Taking on the World

Tales of Steven on his adventure decennial through Europe and beyond.

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Helsinki for the day!

12th of May, 2013

Woke up around 7am local time (back another hour) to shower and get ready pending our 8am arrival in Helsinki. Waited about half an hour to let the crowds go before disembarking and went through passport and customs pretty smoothly to come outside and work out what tram we needed. Thankfully nearly everyone in Finland speaks flawless English and you can hear everyone chopping and changing between the languages so fluently, even all the signs are in 3 to 5 different languages- such a change from Russia! We eventually got on the right tram to the Eastern port to store our luggage for our ship to Stockholm later that evening. We went to put it in the baggage locker before a little Asian lady came out of her convenience store to offer us to store it with her- again she automatically switched from Finnish to English when she saw the blank stare we first gave her :P

From there we set out to explore the city by foot, it is actually quite a small city centre so it was easy to do. We came across a little swapmeet after strolling through a park and had a look around. I found a retro boarding pass from Finnair from 1955 and just had to buy it- again with a perfect English exchange… it actually makes me so annoyed how ignorant we are by having only have one language in Australia, even a street seller has two languages here!

From there we went towards the city centre and explored the amazing old buildings mixed in with the most modern apartments cafes, bars and stores. They even have an “Aussie Bar” with the font used upside down which we found quite amusing :P

Maccas was on every street corner too, so we gave in and decided to have it since Finland is the most expensive place in the world for Maccas apparently :P We then continued our stroll picking up the random wifi hotspots that the City of Helsinki has while looking through stores and all the museum and church sites. We also checked out the central railway station which was massive and kept on walking the streets taking millions of photos on the way- it was so pretty and such a nice day too!

We found some icecream as we were told to try Finnish icecream and it was indeed delicious- even the giant seagulls thought so as one of them swooped it out of her hand as we were walking along the harbour- was actually sooo hilarious, I was on the floor laughing hahaha. After pulling myself together eventually, we made it back to the port to check in for our ship and board at 3.30pm. This ship was even more massive than the last- it was incredible! Even though our cabin was pretty much in the bowels of the ship it was still fancy as for us and we set straight out to explore just before our 5pm departure. We grabbed dinner from a café on board watching the sun glisten over the city and sea as we departed where Zoe then went to get her hair cut. Afterwards we went shopping and back to the cabin to chill for a bit with a bottle of sparkling wine we bought from the duty free store. Zoe managed to completely fail at opening the bottle and half of it is now all over the floor, but I caught it all on video and it is hilarious as :P We then checked out the Casino and also the Nightclub which was on the top deck and had amazing views over the ship and the ocean- so wish we had ferries like this at home!

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Ferry to Finland

11th of May

Slept in until as late as possible before checking out at 12 surprisingly not that hungover :P We went out to find some lunch before heading to the shopping district to check it all out and taking some last minute photos :P At 3pm we got in to a taxi to the very soviet-looking port for our Ferry to Helsinki. Was all surprisingly easy to check in and we got to board straight away- in to a ship that did not look like a Ferry at all (definitely different to the Rottnest one hahaha). It had all different bars, casinos, restaurants, pool/spas and even a club- did not feel like a boat at all! Our cabin was also one of the most luxurious places we had stayed in for the last few weeks lol; complete with our own bathroom, radio and the comfiest beds ever.

We had a little nap before our departure at 7pm where we then explored the ship and enjoyed the entertainment on board for a while even if it was in Finnish :) We then had a pretty chilled night in our cabin so I could eventually catch up with all my posts for this blog :P

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St. Petersburg Antics

10th of May, 2013

Our carriage attendant woke us up at 7am for our breakfast pending our 7.55am arrival in to St. Petersburg. My Russian friend Sergey who we met in Bali in February was waiting for us on the platform and was kind enough to take us to our hostel where we dumped out bags and went on a city walk with him. Stopped to get a quick coffee to wake us up before heading down Nevsky Prospect and checking out the sights. Sergey pointed out all the Cathedrals and the amazing architecture St Petersburg is famous for, including his university. It started to rain a little so we headed for this cool funky little coffee shop “happiness” to get some brunch and tea… they even gave us a very complicated dot-to-dot placemat which kept Zoe entertained for a good hour :P

