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Published: September 16th 2010
Bliss!
Dedicated to The Mule. We know how much you love these naturally posed shots!Customs officials are never the most cheerful people but the one who welcomed us to Russia takes the 'Ice Queen' award. We stood in the foreigners queue watching as each person in front of us was glared down by a woman who looked suspiciously like Anne Robinson from 'The weakest link'.
She scrutinised each and every passport in silence, sighing every now and again, trying desperately to find any discrepancy with the visas. After what seemed like an eternity, she snarled, admitted defeat and sullenly indicated that we could pass through the metal gates.
Welcome to Russia. Thankfully this woman was in the minority - actually the vast majority of Russians we have spoken to here have been quite nice, even the drunk ones have been interested in practising their English and engaging in a bit of conversation.
Our Russian adventure started in
Moscow where we spent only two days before starting the Trans-Mongolia rail trip towards Beijing.
Moscow was an unusual place. Having two days isn't long enough to form an impression but by the end of our time we both felt a bit indifferent towards it. We certainly didn't hate it but can't say
that that we loved it either.
One thing for certain is the highly visible gap between rich and poor in this city. Even in London, we have not seen the sheer number of expensive vehicles on the roads. Mercedes, Audi's, BMW's, Porches, huge Range Rovers and the occasional rusty Lada jostle for space on some of the most heavily congested roads we have ever seen. On the outskirts of the city, we passed depressing areas of towering shabby housing estates. Even in the sun it looked depressing so life here in the middle of winter must be pretty grim.
The Metro (second busiest in the world, after Tokyo) was constantly busy. It seems like rush hour doesn't actually stop. Navigating the Metro with huge backpacks, trying to read the Cyrillic script and not lose each other proved to be a bit difficult. Certainly not something I would do again in a hurry!
In terms of attractions, we did the same as most visitors. We visited Lenin who is lying in a glass case and really does look like he is made of wax. Somehow it was only us and the scary looking Russian guards in the dark
tomb which made the whole thing even more surreal.
We also wandered about
The Kremlin and enjoyed visiting The Armoury - most interesting thing on display had to be the ancient snow sledge built for the children of the Russian Royal Family. They used dwarfs as sledge attendants - no worries about discrimination there then!
We also took the Metro up to the Transport Museum which has amazing old steam trains on display. The are absolutely huge and wouldn't look out of place in a Harry Potter film. With a few extra signs and photographs, this could be a great place to visit. It proved to be a bit tricky to find. We were the only people there! I'm sure most foreign visitors wander around completely lost before giving up and heading back where they came from. We nearly did!
After two days we hit the supermarket and stocked up on instant noodles, 'just add water' porridge, 'taste of London' tea bags (thank you Lord, thank you) tinned corn and chocolate. We were now ready to begin our Trans-Siberian adventure.
Life on board the Trans-Siberian Since the Moscow to Irkutsk leg of the journey
A perfect morning on Olkhon Island
A deserted beach. We had to come to Siberia to find one! took 75(ish) hours we decided to spoil ourselves and go first class. Despite being teased by other backpackers that we have met en-route, I'm glad we went for this option as it gave us our own cabin which was a good thing over such a long period of time.
Each carriage is manned by an attendants. A female attendants is known as a Provodnitsa. We had heard that it was a good idea to get on the good side of your Provodnitsa as she had the ability to make your time on board the train enjoyable or unpleasant!
Knowing this, I was eager to meet our Provodnitsa and was hoping to find a gentle old thing with purple hair who would take us under her wing and act as our Russian Mama for the duration of the trip.
Unfortunately this was not to be the case. Our Provodnitsa was probably the same age as us, rarely smiled and had no interest in her passengers whatsoever. Oh shame! If the truth be told, we were both a bit afraid of her, all powerful as she was. When I finally worked up the courage to ask for a cup
she stopped putting on her moisturiser and found me two cups from inside her room. This gave me long enough for me to spot a whole basket of goodies on the shelf in her room.
Chocolates and biscuits. Is this the secret to Trans-Siberian happiness? Are we meant to bribe the attendants? Yes, according to other passengers we have since met. The American girls who we spoke to yesterday said they received fantastic service for the entire trip after giving their male attendants a piece of chocolate cake. Now I know where we went wrong!
The life saver on the train is the
samovar. The samovar is basically a big, scary, Russian version of a zip. There's one in each carriage and allows you to add boiling water to your noodles and porridge oats. We learnt pretty early on to treat the samovar with respect. The water coming out is scalding and ours had a bad habit of dribbling out a bit once the tap had been turned off. Despite the odd first degree burn, most passengers would be pretty hungry without it!
