Lights out on Russia!

Good night, Moscow!
Originally uploaded by camandkristin

We've been on the road for 96 days, and are now closing the book on the second stage of the adventure. Today we fly to Kathmandu, the first time we’ll be returning to a country we’ve already visited, from where we’ll travel overland north to Tibet, and then south into India for a total of 9 weeks before flying out from Mumbai on Christmas Eve. It sounds pretty daunting at the moment but I expect Christmas will be upon us before we know it…

Our Trans-Mongolian journey finished with the Irkutsk-Moscow leg, completing the 7800km, 144 hour epic rail trip from Beijing. A further 5 hour trip north to St. Petersburg isn’t technically a part of the Trans-Siberian route, and is so short and inconsequential its hardly worth mentioning (except for the fact that we were on a gorgeous express train that reached speeds of 220km/h and offered the smoothest and most quiet ride we’ve ever had).

The long leg from Irkutsk started at 2:30am when we boarded what we thought would be our best train yet. Since the journey was so long, we’d paid extra to be on what we thought would be a “Firmenny” train- slightly higher class and faster. It turns out not to have been the case- the carriage was older and less appealing than even the third class train from Beijing (and, over the next 4 days, it became clear it wasn‘t any faster either…). We found our cabin already occupied with sleeping roommates, and had to squeak in and get our beds made with minimal fuss, trying to ignore the fact that we had 4 days ahead of us in the tiny compartment. As usual, however, all our companions (a total of 4 cycled through over the whole trip) were great and it was easy to pass the time with exciting activities like making tea, staring out the window, attempting to decipher the Cyrillic time table, strategizing bathroom breaks, and popping off the train for 5 or 6 minutes at a time at each stop.

Early in the trip Cam expressed his fear of the “providnitsii” (male steward) who, I’ll admit, did look to be a stern Russian with his military hair cut and well pressed uniform. However, it wasn’t long until he introduced himself to us- his name was Serge, and he was anything but fearful. On one trip to the bathroom I heard my name being called down the length of the car- I was being beckoned into Serge’s cabin to look at hundreds of photos of his “favourite daughter” in classic Russian poses (if you’ve ever seen a Russian pose for a photo, you know what I mean) in her new home city of Honolulu. Later on Cam went to fill our tea mugs with water and, when he didn’t return for a while, I knew he’d been kidnapped by Serge. He returned eventually saying “I just saw pictures of Serge in his speedos” and then proceeded to demonstrate the pose. Serge continued to be a real source of entertainment for us- he’d show up at our cabin, announce some random information about our next stop, and then walk away. On our final night on the train, our food supplies were exhausted, so we decided to give the dining car a shot. We told Serge where we were headed, planning to request his company (if for no other reason than to get his assistance in translating the menu). He announced he would join us, helped us custom order our meals, and then we proceeded to shoot vodka with him to really solidify the Russian train experience. That meal ended with Serge professing his love for me (which is odd, as I really thought it would have been for Cam…) and offering me a cone of pumpkin and sunflower seeds. So many odd things happen on these trains…

As if Serge wasn’t enough, another couple from two cabins down heard our English and, after learning we were from Canada (they had family in Calgary), developed quite an attachment to us. They called us “friends” and kept calling us into their cabin for broken conversations. At one point they produced three memory cards for their camera, and asked us to download to our computer all their holiday photos from their trip to Europe a year ago. Cam spent the next hour going through all 900 photos with them… They ended up presenting us with a pack of postcards from their home town (“Present”), as well as 10 ruble coin as a token of our friendship. We both exited the train in Moscow and they snapped a few photos of us at the station as though we were their children setting off on a journey. We all then headed to the metro, and they bought our metro tickets and helped us find our way to the proper station. Just another of the many relationships that develop on these trains!

Anyway, once off the train, we spent 4 days exploring Moscow which was a great city with lots to see. The Russian people who live there are very modern and fashion forward- they could easily fall into step in Vancouver. Our first destination was the infamous Red Square- one of those places you always hear about but never think you’ll actually see. The square is lined on all sides with something impressive- the Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral, a huge 19th century impressive building that now houses a chic department store, the Russian State History museum and, for good measure, a marble mausoleum holding Lenin. St. Basil’s is really quite something- all the best of Russian Orthodox :) We managed to hit all the main sights, as well as some of the less notorious ones like the Gulag History Museum, Statue Park (housing many of the Soviet statues that used to line the streets), Arbat street, a handful of cathedrals, and a sweet shopping mall with a Gap and H&M (finally some denim to add to our travel wear)! We also spent one night at the Bolshoi Ballet- a nice introduction for ballet rookies like us.

