On the way, I took a side trip.......on my motorbike.
According to the map, there was a direct road over the mountains to Yalta, but when we got to the bottom of the pass, the way was blocked by a red flag waving policeman. Turns out the road is so steep and bendy that only private cars and minibuses are allowed. Our van was too big!
It was late, so we looked around for a place to park, and, as is becoming normal in Ukraine, ended up in someone's backyard! This particular yard belonged to the last restaurant before the pass, and a very nice restaurant it was too.
But the guide book said that the mountain pass was spectacular, and I love mountain passes, so after some deliberation, the next day I decided to to whizz up it on the bike and have a look.
Luda is not too fond of motorcycling, so off I went alone. I even donned a helmet and some leathers, just to be on the safe side.
My bike is a little Honda 125 trails bike, nothing butch or powerful, but a great little machine for shopping and exploring. It sits on the back of the van, and is just light enough to be lifted on and off easily.
I hadn't had a decent ride on the bike for a while, and I couldn't have chosen a nicer trip.
The road wound up and up, hairpin after hairpin, getting colder all the time, but through dense forest. A tunnel of green and brown, with shafts of sunlight beaming down, and random Ladas zooming past. Yes, Ladas, not llamas!
After about thirty minutes of this, suddenly the trees thinned out. I was expecting wild rocks and mountains, but what I got was a high grassy plateau, which extended for about 5 miles. It was gorgeous, with hints of Switzerland and my beloved Wales.
Then in the distance I saw three bloody huge golfballs!! An ex Soviet radar station. When I got there I was greeted by a sheer cliff, straight down to the coast, and the town of Yalta, spread out like you see from a plane as you come in to land. I was just below the cloud level.
Unfortunately the tiny complex at the top was a bit of a tourist hell hole, being connected to the coast by one of the most spectacular cable cars I have ever seen. According to the map it was the best part of a thousand metres, straight down.
Nevertheless it was a wonderful sight, and I was quietly proud that I had done it the hard way, from behind. (oo er)
A coffee and a cig, and I was on my way back down, my little Honda lapping it up, no need for raw power, and light enough to whizz round the hairpins like a pushbike. I felt I was riding on air.
An hour later and I was back at the restaurant and the van, Luda having had a relaxing couple of hours relaxing in the van.
After a superb Lunch we set off to Yalta the long way round, arriving a few hours later. A full day!
Unfortunately it was all downhill after that.
The guy I previously mentioned who had promised to host us, and take us out on the pilot boat turned out to be ...... how shall I say, unreliable. I feel unable to go into details, in case of the slim chance that he may read this. But I wish him well, he was well intentioned, but a complete alcoholic. Sort yourself out mate.....
So we made a hasty exit.
We are now in eastern Crimea, in the town of Feyodosia, another Russian Riviera town, but with a quaint and wonderful character.
We came here because in the midst of all this activity, I broke a tooth.....so needed a dentist.
I could write a whole story about dental crises in foreign countries, but suffice it to say that I have have visited dentists in Morocco, Berlin, Thailand, and now Ukraine.
We had no local contacts, so just headed to the nearest big town and asked around. Thanks to Luda and some helpful locals we ended up at a dental clinic on the outskirts of Feyodosia.
I suppose by now you are expecting a tale of woe and Ukrainian dentistry. Nothing could be further than the truth, In fact, having had the privilege to travel, and therefore have my genetically weak teeth fettled in various lands, I can tell you from personal experience that British dentistry is in a pathetic state. Unless of course you have lots of money, or insurance, as any decent dentist in the UK has gone private, and is driving a BMW at your expense.
If you break a tooth in Manchester, for example, you have two choices. Choice number one is to pick up Yellow Pages, stick in a pin, and make a dozen calls until somebody condescends to see you within 24 hours, at a cost of anything up to a couple of hundred pounds. Choice two - pitch up at the Manchester Dental Hospital, queue for 4 hours, and hope you get a student who has paid attention in lectures.
Here on the other hand, I was treated to a dental surgery in a building of glorious Soviet era disrepair, and inside a surgery of dated, but obviously well maintained, clean, equipment. And a wonderful middle aged woman who exuded confidence and ability.
I thought the tooth was a gonner, it having broken in two, and half of it waggling about like a broken leg. Without further ado, she yanked out the broken bit, chucked it in the bin without a comment, had a poke around, and announced with Luda translating, that although nearly all the tooth above the gum was gone, the root was sound.
Within twenty minutes, with no X ray and no anaesthetic, she put a pin into the root, and then constructed a up a new tooth using this fancy plastic stuff that you shape and then then harden with UV light.
You just know when things feel right........and it feels right. Cost......300 Ukrainian Grivna....about £25.
So who's the mug? That £25 was cost plus profit, and I was in and out in half an hour. So what makes UK dentistry so expensive?
I had a long conversation with Luda about Ukrainian healthcare. It's different, but families and friends club together in emergency. And at these prices they can afford it. If you go in hospital here, you pay about £5 a night for the bed, plus treatment.
It begs the question.......universal healthcare is expensive. But when it is driven by capitalist forces, such as all powerful pharma companies who are making such profits that they can bribe and lobby entire national governments.....it is VERY expensive. So much so that the socialist dream in western europe has almost bankrupted us.
What would you rather do? Earn £1000 pounds a month, pay 40% of it in tax and "insurance", yet still pay £50 for the dentist and £8 an item at the pharmacy.....
Or earn £500 a month, about 10% tax, yet everything, and I mean everything, including food and fuel, is less than half the cost.
Do the maths. Someone, somewhere is making a shedload of money out of 1st world countries. Are you trying to tell me that dentistry equipment and materials are any more expensive in any country anywhere in the world? It costs what it costs.
What makes the same house £200k in the UK and £20k here?
2nd world countries like Ukraine, Thailand and Morocco (the ones I have experience of) have a lot to teach so called 1st world countries.
I paid £30 for a very high tech filling in Thailand, and £40 for a triple visit root canal treatment in Morocco.
You are being conned. By Tesco, Dentists, Energy companies, the Media and Big Business. Don't blame the politicians, they are being conned too.
And now you are being conned because of a financial crisis caused by a bunch of greedy strangers.
It's a crazy world, but I am extremely happy with my twenty five quid tooth!
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