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Published: June 28th 2012
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We heard UlaanBaator described as 'the ugliest city in the world' which is a bit harsh but it was an unfortunate place to spend so much of our time in Mongolia, so we got out as soon as the train timetable would allow.
We had a 36 hour train ride to Siberia and Lake Baikal just over the Russian border; we couldn't work out why such a comparitavely short distance should take so long, but we hadn't banked on spending 10 hours crossing the Mongolian/Russian border. It was due to waiting for staff, then for engines, then more staff, further carriages and then another engine. But we got through without any real problem having been pretty nervous of the imfamous Russian border guards.
Lake Baikal outside the town of Irkusk ('the Paris of the East' allegedly) is often put up as a highlight of the trans-siberian train and it was there we stopped, although we knew almost nothing about it, as much as anything to break up the incredibly long journey.
From Irkusk it was a 6 hour bus ride to Olholn Island (including a short ferry ride) on lake Baikal. Russians are famous for there terse and
unfriendly speech. This was palyed out perfectly by more-or-less the first Russian we interacted with, the mini-bus driver, who was instructing me how to put my bag on the roof and that he would tie it securely, but said it in (what i took to be) such an aggressive way that i genuinely believed we were about to have a fight. I later realised this to be not agression as such, just a plain speaking and a lack verbal niceities; disconcerting at first though.
After 36 hours on a train and 6 on a cramped mini-bus we were beginning to have second thoughts that Olhon island was the best place to go. But our decision was justified when on arrival. It is an incredibly beautiful island set in the largest freshwater lake in the world, the water had recently thawed after the winter and was crystal clear and the near by mountains still had a dusting of snow;we spent two happy days wandering along the beaches and hills. We were staying in a yurt run by a lovely young woman who completely aswaged our fear of Russians that we had managed to build up. She was friendly and candid,
speaking of Russia's problems (drinking, mafia) and how things had changed since the collapse of the USSR. She treated us to a home-made Russian sauna, which we had to ourselves and were able to sit for an hour or so sweating off the accumulated dust of the Gobi desert.
All too soon we were back in Irkusk (a nice enough, but fundamentally unremarkable town) and preparing for our three day (77 hour to be precise) train journey to Moscow. We stocked up on bread, cheese and noodles and crossed our fingers. These long journeys in cramped compartments depend hugely on who is sharing your 4 berth cabin with you. I heard a story of a couple sharing this cramped space with an obese, mustachioed Russian man who drank huge quantitiesd of Vodka and vomited over himself, thus stinking out the cabin for the next 2 days. Your companions are important and up to this point we had been lucky. You can image our relief when we got Dan (a journalist from south London) and a small, silent and sleepy Russian man who seemed to drink only hot water with lemon and almost never leave his top bunk.
Dan
was friendly, interested and interesting and having that extra energy really helped the three days shoot by. The views from the window were of uniform berch forest peppered with ocassional wood-built villages but the time went by quickly with much reading and putting the world to rights and when it was time to get off none of us were in a rush.
We had some initial problems in Moscow because the hostel we booked didn't seem to exist and it took 4 hours to finally find a place to stay, somewhat ruining our good moods, but once we setteled in we were both really impressed. I had been expecting stern and imagination-less concrete but Moscow was beautiful and suprisingly European. It had some of the most fantastic architecture we'd seen (at that point) since leaving Europe 16 months before, it was clean and efficent with the most beautiful underground system i've ever seen. It also contained the best gallery i've ever been to with Monet, Manet, Picasso, Van Gothe, Rodin, Gaugin, Pisarro, Renoit, Degas and anyone else of that era you can think of. A benefit of communism still being felt today, most of the pictures had been taken
off the rich, it made a cracking gallery.
Pushing on we took the train (a mere 8 hours) to St Petersburg which was another huge suprise. Even more European than Moscow with even more beautul. There was hardly an non-beautiful building to be seen. Unfortunatly the weather was a little hit and miss sunny in the days but raining all night so we didn't get to see the famous white nights bridge raising. We did spend a day in the remarkable Hermitage museum housed in the Tsars winter palace. Lots more impressive impressionist painting, lots of Greek and central asian artifacts and some trully random bits and pieces (a Charles Dickens cheque, an autograph by Alexander Dumas). We desided it is Russia's attick, where all the crap noone knows what to do with is put.
We were leaving St Petersburg by ferry, the cheapest way to get into Europe proper, what we didn't realise was that our cheap 'ferry' was actually a Russain cruise. So we had an extra two days of being spoken to in Russian, I don't think Russians over 20 have realised that there country has opened to the west yet, people assumed we were
Russian at least twice a day. The bonus of our unexpected cruise was the surprise 7 hour stop in Helsinki. We had a lovely day in the sun walking about the beautiful and peaceful city.
Arriving in Stockholm EU citizens were allowed to jump the que to leave the boat, there's nothing like crossing a Russian boarder to make you appreciate the beauty of visa free travel, welcome back to the EU! Stockholm has thoughly impressed us both at all times. The city is the most beautiful I have ever seen and regularly feels like you are out in the country even in the middle of the city. Having the city on islands creates a wonderful wide open space over the water allowing views of horizon regularly. It is expensive but not as horribly expensive as we had expected eating from supermarkets it isn't much worse than being at home (says she who hasn't shopped in the UK in 16 months). We've spent two days wandering around the town, soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the views, it's a beautiful city and on I'm sure we'll cme back to.
Tomorrow we jump on the train to Copenhagen, followed by Paris a couples days later, then home on Wednesday.
See you soon!
Chris & Alice
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