After our tour of Moscow it was off to St. Petersburg, or Leningrad if you prefer. This city is well known as one of the worlds most beautiful, and although we saw it much in the rain and gray, we do agree to an extent. The problem is, we’ve seen many of the worlds “most beautiful” so its up against some stiff competition… We spent our time here visiting many of the cathedrals, parks and gardens, the fort that was the original center of the city, and the Hermitage Museum (which warrants about a week in itself, so we had to move fast for our 6 hour window…). One of the cathedrals here, the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, easily tops my personal list of all churches I have ever seen (and that list is long and distinguished). The outside resembles St. Basils (but better), and the inside boasts 7000 sq meters of mosaic wall coverings. It is absolutely unbelievable and, for me, single-handedly worth the trip to St. Petersburg.

Anyway, time is running out- off to catch our Aeroflot flight. That should be interesting… If we can survive the 3 flights, and manage to get out of Dehli (for which we do not have a visa permitting us to enter), then we have 30 degree temperatures to look forward to in Kathmandu which will be about a 35 degree shift for our bodies…

Until next time,
K and C.

Siberia in the winter? Poor choice…?

Mongolian Herders
Originally uploaded by camandkristin

OK, so October isn’t exactly full blown winter, but when you’re in Siberia, it’s close enough. We’ve been in Russia for 4 days now, and have seen snow falling on two of them. Nothing serious, but enough to remind us that winters here come early, and in a serious way. (Cam reminds me that the weather would be the same in Vanderhoof, but I remind him that I don’t live in Vanderhoof). Anyway, we’re too cheap to pay Russian prices for winter wear when the cheapness of Nepal is just around the corner, so our ears and hands will have to freeze for a couple more weeks :) Packing toques and gloves way back in July when the first stop was Africa just didn’t seem to make sense…

Going back- we left Beijing on our final morning with a cab ride to the train station which broke down about 200m from our hotel. Fortunately cabs abound in Beijing and we were able to hop in another one. Unfortunately that cabbie didn’t have change, and we had to leave him without paying our full bill. In fairness to us, I think it’s his job to be prepared for that sort of thing… The train station in Beijing has zero English, but is organized in that Beijing way such that finding our train was easy, and we left on time- remarkably to the minute. We found that our 3rd class ticket had actually bought us a 4 bed compartment with two free meal tickets- and to top it off no one ever joined us so we had the cabin to ourselves for the entire 30 hour journey! So much for mixing with the locals…

Part of the 30 hours was the 5 hour border crossing into Mongolia. It appears that very little happens during that time, with the exception of the changing of the bogies. The rail gauge is different in China than in Mongolia and Russia so the bogies (the under carriage and wheels) have to be swapped. This involves pulling into a large shed, having each car decoupled and lifted individually, the old bogies slid out and new ones slid in. Altogether it takes about two hours which isn’t bad, but still seems like maybe somebody could’ve chatted and agreed on a gauge…?

We arrived at our destination of Ulanbaatar, Mongolia in the early afternoon and stumbled off the train to find some tout willing to take us to a hostel. After spending an hour sitting around at the first place, still without a room, we were fed up and grabbed our bags and headed out. We found a new hostel, and within minutes had ourselves a room, a hot shower, and had arranged a 4 day tour into the countryside. All we had to do was find ourselves 660,000 Togrigs to pay for it. With ATMs that dish out only 80,000 at a time (if you’re lucky) this was a process in and of itself…

