We arrive in the evening to Moscow and head to our hotel which is next to the Kremlin and Red Square. Christina tells us it is the second largest hotel in the world, with 1500 rooms and that it can take up to two hours to check in. This is NOT what we wanted to hear after 78 hours on the Trans Siberian. Fortunately it only took a few minutes and we left for a dinner of more ravioli, but not as good as Olga's.
Red Square is impressive (it's big and red) and we can see St Basil's Cathedral from our hotel. St Basils is in Red Square and the Kremlin (a collection of Parliamentary houses three cathedrals, as well as the Armoury) are next to the Red Square.
I have to say, St Basil's, while very eye-catching, does look like a big cake. This is not me, but it's the best picture I could find:
www.goamcan.com/photos/dscn2817.html
Ivan the Terrible had it built by some architects, and then he ordered their eyes be removed so that they couldn't build anything like it ever again. True story!
Next morning, we had a private tour of the Kremlin. I won't bore you with the details but if you really want to know here's the best page I've found with pictures:
www.myphotographs.net/russia/russia.html
It was very interesting but unfortuantely I nearly fainted due to the crowd adn the heat and this stupid cold so I couldn't really take it all in as much as I wanted to.
In the afternoon, we had free time, so Jolene and I decided to have a tour of St Basils (very beautiful). Then a huge thunderstorm rolled in so we sheltered back at the hotel. When it was finally over, we decided to take a river boat cruise to see some more sights. We really had no idea where we ere going, and we forgot to take the guide book. I considered it a big adventure, but Jolene was freaking out.
Buying the tickets, we encountered some lovely Russian service. Us: "We'd like a boat ticket please". "Which way does it go?" Ticket Woman "влаоцу! вйц-ваова!!! цкщуукр!!! ывщеукзуоект!!! алова!!" Us: "oh. ok, thanks. Here's some money." Ticket Woman: "втрацуцуш!! ыфвщаоаджп!!! вадыолвпа!!Эю". Slams the window shut on my fingers. Storms out of her hut. More shouting. Stamps back into her hut. Slams the window open. Grabs all the money from my hand. Throws my my change. Slams the window shut. Eyes us evilly.
So, we get on the boat and we go a wee way. No-one will talk to us and we have no idea where we are in the grand scheme of Moscow. Finally, Jolene can't take it any more and insists we get off. In the middle of a park. I'd told her - I got us here, you can get us home! She's actually an excellent navigator and she got us back on the metro - three changes, no English and (thank god) no more ticket ladies.
Moscow Metro is quite amazing actually - check out some of the stations!
www.moscow-guide.ru/culture/metro.htm
Trains come very minute and I think they may actually rival Tokyo (although not as clean by a long stretch, but at 5 rubels or 10 cents to get to anywhere in the city, whose complaining about a bit of chewing gum on your seat.
Saturday, July 12, 2003
Thursday/Friday 5th/6th July - The Longest 78 Hours of My Life - the Trans Siberian Railway.
Three and 1/2 days and three nights from Irkusk to Moscow. We are four to a cabin so very cramped. Paul snores like a bloody baboon and I consider my ear-plugs more valuable than gold. He also spends most of the day prattling on about Australia (apparantly it's so much more interesting than anywhere else), and trying to one-up anyone who will listen with his ridiculous stories of psuedo-macho crap - verrrry tedious. Tom the Belgian nurse is nice but quiet. Maybe he is trying to block us all out. He does come up with some cool brain-teasers for us to solve on the second day though, which makes the morning pass quickly. The rest of the time is spent eating (no surprise there), solving the problems of the world (don't worry - Paul has all the answers), playing cards (more Asshole), and Patience (I've lost patience with Patience - I can't get it out at all). Also, we meet several other travellers, including a 24 year old girl from Japan doing a similar thing to me. She's very unusual as she has beautiful tatoos all over her upper body.
We also meet a guy from Turgiskstan who tries to get us all drunk. He starts making these creepy eyes at me and paying me more attention than anyone else. Out of sheer desperatism and to get rid of him, I tell him Paul and I are married (my idea of hell). But it worked. He couldn't leave our cabin fast enough. Paul spends the rest of the trip calling me 'love' and 'dear' and telling people I''m his wife with a slimy grin. Oh. My. God.
