Blogs from Tomsk, Siberia, Russia, Europe

All across Russia, it is not uncommon to see wooden houses. These buildings are very distinctive and unlike any others I have seen elsewhere. They are often bungalows, in dark brown wood (I think they are made from spruce or pine trees), sometimes with ornately carved gables and window frames. In small towns, it is still sometimes the case that the majority of homes are wooden (the houses are also popular as dachas), and in the big cities it is possible to see them dotted around (usually appearing at random between Brutalist appartment blocks) and even occasionally to see a small cluster preserved somewhere in the city, as Yekaterinburg has. However, Tomsk is the only city I have been where a whole main street of wooden houses is preserved together. Walking around from Tomsk's busy main ... read more

Étape #2 – Ulaan Baator à Novosibirsk (54h et 2913 km) À la fin de mon dernier texte, j’en étais rendu au passage de la frontière russo-mongole. Côté mongole, j’avais plutôt l’impression que les formalités étaient surtout symboliques de par le temps requis pour faire toute la paperasse et passer au crible le train en entier. Une heure et le train était repartit. Côté russe, ce ne fût pas tout à fait la même histoire. Le défilé d’officiels c’est donc déroulé comme suit : une dame pour vérifier la liste des passagers et s’assurer que nous étions à nos places, une autre dame de l’immigration pour récupérer nos passeports et confirmer qu’ils étaient bien les nôtres et un douanier s’assurer que nous n’avions pas trop de cigarettes, alcool ou articles destinés à la revente et pour ... read more

It is almost Valentine’s day. I’ve been single over 6 months and I am currently sharing a miniscule flat with a 50 something year old Russian lady, a dog/mop, a cat and a hamster. Tatiana’s 11 year old grandson is also often wandering about this 3 room apartment. The breakdancing little scallywag. Tatiana herself wears long fur coats, has bright red frizzy hair and often coasts around the house in only some hideous green leggings. And a bra obviously. The cat is quite possibly deranged – she keeps telling me it has something – an illness I believe – the word she says sounds a lot like catarrh but that could mean anything in Russian really. Eve has suggested it may suffer from Tourettes which generated much laughter from Jay and I, a cat’s lack of ... read more

Hello Again! This time from Tomsk, "Siberia's most likeable city". Since our last blog we have travelled 3,644 kilometres on three different trains - stopping off at several places en route. The first stop was Suzdal, a three hour train journey and one hour bus ride east from Moscow. "The gently winding waterways, flower drenched meadows and dome-spotted skyline make this medieval capital a fairytale setting". So says the Lonely Planet, Trans-Siberian Railway book. Gently winding waterways, tick! Flower drenched meadows, cross! Dome-spotted skyline, tick! Fairytale setting.... hmm!?! Suzdal in itself was a nice place to relax after 8 days in two of Europe's largest cities, but unfortunately it couldn't live up to the mental picture the Lonely Planet guide had painted in our heads. Wondering around and just relaxing, the highlight had to be the ... read more

Caught the evening train to Taiga. I had to stay overnight in Taiga because for some reason I could not get a direct train from Irkutsk to Tomsk. Even though I had reserved a seat, when the tickets came on sale the agency I had been going through advised me it was not possible. What the???! I take back what I said before - trans-siberia train vodka parties do exist. As soon as I got on the train I realised that there were a bunch of guys in my compartment. I found out they were fireman / sportsmen and were off to some fireman sporting event. This is where they compete with fireman kind of tasks like climbing ladders up houses, running with hoses etc. Sounds weird. Anyway they were a very friendly bunch and made ... read more