Ulanbaatar is Mongolia’s capitol, and home to roughly half of their 2.6 million people. It offers very little in appeal, and we were happy to be spending only a few hours there before heading out on our tour. Normally we’re nervous to sign on to pre-packaged tours, but when you’re trying to take in an entire country in 4 days, and you’ve got a crippling language barrier, it can sometimes be your best choice. Although we’re unable to reconcile the price we paid with the costs of activities in Mongolia, we returned completely satisfied with our experience. We had a wonderful English speaking guide named Solongha (my Anglicized attempt at her name) and a funny driver Umba, who made a great duo in showing us around. Our ultimate goals in Mongolia were to ride a horse, sleep in a ger (yurt), and see some of the stunning countryside. All goals were achieved in spades. Other achievements include: drinking fermented mare’s milk, finding an unopened bottle of Chinggis vodka on the beach, adopting a 2 week old kitten, experiencing our own personal mini concert of traditional Mongolian music, riding a camel across sand dunes, witnessing a Buddhist monk ceremony in the country’s ancient capital, spotting rare wild horses in a gorgeous national park, eating a wide variety of traditional Mongolian food in the local joints, and learning new food storage techniques (raw meat? just hang it on the wall!). Pretty good for four days.

After returning to UB (as the locals call it) we cleaned up and headed back to the train station. This time our cab was involved in an accident just meters from the train station’s parking lot. It was a minor fender bender, and not our cabbies fault, so we grabbed our bags and let him sort it out. This time as we boarded our train it was clear we were not going to have the cabin to ourselves. Two women packing a whole lot of baggage were stuffing themselves into our cabin and, while I took refuge in a cabin down the hall, Cam made a point of carving out our space. I could hear calls of “My wife still needs to fit in here!” from down the way and braced myself for a long 34 hours. Turns out the ladies, Olga and Albina, were wonderful cabin mates and, despite our shared vocabulary of about 3 words, we had many fun conversations. We had read that you shouldn’t refuse offers of food from a Russian and it was clear that even if you wanted to refuse, you weren’t going to be able to with these women. When it came to “yum yums” we were going to be eating what Olga wanted us to eat, which turned out to be quite a lot and involved new treats like horsemeat. Needless to say, we left the train with our own bag of food supplies mostly untouched…

Other than our cabin mates, the trip was pretty uneventful. Unfortunately the first third of the trip was in the dark (having boarded at night), the daylight third was sitting at the Mongolia/Russia border (a crossing that takes a ridiculous 10 hours), and the final third was again back in the dark- so sightseeing was pretty much non-existent. These trains are full of Mongolian traders who are smuggling goods across the border. While it’s supremely obvious I’m sure to all involved, there doesn’t seem to be any real repercussions to it. It’s quite irritating, however, as they run up and down the train trying to stash their goods (mostly clothes) in other people’s compartments. They use tricks like hanging a smuggled jacket in the cabin next door so it looks like it belongs to somebody, or paying off a tourist to shove 10 pairs of socks into his bag. We just greeted them with a “Nyet!” (No!) each time they poked their face into our cabin.

Anyway, we arrived in Irkutsk early in the morning, boarded a tram to head to a hostel, discovered we had boarded it heading the wrong direction, and waited patiently as we did a loop of the city to arrive at our destination. At present we’re sitting on Olkhon Island in the middle of Lake Baikal- the deepest lake in the world which, apparently, holds more fresh water than all the Great Lakes combined. Seems amazing when you consider their footprints- Baikal looks quite small in comparison from the top, but its 1 mile depth makes up for it. Olkhon Island is a 6 hour drive from Irkutsk, followed by a 20 minute ferry journey on Russia’s own Quinsam. We headed here after our first night in Irkutsk as the city itself has little to offer. On the island we are staying at Olga’s Guesthouse- essentially some spare rooms in her home, none the rest of which are occupied. We’ve met about 5 old Russian ladies so far, 4 of whom are named Olga. We’ve also heard recommendations from other travellers all of which, in one way or another, involve an Olga. Anyway- at Olga’s house, our fee includes three meals a day which are basically the highlight of Russia so far (we’re currently in our room waiting to be beckoned for the next one…). Even for Kristin’s refined (read picky) palette, the meals (which have all, so far, included cabbage) are amazing. Dad Woodruff, we can’t help but think of you at each meal- especially the last couple which have centered around omul- a white salmon fresh caught from Baikal.

