Some pics that I could not upload before. almost all of them with comments. at the Ukrainian - Slovak border I got fined 1000 Slovak crowns, which is about 33 euro (on Slovak side). I had 2 cartons of (Marlboro) cigarettes, and allowed is to have just 1. Bastards, I did not expect they will check my backpack that thoroughly. Bastards :) So I bought the cigs really "cheap". 1 carton for the price of 2 (they took the second) + 33 euro fine :)) Me non-smoker !! I will think twice to buy this kind of souvenir for my relatives [View Full Entry]

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Our train to Uzgorod (from there 4 km to the Slovak border) is going in 1 and half hours. We are at the train station, there are pc's and internet "round the clock" so no problem :) I even played counterstrike with the ukrainian teenagers :) In general, ukrainian train stations and their facilities are on far higher level than those in Slovakia. There are also several big LCD screens, so people can watch movies. So in couple of hours we should be back in Slovakia, but before we have to do some shopping in Uzgorod. Marlboro cigarettes for our friends [View Full Entry]

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We did not have a chance to go to some internet cafe in the last couple of days. And this one has obviously USB ports disabled. So no pics :( And blog without pics is rather boring .... Ok, at least few words. We went to Volgograd, it was unbelievable hot !! Especially in a train car without airconditioning. I popped out my head from the window - hot air. In Volgograd it was around 40 degrees celcius. We well remember how we we cursing at irish weather .... :) We visited museum of the Stalingrad Battle. Very nice. Can't be [View Full Entry]

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We are back to Europe, after 3 days in the train. There were almost no tourists, only one Canadian guy that we met also in hostel in Irkutsk. So there was not much fun, only in the evenings when we were drinking vodka together. There was no one to join us. And I finished reading "Dr. Zhivago", Zuzana "The picture of Dorian Gray". This city is nice, its Kremlin is Unesco heritage. There is also a mosque. I would post here some pics, but yet again we do not have the card reader with. Maybe later today. So the city lives [View Full Entry]

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Today we visited Ivolgin Datsan, a budhist monastery some 30 km from Ulan Ude. There are few temples and budhist monks. Yes, budhist. It is some community of indigenous "buryats" who are leaving in this region, basically the mongol people. It was nice. First time we saw something like that. We met also 3 people from Czech rep. . 2 ladies, 1 man. All of them about 70 years old and also travelling by trains through Russia ! And also by "marshrutkas", which are the minibuses. You just wave your hand, and if there is some place left, the driver will [View Full Entry]

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we are just sitting in a very modern internet "kafe" - 21 inches LCD monitors, fast connection, card readers, super headsets ... and 1 min is 1 RUB (and it was told to us even in english !! :) Ulan Ude is in general much more "civilized" than Irkutsk. Although it is smaller than Irkutsk, this is the 4th internet kafe we have seen, while in Irkutsk there was just one (and perfectly hidden). And also the city is more clear etc. And finally fine prices. Nice meal in a fast food (chicken, rice, juice) - about 2.50 euro. Traditional drink [View Full Entry]

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From Olchon island we came back to Irkutsk, got tickets to Ulan Ude. Traveling all night. We found a hotel. The old socialist style. It was cheap. Now we know why. You have to pay even for the shower something extra - 40 RUB. Therefore I would not call it a hotel, but well .... [View Full Entry]

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We spent few days on Olchon island. We took a bus there. It was raining all the time that day, and unfortunately in the bus too :) There one lady had an umbrella, one other was sitting in the raincoat .... First night we spent in one shelter, with other 3 Slovak guys we met. They are travelling from Kyrgyzstan (through Kazachstan) and they plan to go to Kamchatka. The island is very beautiful, I mean the landscape, cliffs, lake itself. Otherwise the tourism just starts to boom, since 2 years they have electricity. The few villages there still do not [View Full Entry]

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We still can not get used to the time difference - it is +8 hours GMT. This is really weird city, strange looks of the people at us. In the shops etc. some people are nice, trying to help, some not, making us feel that they do not want foreigners here. The main streets here are Karl Marx str, Lenin street. There on the Marx street girls dancing on the balcony of some club - in lingerie. Probably trying to get some guests :) Tomorrow we are going to Olchon island, lake Baikal. We are VERY much looking forward to go [View Full Entry]

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(some pictures from Moscow and Irkutsk we will upload asap, we forgot to bring the card reader today :( ) So we made it to Irkutsk early this morning. The journey was nice ! Better than we expected. We were in one "kupe" with nice older russian couple, who were on their way to visit family living at lake Baikal. The journey had started with shots of vodka and eating cooked chicken with them. Very nice people :) Again, we were mostly among russian people, only some of them were tourists, going as well to Baikal. Most of them do not [View Full Entry]

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