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Blogs from Siberia, Russia, Europe - page 4
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August 4th 2012
We arrive in Ulan Ude the capital of Buraytia republic in Russia. Its home to Buraytiy's, Evenk ethnic groups as well as Russians in general. The town was established in 1666 and flourished quickly due to its proximity to Mongolia and China.Due to its ethnic minorities and location in Asia it has a real Asian feel to it. I'm reminded of Mongolia and my love for the city flourishes further. Although we are in Siberia, its once again nice and warm and sunny. A real summers day. Ulan Ude is said to be one of the sunnier cities compared to surrounding cities close by. The city centre is nice to walk around in and also houses the worlds largest statue of Lenin's Head! The merchant mansions are nice wooden houses scattered throughout the city mainly along ... read more
Day 30-33: (Found) Trekking in Altai, Siberia part 2
Published: August 19th 2012Europe » Russia » Siberia » Altai Republic
August 2nd 2012
Day 30 - July 30 We ate more of the bland porridge for breakfast and headed along the dirt road up and down a few low valleys. We started passing a few cows with their calves grazing. We came across a farm with about a 100 sheep and goats with 2 horses. We ate lunch on the farm and the farm owners boiled us water for tea. We started off again, bushwhacking through thick shrubs for a ways before doing the same in a forest. As we reached the crest of the hill it started to hail on us for about 10 minutes. After which we plowed down the hill and continued through the forest until we at last came upon an opening. We were at the top of a hill overlooking the Karakabak river. It ... read more
August 1st 2012
It's hot, sunny and things are getting a little sweaty. It's only 7am but this is Siberia baby. Temperature fluctuation is huge here, with summers reaching the +30 degree Celsius highs, meanwhile winter can fall as low as -67 degrees Celsius. Having spent 41 hours on the train to Chita we are ready to stretch our legs and embrace summer time fun in Chita. By this point we have traveled 3,289km consecutively by train through Russia. Chita, like Kamchatka and Vladivastok was formerly a restricted military city. Post loosing its military status and due to tis proximity to China the city developed rapidly and somewhat unevenly. You can see modern high rises right next to broken down wooden houses. From those wooden houses grandmas still continue to fetch water from a pump outside which I've read ... read more
Day 27-29: Lost Trekking in Altai, Siberia
Published: August 16th 2012Europe » Russia » Siberia » Altai Republic
July 29th 2012
Day 27 - July 27 The bus to Altai was a full size charter bus. We drove through the night from Novosibirsk to Altai, first stopping at a rest stop at 1 am, where we had dinner. Then we were off again. We stopped in the morning for breakfast in some little highway town. Our guide ordered us breakfast but they ran out of food. We bought a couple of things in a nearby shop before setting off again. We started dropping off groups at various locations before coming upon our drop-off at about 1pm. It was a grassy valley surrounded by rocky mountains to the north and forested mountains to the south. There was also a muddy river snaking along in between. We started to organize our bags as they gave us an extra sleeping ... read more
Day 24-26: Transiberian Train: Ulaanbataar to Novosibirsk
Published: August 13th 2012Europe » Russia » Siberia » Novosibirsk
July 26th 2012
Day 24 - July 24 It was time to head off to Russia via a 2 day train to Novosibirsk. But first we went around town finishing chores, buying souvenirs and the like. We caught a 'cab' to the train station. By cab I we mean random person with a car willing to drive us for money. We arrived at the train station walked to the train (no gates or anything - anyone can walk right up to the train) and boarded our carriage. The layout of the train was identical to the Chinese one but was more modern. We had a room for four to ourselves again which was nice. The train headed off as we passed through familiar terrain (thankful that even though the ride was long 53 hours) at least it wasn't bumpy. ... read more
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July 21st 2012
The transfer back to Irkutsk was a little scary with the driver deciding to wait for the solid white line and the "No overtaking" sign to overtake - in such safe places as blind turns and on the brow of a hill. This would have been bad enough, but just to add another element while of "excitement" the car had it's steering wheel on the right (as in the UK) but they also drive on right. It turns out many people import cheap second hand cards from Japan to Siberia (as there is a ferry from Vladivostock) but do not get them converted to right side driving. By some miracle we did arrive safely and checked into our hotel, and having WiFi we actually felt connected back to civilisation. We may have spent a couple of ... read more
July 20th 2012
Okay the area is starting to grow on me, but only if I ignore the main street and only think about the unpaved roads and the strange wooden houses. We started the day with a hike in the Siberian forest that surrounds the lake, it was pretty hot day so we ended up sweating bucket loads. Our guide was not very talkative and mostly marched ahead of us. The hike went round the mountain and down to a secluded spot by the lake for lunch where we met a few Russian students who wanted to practice their English. The hike was enjoyable but it seemed a little intense for a leisure hike, they didn't mention this when we booked it! Fortunately we had walking gear (decent boots, long trousers and shirts to avoid in horse flies ... read more
July 19th 2012
Our train arrived on time and we seem to be coping well with the time chages, we work up about 6am local time which isn't terrible. Fortunately the agency had booked travel between Irkutsk and the small lake side village Listvyanka so we were met by a local and bundled into a car much to the annoyance of Ben who not only hadn't booked transport but also hadn't booked a hotel yet (he owes me 350 roubles/£7 so I better see him again!). Fortunately our room was ready at our hotel, which is a lovely almost chalet like wooden building, and we also were given the hotel breakfast which was appreciated. However we were also had an hour before our walking tour meaning, oh joy of joys, a SHOWER!! I cannot tell you how good that ... read more
July 17th 2012
The guy who drove us to the station was the same one who picked us up when we arrived from St Petersburg, still as grumpy as before so it wasn't down to the early start as I'd assumed. Still, although he didn't speak a word of English he was able to get the message across about which train we should catch, which platform it would leave from and what time we could board - most of which was printed on the tickets or I had found online while I should have have been working (hello Andy!). Boarding was a long walk down the train to find our wagon and show our tickets and passports to the conductor (or Provodnista in Russian - see I'm learning!). Our compartment was more basic than our Cologne -> Moscow sleeper ... read more
July 16th 2012
Ulan Ude was a haven of peace and tranquilty,maybe not surprising with it's close proximity to Mongolia and it's mainly Buddhist population. We were met at the station by a very enthusiastic,English speaking guide and a driver-not something we were accustomed to.We were staying at a large hotel very close to the main city square which has the worlds largest Lenins head - weighing 42 tonnes and standing just over 25 feet high - in it.The square is still used for military parades. We ventured out after checking in and witnessing a huge thunderstorm.The area had not had much rain recently so the violent storm was much needed but the parched ground did not drain very well so the pavements and roads quickly became rivers.... read more
