May 15, 2013 - Reflections on Russia.

I've been in Russia 19 days so that makes me expert, right? Not really, but as I'm about to leave for Mongolia I thought I'd share with you some of my impressions . Mind you this country is so huge that Ive only seen a little bit of it. Although Ive travelled over 5000km from Moscow I could go on another 3,500km to Vladivostok and even then I'd only have seen a fraction. It really is massive. The place to start is with the friendliness of the people. Wherever Ive been people have been friendly and helpful. When I was struggling with the...

May 12, 2013 - Half way down the line

Comrades I've now crossed 5 time zones since I left Moscow almost 10 days ago, travelled over 5000km and have reached over half way to Beijing. I'm officially in Siberia and don't I know it! A cold Siberian wind is blowing and its sleeting. On route I have visited Perm, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk. Perm is an industrial city which grew rapidly in the Second World War ( referred to as the Great Patriotic War in Russia after they transferred factories East as the Germans invaded). It was a restricted city in the Soviet era which...

Aug 8, 2011 - Irkutsk

Walking around Irkutsk felt a little like I was Alice in Wonderland visiting the Mad Hatter's tea party. The houses and apartment blocks all had large oversized windows complete with garish shutters in a variety of bright and mismatched colours. There doesn't seem to be much emphasis placed on good workmanship or even ensuring that lines are parallel! Irkutsk is one of the most popular stops on the Trans Siberian railway so I found it pretty unusual that I didn't see any other backpackers as I walked around. I guess most people get sucked...

Jul 6, 2011 - Irkutsk

Today we took a boat around the islands, it was sunny but cold, and very picturesque. We potted around the town of Irkutsk and Listyanka, with flea markets massively overpriced and tackey, some good food markets and a laze on the pebble beach. there were some keen sunbakers, and even keener swimmers bearing the mild 5 degree water! MAD! We had the opportunity to take the chairlift up the steep mountain (hill!) for some great views and also met the founder of the Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian express for a tour of how the 'other half' live. It...

Jun 29, 2011 - ** Reflections on Russia - Blog **

First blog of the trip so bear with us – difficult to know what may or may not be interesting. Here we go for the saturated regression model approach… Pretty relaxed now having been on the Trans-Siberian train for four days and then here on Olkhon Island in Lake Baikal (Eastern Siberia, Russia) for a week – after dashing around St. Petersburg and Moscow, finally seems like we’re travelling rather than a long holiday from work. The place we're staying at the moment is an eco-friendly hostel called Nikita's homestead. It's like a commune out...

Mar 8, 2011 - Irkutsk: The Capital of Eastern Siberia.

Gregor arrives on time to collect us from Lake Baikal and transfer us to The Angara Hotel in Irkutsk. The car speeds along at 130 km/h across the ice and snow covered road. Holding my breath as we approach each corner, I pray that we don’t end up amongst the forest trees. The small villages and cedar trees in the forest are now blanketed in snow and look stunning. It is a different view returning to Irkutsk from our original journey along this road three days ago. The edges of the dam have iced up and locals trudge along the side of the...

Mar 7, 2011 - Trans-Siberian Express: From Moscow to Irkutsk

We are sitting in the hotel lobby with our bags piled on top of each other when he arrives. This is our transfer to board the train at Yaroslavsky station to begin the first leg of the Trans-Siberian Express. He is average height and weight with grey hair and is wearing a black cap. His deep green eyes provide no expression at all. I recognise him from our arrival in Moscow a few days earlier. We jump up, smile and wave. He carries our bags to his “clapped out, dirty and dented Toyota”. His smile is silent and serious. Twenty minutes later,...

Jul 7, 2010 - Irkutsk

Irkutsk, Russia: Whistlestop Tour ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3 and 7 July 2010 Hello and Goodbye I spent just a few hours in the town of Irkutsk, spread over two days. It is the nearest city to Lake Baikal (some 70km distant) which was my main reason for coming. Although the population is almost 600,000 it was incredibly quiet in the centre of the city, rather like visiting the City of London (the financial district) at the weekend. Prior...

Jul 3, 2010 - Trans-Smuggleberian Express

Trans-Mongolian Part 2: The Smugglers' Special ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2-3 July 2010 I Don't Believe it! Having made the most of the extra time in Ulan Bator it was now time to depart for my sixth and final country: Russia. Taxi to the station and the second leg of the Trans-Siberian train, second class, to Irkutsk. There was a taxi already at my hostel, depositing a new arrival; my hosts negotiated a fare of T3000 (GBP1.50). Although,...

Jun 2, 2010 - Siberia-passing through!

Hello from Siberia! We have been having a true Siberian spring. With the massive plain, there is nothing to stop the weather from changing rapidly. We were two nights and a day on the train from Mongolia to Irkutsk, and it was 36 Celsius on the train--that is 96 Fahrenheit!!! All we did was sit and sweat! Today the weather is overcast and cool--about 15 C which I think is about 60 something F. It is just like home to me, but some of the Aussies are a bit cool! We had another long border crossing between Mongolia and Russia--at one point...

May 31, 2010 - Ulaanbaatar to Listyvanka

Our second train journey - train stopped 5.30am for the Mongolian border control at Sukhbaatar. It is now 9.00 am and a beautiful sunny day and we are still sitting here waiting for border control. Cannot use train toilet so used station one a couple of times - 150T per use. Had cornflakes and 2 pieces of hard bread (it is all hard bread) and jam and numerous cups of green tea with lemon (just to pass the time)in the new glass mug (from France) purchased in Ulaanbaatar. In general, so far, food has been relatively cheap by our standards....

May 2, 2010 - Whacked With Fir Branches In Irkutsk

I am so, SO grateful that I did get that early flight out to Moscow after all. I really wouldn't have had enough time to see and do everything I did, or meet the people I did. After my last blog I met more and more people in the hostel on the same Vodkatrain trip as me, and we spent time together exploring Moscow before we left for Irkutsk. In the end I went to Red Square four times in four days, went inside St Basil's Cathedral as you can see from the photos in the previous blog, walked around the Kremlin but not inside, and got...