Life on the train passed by pretty quickly actually and was really relaxing. Each
day was pretty much the same.
Wake up.
Wash body with wet wipes (No shower for three days. Only freezing water out of the dodgy tap in the toilets. You will notice that I am wearing a woolly hat in every train photo. That is not because it is cold inside the train. It's because my hair looks like an oil slick)
Breakfast - porridge oats sweetened with a piece of chocolate and a banana purchased from an old lady on the platform
Read
Look out the window
Talk to the French people in the cabin next door
Play cards
Rug up in very warm clothes for a platform stop. Buy food (potato salad in a plastic bag, cabbage and beetroot mix etc) from the ladies on the platform.
Read
Look out window
Play cards
Dinner - instant noodles with tinned corn
Watch DVD on laptop
Drink Vodka
Sleep
Some places are worth the journey - Olkhon Island We decided to break up our journey at the very popular Lake Baikal. Yes it was one of those places mentioned in '1001 natural wonders you must see before you die' and is touted as 'The pearl of Siberia'
To get here we took a six hour minivan ride from Irkutsk that includes a short ferry ride to the island.
Lake Baikal is a natural wonder. It is the world's oldest lake. At it's deepest point it is 1637 metres and contains a whopping 20% of all the freshwater on the planet. The water is famously clear due to sponges and little crayfish that filter out the water. Apparently, on a still day, a white disc, 30cm in diameter, can be seen in the water to a depth of 40 metres. You can drink it if you want - in fact I think all the water used in our guest house comes from the lake.
According to the 'Trans-Siberian Handbook' if the world was to run out of fresh water, the lake could supply the world for the next 40 years. How unbelievable is that? The water is home to hundreds of fish species that are found here and no where else on the planet. In winter it is a frozen wonderland. I have seen photos of the amazing ice sculptures that form here during the winter months and it looks absolutely spectacular.
According to
one belief, a swim in the lake will add 25 years to your life if the shock doesn’t' kill you first! Chris is obviously a bit nervous about his upcoming 31st so decided he wasn't about to leave the island without a proper swim in the lake. Yes, he did get in and have a proper 30 second swim. I have the evidence on video but will spare that from the general public! Unfortunately I didn't have my bikini with me at the time and wasn't about to plunge in with my knickers so had to make do with a knee deep paddle later.
We decided that a place so far away from anywhere else deserved more than a two day visit so we are here relaxing for four days. We have also learnt that the lake looks completely different depending on the weather and the wind conditions.
On the first day we took an excursion offered by our guest house. Ten of us set off in a Russian van towards the north most point of the island. It was a cold and greyish day and the water was choppy and inhospitable. We had a good look
round but couldn't really see the clarity that makes the lake so famous.
Yesterday we were treated to beautiful blue skies and a morning completely free of wind. Apparently still days are a bit of a rarity around here as Olkhon Island is notoriously windy!
Finally we could see what all the fuss was about. We had a deserted beach all to ourselves. For the first time in a long time, all we could hear was water washing over pebbles and the occasional squawk of a gull. It was bliss.
Today we are chilling out. Our walk this morning didn't take too long, the cold winds forced us back early and we have spent the day blogging and playing with the kittens that are EVERYWHERE at our guest house. I am as happy as a pig in mud! We are feeling quite healthy too. At Nikita's guest house, all food is included in the price so we have to eat what we are given. Each meal is based on lake fish and vegetables. Since I am refusing to eat the fish (it's the bones! You should see them!) I am living on vegetables and black tea. Chris
is finding the serving portions a bit small and even he is sick of the fish by day three. We could recommend that Olkhon Island start marketing itself as a weight loss and health boot camp!
There are no proper showers here either so once per day we pay a visit to the banya or Russian sauna. It's like a hot wash room where boiling water comes in though a tap. You fill a bucket with hot water and then add cold water to the mix from a big barrel. When the temperature is right, you throw buckets of water over each other. After that you sit in a sauna and then repeat it all over again until your allocated twenty minutes is up! We are trying to make the most of the opportunity to wash since tomorrow we are back on the train for another 24 hours before the next stop... Mongolia!
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anonymous
non-member comment
Hey guys! It's been a while since we have had chance to check out the blog, but wow it looks like you have been to some fantastic places. Turkey looks stunning! Neither of us have ever been before, but you have certainly done a good job of selling it to us, the scenary looks incredible. Fantastic photos, as always, too! We both have some time off next week, so we are doing a mini-tour of the south visiting Cardiff, Bristol and Bath. A day in a thermal spa? Go on then! Hope you are both well x x x p.s How on earth have you kept Rodderick so clean?! I was expecting him to look pretty grubby after over a month on the road!