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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. Passing villages is also nice though – they have such cute little wooden houses with massive backyards full of vegetables. After my intense Russian language experience in Severobaikalsk where I got to use almost everything I know, I decided the 5 verbs I know is not enough and made an effort to learn some more. There was no one in the bunk below me
either so I had a whole table to myself and got my master chef on, two minute noodle style (In my defence I tried to find something like cous cous that can also be cooked with just the free hot water provided). Excuse me while I start cutting up a cabbage. Some people did start to stare at this point.
We arrived in Krasnoyarsk at 5 pm and I pulled off the impossible of finding the Kiwi hostel. Hostels in Russia are just apartments and they never have signs. I have a theory that they’re not officially allowed to be in business so they deliberately don’t put signs up but the ones on hostel word always have really good directions. This one however did not. It was about 10 minutes (or 40 in peak hour as was the case) by bus and the website did have info on which stop to get off at so this was the easy part. I even managed to find building 9, apartment 17 on the right street only to knock on the door of a regular apartment. Ooops, sorry. There are many building 9’s and I was looking for 9g. I didn’t even
know if it was the Russian g (г) or Russian d which looks like an English g in cyrillic cursive, and there ended up being two building 9g but, with the help of two very nice Russian men I found the place and they ‘broke in’ through the locked (by magnet only) front door of the building. The owners don’t even live there so it was just lucky that another backpacker was there at the time and let me in. I sat around and talked to Zac, the English guy who let me in, until the owners arrived a few hours later. The place is called Kiwi hostel and they really stuck to the theme - EVERYTHING is kiwi, or at least green, including the toilet seat and paper. Although the roll at the time was unscented, Zac insisted that the previous roll had in fact been kiwi scented.
I had been told that it was possible to camp at Stolbi Nature Reserve/National Park (although I couldn't find any info online) so I went there with my big pack full of all my camping gear. I caught the local buses and walked the last 7km to the center of
the park. Only the first 2km were along a car road which slowly became more of a steep dirt track. I was clearly in the Russian zone while all the other tourists opt for the section that has a chair lift to it. I found Stolbi 1 (the big 80m rock) and a few others then started walking along a (marked) trail but obviously not the one I wanted. I met a lovely Russian family walking it too and just as confused as me. By their footwear I was able to guess that socks and sandals aren't just a fashion reserved for long distance trains, but also acceptable for walking in the (quite swampy at times) forrest. Eventually they decided to turn back. I continued for about another 10 minutes until the trail dissapeared (completely overgrown) and I met them again close to the Stobli 1. Eventually they found what they were looking for - more of the rocks. I spent the next few hours with them and in true Russian style they shared their lunch with me. They also wanted me in all their photos. Once we had seen the ones in the main area it was getting late
(4:30pm). By this point I'd decided I couldn't camp. For a start there was no good place to pitch a tent - the whole place was (encephalitus tick infested) forrested mountains with no clear or flat areas. There were also signs saying no camping, 1000 rouble fine. So I didn't end up seeing much of the park and left with the family back towards the main road. They had a car so gave me a lift for the last 2km to my bus stop and I went back to my hostel which I luckily still ahd a key for since there was noone there when I arrived.
I spent a day looking around Krasnoyarsk and really dawdled since I now had way too much time here. It was a great day in the end - maybe it was due to my good mood on account of a very successful train ticket buying experience in the morning. After the train station I walked along one of the main streets, to the markets, and up the hill North of the city to Chasovnya Chapel where you can look at the whole of ugly Krasnoyarsk. The hill was a nice area though.
The center is very cute and had a funny Christmassy feel to. They have those lights over the streets that most places only put up for Chistmas and there was uplifting slightly hilarious music being played from loudspeakers everywhere. It was a Sunday so there were lots of people just walking around (but not too many), especially in the city park which was like a mini theme park or show with rides and other random things like pool tables and bars. I walked along the river, went to every supermarket I passed trying to find brocolli (they have a very limited selection of vegetables here), and went to some second hand shops but they were out of control asking for $20 - $30 for an old pair of jeans! That night I was the only one in the hostel (until midnight) so I watched Harry Potter 7 dubbed into Russian. All I can say is the Russians are amazing at dubbing - it was really convincing and they even got the tones right to match peoples facial expressions.
My train to Tomsk didn't leave until 4pm so that was abit of a bore and I didn't really do much.
It was still freezing but as expected the train waas still a sauna and I started sweating more or less instantly. I had a whole 4 person area to myself for the first few hours which was nice then moved up to my bed just before the train really filled up. Although I was exhausted by 9pm I couldn't sleep and woke up constantly from the heat. We arrived in Tomsk at 7am and I easily found the hostel there. A Dutch girl came about 10 minutes later who had actually been on my carriage but neither of us had realised the other was a foreigner. We didn't leave the hostel until about 10am because the man working there insisted that we needed to get registered and had to run around getting photocopies of our visas and other stuff. This didn't matter in the end because there really isn't much to do in Tomsk.
I walked around with Mariella, the Dutch girl, seeing all the sights, the old wooden buildings street, the university, and the river. The hostel didn't have a kitchen though which I thought was abit of an issue but we just made a aslad for dinner.
I left at 7am the next morning to Novosibirsk. I was actually going to Yekaterinburg but the direct train was really expensive and I bought the ticket in Severobaikalsk with the help of Lena so we had gone through all the trains of the day till we found one with cheap platzkartny places available (at a quarter of the price of the direct ticket). The only problem is this meant I got off at Novosibirsk at midday then caught a train from there to Yekaterinburg at 1:30am. I had terrible hayfever which started and was actually at its worst on the train. It was uncomfortably hot as usual and I was stuck in an area surrounded by a family of extreme snorers so I was pretty releived when we arrived. I walked to the main square which had a nice little market on it, along Lenina Street, to an old locomotive, trying to get enthusiastic about trains to waste some time, and trying to hunt down vegetables for my next train ride.
I boarded my next train at 1am and had to wait half an hour before it actually left so my ticket could get checked and I got
my sheets before going to bed. I slept in the next morning and just stared out the window and read the whole next day. I got a lower bunk for the first time ever and it was great! There was just so much more space. The train was also a comfortable temperature which was also a first for me. After having to reveal I didn't speak Russian one of the girls on the bunk opposite came and talked to me - she spoke pretty good english (just what she learnt in school) and was excited to get to use it. Another woman who walked past to go to the toilet heard us and also got really excited and sat down and talked for about an hour. She was an english teacher in a town near Novosibirsk and was taking some students to Saint Petersburg so all of a sudden there was a massive crowd around me and cameras everywhere! After this dies down there were just a few hours left to waste before arriving in Yekaterinburg at 11pm.
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Felicity
non-member comment
Far out your moving so fast I'm not keeping up Im still in Mongolia
wowza! So I keep opening your blogs and not getting around to reading them because I'm lazy but I always look at the photos first and they look incredible...I love the blue windows in Tomsk. When I was in Singapore and India I took so many photos of window it was silly. I may just have a window fetish...hmmmmm.!!!!! O.K. I'm going to read all your other blogs and not be lazy. Even though I've been staring at a computer screen all day. (I started my job as a receptionist today with an insurance company). sad face.