Blogs from Siberia, Russia, Europe - page 55

The town for disembarking the train was Irkutsk, which we reached at 5:40am local time or 0:40am Moscow time. Our Russian travel agent was even prepared to phone us to make sure we woke up for it, and had briefed the local guide who was meeting us from the train with orders to board it and find us if we didn’t appear. As it was we were up and ready in good time but at a pitch black Siberian station in a snowstorm we were relieved to see the guide (Sasha) and driver (also Sasha) waiting for us. Because of the snow we had a slow drive (and the driver stopped a number of times to offer help to cars that had come off the road) from Irkutsk to a settlement called Listvyanka on the ... read more

am in a random town at the moment in the middle (literally) of russia.... quite amusing as have jus been let loose off the train today - have been on it for the last x2 nights - slightly longer train journeys here than the usual west norwood to victoria!! quite refreshing to be off!! it's been like a constant 20degrees on the train!! ergh!! we're only here for one night - staying on a BOAT - random!! it's all moored up and everything - but fun huh? it's cheap and cheerful... we've got an amazing view across the river from our cabin (making our way through every type of travel) - quite stunning!! looks like we're in canada or something, as there are mountains surrounding the town!! so much for the cold / snowy weather ... read more

Hi everyone, We have come a long way since my last email we have now covered about a quarter of the world. We have been on 1 plane, 4 buses and 8 trains travelled through 8 time zones, spent 120 hours travelling, slept in 19 different beds and gone 6185km ish and all the transport only cost 202 pound, not bad! and still since we have left Latvia we havent spoken to another english person, so about a month! At the moment we are on the most amazing Island called Olkhon, on Lake Baikal, it is the deepest lake in the world and at the moment the whole thing is frozen. It was a bit of an experience getting here, the night before we left the mainland we met two french guys (one who looks like ... read more

Dag drie in de Baikal-express richting Irkutsk. 2716km afgelegd. De trein dendert door. Binnen is het bloedheet, buiten -22 of meer. Taisha slaapt, Babuska zit aan haar voeteneind te praten met Marina en Aksana, de twee vrouwen die onder ons slapen. Aksana probeert iets in het Engels te zeggen, het kost haar veel moeite omdat ze al heel lang geen Engels meer heeft gepraat. Bij woorden die ze niet begrijpt zegt ze: "difficult, no translate". Taisha wordt wakker van de trein die stopt voor een station, ze brabbelt wat woorden in het Russisch vanachter haar lakens. De radio speelt nu klassieke muziek, dan weer house of typisch Russchische muziek. Marina biedt ons een zak met gedroogde vruchten aan. Lekker bij de thee uit de Samovar! (ketel die in iedere wagon zorgt voor kokend water) De dag ... read more

Well I have left the comfortable surrounds of Casa Del Gregory and am now back on the road to head east for home. A wonderful introduction to a new city I had almost forgotten what it was like to negotiate public transport with all my stuff with me, and after getting past a scary Russian immigration lady I then had a local bus to the metro, two metro lines and a 15 min walk to my next destination in St. Petersburgh. No trouble except for nearly getting my backpack stuck in the bus door on the way. I am also back to the internet cafe search so forgive me if this time I just run through what i've done really quickly. St. Petersburgh Hermitage museum which is in the Winter Palace provided 4 hours of looking ... read more