From there we walked to the main town square and to the Hermitage Winter Palace only to face an extraordinary queue to get in, Once we made it to the ticket office, Sergey seemed so used to talking English to us that he seemed to forget to convert back to Russian and wondered why the ticket lady couldn’t understand haha :P But wow the palace was beyond amazing! Spent a good few hours in there just marvelling at it and how huge it was- over 100 different rooms, was so cool! After we had explored as much as we could we visited a nice old bookshop on the main street on the way back to the hostel so we could get some rest. Sergey met us again by evening so we could get some dinner before heading out to the other side of town to the original city settlement of Rabbit Island and admiring the city skyline from there. After walking a bit further, Sergey invited us back to his house for drinks so we got on a trolley bus and then the metro, by which time it was after 11pm and still light! In summer, St. Petersburg has “white nights” where it doesn’t get dark at all :S

We arrived at Sergey’s flat just before midnight and he gave us some Borsch (an amazing Russian stew of potato, cabbage, beef and tomato) with bread and salad before he brought out some Bacardi. It wasn’t long until we ran out so we went downstairs to the 24 hour supermarket to buy some beer and on the way back we just had to play on the playground across the road :P We spent the rest of the night chatting and chilling to music before seeing the sun come up pretty quickly. Zoe fell asleep so figured it was time to go back to the hostel, so we said goodbye to Sergey and got a taxi but didn’t get back until nearly 7am! Was such an awesome night though :)

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Victory Day

9th of May, 2013

Woke up to the sounds of jets flying over as Victory Day celebrations kicked off. We went out for brunch at our “usual spot” again before walking in to the city centre pass hundreds of military and police all dressed up and entertainment spots with people singing, dancing and selling Soviet and National memorabilia. Pretty much everyone had a Russian hat or flag and there were literately thousands and thousands of people in the city centre. We had a look around at all the displays before heading in to Red Square where the main celebrations were after passing through two lots of metal detectors and bag checks- never seen so much security! Was actually so warm today as well so we got to sunbake on the grass for a while before looking around some more. Stopped by a souvenir store where the guy asked us if we had any Australian coins as he collects them, so after handing over a 50 cent piece he gave us a free $5 fridge magnet! Who said Russians weren’t nice? Haha I actually haven’t met anyone rude here at all yet.

We then walked back to the hostel, pretty tired at this point to we just got supplies at the supermarket again and chilled in our hostel common room until it was time to leave for the train station. That was about 10pm when we left, catching the metro to Leningradsky Station- the oldest in Moscow for our train to St. Petersburg. After a bit of confusion with our lack of Russian skills we eventually found our platform to see our train- the Red Arrow just pulling up. This was the famous communist party train which was actually a luxury train complete with its own theme song! Our Trans-Siberian trains were nice, but this one was unbelievable- and the train attendants all spoke English too haha. We shared a compartment with a man and his son, although they only spoke Russian but seemed friendly enough. We departed just before midnight and got to sleep not long after that :)

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GULAG and Russian Clubs

8th of May, 2013

Chilled in the hostel for most of the morning before heading out for lunch at the same place as yesterday since it was self-serve and we wanted to avoid making fools of ourselves trying to speak Russian again :P From there we went to have a walk through the city absorbing all the scenery to the city centre where we visited the GULAG museum which focused on the Soviet Era and the domestic labour camps that were all over the USSR in Stalin times. It was really interesting to learn about the dark side of Russian history and we were in there for a good few hours. Afterwards we caught the metro to one of the largest shopping centres in Moscow, although I now know to never trust Zoe as she managed to get us on the wrong metro line and I only realised about two stops in haha :P

So we got a good look around there before having dinner and leaving to head back to the hostel to do some much needed washing! We also had a second round of dinner with our Ecuadorian and Austrian friend who are in our dorm before having a few beers and deciding we should go out. So we headed out “early” around midnight to go to Propaganda, a club in central Moscow. Was about a half an hour walk and we were let in straight away when they saw we had foreign passports even though the bouncer thought I looked underage, but he didn’t check once he realised we weren’t Russian. It was mainly House music in the club and drinks were about $5-$6, so still cheaper than home! We had a fun time making up our own lyrics to the songs and mocking the Russians- they all dance so weirdly! Was such an entertaining night though and we got back around 4am.

