Hi all together
One month has gone since I left Zurich and I’ve visited so many places already. To me it seems that it must be much longer.
After Finland I entered Russia by an international train connection from Helsinki to St. Petersburg. At the border they collected all passports and went away with them. The train was stuck there for an hour and nobody was allowed to leave its wagon. But then, with the stamp in the passport the journey went on without any interruption. The scenery changed. The houses were not looking neat anymore, but were old and in disasterous conditions. Smoke everywhere. A strech of some kilometers was stinking badly after diesel.
I arrived in St. Petersburg and with an arranged transfer I got to the homestay I was booked in. First I thought it will bring far away from the center. This is actually true, but with the excellent metro system the have, this was not a problem. I had a large room in typical russian appartement in a quite big block. The flat was causy and the lady who owned the flat was very friendly. She even spoke some english, so we were able to communicate. The breakfast was huge and excellent. Russian style always, with things like ‹blini› and others I don’t remember the name.
The following days I explored the center of St. Petersburg and also the sights around the city.
Sometimes it was a little hard to get there. The first atempt to get to the castles of Pushkin and Pawlov failed as I missed the train (Elektrischka) and the next one only left two hours later. In summer they leave every twenty minutes. So I decided to go to Peterhof instead, which is closer. Peterhof is famous for its many and huge fountains (beside the big, nice recidence). Only at this time of year the fountains were shut down. I knew this, as I am travelling to late and few tourists only are around. I still enjoyed the parks very much. At least it was not raining.
Next day I managed to go to Pushkin with a marshrutka (Minibus that serves a certain route) and later to Pawlov as well. Two very different castles, in size and in amount of tourists. The palace of Queen Katharina is used by many couples as nice background for their wedding. It is also famous for its amber room (actually a reconstruction, because nobody knows, where the original is).
Pavlow on the other side is rather small but has a huge and really nice park to explore.
From St. Petersburg to Moscow I had the first russian overnight train experience. I had to share the cabin with a nice older women and married couple. When this women entered the room she showed me immediatelly, that she would have prefered to be alone with her husband. She made a face like ten years rain and didn’t say a word. Didn’t even respond to my ‹hello›. I always thought, that I have smelly feet after beeing in my shoes for some hours. But now I learned that there is new dimension of smell. After this women took off her shoes life got hard in this compartement. First she insisted to keep the door closed, but with the help of the other lady, and finally her husband, we managed to have the door open and have some fresh air coming in.
Well, this really was a case for the Guiness Book of Records!
Somehow we survived to Moscow.
There I had to manage to get to the hotel by myself, which was surprisingly easy. This hotel was also not in the center. It was big, unpersonal, uncausy.
But the staff was friendly and helpful. Breakfast was awfull. I don’t want to go into further details here. I was not so impressed by the Red Square neither by the Kremlin. Of course they are nice and huge.
The first time I crossed a square near the Red Square a minibus of the police stopped nearby and a policeman got out calling me. He then approached me to control my passport, visa and registration. One has to get registered in Russia during the first three days and in any place where you stay longer as three days. As my registration has been done in St. Petersburg correctly there was nothing he could complain so he left me alone.
Police is known to hunt tourists that fail to register and cause them troubles and fines.
One «must see» in Moscow ist the Metro stations. They are all different and gorgeous.
Shortly before midnight I boarded the train to Irkutsk after four days in Moscow. The stretch which would take me three days and four nights. Passing almost not changing landscapes the train works his way towards east. Forest, forest, forest, meadows, swamp, and more forest.
From time to time a village. Always the same kind of tiny wooden houses. Sometimes painted nicely, often in poor condition. After hours the train stops in a city. 15 minutes time to buy some instant noodles on the platform, or bred or crackers.
Than the train moves again. Forests, forests, forests. Villages. Forests and more forests.
Crossing the Ural mountain range happened during the night. But as this mountain range is only small hills, there’s anyway nothing to take note of. Only you’re crossing from Europe to Asia. But when the sun rises, after having stopped in a city and having passed villages and forrests, it’s the same again outside. Neverthenless I did not get bored on bord. I read a lot. I tried to communicate with my compartment mates, which this time were very ok.
They changed sometimes in some cities, while I stayed for the whole time. No english speaking peoples around. The train was amasingly new, modern and clean. Comfortable and causy. Of course there is little space and privacy. And no possibility for a shower. As the days were short I also slept quite a lot and so I was very relaxed, when the train finally arrived in Irkutsk.
There another transfer was arranged to Listvjanka at the shore of lake Baikal.
I stayed again in a homestay, in typical small sibirian house. It was cold outside but very nice inside. Again an older lady (again widow) was my host. I had a small room. The house did not have water supply. The toilet was in a tiny hut in the backyard. To go to the toilet in the night I had to dress up. The water in this hut was frozen. And the air …, ok, I leave this away. But all the rest was ok. In Listvjanka nothing is going on anymore at this time of year. Tourists disapeared weeks ago. Most cafes closed down.
But it was nice to walk along the lake shore and to climb the hills surrounding the village. On arrival it was cloudy but the second day brought very nice weather. Including a cold brise. The third day was cloudy again and on the way back to Irkutsk it was snowing hard.
In Irkutsk I strolled around. Took photos of all the churches and old wooden houses, which are still very common in the city. It’s a strange mix between old and new buildings. Irkutsk is very lively. Only I did not find good places to eat.
I stayed again in a homestay. But this time it was a half flat connected to the office of the travel agency. But to use the word travel agency is inappropriate as well, as there was no office. It’s just an address. The other half of the flat was occupied by a russian student. It was her duty to prepare me my breakfast and provide information.
After three nights in Irkutsk I was to board the train a last time in Russia. The train arrived from Moscow at 5:15 and left to Ulan Bator at 5:43. So I had to be there quite early. A taxi brought me to the railway station. This time the train was much older. The staff was from Mongolia. Friendly, less reserved as the russian staff. The wagons were not so clean anymore. This time I had the compartment for myself for the entire stretch. And there were more english speaking tourists on the train as well. We played cards, gossiped and ate together.
Arriving at the border, on the russian side, the train stopped, the passports were colected and then nothing happened for more than two hours. Then suddenly many russian officers boarded the train and searched it. I’ve never seen such a thing before. They searched every corner, opened every tap, looked under the carpet. And they did it twiceeverywhere!!!
Later we got our passports back and after 4 and a half hours the train moved on to the mongolian boarder control. There the administration took only two and a half hours. But this is as it is: normal. The train arrived in Ulan Bator exactly as sceduled.
So that’s where I am now. And where I start to a 5 days country trip tomorrow.
So Russia is history for me now. It’s a nice country, much as I expected. I must admit it would be better to travel in summer or early fall. Or maybe in january, when everything is covered with a lot of snow. End of october and november are not the most atractive months. I must admit, that I’m glad to get to Mongolia and China soon in terms of food. If you don’t want to spend very much money in Russia for food, you don’t get really good stuff. One exception are some tiny bakeries in the metro stations, which sell very tasty sweet stuff.
Ok, that’s it so far. No exciting stories worth to tell.
Hope you all are fine. Till next time, stay tuned.
Greetings from Ulan Bator!
Thomas