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Published: July 16th 2006
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Midnight Sun
It's actually 3am! Spent many a night watching the midnight sun, but did start to miss dark nights. Well folks, I've made it to Siberia. After 55 long hours, the train pulled into Tomsk railway station yesterday morning, just before the smell of 54 sweaty, sleepy travellers got the better of us. The ride was great fun - I was in the 3rd class compartment with 5 other backpackers and to be honest, we made the most of the cheap beer for sale on the platform and the plentiful noodles (although I am sick of the noodles now!). There were plenty of stops along the way so we could get out and haggle with the babushkas and we struck lucky - a lady on board asked me if I spoke English and hey presto, turned out she was Russian but now living in Canada, and helped us to buy lots of food - and told us we need to stop queuing and be less polite - i.e. barge our way to the front just like everyone else! She turned out to be our saviour as we hadn't been able to find any hostels that were available beforehand, but she walked into a hotel near the station when we arrived in Tomsk and got us rooms for the local price
- i.e. about half the foreigners' price. A nice stroke of luck and it was great to meet someone so helpful. BTW, contrary to popular belief, it's not always cold in Siberia - our train was about 35C onboard all of the way, and outside today it's about 30C and very sunny. It's only in winter that it drops to -40C or so (and apparently -80C further north!).
We had the company of yet another strict provodnitsa on board who regularly hoovered under our feet and kept the toilet clean - as well as kept the samovar topped up with free hot water for the tonnes of noodles that we ate continuously. She also literally shooes you back on the train when it's time to move on again - what she says goes, and wo betide anyone who thinks otherwise. We saw grown men being herded around the train by them on the last trip.
Tomsk has turned out to be a real highlight of the trip so far. It's a beautiful Siberian city with lots of ornate wooden buildings bordering tree-lined streets. The atmosphere on the streets is a lot more pleasant that elsewhere that I've been
and we've seen no other tourists. We were stopped by a couple of US students yesterday who wanted to chat so they could speak English - they are in Tomsk for the summer to learn Russian at the university and had been told by their Russian hosts that some new English speakers had arrived in town - I guess news travels fast! The people here have been really hospitable - lots of people come over to practise their English which has been fun.
So far I've managed to avoid being stopped by the police. Not that I've done anything wrong, but particularly in touristy areas, they are infamous for stopping tourists and asking to check documents and finding something (allegedly) wrong. I've met 4 other backpackers who have been stopped - and it's not that pleasant! Getting your visa registered every 72 hours is working out okay in the end - most hotels do it automatically, although it's worth checking if they charge extra to do this. Otherwise it's a hassle to queue up at the OVIR office and Russian customer service being what it is... .
Spent today nursing a rather large hangover... . Last night the
Goose-Stepping Soldiers
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Red Square, Moscow 6 of us were challenged to drink vodka with a local bloke sat at a table opposite. Of course, it's rude to turn down such a kind offer so we gladly accepted (okay, we were actually quite worried how we'd fair, given the Russians' legendary skills at vodka drinking, but we thought what the hell). The first toast to Russia and her great friends Britain, Ireland and Australia (which was handy cos that's where we all come from!) was swiftly followed by a 2nd and 3rd - and quickly got to double figures. The local bloke was a great host - sharing his food with us (although we tried to politely refuse) so we helped him polish off the horse meat and bread and although we couldn't really talk each other's language, we got along like a house on fire. We made a sharp exit once the vodka started to get the better of us, but to our horror we bumped into him again in our hotel about an hour later - and the whole thing started again - out came the vodka bottles and night became morning... . It did turn a bit bizarre when he introduced a prostitute
St Basil's Church
Red Square, Moscow to us in the bar as though she were some weird gift (for want of a better word), which I have to say we didn't accept. I can only take so much hospitality!
Anyway, I thought I should really upload some pics from the last couple of weeks - so I hope that you like these. There are quite a few as they span about 3 weeks. Just be thankful that I'm not subjecting you to the whole lot! Off to Lake Baikal tomorrow - only a 35 hour rain trip that one! I'll be mountain biking on Olkhlon Island on the lake so can't wait for that. Better go - will try to send another update from Ulan Ude, failing that, from Mongolia.
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lorraine
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good travellin'
Loved the pics....weather sounds good and the travelling companions1