The scenery begins to change as we move through Siberia. Rickety-run down houses change to slighly more solid lookng structures as we get closer to Moscow. Huge sprawling forests of pine, birch and cedar. Fields of green grass. Thousands of lakes. Purple and white flowers. Lots of swamps. It's greener than I expected and remarkably flat. We circumvent the Urals and don't see them at all.
We munch on the 2 kilos of halva we've dragged with us from Listvyanka. The block doesn't seem to get any smaller and now it's making me sick just to look at it....
Strangest thing is the time. Moscow is 5 hours ahead of Irkusk (which is the same time as Ulan Bator and Tokyo so I've not had to change my watch until this point). It seems to stay light until midnight, but we are making up out own time to suit us. (Is it lunchtime yet ? Well - it's 9am but 2pm in Moscow so yes!. Good lets eat :-). We decide the best tactic is to gradually turn our watches back so we get minimum jet-lag (train-lag?). So even though we go to sleep at 1am we wake up at 6am having had 12 hours sleep! The gentle rocking of the train at night makes for a better night's sleep than I expected, despite the baboon beneath me.
Four of us girls decide to share a 68 ruble half hour shower the second day - it's heaven!!!
By the third day, there are no more problems to solve and we are sick of ourselves and each other. I've caught a cold from Paul (of all people - the one I've tried to avoid the most). We can't wait to get off this damn train and into a long hot shower. We also stink really bad.
We also meet a guy from Turgiskstan who tries to get us all drunk. He starts making these creepy eyes at me and paying me more attention than anyone else. Out of sheer desperatism and to get rid of him, I tell him Paul and I are married (my idea of hell). But it worked. He couldn't leave our cabin fast enough. Paul spends the rest of the trip calling me 'love' and 'dear' and telling people I''m his wife with a slimy grin. Oh. My. God.
The scenery begins to change as we move through Siberia. Rickety-run down houses change to slighly more solid lookng structures as we get closer to Moscow. Huge sprawling forests of pine, birch and cedar. Fields of green grass. Thousands of lakes. Purple and white flowers. Lots of swamps. It's greener than I expected and remarkably flat. We circumvent the Urals and don't see them at all.
We munch on the 2 kilos of halva we've dragged with us from Listvyanka. The block doesn't seem to get any smaller and now it's making me sick just to look at it....
Strangest thing is the time. Moscow is 5 hours ahead of Irkusk (which is the same time as Ulan Bator and Tokyo so I've not had to change my watch until this point). It seems to stay light until midnight, but we are making up out own time to suit us. (Is it lunchtime yet ? Well - it's 9am but 2pm in Moscow so yes!. Good lets eat :-). We decide the best tactic is to gradually turn our watches back so we get minimum jet-lag (train-lag?). So even though we go to sleep at 1am we wake up at 6am having had 12 hours sleep! The gentle rocking of the train at night makes for a better night's sleep than I expected, despite the baboon beneath me.
Four of us girls decide to share a 68 ruble half hour shower the second day - it's heaven!!!
By the third day, there are no more problems to solve and we are sick of ourselves and each other. I've caught a cold from Paul (of all people - the one I've tried to avoid the most). We can't wait to get off this damn train and into a long hot shower. We also stink really bad.
Wednesday 4th July. Irkusk and boarding the Trans Siberian
Visited the cathedral to get pictures of it in the morning sun. We are getting churched and cathedraled out. Back to the market to stock up on supplies for the trip. Between Jolene and I, we bought smoked ham, cheese, flat bread, salads, snacks, dried milk powder, coffee, dried fruit and instant mashed potatoes, oats, dried fruit, vodka and juice for the train.
We couldn't actually read any of the labels, and so buying things like milk powder was a bit of a risk as it could be anything really. I managed to minimise this risk by miming a cow with horns and making a mooing sound. After the girl selling the stuff stopped laughing at me she said "yes - Milk" in English. Whoops.
We planned to not have to pay exorbatant dining-carraige prices on the train :-). Turned out this was a good decision as it worked out much cheaper. Boarded the train after lunch. It was much cleaner than the other one - clean toilets and clean sheets. Four to a cabin.
We couldn't actually read any of the labels, and so buying things like milk powder was a bit of a risk as it could be anything really. I managed to minimise this risk by miming a cow with horns and making a mooing sound. After the girl selling the stuff stopped laughing at me she said "yes - Milk" in English. Whoops.
