Blogs from Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia, Europe
April 9th 2012
The common theme of the train journey is snow, we spend a lot of time going through silver birch woodlands opening out every so often into grassland. This is interspersed with frozen lakes and rivers. The most interesting thing about the landscape is that what at first looks like a forest around us isn't its an optical illusion - its actually small clumps of trees dotted all over the place - not a place to get lost as there's no points of reference for great distances. Our constant search for wildlife is not too successful to date we've seen a hawk and a couple of geese. Shortly after we leave Balyezino station (where we get breakfast from the platform sellers and are greeted by an array of station dogs on the platform all friendly) the first ... read more
August 28th 2011
New Ageism in Siberia Long before the soveits, the orthodox church or the Russian monarchy colonised Siberia, this land to the east of the Ural mountains was home to early Altaic people and Mongol clans. These tribes held old shamanistic religious beliefs, strongly influenced by the spirit of animism and sympathetic magic. It is perhaps therefore no surprise that my visit to Novosibirsk, the capital of Siberia, should have coincided with an exhibition promoting all manner of modern new age and spiritualist practices. The fair was held in a small modern office complex on Dimitrova Prospekt. The event was called Aeternum, and its logo was a single human eye set in a golden triangle. This eye adorned a giant poster hanging in front of the shiny yellow and black glass of the exhibition centre. The eye ... read more
July 7th 2011
In Novosibirsk I got picked up by Nadezhda – she is the university friend of my friend’s mom’s friend. In Russia you don’t necessarily need to know people directly, as long as you know the name of someone they know you’re pretty much welcome in their home . Even though I knew that connections are working like this in Russia, I didn’t feel very comfortable using these connections in the first place due to the fact that they pretty much didn’t have a choice to say no. After a while I however realized that I kind of represent a pleasant change to their normal routine in life – when I offered to do things on my own and to get out of their apartment, they usually wanted to join me. Novosibirsk has roughly 1.5 Mio inhabitants ... read more
December 5th 2009
Ever stumbled upon the perfect café in Russia? The quiet corner of the Novosibirsk city is Traveler Café. The café chain stores are located almost at every corner of the city. It is a café that combined with travel experiences and good food. Free internet is provided for travelers to update blogs and upload photos. It is also a café that we held our Flash Mob. We got the chance to talk to customers in the café, showing them postcards and photos of Australian scenery. We had a lot of fun bringing happiness to the customers. Among all the customers, there are our two little fans. They attend almost all of our events, including parties and talks about different cultures. Even though they are just at the age of 16, both of them are always the ... read more
December 3rd 2009
The exchange experience officially started when we moved into the student dorm in NSTU. We had the chance to live with other Russian students in a student residential hall together for a 5-week-period. Food was provided in the accommodation. We had the chance to taste traditional Russian breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even though the meals were similar everyday, we enjoyed them a lot. We felt like home every day when the staff in the canteen gave us a big warm smile before we got our food. For breakfast, we usually had bread and butter, congees, porridge, yoghurt and eggs. For lunch, we usually had minced beef and rice, salmon fish or baked chicken. Sometimes when we were lucky enough, there would be cheesecakes as dessert. Dinner time was not the best of all. It was not ... read more
November 27th 2009
We lived with a homestay family when we were in Novosibirsk. The homestay father drove us to his home. It was an apartment bloc in a little village faraway from the centre of Novosibirsk. It took almost 2 hours of drive to arrive there. The homestay was in a Soviet apartment block, as many of the residential place in Russia. The apartment was constructed in Soviet period of time, and was decorated with vintage furniture. The homestay mother told us that the decoration in the house has not been changed since the past 20 years. Everything remained the same as the time she just moved into the house. The only difference was that her sons have bought a computer and a high-fi set in their room. The apartment was occupied by the homestay mother, as well ... read more
Siberian Winter in Novosibirsk (Orphanage)
Published: August 30th 2010Europe » Russia » Siberia » Novosibirsk
November 25th 2009
I didn’t know what to expect when I decided to go to Novosibirsk in Russia. All that I had was all the research information that I’ve got before the trip: tourist attacks, robbers, and thieves. All I had in mind was to be careful about strangers who tried to come close to us. Yet, little of it reflects what I have experienced in the 6 weeks trip in Novosibirsk! The city is not as dangerous as people have said! Our first job was to visit an orphanage in a rural area. It took us almost 2 hours by train and bus to go there. After the long bus journey, we had to walk for about 15 minutes in the Siberian coldness, on the slippery and icy ground, before we arrived at the orphanage. The 15-minute walk ... read more
September 12th 2009
... Dann lässt er uns ENDLICH weiterrennen. Tja, Russisch verstehen hätte geholfen, die Lautsprecher Durchsage lautete nämlich: „Der Zug von Moskau nach Chita hat 10 Minuten Verspätung. Puh, nochmals Glück gehabt. Auf der Suche nach weiteren Abenteuern gehen Thor und ich in der letzten Nacht mit zwei Flaschen bewaffnet auf den „Vodkatrail“ durch den Zug in die dritte Klasse. Dort treffen wir, was wir gesucht haben: Eine Gruppe junger Russen, welche sich sobald als Soldaten auf dem Weg nach Chita herausstellen. Gern wird unser Angebot in flüssiger Form angenommen und mir allerhand hausgemachtem Fleisch und Gemüse beantwortet (Remember, Regel Nr.3?). Die dritte Klasse hat den Charme eines Hühnerstalls aus den 30er Jahren, uns egal, und so geniessen wir die „Unterhaltung“ und das Getrinke und Gefresse mit den russischen Militärs. Immer wieder unglaublich was für e... read more
Capitales Siberianas: de Tobolsk a Novosibirsk
Published: April 20th 2009Europe » Russia » Siberia » Novosibirsk
April 19th 2009
Tras pasar de nuevo una noche en tren, llegamos a Tobolsk, la antigua capital de Siberia. Esta vez no nos espera nadie aqui asi que nos encaminamos hacia el hotel que se encuentra frente al Kremlim, que es la principal razon que nos lleva a desviarnos de la ruta. La ciudad, que se asemeja mas a un pueblo, esta desierta y sopla un viento gelido a pesar del sol que luce. Paseamos por el solitario Kremlim que se encuentra en una colina, y desde el vemos el rio Irtysh completamente helado. De Tobolsk viajamos a Omsk donde pasamos dos noches con Tanya y su hijo Artiom, de 7 anyos. Al llegar a la estacion nos recibe su amiga Natasha, que resulta ser tambien fotografa. Una vez en el piso de Tanya conocemos a Dima, que es ... read more
June 14th 2008
Novosibirsk and onwards! We left the tourist camp in the Altai and said our goodbye's to Nadia and set off by car to Barnaul. The journey took about four hours and we then had to jump on a public bus to take us the rest of the way to Novosibirsk. We arrived in Novosibirsk at 10pm and due to crossed wires we werent picked up until 11pm which worried us slightly especially after being left to wait in the back of a bus depot with diminishing light! It was here that we would be staying at our first “homestay” where we spent the night with a local family in their own home. We were taken by the taxi to a typical russian soviet style apartment block and met by our host and guide Katya. The apartment ... read more