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Moscow Kremlin and Red Square

7th of May, 2013

Had a bit of a sleep-in before meeting Tatiana for brunch at 11am and this really cool garden-cafeteria restaurant just around the corner from our hostel. We then walked to the Kremlin stopping by an amazing 18th century supermarket and bookstore along the way- the architecture is unbelievable! Arriving at the Kremlin, Tatiana pulled a Russian and “cheated” as she calls it by pushing in front of all the tourists to buy us tickets :P We walked around inside for a few hours checking out the dozens of churches, armoury buildings and displays before seeing the practise marches by the military and police for the Victory Day (the biggest national holiday in Russia celebrating veterans and the allies win to end WWII) celebrations on the 9th which was really cool to see. From there we headed to an underground shopping centre to have a look around and to get a late lunch/ early dinner before moving on to a very upmarket area and all the upscale stores to check them out too. Found a Russian hat which I just had to buy so we could take photos with it in front of St. Basils- which is such a cool building too! We continued on by metro to Moscow State University to explore te groups and all the stunning buildings they have on campus. Really no university in Australia can compare- it is actually its own city, several square kilometres big with everything from apartment blocks to its own public transport network and every store or service you could think of- the gardens are so pretty too! Right next to the university is Spiral Hills where we got an awesome view of Moscow and got to see a biker gathering with tough guys on massive motorbikes blaring the backstreet boys hahaha :P Continued on through the park where we then had to say goodbye to Tatiana and get the metro back to the hostel, stopping by the supermarket to get supplies and a few beers to drink in the common room with a bunch of other Europeans and Aussies/ Kiwis that we met :)

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Made it to Moscow!

6th of May, 2013.

Met Helen again in the morning and we walked to the nearby monastery as she told me about the history before we grabbed some lunch from a local restaurant. We also stopped by the supermarket to get some snackage for the 5 hour trip to Moscow this afternoon where Helen was then talking about how she saw Vegemite on a morning tv show before she came to get me. So naturally when we got back to the hostel I subjected her to it which proved to be a very funny reaction J Got myself organised and we then left for Moscow around 1pm. It was not long until the outskirts of the city began to appear and we arrived before 6pm to finally complete the Trans Siberian! I then got to finally reunite with Zoe who was in our hostel kitchen talking to Tatiana (our Moscow honcho). We were basically excitable little kids swapping our stories from the last week before Tatiana took us out to the main park in Moscow which had everything from fountains to fake beaches to gigantic beanbags to pop-ballroom dancing by the river’s edge. We continued walking to a homestyle restaurant for dinner before learning to navigate the metro back to the hostel for the evening J

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Suzdal

5th of May, 2013

My carriage attendant came in at 5am to wake me for the 5.28am arrivial in to Murom- just the right time to see the sun come up! I met Helen on the platform and she took us to the car for the 2.5 hour drive to Suzdal where we were staying. It is a tiny monastic town of only 10,000 people but more than 50 churches! This was because of a friendly rivalry between neighbours a few hundred years ago to see who can build the biggest and most impressive church… so cool! After getting some rest and a shower we headed out to have a look around the town and Kremlin before getting some lunch- a traditional chicken snitzel type dish which was really good! We then caught the bus to Vladimir, the nearby city which Helen is from originally. She showed me around the main streets and landmarks including a water tower museum until we got caught up in the middle of an Easter procession!

Thousands of monks, nuns, priests and followers came out on to the main street which we thought was eerily quiet only a few moments before. It was actually incredible to see, we absolutely have nothing of the sort at home. All this religion really only just reappeared after the collapse of the Soviet Union as back in the reigime days they used to demolish churches or convert them to other uses from schools to tobacco factories- meanwhile persecuting all the religious figures. It was sad to hear about but yet another interesting story from Soviet Days.

