city-hopping

After a bit of city-hopping I will leave for Olchon Island on Baikal lake tomorrow morning. I am sooo much looking forward to it, as the lake is not only considered to be really really beautiful but what is more I will stay there for around a week, which will give me some rest... because last week has been rather exhausting, as I didn't stay anywhere longer than 2 nights and topped with the quite cold and windy weather I got a bit sick. Nevermind...

So, I will give you a short introduction into the cities along the transsiberian railway-track that I've seen:

Kazan
After Nizhniy Novgorod, that I left one week ago,

I arrived really early in the morning in Kazan, the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan. All the street signs are written first in Tatarnese and only then in Russian. The percentage of Muslims in Tatarstan is quite high compared to the rest of Russia - and this is what makes the city in fact so interesting: the impressive "Kul-Sharif-Mosque" in the Kremlin.

After spending some time in a creepy station-café I walked to the city center to see all the historic sights. But to admit, well, I was really impressed by the Mosque and the whole Kremlin. The main street could be beautiful, if it wasn’t completely under construction. But after all: I saw more or less everything after 2-3hours – and this trying to be really really slow… That’s where travelling alone show’s its disadvantage: sometimes you are in fact alone and this can be boring in a place where there’s not really that much going on… So I was quite happy to hop on the train in the evening to continue to Ekaterinburg.

Ekaterinburg

(That's the Church on the blood - the place where the Bolsheviks killed Nicolai II, the last head of the Romanov-house (and last tsar) together with his family)
Ekaterinburg somehow remembered me of Warsaw – on the one hand you can still see the Soviet influence everywhere, on the other hand the city obviously tries to be modern.

There are many bars and the main road is lively full with people. I really liked the Beatles-memorial - that was an insider-tipp I got from a guy I got to know in the hostel in Moscow: isn't it nice??
However, I again only stayed one night which was enough considering that I was only visiting the city alone, and went further on my so far longest trip on the train to Krasnoyarsk, that I already summarised in my last story.


Krasnoyarsk

 

As my friend Olga, who is from Krasnoyarsk, was just at this time visiting her parents I had decided to stay there a bit longer than just one single night. I was really happy that I could stay for 2 nights in her mothers appartment and could again enjoy Russian hospitality.

They dedicated the whole Saturday for me: After great breakfast (guess what… yes, of course! delicous selfmade Bliniki) we went all together for a hiking-trip to the nearby Stolby-ressort: a montainous region with really impressive stones from old Volcanes, and after that to Divnogorsk, a nearby really sweet town on the border of the Yenisey-river and finally to hydroelectric dam, that covers the "back of the 10-roubles-note." (check the link!)

Even though I spent a bit longer there, going to the cinema (so proud of myself: I understood almost everything!!), walking around a lot, chatting with Olga and her family, time was running out fast as well and I saw myself quite soon on the train again - direction further East: Irkutsk.






Irkutsk
Irkutsk is considered to be the "Paris of Siberia". Mhm, well. To admit: I don't know why. With it's old wooden houses it is definitely beautiful,

but Paris of Siberia?

Rather Vienna of Siberia :D considering the fact that it has a really typical Viennese Café with our dear Strauss inside, marble-tables, Julius-Meinl-coffee (served on a plate together with a glass of water!) and of course Apfelstrudel ;)

After this city-hopping I would say one rule about Russian cities (letting appart Moscow and St. Petersburg):
you've seen one Russian city, you've seen them all (same goes for churches, wouldn't you agree??)
Appart from the very special sights in each town they are all the same: they all have a quite lively main-street, old Stalinist administration buildings and loads of sad concrete buildings, old marshrutkas, they really do all have a Lenin-street, a Karl-Marx-Street and a Dzherzhinsky-street (founder of the KGB - freaky that they still honor him in every town) and of course you will find a Lenin-statue in each town - showing you the right way!!

transsiberian - Транссибирская магистраль

I left Nizhniy Novgorod on Monday in the very evening taking a night-train to Kazan. And even in this very first night in typical Russian train in a compartment with other people I realised why everybody is so excited about travelling with the transsiberian railway: it is definitely the people that you meet in the train compartments who make the journey so exciting!
Because the view out of the window is usually quite nice or interesting, however, doesn't change so much between Moscow and Vladivostok...

In my compartment from Nizyhniy to Kazan were 3 men, they all turned out to be soldiers. After only one sentence from me they realised that I was a foreigner (well, I can't hide my accent I'm afraid...)
They invited me to drink beer with them, taste some of their Russian колбаса (sausage) and didn't stop asking me questions about where I am from, why I was travelling the way I was (it is in fact freaking people out that I am travelling all by myself... not to talk about the reactions when I admit, that I am in fact travelling like this for a year...) - and why I chose to travel through Russia, how my impressions were, and so on and so on...

