening 320 doors – each carriage had 4! Carrying our luggage took almost an hour and a half, and was something that Igor wanted to forget as soon as possible. "Like in Hitchcock" – he said. Sweaty and angry, we reached our couchette compartment only to find two ladies sleeping there. They say the two top bunks should be enough for us. Igor firmly asks them to leave the compartment – we paid for 4 bunks and we have a lot of luggage. Finally we put everything inside. Absolutely exhausted, we brush our teeth and fall on the bunk beds.