After absorbing all the unfolding events, Helen and I escaped the crowds to get some pizza and icecream before heading back to Suzdal by bus. Met some French, Canadian and British roomies back at the hostel and we just chilled out and chatted for the rest of the night :)

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Kazan Tatars

4th of May, 2013

Discovered that I could hack in to the Marriott’s wi-fi so stood by the window taking advantage of this for most of the morning :P Met Kate at 10.30 and we went down the road for bacon and eggs for breakfast before heading up towards the beautiful Peter and Pauls Cathedral where the priest mistook me for a Russian yet again and blessed me in anticipation of Easter Sunday tomorrow. From there we continued on our street walk, seeing the very fairy-taleistic puppet theatre and we then ended up at a mock Tatar village where they gave us a traditional performance which included making us dance and make fools of ourselves :P Had pancakes and condensed milk there for lunch (the best!) before we scammed a free ride on a domestic tourist bus to the countryside to see the Monastery there. We followed the tour group around and Kate just translated everything for me before we broke away from them to walk the very scenic grounds to have a chat and a cheese pastry.

As evening began to set in we got the bus to a restaurant by Swan Lake for traditional beef Kebabs with bbq potato, tomato, eggplant, salad, bread, dip, juice and chocolate- pretty well overate once again. From there we continued on the bus to Kate’s Aunty’s flat to drop off some food for the Easter celebrations tonight- all these apartment blocks are so dodgy looking but once you pass the dark and damp stairwells and open the giant metal doors they are actually model show homes inside! It is beyond amazing! I got to talk to Kate’s cousin and Mum who were there too and both speak excellent English, telling me all about their planned festivities for Easter. I got roped in to doing a tourist video about Kazan too for their travel company saying what I liked about the city and they bought me souvenirs in return. By now it was time to head to the train station for my departure to Murom and say goodbye to Kate. There were two Russians in my cabin, Raoush and Alexander who spoke pretty much no English so it was fun trying to translate over a few beers before getting some sleep… much later than what I anticipated!

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Arrival into Kazan

3rd of May, 2013

Woke up around 9am local time to freshen up and have banana and biscuits for breakfast yet again- by which time we had crossed the official border between Asia and Europe. Wound watch back an hour for the last time before repacking my bad and having my last lot of noodles for lunch anticipating the upcoming arrival in to Kazan at 15:06. My provodnista came in to make sure that the crazy foreigner was ready to get off the train at the right stop, and I left the train looking for my honcho on the platform. After a few minutes a girl came running up to me and introduced herself as Kate, saying that she thought I looked Russian when I got off the train until I was wondering around looking a little lost :P We got in a taxi to head to our hotel which was a cute tiny little building which the brand new Marriott hotel towered over right next door. The receptionist there also thought I was Russian and she was discussing with Kate how they couldn’t believe that I didn’t have any Russian blood in my family!

I went straight for a much needed hot shower after being on the train for three days and it never felt so amazing! That was until my clothes fell on the floor and got absolutely saturated so I had to do a dash down the hallway to my room in a towel to get clean clothes haha :P Kate then took me to the Kremlin which was right next door and showed me around all the churches and even a Mosque inside. Half of Kazan’s citizens are Tatar people from the Turkish regions and the other half is Russian, hence explaining the multiculturalism here with Orthodox Churches and Islamic Mosques making Kazan’s architecture seem a cross between East and West. Many Russians say that because of this Kazan can sometimes feel like quite a foreign city to them, but I think it is amazingly different!

The mosque in the Kremlin was only built in 2005 to celebrate the anniversary of the Tatars, but the Kremlin was already listed as a UNESCO world heritage site which meant no new buildings are meant to be built in it- just preserved the way it is. However, knowing the crafty Russians they found a loophole to this rule declaring that it wasn’t a mosque, it was a monument (which is allowed to be added to UNESCO buildings) to the Islamic people of the town! It was so beautiful inside though, all the marble floors, walls and ceilings were stunning and it was refreshing to compare all the Christian and Islamic architecture.