Also the other people I met on the trains that I took between Kazan - Ekaterinburg, Ekaterinburg - Krasnoyarsk were really pleasent and it was nice talking to all of them!

However nice it was chatting with them, I will unfortunately never see all these people again... BUT: I got to know a girl from Canada who is not only travelling like me (alone, for at least a year, all over the world - thank God at least somebody who completely understands me and doesn't think either that my parents are mad letting me leave like this or that I am a freak...) but also more or less on the same route!! Wohooo!
We agreed to meet on the baikal lake as she was continuing on this very train to Irkutsk while I went off in Krasnoyarsk... And we might as well continue travelling together to Mongolia - we shall see ;)

But how is it then to travel on a Russian train??

Russian trains are in fact really cool and not icky as you might think.
I was only travelling in coupé (which are 4-bed-compartments - other options are CB (2-bed-compartments) and плацкарт (open carriages with beds)) which is in fact really comfortable: you have enough space for the luggage, a quite big table, the space between the beds is big enough to sit up straight and
the beds are long enough and comfortable.
 
In every carriage are 2 toilets (well, traintoilets are always rather disgusting...) and - this I love! - a boiler for hot water! great!

The strictly looking, but usually quite nice (at least the ones responsible for my carriage always were...) проводница (train attendant) provides you with clean dishes, bed-covers, and with food and drinks if you need it.

The trains stop quite often, in some bigger station for up to 40min. So you can easily go on the platform and buy some food or drinks for the upcoming hours on the train, as there are usually small stands on all platforms, that provide you with the most important products.
So all this all - including my nice game - made even my longest trip on the train (32h) between Ekaterinburg and Krasnoyarsk really nice.

let the journey begin!!!

finally my first update!
I'm at the moment sitting in a McDonalds (even if I don't like their food, I like their free Internet-policy...) in Kazan trying to figure out how best to resume what has happened in the last 1,5 weeks....

London

As I had booked my trip through a London-based agency, I had to start my trip there. But instead of just going there from one airport to the other I decided to stay there for 2 nights. A friend working there was so nice to host me, go for some beers with me Saturday night and show me his favourite pub on Sunday, before I had to head on on Monday morning...

The whole day of Monday (15th of August) I in fact spent traveling - through London to get to Heathrow, than on the plane, moreover a time loss of 3 hours between London and Moscow (don't worry, I'll catch this time up during my trip between Fidji and LA...) and then from the airport there to the hostel, where I finally arrived quite late in the evening.

Moscow - Москва

Same like in London, I had already been in Moscow, so I spend my time just walking around with my dear friend Mikhail instead of sight-seeing. And we finally managed to finish our photoproject, started last year in September, with photos of us in front of all 7 + 1 Stalin-buildings "Seven Sisthers" :)

My 2 days in Moscow were nicely filled: a lot of walking around, chatting with my friend, great hot sunshine, beer on the riverside and a live Rock-Concert in a pub (with small children jumping around headbanging... no joke!!)... but still I have to admit that Moscow and me - we won't get friends. So even though I was sad to say goodbye to Mikhail (thanks for everything! It was great seeing you again) I was happy to leave the city on Wednesday night.

Nizhniy Novgorod - Нижний Новгород

Россию умом не понять (you can't understand Russia with your mind): on the only train ticket I had bought in Austria I had the bed number 37 in a 36-bed-containing wagon - mhm... well, I was then sleeping in the customs office cabine. Or at least I tried to sleep which didn't really work out :/
Arriving the next morning at 6:30 completely wrecked I was warmely welcomed on the platform by my former Tandem partner Marina and her newly wed husband.

There is one thing all guides to Russia say, that is definitely so true! the hospitality of Russian people is endless!!
So it was no question for Marina and Tjoma to invited me to stay in their flat during my stay in Nizhniy even though everything was still under construction there and even they didn't have a bed so far. We all slept on the floor.

Thanks to Marina I couldn't only get an insight into the life of young Russian couple, but also into loads of very typical Russian traditions: starting with a rehersal of the folklore group she is singing with...

(this photo is from my stay in Nizhniy 3 years ago, however it is the same folklore group)

... continuing with a stay on their Datscha during the weekend.
What's a Dacha some might ask?! Well, most of middle-class Russians (or lets say all except the Nowie Russkie - the new-rich Russians) usually live in rather small but cosily equipped one- or two-room flats in quite ugly concrete buildings...

...but!! they all have a Dacha: a small house with garden on the countryside.

On the weekends all cities empty as everybody is driving to the Dacha to relax during the weekend, do some gardening, eat and drink with neighbors and relatives and enjoy a nice hot баня (banya) :)
And I got an insight into all of this!
The trip there was - well, lets call it interesting - as the car we went to the Datscha was more or less falling apart :)
But just after arriving there we went straight to some relatives where fresh шашлык (grilled spit) and самогон (self-made vodka) was already awaiting us. The evening we spent at some other friends place with even more шашлык, more vodka and singing traditional songs!

