jwretham

Irkutsk is the most popular stop off point for Tran-Siberian travellers as it neatly breaks up the journey from Moscow to Beijing. Most travellers however, make the pit-stop here because of Lake Baikal. Before and during this trip many people whom I spoke with raved about Olkhon Island, the largest and remote island on Baikal, located 5 hours’ drive north of Irkutsk. Slightly disappointed from my visit to Listvianka I wanted to visit another part of this miniature ocean. Early next morning the ever helpful Tatiana dropped me at the local bus stop. After 5 hours of being thrown around in the back of a minibus and a dramatic change of landscape we reached the end of the road at the Olkhon Island ferry terminal. We crossed with no problems and then continued on north to ... read more

I was keen to cover some distance after leaving Moscow as I still had almost 7500 kilometres to go until Beijing. Several people I had met recommend a stop in Kazan, the capital of the Tartarstan Republic so after one night in a 4 bed sleeper-train compartment I woke to the noise and chaos of Kazan’s busy train station. Finding the bus to I & I Hostel was not overly difficult but knowing when to get off it was as the 40 year old ex-soviet buses do not display or announce any information. After slowly pronouncing the name of the stop I was after in terrible Russian one kind woman indicated when I should exit the bus. Locating the Hostel was also tricky but the standard of it was surprisingly good and the guys that ran ... read more

Mother Russia. A dark, distant and cold place, where all people wear fur hats, drink nothing but vodka and the corrupt political elite rule supreme. Not to mention its shocking and violent history. Stereotypes shouldn’t be relied upon in practice but considering that I had never known a Russian my entire life and the British media coverage of Russia is always rather narrow I didn’t have a lot else to go on. Spanning 9 time zones and 2 continents Russia is the largest country on Earth and the 9th most populated. My route through it will enter in the north-west, take me some 7000km east and then once at Lake Baikal head south exiting into Mongolia. Initially it was never part of my plan to visit the country’s second capital, St Petersburg. However a friend convinced ... read more

Up until last week I was only vaguely familiar with the atrocities that had occurred in Auschwitz. What little knowledge I did have was a result of my brief and exam-orientated History GCSE course. Located in South Poland 31 miles west of Krakow Auschwitz was a purpose built city of death that throughout WW2 illegally deprived over 1 million innocent Jews, Roma, Political Prisoners, Homosexuals and other Nazi enemies of their liberty and right to life. With the help of my polish host Asia I caught the local mini bus to the site which is now classified as a museum/memorial. In order to enter you are obliged to pay 40 Zloty (10 euro) for a guided tour. The English tour leaves every 30 minutes but they have a range of other different language guides too. The ... read more

Berlin is a fascinating city and one that never ceases to amaze me. It is intense, sometimes shocking but what I love about it most is that it always maintains an incredibly humbling level of tolerance for people from all walks of life. This was my 8th visit to Berlin and probably my most enjoyable. Simply describing a city with so much to offer and such a volatile history is difficult. Where to start? What to include? Perhaps this is already too ambitious a task. If you have spent more than a weekend in East Berlin you will know what I mean. If you are yet to visit, go. I first visited Berlin age 15 in December 2006 on the offer from a school friend whose family had been based there. Enticed by low and liberal ... read more