Luke or Stan

In retrospect, I kinda forget what attracted me to Ekat, A city famous for the brutal murder of the Romanov family, the last Tsar and co, and a gang war in the early 1990's. And rocks if you're into that sort of thing. On arrival at the Meeting Point (or place, I forget) Hostel, an excellent little place run my Katya, possible the nicest and most helpful hostel owner of all time I was amazed to find real Tea - none of this Russian Churney Chai much, proper British tasting tea, with Milk and everything! Milk tasted a little funky, but I guess some things will never be the same as at home! Initially I hit the town for a find my bearings acclimatisation walk, which included my first and only attempt at Museum going in ... read more

Waiting at Yaroslavski station I inadvertently discovered the best tactic for avoiding hawkers and beggars all after your cash - Be French. Someone came up to me trying to sell me some tat, and when I didn’t respond asked me “speak English” “No. err…Little.” “What Language?” Didn’t really think this one through did I… for want of anything better to say, “ Je parle Francais” “Oh! Francsikiii!? Ah…” And promptly walked off leaving me in peace. Jackpot! Confusingly Ekaterinburg is still called Sverdlosk on the rail network, the towns old Soviet name. After 20 years you’d have thought they get round to changing the timetable but anyway… Anyway, I managed to board the right train, starting my first real train trip, 53 hours to Ekat. My first sighting of the train showed this really was a ... read more

Unfortunately I am without the ability to upload pictures for the moment so you'll have to make do with text only! I arrived in Moscow at 8am to find minus 2 degree weather and a light smattering of snow. A start, maybe good or bad - either way it didn’t last. By the end of my week in Moscow it was 25 degrees, and I was mooching around Red Square eating ice cream, in Russia! Who’d have thought it! Classic Brit talking about the weather here…. I have had an excellent week in Moscow, I like it better than St Petersburg, probably for two mains reasons, neither of which are much to do with the cities. Firstly, the weather. Or rather, peoples reaction to it. In St. P it was fairly miserable, which was not great, ... read more

I arrived in St Petersburg to find all steriotypes true - My first sighting was of an industrial wasteland from a car with a racist taxi driver having just been through a very unfriendly customs experiance. The taxi driver even told me that the old Lada was the best car ever, very well suited for Russian roads, not like other cars. I have found St Petersburg to be a city of faded splendour, clearly a very beautiful city, but not very well mentained. Even in the Hermatage, I went into the room in the Winter Palace where the members of the Provisional government were arrested by the Bolsheviks, hugely significant in Russian history, and it was just really...well, dirty. And don't think I'm just being snooty, the walls were really blackened! Still a beautiful city, 'Peter' ... read more

Well team, I'm soon to be off on my epic journey, overland across Russia, Mongolia, China and Cuba. For those of you I'm useless at keeping updated with, here is a brief plan of action: Russia 11th April - Fly to St. Petersburg! Over the next month I will be getting the train across Russia, stopping off at St. Petersburg - Venice of the North. Moscow - Place where lots of Communist things happened Ekaterinsburg - Notorious for 2 things: The brutal murder of the Tsar and family, and a bloody Gangland feud in the 1990's. Awesome... Irkutsk & Lake Baikal - Central Siberian town, and the lake is the deepest lake in the world. Mongolia Ulaan Baatur - Capital of Mongolia, An unusual fusion of Soviet and East Asian cultures. Also Genghis Khan came from ... read more