Nightmares in Russian Trains, Lenin and Buuz

Trans-Siberian Part 2
Well, the next leg of my journey was probably the low-light for me. Tomsk to Irkutsk. Well, Tomsk is off the main Trans-Siberian line, so it's difficult to get direct trains. So, I had a 5hr wait in a tiny russian station called Taiga, where no-one spoke a word of English, and I don't think they'd seen many foreigners before - even the police thought I was a bit strange, and came up to check my papers. I'd heard how much of a hassle the police could be especially for non-whites, threatening and asking for bribes, so it was a bit scary, but in the end, they couldn't give a stuff about me - I was too much hardwork since I didn't speak Russian. In general, the police were not an issue in Russia - I think the days of hassling foreigners are gone - everytime I was stopped and spoke English to them, I was waved through - too hard, see ya. It was great! Russia is opening up.

Anyway, the 5hr wait must have addled my mind, because didn't allow myself enough time to get my train! I felt the pressure rise as my throat went parch dry, and I began running around like a headless chook trying to figure out where to go. Incomprehensible Russian was blaring over the speakers, I cursed the Russian habit of having no signage anywhere - the timetable board did not tell me which platform to dash to. So I began asking people, and they wouldn't even point in a direction. It was 15min past the departure time now...something was wrong - yep, you guessed it, I'd missed my train. *sigh* What an idiot - I'd lost my touch!

So, I slinked over to the ticket counter (thank goodness there was not a huge queue) and showed my ticket. Somehow, they communicated that I had indeed missed the train - it has arrived early, which what the loudspeakers were blaring, and I guess they stated the platform as well. Guess I should have heeded and followed the other passengers as they went out - but so many trains were passing through, who knows where they were going? Anyway, I was in a bit of panic by that stage - I did not want to stay in this little hick town - and I was cursing my stupidity for missing the train. Fortunately, the girls inn the ticket office helped me out - they changed my ticket to another train leaving 30min later, and even waited with me at the platform. What great service - these Russians are not unfriendly after all!


Well, I realised how tough it is to catch these trains - they only stop for 2min at these small stations, so you have to be ready to jump on ASAP. When I had boarded, I was a bit shocked - the hostess (provodnista) had rabbited at me where to go, but I had no idea, and I wasn't sure where my bed was with a replacement ticket. She gruffly showed me, and I was confronted by a really smelly carriage, with a really drunk Russian prostrate on his bed, an empty bottle of vodka by his side. Man, I was rueing missing my train! This guy would prove to be a real pain in the butt - he was always roaring drunk, and he was over-friendly to the extent of being annoying - he shook my hand and pulled me over to him, he headbutted me (in a drunk, friendly way), he bear hugged me... what a pain in the butt! I would just pray he would drink more vodka and go to sleep. So, I was very happy when I jumped off that train at Irkutsk... 2days later! Yep, I had to deal with this idiot for 2 days. I developed the patience of a saint!

Basically, that was the last train I would catch in Russia, thank goodness! If you want to buy your Russian train tickets online, read my instructions here:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2069686&messageID=18622425#18622425

Irkutsk

Irkutsk was a nice city, and I stayed in a great hostel called International Friendship Hostel. I rode a train called the circumbaikal railway, which travels right beside the huge Lake Baikal - the railway was called the Tsar's Jewelled Belt, because it cost so much to make - there are so many tunnels and bridges along the way, I can understand why. Nowadays, the Trans-Siberian Railway bypasses this stretch, and it is only used by tourists - but it is a beautiful ride - the lake is enormous and looks like an ocean, and it is fun going through all the tunnels and over all the bridges, and stopping at the pretty little towns along the way.

Ulan Ude
But my journey was taking me toward Mongolia, and the next stop was Ulan Ude, a very ethnic (read Mongolian) looking city. On my trip across Siberia, 99% of the people had been white Russian, but Ulan Ude was different. There was a significant population of Buryat people, who must have lived further west in Siberia, before Stalin moved them into gulags and extinction. By the way, I learnt that Stalin means Steel, and Lenin is a girl's name. I know which name I'd choose! Oh, and Ulan Ude has the biggest Lenin head in the world. Check it out!

Anyway, I enjoyed Ulan Ude, and I had my first ever meal in a tent, called a Ger by Mongolians, and a Yurt by Russians. Food wasn't bad either - 2 big greasy dumplings called a buuz, a fried meat filled pancake called Khusuur, soup and tea. I wolfed it down, amazed that I was eating in a restaurant in a tent! A new experience!

