Blogs from Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia, Europe - page 5

If someone could come up with a good use for the zillion upon zillion silver birch trees we have passed, they would be awarded the Order of Siberia. The trees we saw today had less snow around them and were enjoying a beautiful spring day, but the view didn't change all that much. We are looking forward to getting off the train for longer than 15 minutes, although the early-morning departure tomorrow morning isn't that attractive in itself. To prepare ourselves we try to realign our body clocks to the latest timezone which doesn't really work when we're still thinking in Moscow time because that's what the timetables are written in. Anyway, the day was more of the same, without passing any towns of particular interest. Perhaps the most excitement came when Gemma threw a tantrum ... read more

Day 94, 2nd September Kočenevo - Novosibirsk We woke up to a sunny day, although everything through our eyes was hazy and a little bit ‘groovey’! It wasn’t far into Novosibirsk, the capital of Siberia. And, it wasn’t as sprawling as I’d expected. As we crossed the bridge over the river Ob, the centre of the city was spread before us, and the Trans-Siberian railway tracks raised above the river too. Once at the end of yet another Lenin Street there was Station Square with its grandiose station building and combined underground shopping centre and market. The huge Hotel Novosibirsk lay opposite. We booked into two twin rooms. I shared room 1308 with Scott and the bicycles. A wander around the city later showed that there was nothing extraordinary to be found here, a big opera ... read more

Day 90, 29th August Kalačinsk - Tartarsk - Čany It was a cloudier day but warm and dry. There was no dampness on the tents at all. I made porridge for breakfast for the first time, with halva in it, it was yummy! We were on the road for about nine, there was another time-zone change after leaving Omsk Oblast (region), making us seven hours ahead of GMT and directly north of Delhi! On the brand new M51 road east, there was therefore no old communist stuff, signs and monuments, to be seen. The road is flat, smooth, straight, and fortunately for us, has very little traffic which enabled us to cycle side by side. We “gossiped” about Toby and Rory (sad really) but came up with some interesting conclusions: Scott coundn’t travel alone with Toby, ... read more

Hallo, Ich bin wieder einmal in der Naehe eines PC’s. Das wichtigste - es geht mir gut. Ich fuehle mich zwar ein wenig schlapp, aber das wird schon. Bin von Ekaterinburg weiter nach Omsk gereist. Ich bin zur Zeit in Novosibirsk. Nun versuche ich hier etwas online zu bringen aber dieser PC stuerzt andauern ab. Weiterhin spinnt die Leertaste auf der Moehre und der pc macht so komische Streifen, welche beim hinschauen schmerzen... Richtig Angst macht mir aber nur das Kabel, welches ohne Isolierung 5 cm neben meiner Maus liegt. Aber keine Angst, so wie ich Russland kenne ist da bestimmt sowieso kein Strom drauf weil irgendwo etwas nicht funktioniert. Was kann ich ueber Omsk sagen, irgendwie verschlafen. Aber ich habe bei drei sehr netten Maedels aus Kasachstan gewohnt, und wieder eine dieser endlosen Kuechendiskussionen gehabt, ... read more