China stone diary

At 4am this morning we reached the Chinese border, a town called Manzhouli. Gradually we made our way through a kind of no-mans-land before reaching the Russian side. After 36 hours on the train I had begun to relax and I had no idea what a horrendous day was ahead. It began with the Russian border guards boarding the train to check our papers. Although I had letters from Stonepave, Dawa Stone and Bristol Alliance explaining my work and giving a value for the stone, it was not enough to satisfy the customs officials. They insisted I take the stone off the train and to their offices. Much easier said then done! The stone weighs 150kgs and there was no station platform. That meant manhandling the stone down the train corridor before lifting it down about 7 ft from the train to the ground. Completely impossible on my own! Eventually I managed to find two Russian students on the train who helped me. The began 5 hours of following custom officials from one office to another. Once again I struch lucky when I met a young Russian border guard, Sergi, who spoke very good English and tried to help steer me through the complexities of Russian officialdom. He was a great help, but not enough to prevent me being ripped off! With Sergi's help I filled out the paperwork. I was then told that customs understood the stone had no value, but it would take one day to process. If I wanted to wait they would do it, but it would mean missing my train. I could wait for a week for another train, or I could pay! A 'customs official' then escorted me to a bank in town where I could use my card for cash. I handed him the equivalent of £100 and without any more forms, I found myself back on the train! What a long day - the train had hardly left the station and I was ready to sleep.