Stir Crazy Train Travel Begins

The Trans-Siberian begins with a bus...

The Trans-Siberian train starts from Moscow and heads East to either Vladivostock, through Manchuria, or through Mongolia. My Trans-Siberian journey started with a BUS, not a train, because I missed the silly train. I left Moscow on a Sunday, and didn’t realise there were no trains to Vladimir (and Suzdal) early in the morning. And I’d missed listening to a Hawks game over the radio for this??? 

I was annoyed and frustrated, and feeling a bit helpless – with little Russian, I could only handle yes/no answers to my questions – so when things got complicated, I got bamboozled. But, I don’t give up too easily, so I hunted down a pair of young Russians, and they helped me find the bus. This was no mean feat – there is so little signage in Russia, it is ridiculous! They had to top up their mobile phones, use the internet, and search for where the bus left from - no-one at the train station knew where it was. Gees, I had no hope by myself! And, to make it even harder, the bus did not say where it was going – it was just pulled up to the side of the road, no sign of a bus stop. How the heck was I meant to know where it was going? 

This is not a rare occurrence though – in the Moscow metro, there is only one tiny sign on the wall telling you what station you’re at – good luck if you miss it (like I did on numerous occasions). While I’m talking about the metro system, you should see how deep these metro stations are in the ground – it’s like descending into hell, especially if the escalators break down!!!

 

Suzdal

Anyway, I made it to Suzdal eventually, and it was worth all the effort. It was probably my favourite place in Russia, and there was a great hostel there called Godzillas. Very relaxing – much different to the rest of Russia! Suzdal is part of the Golden Circle of Russia, a ring of cities around Moscow of significant cultural heritage. It is a holy city and is full of churches and monasteries, and development was limited here to preserve the atmosphere. It’s set in a beautiful location by a river with rolling green hills and swampland nearby. The town is dotted with these pretty churches, each more beautiful than the next.

Nizhny Novgorod

Next town was Nizhny Novgorod. Historically, this is where Russia finished and Siberia began – demarcated by the Volga River. All the Russia I had seen so far was very European – I could have been in Germany, for all I knew. I was reading Russian history, and it astounded me that Great Mother Russia is quite a recent phenonmenon. If Russia hadn’t expanded east, it would just be another European nation like Germany or France, not the Superpower I’m familiar with. But it did expand, and Stalin did a good job of getting rid of all the indigenous people, so that Europe extends just that little bit further East.

Anyway, Nizhny Novgorod... not my favourite city, expecially considering that all the hotels were full. I had to sleep in the train station one night! Not happy! To kill time, I went to see the Hangover 2 in the cinemas, in Russian. Fortunately, the comedy and storyline was so low-brow, I had no trouble following it. But I stayed up all night in the end, typing my journal, because I didn’t quite trust falling asleep in a train station in Russia – I could have been sold into slavery!

Trans-Siberian Part I

Well, I was on the train for 2 days, chatting with Russians. When I say chatting, I mean hand-signals and gestures, and offerring of food. I met one couple who were going to Kamchatka Peninsula – lots of credit for going to that far flung destination. And I met another old guy who had been a street-sweeper in London, and rued the fall of the Soviet Union, and all the moral principles that fell with it. Not being the biggest advocate of Capitalism, I answered with vigorous nodding!

 

Tomsk

Again, there was a dearth of cheap hotels in my next destination, Tomsk. Not many people stop in Siberia, so there are no hostels, and very few foreigners. I’d have to slug it out by myself. With no alternative, I checked into an expensive business hotel, about 90AUD a night, but enjoyed it after 2 days on the train! And I still had another 1.5 days to go on the train! Tomsk is famous for its wooden lace architecture – though it didn’t really impress me too much and was more just a break from the train for me.

Not so Red Russia

St Petersburg

It was with much trepidation that I decided to head back to Australia via the Trans-Siberian railway. I’d heard bad stories about Russia – that the people are cold and racist, costs prohibitive and the culture boring. Well, I quite liked Russia, and it confirms my belief that you have to find out some things for yourself. Everyone is different in the end and will always have different likes and dislikes, and hence experiences.

I flew into St Petersburg around 8pm, after a hectic 4 days in the UK, trying to replace all the things I’d lost after my bag was snatched. It would cost me about 450AUD to replace everything – so, a little more than a pretty penny!

It was early June, and nearing the Summer Solstice. St Petersburg is at a really high latitude – higher than most Scandanavian capitals – and has White Nights. I think it would get dark after midnight when I was there, but I never stayed up to find out. It is also a very European feeling city, and a beautiful one to boot. I came at a good time of year, with flowers blooming and clear blue skies.

