Vodka and Caviar

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This summers adventure is an attempt to hitchhike about 2500miles from Estonia to Turkey. i started in the beautiful medievil town of Tallinn in Estonia. aswell as sightseeing i also got a chance to see His Holyness the Dali Lama on his visit here (i was overjoyed as i missed seeing him when i went to his monastary in India 2 years ago).

i went to an incredibile prison which was only closed 5 years ago. the quirkey 'meuseum' consisted of an old lady pointing to the door and letting me walk free around the whole eerie complex. it looked and felt like a 1950s lunatic asylam or an old KGB torture dungen.

i intended to go to Finland, but all the hostels are booked days in advance, and im just not that organised. i went to the coast instead where i saw some cool old Soviet buildings. I also intended to go intoi Belarus, but my visa got rejected last miniute (loosing me 120pounds), and so i settled for just going to Russia instead.

after getting stuck at the Russian border for a night (yet more problems with my visa), i managed to eventually hitchhike my way to St. Petersburg. hitchhiking about has been good fun - i have met some interesting people and experianced some outragous driving. one guy took me back to his old communist looking apartment block where his mother cooked me a massive meal.

St. Petersburg is an impressive city full of rich imperialist architecture and enormous museums. i then managed to hithchike to Moscow in a van, taking 13.5 hours. i met some really cool people at the hostel and spent alot of time feeling rough from vodka, caviar and other wierd Russian snacks. As well as the Kremlin I also saw Lennis preserved body, which looked more like a waxwork.

Overall i found Russia diffrent to what i expected. Very western and expensive (although you can buy a pack of cigarettes for 20p, a small jar of pesto will set you back 8quid). i also find the people to be of extreams - initially cold but when they get to know you turn out to be extremly friendly and hospitible.

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Photos

hitchhiking in a 1950s Lada
the fella gave me some lovely homemade honey and a not so nice rotten sour apple which i regretted eating out of politness

Comments

[Jack Waters]

Russia looks both amazing and a little bit creepy. I assume that they speak a lot of english over there since you seem to have been able to get around with relative ease. The prison looks awesome although a bit strange and eerie. Moscow looks like an incredible city and the architecture looks very extravagant. Shame to hear about the visa being rejected and you being out of pocket. Keep up the blog and the photos, I'm sure you're having a great time.

[Jim89]

cheers. actually almost no-one speaks English in Russia and Ukraine (its sometimes abit strange being in someones car for a few hours without properly talking). the cities are pritty amazing, but i was glad to go into the mountains in Ukraine to chill out abit. will try and do another blog soon, but it takes ages to upload photos on crappy internet cafe computers. must catch up soon, take care