We planned to not have to pay exorbatant dining-carraige prices on the train :-). Turned out this was a good decision as it worked out much cheaper. Boarded the train after lunch. It was much cleaner than the other one - clean toilets and clean sheets. Four to a cabin.
Tuesday 3rd July. Wooden Architecture Museum and Irkusk City
Next morning, we said goodbye to Olga and gave her some gifts to say thanks for all the great cooking (necklace and kiwi soft toy). She'd outdone herself with a 'fresh-cooked breakfast feast for us of 'Sirniki' - a kind of donut you eat with jam and , you guessed it - sour cream! The boys and Christina picked us up in the van with Anna and Dimitri. We drove to the Wooden Architecture Museum. Similar to Takayama in Japan where they flooded the nearby dam and saved some of the houses (yurt huts). The pouring rain didn't make this event much fun so we didn't stay long but we did buy some beautiful wooden boxes. (What is it with me and boxes - I just can't resist them). But was interesting to see the way people used to live, and actually in some cases still do. Then we drove back to Irkursk and checked into the hotel. The 'newly renovated rooms' turned out to be shoddy, with banana-shaped beds, broken loo and black and white TV. But good location.
Jolene and I went in search of Russian dolls. Irkutsk has beautiful gothic style architecture, now quite run-down, but making for some great photos. We discovered a huge indoor food market. There were thousands of stalls and workers there, selling rows upon rows of everything from smoked and fresh ham, fish, meat, eggs, cheese, bread, honey, herbs, vegetables, coffees and teas, dried and fresh fruit.... better than a supermarket and much more interesting. We stayed as long as possible taking pictures of everything and making plans to return the next day to stock up for the three-day and three-night Trans Siberian trip to Moscow.
Dinner that evening at the trendy Havana Cafe - Roasted Chicken Timbale wich cheese and roasted yellow peppers with onions , salad and great vodka.
Jolene and I went in search of Russian dolls. Irkutsk has beautiful gothic style architecture, now quite run-down, but making for some great photos. We discovered a huge indoor food market. There were thousands of stalls and workers there, selling rows upon rows of everything from smoked and fresh ham, fish, meat, eggs, cheese, bread, honey, herbs, vegetables, coffees and teas, dried and fresh fruit.... better than a supermarket and much more interesting. We stayed as long as possible taking pictures of everything and making plans to return the next day to stock up for the three-day and three-night Trans Siberian trip to Moscow.
Dinner that evening at the trendy Havana Cafe - Roasted Chicken Timbale wich cheese and roasted yellow peppers with onions , salad and great vodka.
Monday 2nd July - Sunburnt in Siberia
Next morning after another large Olga-style breakfast of salad, bread and jam and salami, we walked the length of the lake to the port. We intended to spend the day on the other shore. We purchased smoked omul and more stale bread. (What is it with stale bread in this country?? I think it must be a sin to throw bread out as nobody seems to have a problem serving week-old bread for some reason). We took a ferry to the other side of the lake where all the girls - Jolene, Christina and I proceeded to eat our smoked fish (yuuuum) followed by a wee sunbathing session.. bi~~g misake). We awoke three hours later to find ourselves sunburnt and windburnt and the men deserted us already.
With an hour to go before the last ferry we decided to have a snack. (Seeing a pattern here? eat/sleep/eat/sleep/eat...) Christina wanted us to try some 'halva'. It looked like a big block of grey clay much like you'd imagine a potter using - ie - nothing at all edible. So she just bought a tiny wee piece for us to try. Closing our eyes we were like - ok - but just a crumb. Well. It tasted great! It was like sunflower seeds with honey crushed and ground and then pounded into a block. We ate the whole lot and then decided we had to have some more halva. So we sent Jolene back for some more. I gave her 20 rubles (60 cents). No better back it 40. What the heck - here's 50. So she comes back out with the entire block of halva (about 2 kilos worth) and the most priceless expression). Apparantly the girl in the shop found us foreigners very amusing.
A long tired, dust and sunburnt-sore walk back to Olga's. But she had prepared us a delicious ravioli with sour cream dish for us. The Russians have sour cream with everything, much like the Japanese obsession with mayonnaise. Although I'm not sure if you can get a Russian pizza with sour cream, but probably.