I was astounded by the architecture of Russia, because I had never seen it before. Well, only on TV. The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood was most impressive, inside and out. It had the stereotypical onion domes in fanciful colours and a beautifully painted interior. When you are the biggest land empire in the world, you have some serious coin for monuments.

And St Petersburg does not lack for monuments. I visited Petrodvorets (Peterhof), the palace that Peter the Great built, famous for its fountains and gardens. It is meant to rival Versailles and I can see why. Stunning place. But it’s actually nicer outside than inside. It’s set on the coast, and gets a lovely breeze.

And of course, there is the Hermitage. I visited the Hermitage twice, as it is so big. It’s an amazing place, with rooms full of Rafael, Rubens, Renoir, Rembrandt. I guess they seized all this stuff in WWII. It was hard work trying to see all the famous stuff, so in the end, I just wandered the beautiful rooms and hallways, and had an absolute ball.

Moscow

After an overnight train I pulled into Moscow at 6.30am. I bought my tickets for my onward journey as soon as I arrived, to avoid the long queues. It was a bit of an ordeal with my basic Russian and the reputation of the ladies behind the windows at the train station – most unhelpful. My heart was pumping when I got to the counter, because suddenly a long queue of impatient Muscovites formed behind me, adding to the pressure. And damn, my train was full. So, I had to make a split second decision, and add Nizhny Novgorod to my itinerary. Boy, sweat was pouring from my brow after the ordeal, which in reality, was not too bad. All in my head!

 

I wandered down to the (in)famous Red Square next, and along the way, some cheeky devils tried to pick pocket me. Not this time – no way Jose! One guy dropped a wad of USD in front of me while a guy at the back was following. Not to be outdone, I sidestepped and stared at them. And boy, did they act guilty! They were ducking into shops, looking back at me, coming out again.

That hurdle cleared, I just had to find my way down to the Red Square. And with my sense of direction, it was quite an ordeal. I was half distracted watching out for pickpockets, and three quarters clueless, but eventually I made it. I might have been thrown off track by the Armani and Luis Vuitton stores in the huge department store looking onto the Red Square. I couldn’t believe it – Luis Vuitton next to the Red Square and Lenin’s Mausoleum? Lenin must be turning in his grave. So, I left the not-so-Red Square to head into the Kremlin, and it was an awe-inspiring sight. Huge, oppulent churches and more onion domes. Wow! I was told Moscow is boring, but I sure enjoyed it – with captivating galleries, and Soviet Park with Lenin.

David in Wonderland meets Dude, where's my bag???

Ahhh, the last leg of my Eastern Europe journey... It's always a nice feeling to be near completion of a project, and a travel journey is no exception. After Bulgaria, I caught a 15hour bus from Plovdiv, Bulgaria to Athens. It was an uncomfortable bus ride overnight, since the seats were very upright, and the seats in front bit into my knees when I slouched down. *argh*

Anyway, I arrived in Athens around 6am in the morning, and with sleep still in the eyes, I jumped on the Metro down to the port, Piraeus, to check out ferry times. I had planned to sight see around Athens, and then catch another overnight transport, a Ferry, but I caught one just leaving, after I sprinted across the wharves. Great catch.

I was heading to Santorini, an island so hyped up that the cynic in me thought it would be one big tourist-trap. Well, yes, there were heaps of tourists, but it was the most amazing island. It has withstood countless invasions and stood the test of time, and a few busloads of package tourists are not going to spoil it. I stayed in a little town called Oia (pronounced ee-ya), in a little traditional house (marcosrooms.com.gr) for 90euro for 4 nights, after some tough negotiating down from 120euro. Not bad huh?

Oia is the best place to stay on the island, because it is the most traditional, has the best views of sunset, is perched right on the cliffs of the caldera, and is certainly the most atmospheric. It is beautiful! All the houses are white-washed in stark, intense white paint, and the church domes are painted baby-blue. Because of the lack of space, and the sheer 300m cliffs plummeting into the sea, the buildings are all stacked ontop of each other, for stunning views of the calm waters within the (still bubbling) caldera. The caldera is quite big, about 12km x 7km (wikipedia, don't fail me now!) and encircles the sea on 3 sides - Oia is right on the tip of the island, where the land falls away into the ocean.