We then walked down to the Metro, getting a wonderful view of the city and all the construction going on- the international Universade games are being held here in July and so much work is being rushed for completion to put Kazan on the international map. Got off the Metro and headed to a traditional Russian restaurant for a dinner of meat and potato pastry with broth as well as a chicken, cheese and potato dish. Following stuffing our faces we went to walk it off, seeing amazing lake views and the amazing Tatar architecture which looks like it is straight out of a fairy tale- I can’t explain how beautiful all the buildings and streets were! This was topped off with the most glorious sunset around 10pm, capping off my wonderful first day in Europe :)

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Trans Siberian Day 2.5

2nd of May, 2013

Awoke around 8.30am local to see our arrival in to Barabinsk at 8.55am. The guide book said the most interesting thing about their stop at this station was the drunken local teens dancing to disco music around plastic tables in the shop on the station platform. I didn’t get to see that, but they had some neat old steam trains on display in a nice little garden which tourists were taking millions of photos of. It was drizzling outside (the first time I’ve seen rain so far!) so it wasn’t long until I was back on the train enjoying a banana for breakfast, followed by a morning nap- I’m starting to get used to this doing nothing business! :P

Had mashed potato again for lunch and it seemed even better than last time as we then pulled in to Omsk at 13.10 local. Got out for some fresh air before our departure to Ishim where I had to put my watch back another hour yet again. The provodnista came in to vacuum my cabin while have a very one-sided conversation with me in Russian and then giggling when I just nodded my head and said “da” a couple of times. I picked up that she said Australia and I think she also may have said I look Russian, but I guess we will never know :P We pulled in to Ishim at 15.48 local where I got to check out the make-shift Babushka market once again. I also had fun trying to translate the signs at the station and on the train next to us- figuring out that it had come from Severobaikalsk- which was the town at the top of Lake Baikal whereas Irkutsk was at the bottom; and it was also on its way to Moscow.

It was not long until we were on our way again, this time to Tyumen- the first Russian city built in Siberia. We arrived at 19.51 local and my provodnista took a few photos for me before I returned to the compartment to make some noodles for dinner- surprisingly I’m not sick of them yet! Then just chilled out for the rest of the night and fell asleep before our arrival at Yekaterinburg which wasn’t until 2am.

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The Epic Trans-Siberian

1st of May, 2013

Woke up around 2am to a smoke detector going off, presumably because someone was trying to smoke judging by our rotund, jovial yet somewhat scary provodnista (female carriage attendant) who was shouting at someone in more angry than usual sounding Russian. Woke again about an hour later as a man boarded my compartment with his very cute looking kid in a puffy parker jacket. They alighted only a few hours later though in a small Siberian town and I got settled in to my own space as the morning strolled on gazing out the window. After adjusting my watch back an hour, I had instant chicken mashed potato for lunch which was surprisingly edible followed by a banana and chocolate. I then practised my Russian skills translating the Cyrillic timetable by the carriage door to work out which station was what and how long we were stopping at them for. As a result I decided which stations I could get off at without the fear of missing the train! The first of which was Ilansky at 12.15 local time where I checked out the interesting foods which the Babushkas were selling on the platform from smoked fish to out-of-date packets of chips and lollies.

 It was not long before we were on our way again and I was just chilling out to some music until our next stop, Krasnoyarsk at 4.53pm local. The architecture of this station was amazing! After seeing some Russians take photos of the station, I decided it was safe to get out and do the same (at some smaller stations people have been arrested for espionage after taking tourist photos!) but it seems authorities here have relaxed quite a lot over the last few years. After the 35 minute stop I settled back in to my cabin before making some noodles for dinner with biscuits and a banana for dessert, and wound back my watch another hour as we were about to cross another time zone- even though the sky was still light at 10pm. I oversaw our arrival in to Mariinsk  at 11.10pm local by which it still wasn’t totally dark, but then decided to get some sleep for the night.

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Lake Baikal and back on the train!

