Blogs from Yekaterinburg, Urals, Russia, Europe - page 2

So, our first long train leg with two nights on board. My first impression was that the carriages were older than the St Petersburg to Moscow train but essentially the same. Next was that it was quite warm compared to the waiting room coming in at 24°C. Nice. We climbed on board unloading our bags into the bottom bunk. This time we had an upper and lower bunk and hoped Dave would be more comfortable on the slightly longer lower bunk. Next thing we knew a couple of Russian ladies had entered the cabin and were taking up all the space in the middle. We couldn’t move so ended up crammed into the lower bunk waiting for them to situate themselves. Eventually the older lade left and we realised we had just one roomie, a young ... read more

So what is three nights straight on the train like? There were highs, there were lows. Or more accurately there was sleep, eating, turning back clocks twice a day, more sleeping, choosing mysterious dishes from the dining car, being chased by babushkas on the platforms, sleeping, eating, getting depressed by the misguided decision to read the Gulag Archipelago, getting depressed by the sheer volume of unattractive Russian men with their shirts off, sleeping, eating, changing clocks and then arriving in Kungur, in the Ural mountains for brief respite. A small town of about fifty thousand maybe, our tour skipped the ever popular Ekaterinburg, instead choosing to bring some foreign tourism to an otherwise often passed place. After a much needed shower and change of clothes, we embarked with a local guide on what became the dawdling ... read more

Hi Everyone, You might be thinking that I must be the pokiest blogger ever. Well, I wrote these articles when I was actually traveling on the Trans-Siberian Railway last month. Now I am back in Beijing and trying to send them but I am getting a lot of interference form the Chinese "50cent-cyber-police" who don't like bloggers. I have been trying to send this every night for the past week and have been blocked. Maybe they have Saturday nights off because it looks like this might fly - Yippee! If you can stick with me you might find what I observed in the Wild West of China to be interesting - if I can send it! OK, back to Yekaterinaburg. I had a strange adventure the next day, which I'll try to send right away. PS ... read more

Ok, so it's been quite a while since I've last posted and a lot has happened since in terms of the present here in Piter. But I want to finish this series before I start talking about the here and now.... 12.12 Phone is not working again! I received a message from a friend in Piter but was unable to reply. It comes and it goes, but I guess that's to be expected on the way to Siberia. Today has been a good day on the Trans-Sib. It began around 0300 when we got our new suite-mates...two old soldiers! When they first came in I caught a glimpse of their badges and thought, "Oh shit! We're rooming with militsia!" But thankfully they weren't Russian cops, but Russian soldiers who are usually much nicer and these were ... read more

Yekaterinburg is so totally different to anywhere else we have been in Russia. It immediately feels like a big city full of grand European style buildings with lots of traffic driving in an organised and disciplined way. Technically we're still in Asia but it all feels very European and the people consider themselves European. All the other places have had a much more small town feel to them. From the top of the original dam you can see all the eras of the city: Istoricheskiy Skver; the site of the dam & 1723 city. A square crammed full of historical info that comes alive in the late afternoon with locals chilling out on the benches beside the river. Pre-Stalinist buildings: grand, intricate and colourful as befits the town presiding over a rich mining region. They are ... read more