Now, Oia is an old town, so the streets are just narrow lanes, and there are plenty of stairs, due to the topography. So, there are no noisy cars to battle with, though there is a lot of foot traffic, particularly at sunset, when the tourist buses descend in their hordes to witness the blood red finish to the day. But Santorini is too special to be spoilt by tourists - there is a timeless beauty and peace about the place. As you wander the winding alleys, at every corner, a beautiful view emerges, and you cannot help but be rivetted to the spot for hours on end as you seek appreciation of what unfolds before you. Clear blue skies under a fierce sun, meeting the sea in a distant horizon, which is broken by the arms of the island which enfold a tranquil bay in a protective embrace. Yachts bob up and down on the deep blue ocean as busy catamarans leave white trails of churned water in their wake. All this is witnessed by the stacks of houses high above, which glisten white in the bright light, all carefully shaped into beautiful straight lines or graceful arcs, punctuated by shuttered windows, shuttered to withstand the fury of the wind and rain of the winter storms, and the heat of the Summer.

I was captivated by the magic of Santorini for 4 days - I would just find a view to enjoy, and just sit for hours on end. It was a Wonderland, and all cares and worries seem to drop from your shoulders when you step onto the island. So, I was fairly relaxed when I headed back to Athens on a night ferry, perhaps a little bit too relaxed! I watched sunrise up at the Acropolis, and then headed down to Syntagma Square, to use the free wifi.

 

 I plonked myself down on a park bench, slung my bag behind me, and concentrated on punching out an email on my phone. I had a flight back to London that night, so I didn't have long to go. Then a confused man came up to me with a map, speaking French and asking directions - he had a dark complexion, so he was obviously a gypsy. And then it twigged in an instant - he was trying to rob me - and in an instant, my bag was gone! I had been distracted for 2 sec, and when I turned around, my daypack had vanished - I didn't feel or hear a thing, and by the time I realised, it was too late. Damn! My pride has been severely wounded now - I couldn't believe I could have made such a rookie error, and I just had to sit down on the bench, and lament my stupidity - I normally put an arm through a loop of my backpack to stop it getting snatched, but I was so relaxed after Santorini and being near the end of the journey, I was complacent and let my guard down. *sigh* Oh well, I didn't lose anything important - but a lot of little things that I've been busily replacing here in the UK. It was probably a good warning to shape up, because I was getting a little over-confident after such a long time on the road - my vigilance is tripled now, as I head off to Russia tomorrow! Wish me luck!

The Real Eastern Europe: Romania and Bulgaria

After travelling through Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, my impressions of Eastern Europe had been drastically changed. I'd always thought Eastern Europe would be poor and gritty, filled with grey ex-communist buildings, but these countries were quite rich. Then I travelled into Romania and Bulgaria, and they lived up to my expectations. Much more down-at-heel and a little frayed around the edges, they leave a little more grit under the fingernails when you come to grips.

Timisoara

They are much more affordable than the more "westernised" Eastern European Countries as well, so you can splash out. I've been enjoying tasting all the local cuisine, without blowing the budget. Romanian food was dominated by polenta, and I mean dominated. One meal had 800g of polenta - that's a lot of polenta!!! I was surprised by how Italian, Romanian culture is - the food is quite Italian, and the language sounds very similar. This is quite interesting, since a lot of the neighbouring countries (Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria) are slavic-speaking. Bulgaria is definitely Slavic, since they invented the cyrillic alphabet and everything is written in cyrillic. So, it's been good practice reading all the words for my Russian leg.

 Suceava and the Painted Monasteries of Southern Bucovina

Romania tourism is dominated by the myth of Dracula, or Vlad Tepes. Every city you go to has some site connected with Dracula. He was a larger than life character certainly, but no vampire. Nevetheless, he was a blood-thirsty buggar - he used to impale his victims for a most excruciating death - a stake was shoved up the bum, avoiding all vital organs (so you wouldn't die straight away), til it came out the mouth - a very slow, painful death. OUCH!

 Sighisoara

 Brasov

  

Sinaia

Bucharest

 

In Romania, the weather had turned a bit sour on me, with cloudy wet days. However, the weather spruced up in Bulgaria - it's been lovely, but it's made me a bit homesick. The climate reminds me of Melbourne in late October. Spring is in full bloom - you can smell the pollen in the air, and the temperature is just perfect, before the heat of summer sets in, with clear blue skies and cool nights. I've got this funny feeling that it's Xmas now, and it's time to hit the golf course for a cheeky 9 or 18holes after work!

Veliko Tarnovo

 

 

Plovdiv

 

Anyway, I'm leaving Bulgaria tomorrow, for the much more expensive Greece. *sigh* I'll have to tighten the purse strings again, and live like a pauper instead of a king. All that after a 15hr bus ride to Athens! Wish me luck!