30th of April, 2013

Woke again at 10.30 for breakfast which compiled fried eggs and French toast together with tea before chilling out for a little while making the most of the wi-fi while we had it! Then re-packed my bag and freshened up before making our way out for lunch down by the lake shore, I had a dumpling soup with sour cream which was quite tasty indeed. This was then followed by a scenic walk up a local street that carved in to the hillside, checking out the amazing architecture of the wooden houses, strolling past uninterested guard dogs but yet some quite angry geese at one property! We then came across a church that was fully decked out inside and a very enthusiastic nun was telling us all about the hundreds of colourful paintings that lined the walls and ceiling. Her only English though was “No photo!”.

After this we braved crossing a fairly violent icy stream by the means of a rotting wood log, but we came out on top as we then arrived at a metal-work museum. They had dozens of old American and Russian cars from the 1930’s to the 1960’s as well as vehicles from World War II among others. There were all sorts of metal creations from old car parts and bolts etc. ranging from people and animals to furniture- all of which were very neat. After looking around we then returned to our favourite bakery, this time I chose a condensed milk/ caramel pastry with hot lemon tea, which we then tried to burn off walking back to the hostel. After watching a movie and chilling out, it was then time to go to the markets and get some dinner- a rice and beef pilaf with Turkish bread, salad and a plum juice very similar to the one we had in China.

It was 10pm that we were due to be picked up for the ride back to Irkutsk to get the train to Kazan at 11.42pm. Again, we seemed to break land speed records on public roads, avoiding cats and a very creepy zombie-like young lady standing in the middle of the road… :/ After stopping at a 24 hour supermarket to grab supplies for the three day train ride (loads of packet noodles, fruit and general junk food) we made it safely to the train station. I boarded my little individual compartment that they seem to like giving to foreigners and bid farewell to Kosta just before we departed for the epic-long journey across Siberia.

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Chillin' by the Lake

29th of April, 2013

Got to have a sleep-in, waking up for breakfast at 10.30 for some porridge, boiled eggs and tea before heading out to the Open Air Museum by bus. We waked around looking at all the Siberian Aboriginal buildings and artefacts before seeing a traditional wooden walled town with churches, schools, houses and farms all containing the original furniture and bits and pieces. They even had a traditional log swing and slide which amused us a bit too much for a group of twenty-something year olds :P Ate a late lunch at a café in the town- I had “big meat ravioli” as the English translation called it- it was more like Chinese dumplings than ravioli but it was really nice with milk tea and this was then followed by traditional condensed milk pancakes which were absolutely jesus! Everyone at home should stop putting syrup on their pancakes and use condensed milk instead- you’re ruining your pancakes otherwise, trust me! :D

We continued strolling around after lunch to this magnificent lookout of the lake and it was really cool to see all the ice breaking off and drifting down the lake, melting right in front of us. Also visited a ger shop selling traditional goods and foods of the native people in the area which looked very similar to the Mongolian culture. We stopped by the markets to try some fresh fish from the lake with some fresh baked bread. Afterwards, we then took the bus back to the hostel to relax a bit before dinner where we headed out to the bakery braving the freezing wind that came out of nowhere! I got a chicken and cheese pastry with milk tea and a coconut meringue for dessert- both of which were divine (pretty sure I am going to put on a few kilos with all these amazing pastries!). By the time the wind died down we continued on to the local bar for a few drinks- and by a few, I mean a few 1 Litre cans of beer! Pretty sure that they wouldn’t even be legal back home- but it was a Russian beer and it went down quite easy I have to say :P After a few hours we strolled back to the hostel and sat ourselves in front of the fire once more.

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Irkutsk to Lake Baikal

28th of April, 2013

Arrived in Irkutsk at 7.55am and after bidding my Russian roomie farewell I met Konstantin, the honcho for Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. He gave me a walking tour of the city, stopping by a restaurant for fried eggs and a cherry pastry for breakfast. About half a dozen people in there were drinking beer and cocktails at 9am and just by looking at my surprised reaction Kosta explained that they will all still be going from the night before! We then continued our walk to yet another London Pub where we had a coffee and chat while waiting for our driver.

