Lots of charm and dealing with bureaucracy (Tomsk, Russia)

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(Day 49 on the road)Dead-tired after a few rough nights on trains and only two hours of sleep the night before I arrived in Tomsk, a charming university town in the middle of Siberia. I desperately needed a break from my exhausting overnight-hopping, so I decided to stay a while. This was by no means easy: The first four hotels I went to all across town were booked out, so I had to settle for a place well out of my price range. The alternative would have been to press on to Krasnoyarsk, but I really had no energy left for another day of exploring and another night on the train.

As it turns out, it was the right decision. I shared a room with a very nice Russian guy working for a local oil company, and he showed me the most amazing pictures from his work in northern Siberia. I realized that what I had seen so far was not the real thing, but only the major places along the Trans Siberian Railway. The places he had been to were extremely remote, many of them only reachable by helicopter or very heavy equipment (often tanks). The scenery and the wildness were just amazing. Guess I have to go there someday!

In Tomsk I also met Sasha, a final-year psychology student at the university here. We quickly started chatting, and over the course of the next few days spent a fair amount of time together. Sasha helped me to rent a private apartment for a few days, which was only slightly more expensive than the hotel I had been staying in. And having my private place a for a few nights after sleeping in dormitory accommodation and trains for the last month and a half was certainly nice. Sasha was full of energy and life, and I thoroughly enjoyed her company! What I also noticed in Tomsk is that the Russian female university student dresses up more than the average European going to the Opera (high heels, skirts, smart blouses etc) - strange.

Sasha also helped me to register with the authorities: As a foreigner, if you stay in one place in Russia for more than three working days, you have to register with immigration (God knows why). And this is by no means an easy feat! If you stay in a hotel, the hotel will normally register you. However, as some hotels don't do it (as it is also quite a bit of hassle for them) or if you stay in private accommodation, like I was in Tomsk, you have to register yourself. Sasha spent about an hour on the phone only to find out how this registration actually works. As it turns out, we had to go to the Immigration Office and fill out a complicated form in Cyrillic (very thoughtful, having a form that is purely for foreigners in Cyrillic only). Quite simply, it would have been impossible for me to fill it out and it even took Sasha 2 attempts to get it right, as it was by not really self-explanatory. Besides many photocopies of my documents, we also needed a person that is registered in Tomsk to register me. As Sasha is from Ulan Ude students dont register in their university cities, she had to call one of her local friends to help me out. In the end and after the whole process which took almost the entire day, we got a small slip of paper of which I had to take a photocopy - the original has to be returned to the immigration office after I have left Tomsk. Thank you Sasha for all your help in dealing with this madness!

I have travelled a fair bit in my life already, also to some seemingly more "difficult" countries, but it is safe to say that Russia is the most paranoid country I have been to so far (possible more to come on this trip; Bhutan comes to my mind, where you are required to book a local tour guide for your entire stay). If you have visited Russia yourself, you will know that even getting a visa is very problematic, as you have to have an invitation from someone in Russia, possibly a hotel, to apply for the visa in the first place. Also, when buying train tickets in Russia, they record your name and passport number. Talk about privacy and freedom of movement! I have talked to some of the Russians I met about this, and they actually think it to be perfectly normal: As the country is so big and the threat of terrorism apparently so imminent, the government has to keep track of you. Well, I am not so sure, but have to live with it.

Next stop: Irkutsk (Russia).



To view my photos, have a look at pictures.beiske.com. And to read the full account of my journey, have a look at the complete book about my trip at Amazon (and most other online book shops).

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Comments

[Noeppi]

Feiner Schnitt
Hej Ben, da hast Du Dir ja einen feinen neuen Haarschnitt zugelegt. Sieht echt spitze aus! Nette Bilder und interessante berichte, die Du bist jetzt verfasst hast. ich werde Dich auf Deinem Trip begleiten, jedefalls online! Also wünsche Dir auf jeden Fall weiter viel Spass und dass Du weiter nette Erfahrungen machst. Grüße Nöppi