With an hour to go before the last ferry we decided to have a snack. (Seeing a pattern here? eat/sleep/eat/sleep/eat...) Christina wanted us to try some 'halva'. It looked like a big block of grey clay much like you'd imagine a potter using - ie - nothing at all edible. So she just bought a tiny wee piece for us to try. Closing our eyes we were like - ok - but just a crumb. Well. It tasted great! It was like sunflower seeds with honey crushed and ground and then pounded into a block. We ate the whole lot and then decided we had to have some more halva. So we sent Jolene back for some more. I gave her 20 rubles (60 cents). No better back it 40. What the heck - here's 50. So she comes back out with the entire block of halva (about 2 kilos worth) and the most priceless expression). Apparantly the girl in the shop found us foreigners very amusing.
A long tired, dust and sunburnt-sore walk back to Olga's. But she had prepared us a delicious ravioli with sour cream dish for us. The Russians have sour cream with everything, much like the Japanese obsession with mayonnaise. Although I'm not sure if you can get a Russian pizza with sour cream, but probably.
Sunday 1st July - Listvyanka, Banyas and Liver and Potatoes
After 2 nights on the grubby train, we arrived in the morning at Irkusk. We were met at the train station by our local guides - Anna and Dimitri. They took us to a small village about an hourA?s drive away, called Listviyanka, on the shores of Lake Baikal ' the deepest lake in the world. First, were shown to our homestays. Jolene and I were staying with a lovely lady called Olga (the rotund grandmother type). She had made jam and scones for us when we arrived which we tucked into with gusto after that nasty instant food ont he train. While Jolene was in the shower, Olga asked me what we would like for dinner - she was making Liver (with potatoes)... liver being something in fact that I canA?t stand and I knew that Jolene couldnA?t either as we had cooincidently discussed it just the day before... so I said that would be lovely and we were really looking forward to it. This was communicated with Olga speaking Russian at 90 miles an hour and me trying to figure out what she was saying... but itA?s amazing how creative you can get when you donA?t have a common language. Took me right back to my AFS days in Japan (smile and nod, smile and nod).
After a considerable scrub down we had an really informative tour of the Lake Baikal museum, just down the hill from our apartment homestays. Talk about information overload! Ask me anything at all about this lake - I?m sure I can tell you! But actually it was really interesting. At 1637 meters deep and 50 million years old, it?s the deepest and oldest in the world, holding about 20% of the world?s fresh water supplies. In other words, if we ran out of water tomorrow, Lake Baikal could supply the entire planet?s drinking water for the next 40 years. But that would be a shame, because in addition, it also as 1000?s of endemic species - fish, crustatations, sponges and plants. Even billions of tiny micoscopic shrimp that filters the lake so well that the water is completely safe to drink.
After the tour, we had lunch (grilled Omul fish from the lake tasting like trout - delicious) and a walk through the tiny village. Christina had booked us all a "Banya" which is a Russian Sauna, at the hotel on the hill. Small wooden huts tended by a young man whose job it is to stoke the fire constantly. You book the whole hut out so i's not public like Japan. There is a room with a TV and hot tea and towels for you. Then a shower room and then the sauna. You beat yourself with soft fragrant birch branches. I scrubbed and scrubbed and we all got clean and shiny.
After the liver and potatoe dinner back at Olga's (actually it wasn't that bad afterall)... we sat up at the hotel till it got dark dark (10pm) drinking vodka and watching the sunset over the lake.
After a considerable scrub down we had an really informative tour of the Lake Baikal museum, just down the hill from our apartment homestays. Talk about information overload! Ask me anything at all about this lake - I?m sure I can tell you! But actually it was really interesting. At 1637 meters deep and 50 million years old, it?s the deepest and oldest in the world, holding about 20% of the world?s fresh water supplies. In other words, if we ran out of water tomorrow, Lake Baikal could supply the entire planet?s drinking water for the next 40 years. But that would be a shame, because in addition, it also as 1000?s of endemic species - fish, crustatations, sponges and plants. Even billions of tiny micoscopic shrimp that filters the lake so well that the water is completely safe to drink.