The drive to Lake Baikal took about 1 hour but I am more than certain that we broke at least twenty road rules on the way- pretty sure 130km/h was not the posted speed limit, let’s put it that way haha. We arrived at our cosy wood cabin hostel where a met a bunch of girls and guys from the UK and Germany who were doing the Trans-Sib the opposite way to us. We freshened up and chilled out before going for a walk along the lake edge which is actually incredible- half of the lake is frozen but the other half is melted and I can’t even explain how massive it is- from where we were standing the shore was 40kms away which you could only see because of some incredible snow-capped mountains in the distance.

For lunch I had an amazing Chicken and Pineapple bake with salad which was then followed by a trip to the bakery for a banana éclair and milk tea- sooo good! Walking on to burn this off, we stopped by a souvenir store and then a museum about Lake Baikal- which was formed when a crack appeared after the Indian Subcontinent merged into Asia. As a result it is the world’s deepest fresh water lake at 1.8kms deep and it holds around 20% of the world’s fresh water. The museum also had an aquarium where we saw the cutest little seals which are native to the lake as well as some creepy looking deep water fish. Afterwards we got on a chairlift up to a lookout peak which is also used for skiing in winter to check out the view and enjoy some local mulled wine which was actually incredible.

From there we caught a taxi back (after working out that we walked a good 7kms!) to get dinner at the local market which consisted of Beef Kebabs with bread and salad before chilling by the fire for a drink and chat for the rest of the night.

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Ulan-Ude

27th of April, 2013

Although Zoe was feeling better from her flu, we thought it was better to get a check-up before embarking on the mammoth Trans-Siberian. Svetlana came to take her to the doctor at 10am and it wasn’t until 11am I got a call saying that they wanted to give me a check-up too, so we made our way to the hospital in a very cool old soviet style ambulance: don’t think many travellers get this kind of experience in Russia! We arrived at a kind of mental-asylum looking building where they gave us both check-ups and saw that I was perfectly healthy, but they wanted to keep Zoe in hospital for a couple of days to rest. Apparently anyone coming from China with flu-like symptoms in to Russia must stay in hospital until symptoms disappear as they fear it could be bird flu. This could be anywhere up to 7 days, so we had to review our plan of attack for the upcoming week.

So the rest of the morning was spent busy on the phone to insurance and our travel agents from which we then found out that a guy from our travel company back in Australia, Max, also happened to be in Russia at the same time. I was talking to him for a while as well as with Svetlana and Zoe and we decided that it was going to be best for me to go on to Moscow and for Zoe to meet me there. Since Zoe was not allowed visitors in hospital except for Svetlana who acted as a translator, there was not much point in me being there otherwise. Max said that he will ensure that all is looked after here while Svetlana was to keep Zoe company and book her a flight to Moscow to meet me when she is released. So I am a solo flyer for the next week- well with my honchos too of course! So bummed that Zoe will miss out on so much over the next few days though :(

For the rest of the afternoon Svetlana gave me a city tour of Ulan-Ude explaining the history of the Buryat people (which she was) who were originally from Mongolia but were sealed in this part of Russia when the Soviet Union was formed. It was interesting to note that Russia is actually made up of independent countries each with their own presidents which all make up the Russian Federation. Buryatia is the region we are currently in of which Ulan-Ude is the capital and biggest city. Svetlana took me to the town square to see the world’s biggest statue of Lenin’s head where a just-married couple were getting there post-nuptial photos taken with the surrounding government and KGB buildings making an impressive backdrop. We then proceeded to the national Ballet theatre before relaxing for a drink and dinner in “Churchill’s Pub” (no matter where you are in the world, you can’t escape British pubs!).

Then got to relax back in the hotel room until we went to get the train to Irkutsk for an 11.40pm departure and I shared a compartment with a young Russian lady who didn’t know any English but seemed very interested in my Trans-Siberian guide book- looking at the pictures mostly. She laughed and clapped her hands when I said I was from Australia in Russian, so I am not sure if that was a good thing or not haha.

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I promise to update when I arrive in Kazan on the weekend! Writing all these posts will give me something to do on the 3.5 day train ride :P