MadeleineY

I arrived in Moscow at 5:15am, before the metro opens. By the time I found the metro station it should have opened but there was such an enourmous crowd of people waiting that I didn't really want to join the stampede so I walked to my hostel. It wasn't too far and quite easy to find but it was raining and I got pretty wet. I got myself organised and really took my time since not much opens before 10am. I walked towards the center and wandered around the outside of Red Square and then went to the Kremlin. Unfortunately I forgot to charge my camera battery so it dies and I only got a few photos. The Kremlin wasn't as big as I expected but I think it's just because alot of the area is ... read more

The train to Krasnoyarsk took about 28 hours which really dragged and there were a lot of loud and annoying kids. The scenery on the BAM section is pretty amazing though – lots of snow topped mountains and trees. After my experience at the hot springs though I had a new appreciation for the pleasant mosquitoe free environment on the train and had no desire to hop off and go for a hike. I've decided I need to come back to Russia in the winter one day. Not neccessarily the middle of winter when its - 50 but at least when all the lakes are frozen over and theres snow everywhere. The further West the train goes the more the trees thin out, there are more open meadows and fields and more signs of human life. ... read more

I got off the train and stood on the platform looking around feeling defeated. For one it was a little surreal after 15 hours of deserted nothingness - no more life than a few odd yurts, camels and horses to end up in such a huge concrete busy city. I was tired, smelly and sticky (hadn't had a shower or changed since before my great wall hike), my feet and legs were black with dirt from the Hohhot train floor and I had cut myself somewhere so also had dried blood all over my feet. I didn't have a map and I couldn't speak a word of Mongolian (all my Mongolia info along with all my other research I had on my USB got eaten up by a virus in Cambodia). Oh Shit! And then a ... read more

We left Shangri La at 8am, arriving at the bus station a good 3 minutes before it was meant to leave. There was also an Austrian couple and an Israeli couple on the bus so we took up almost half of the small bus. I ended up with possibly the worst seat ever, in the back corner with absolutely no leg room at all! My knees were poking through the seat infront of me into Marianes back the whole way. After the first break I was just commenting on how good the road was when we hit the rough dirt track and spent the rest of the 8 hour trip being thrown of our seats and landing with a painful twang up your back. These small local buses are also full of Chinese men doing the ... read more

I crossed the border into China quickly and without any hassles. According to the Lonely Planet, some people have had their China LP confiscated and been treated badly by the officials at this border so I was mentally prepared for this and had also hidden my LP deep inside my big backpack wrapped up in clothes. However, appart from sending the luggage through an x-ray machine there was no searching or any other annoyances. All of a sudden I was in China - no moto drivers yelling at me, but also no moto drivers to get directions or information from. I had no Chinese money so walked around looking for a bank which I eventually found quite a way away. Next stop, bus station to hopefully catch a bus to Yuanyang and the amazing rice fields, ... read more