After the tour, we had lunch (grilled Omul fish from the lake tasting like trout - delicious) and a walk through the tiny village. Christina had booked us all a "Banya" which is a Russian Sauna, at the hotel on the hill. Small wooden huts tended by a young man whose job it is to stoke the fire constantly. You book the whole hut out so i's not public like Japan. There is a room with a TV and hot tea and towels for you. Then a shower room and then the sauna. You beat yourself with soft fragrant birch branches. I scrubbed and scrubbed and we all got clean and shiny.
After the liver and potatoe dinner back at Olga's (actually it wasn't that bad afterall)... we sat up at the hotel till it got dark dark (10pm) drinking vodka and watching the sunset over the lake.
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
Trans Siberian Railway - Moscow
Saturday 29th June
Crossing the Russian Border...
Hamburgers and cake for breakfast at the hotel this morning. Yuck. Another trip to the State Department store this morning to stock up on food for the two-night train to Irkutsk in Russia. Jolene and I share a lot of stuff to make it cheaper. Most things have to be of the ´just add water´ variety so we buy instant soup and packet noodles. Also fruit. Lunch at the Millenium restaurant again (chicken roulette - it might be chicken.... it might not..).
Dinner that evening was with Tuya (by the way - Kaoru, Ikuyo and Andrea ' Tuya and Mia say hi how are you)...which was nice chance for us to do something for her (pay for her) as she had been so great as a tour guide. Very traditional filling Mongolian food ' meet dumplings, meat pasties, noodles, very colourful salad... the Mongolians believe that eating fish is heathen or beneath them as they are gatherers not hunters. So no fish anywhere on the menus. But anyway, huge feast and then onto the overnight train. Train was fairly dirty with smelly toilets. Made us all wonder about the thre days and three nights we have coming up on the Trans Siberian. Played a lot of card games (Asshole) which Christina kept mysteriously winning, making me the asshole all the time.... very annoying! Lots of long and seeming pointless stops along the way. 2 hours at the Mongolian border flling in forms and then after a half hour ride to the Russian border, followed by a tedious seven hour wait while they checked our visas and we filled in more forms. We'd arrived finally about 6.00am and didn´t get underway until 4pm next day.
Lots of talk in the cabin solving the problems of the world. Paul is a complete git. Keeps prattling on about Australia and how much money he earns and how completely great he thinks he is, whilst making lewd comments about women trying to bait us all and then saying things like we should all be able to walk around naked and not be stared at! A complete loser. He´s a sad old git who´s done a heap of travelling without actually seeing anything... there's always one in the group'.
Crossing the Russian Border...
Hamburgers and cake for breakfast at the hotel this morning. Yuck. Another trip to the State Department store this morning to stock up on food for the two-night train to Irkutsk in Russia. Jolene and I share a lot of stuff to make it cheaper. Most things have to be of the ´just add water´ variety so we buy instant soup and packet noodles. Also fruit. Lunch at the Millenium restaurant again (chicken roulette - it might be chicken.... it might not..).
Dinner that evening was with Tuya (by the way - Kaoru, Ikuyo and Andrea ' Tuya and Mia say hi how are you)...which was nice chance for us to do something for her (pay for her) as she had been so great as a tour guide. Very traditional filling Mongolian food ' meet dumplings, meat pasties, noodles, very colourful salad... the Mongolians believe that eating fish is heathen or beneath them as they are gatherers not hunters. So no fish anywhere on the menus. But anyway, huge feast and then onto the overnight train. Train was fairly dirty with smelly toilets. Made us all wonder about the thre days and three nights we have coming up on the Trans Siberian. Played a lot of card games (Asshole) which Christina kept mysteriously winning, making me the asshole all the time.... very annoying! Lots of long and seeming pointless stops along the way. 2 hours at the Mongolian border flling in forms and then after a half hour ride to the Russian border, followed by a tedious seven hour wait while they checked our visas and we filled in more forms. We'd arrived finally about 6.00am and didn´t get underway until 4pm next day.
Lots of talk in the cabin solving the problems of the world. Paul is a complete git. Keeps prattling on about Australia and how much money he earns and how completely great he thinks he is, whilst making lewd comments about women trying to bait us all and then saying things like we should all be able to walk around naked and not be stared at! A complete loser. He´s a sad old git who´s done a heap of travelling without actually seeing anything... there's always one in the group'.