Other than chilling out at Olga’s (which is really an exceptional place to do just that), we spent a day driving to the northern tip of the island which was great- it’s a beautiful place with gorgeous cliffs and shoreline. It’s also covered in larch trees which, at the moment, are shimmering gold in colour and make the views just that much more spectacular. Olkhon Island is considered one of five global poles of shamanic energy by the Buryat people (the Mongol people living in Siberia). Not sure exactly what that means, but it results in a lot of ribbons tied around trees, and money thrown at their base. For those of us without shamanistic beliefs, it’s still a beautiful place that’s easy to fall in love with. Although a quick glance at a local or an overheard conversation gives it away, we often times have to remind ourselves that we’re in Russia…

Tomorrow we head back to Irkutsk and board our next train at the oh-so-convenient time of 2:30am (am/pm fail when booking that one…) for an 80 hour haul to Moscow (3 full days and 4 nights). We wait with bated breath to see who our cabin companions will be for this one…Here's hoping that they don’t snore…

Until next time,
K and C

The blog in which words are used to describe activities

So, we’re in Beijing. I’m writing this blog knowing that I won’t be able to post it until after we leave China as the website is censored and we can’t get to it to upload anything. Or even to read it. Shame- we’re losing a potential audience of, like, 2 billion Chinese…

Also- after spending a week in Beijing, I’ve titled the blog in honour of the exceptional names they give things here: “Pavilion of the Mountain Scene and the Water Brilliance” and “Gate Tower of Cloud Retaining Eaves” and “Scenic Area of Pictures of Farming and Weaving” for example.

Anyway, we arrived in Beijing after flying from Cape Town (via Dubai, via Johannesburg). Two observations: firstly, the Dubai airport is extreme in all ways. Huge and busy. Secondly, the Airbus A380 (which we were lucky enough to fly on from Dubai) is the same- extreme, huge, and busy. I think there were nearly 500 people on the plane- enough to overfill two waiting gates before boarding.

We were in Cape Town for 5 days and it’s really not enough to experience the city and outlying areas. It’s beautiful there- aesthetically it’s a lot like Vancouver- a gorgeous sea front, a back drop of amazing mountains, and a vibrant city centre. But peeling back the first layer reveals things that aren’t like Vancouver at all- locked gates on the front of all residences, sprawling shanty towns (townships) on the outskirts of the city (home to over 1 million people), “No Guns” signs at parks and beaches, and a distinct difference between the colour of those employed in the “service” jobs and those employed elsewhere. Not to say Vancouver is, by any means, perfect (many of you know my less than favourable opinion of the city) but I did definitely feel an affectionate pull toward “home”.

We did all the regular touristy stuff while there- a trip up the cable car to the top of Table Mountain (next time we’re there, we’ll hike up for sure, and leave the freezing cold flip flops at home), a boat trip to Robben Island to visit Mandela’s cell (a packaged tour that leaves you wanting more, but the only option to get there), a wander around Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden (billed as the most beautiful garden in the world, and it‘s certainly up there), and a walking tour around some of the historic district (slave trees, museums discussing apartheid, the City Hall where Mandela made his first public address after his release, etc etc). We also rented a car and headed south to the Cape of Good Hope- an area that deserves far more than the half day we had. Again, next time, we’ll hike in the area for a couple of days- it’s so rugged and beautiful and deserves some foot on soil touring… Travel is so irritating in this way- you cross one thing off your list, and add two more to the bottom. It’s like at work, but more fun…

After our final dinner out as a four-some (actually, a five-some as we managed to reconnect with our Swedish friend Malin, from the overland tour) we awoke early to start the long trip home. Mum and Dad got the raw end of the deal there, having to spend 12 hours at the Johannesburg airport as our flight left far earlier than theirs…

Now, on the eve of our departure from Beijing, we’re excited to be actually starting the Trans-Mongolian train adventure that took 8 times longer to plan than it will to actually play out…

Upon our arrival here our first task was to obtain our Mongolian visas. Due to the logistical nightmare of planning visas for 3 months in the future, we could only secure a few of them from home, before our departure. This meant that we needed to get the Mongolia one while here, at the risk of all our onward travel plans falling apart if we were unsuccessful. On our first day, we arrived bright and early at the Embassy to find it… closed. Randomly closed on Sept 22. Turns out it was a national holiday- what luck. We returned the next day, bright and early, to find it… closed. Murder me. Apparently the opening hours alternate between morning and afternoon, and we were on an afternoon day. We returned later that day and, third try lucky, it was open. We grabbed the forms to fill out in line and immediately cursed our idiocy as we scanned the forms to see the information we needed- address and phone numbers of place of work, names and contact info of destination in Mongolia, etc… We’ve only filled out one zillion of these forms, and have needed the exact information every time, but were we prepared on that day? Nope. In front of us people had their plastic folders full of all their details and paperwork with post-it notes and tabs and paperclips. We had a single pen. Anyway, we fumbled through the forms, filled out random information for anything we didn’t know, and felt confident that they’d take our money nonetheless. We returned the following day to find we were, indeed, successful. Finally all the chips were in place and we could get on with it.

Despite the immense fun of visiting the Mongolian Embassy, we managed to find time to hit most of Beijing’s main sights. Our first stop was Tian’anmen Square which is actually nothing more than an enormous square that swarms with people (particularly on national holidays). You could, of course, go visit Mao if you were so inclined - but we weren’t. We wandered around the city and visited a park that afforded quite a nice view over the Forbidden City, and then wandered further to the Drum Tower- a large tower full of 24 (?) drums that were beaten to convey the time to the nearby Bell Tower, which houses the bell which then conveys the time to the rest of the city. Why two towers? To show power and wealth, of course. We enjoyed a drum performance where 5 young men beat the tar out of the drums for a while in a display that had nothing to do with telling the time.

After our first day here our feet were feeling the effects of no longer having a vehicle- perhaps finally I can walk off a few pounds!

We took a trip to the Olympic area to see the Birds Nest and Watercube- both of which are cool up close, but it’s interesting to see the “polish” that’s missing when you’re actually there in person. The space though, including the causeway between them, is huge and amazing- and still full of people- it felt busier there on a random day than anywhere in Vancouver even DURING our Olympics…

We also took trips to the Temple of Heaven (a large park with a bunch of buildings and even more people), the Forbidden City (the largest cluster of ancient and preserved buildings in all of China), and the Summer Palace (a huge park and lake that was the summer retreat for the Emperor, and is littered with spectacular buildings). For me, personally, Chinese architecture starts to wear thin after a while. Perhaps it’s more the crowds (which are about as spectacular as the buildings) but I have a limited life span at these places. Unfortunately it’s about 2 hours shorter than Cam’s… :)

The piece de resistance, as you might have expected, was our trip to the Great Wall. Originally we’d planned on visiting a less touristy section of the wall, and hiking 10km to another less touristy section. Unfortunately, some research the night before taught us that one of the two sections was closed, making the hike impossible. So we opted for a third section instead and set off on the bus for a 2.5 hour trip. Too cheap to pay for the cable car, we hiked our way up the mountain to the wall, and then spent 3 hours walking the 2.5km section from end to end, and back again. It was really quite gorgeous- sort of exactly what you picture, but still breathtaking when you’re actually there. Similar to Nepal, when you take something of physical/architectural beauty, and slap it in the middle of a stunning environment, it’s hard to beat.

Overall our time in Beijing has been great. Other than the actual sights, here are some Beijing observations:

1. The metro: It costs about 30 cents to ride it anywhere you want, with infinite transfers across its 13 lines, for unlimited time. You must scan (airport xray style) your bag every time you enter a station but there will be a staff of at least 6 people assisting you if you need. The crowds are formidable- during busy times (all the time) you may need to brace your hands against the door and push with your rear end to cram people deeper into the train to claim your own space. Personal space will be invaded. Learn to love it.
2. The no-queue is a good-queue system: People here do not line up. Ever. If you don’t allow yourself to get mad, or to get walked on, the system is fine. Get your hand in there, get your body in there, show them you can play too, and you’ll be fine.
3. English: There is almost no English here. Shockingly little, actually. The word “Coke” at a restaurant is met with a blank stare. Once you realize they are not given the opportunity to learn English in their schools (like everywhere else in the world) you have a little more patience for those at home who are struggling in an English speaking country.
4. Cleanliness: It is clean in Beijing. I don’t know what we expected, but it wasn’t this. It’s not so much that people don’t litter, it’s that for every one who does, there are 3 more whose job it is to clean up their mess.
5. People volume: There are a lot of people here. 16 million, according to the Lonely Planet. They all ride the metro, and most of them visit the tourist sights, which is perhaps the biggest surprise of all. For some reason I didn’t know there would be Chinese tourists in China… But there are. Hordes of them. Usually in tour groups wearing the same coloured hat, following behind a lady with a flag and a megaphone.

Anyway, apologies for the length of this one but Facebook is banned and there’s no better way to kill time at the moment :)

On to Mongolia…
Until next time,
K and C.