The next morning I woke up by the nice smell of freshly made блины (typical Russian pancakes) Marinas mother was preparing for us all for breakfast. But not enough of typical Russian - just after breakfast we went for a tour in the баня (banya)- the typical Russian-kind sauna.

Oh yes, thank you so much Marina! I really really really enjoyed my stay in Nizhniy so much thanks you to you!!

(BTW Nizhniy is the last station on my trip that I knew from before, everything afterwards is completely new to me! - but I will tell you about that in my upcoming stories!!)

who the f*** needs conditioner???

today I was wondering, if I didn't have too much time to plan my trip.
yes, of course it is nice to have enough time to think about everything... but does it really have to be everything??

I had time to read through loads of blogs and forums about big travels and with the security information provided on these blogs I got the impression, that the whole world is super-dangerous, everybody will only want to steal stuff from me, even if I hide all my money and credit cards in my underwear...

oh, and of course: I had time to check which different kinds of diseases I could have in which parts of the world... horrible! Now I have the impression of being a walking pharmacy

so, yes, the last days here were definitely too much. too much time to think about what else I might need - and even worse: enough time to buy these things ;)

and today I spent some time just making my backpack lighter by getting rid of stuff that I do NOT necessarily need on my trip, as tomorrow is THE BIG DAY!!

voilà: me with my packed backpack: 60l-volume on the back (16kg), 20l-volume in the front (8kg)...

money money money

For money- or bookkeeping freaks: here details about all costs so far, regularly updated after each country:

Costs before and after the trip

Round the World Ticket				2020,18
Travel-Insurance 12months				480,00
Travel-Insurance additional 3months				186,05
tution fee (3 semesters)				51,50
Insurance Austria 15months				747,90
Vaccination (Dipherie, Typhus, Tetanus, Hep. B)				253,85
Medication				110,25
Netbook (incl. Bag)				334,32
Backpack				239,95
Shoes (Trekking Shoes + solid sandals + flip flops)				168,95
Outdoor Jacket (waterproof)				71,96
Camera (after being stolen in China) refunding from insurance (theft in China)				104,95 -185,53
Sleeping bag (after being stolen in Australia) Photo-orders after trip				65,33 96,28
Other stuff				317,20
Total				5063,14

Nights per country

	paid accom.	nights in transport	CS friends  WWOOF	Total Days
London	0	0	2	2
Russia	5	6	10	21
Mongolia	9	5	0	14
China 1	17	9	32	58
Hong Kong 1	3	0	2	5
Macao	0	0	1	1
Vietnam	9	2	12	23
Cambodia	15	0	0	15
Thailand	4	2	9	15
Myanmar	18	9	0	27
Kuala Lumpur	0	0	5	5
Borneo	16	1	4	21
Singapore	0	1	3	4
Australia	4	12	61	77
New Zealand	11	0	19	30
Fiji	9	0	0	9
Hong Kong 2	2	0	2	4
China 2	0	4	15	19
Kazakhstan Kyrgzystan Uzbekistan1 Tajikistan Turkmenistan Iran Turkey	2 15 4 6 2 1 0	2 0 1 0 0 9 0	7 5 4 6 0 33 5	11 20 9 12 2 43 5
Total	155  33,99%	64 14,04%	237 51,97%	456

Costs per category and country

	Visa	Transport	Accom.	Nutrition	Others	Total
London	0,00	128,89	0,00	47,00	3,99	179,88
Russia	65,00	610,42	92,06	102,97	127,97	998,42
Mongolia	60,00	51,43	85,09	107,28	157,39	461,19
China 1	45,00	358,45	93,85	349,50	357,62	1204,42
Hong Kong1	0,00	25,35	21,22	79,78	14,64	140,99
Macao	0,00	28,17	0,00	2,32	0,00	30,49
Vietnam	69,00	72,52	35,17	135,20	118,78	430,67
Cambodia	19,07	47,84	33,95	55,83	78,46	235,15
Thailand	0,00	67,80	31,06	67,75	335,68	502,29
Myanmar	15,26	276,28	94,76	84,32	97,24	567,86
Kuala Lumpur	0,00	12,65	0,00	27,65	33,40	73,70
Borneo	0,00	233,07	144,43	117,85	416,74	912,09
Singapore	0,00	7,84	0,00	38,65	11,18	57,67
Australia	0,00	671,28	66,97	672,03	791,05	2201,33
NewZealand	0,00	454,64	143,48	300,76	585,06	1483,94
Fiji	0,00	481,37	187,01	42,11	144,50	854,99
Hong Kong2	0,00	386,08	36,71	35,96	6,62	465,37
China 2	40,29	188,73	0,00	82,57	178,64	490,23
Kazakhstan	20,29	96,56	23,58	52,89	26,13	219,45
Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan1 Tajikistan Turkmenistan Iran Turkey	100,76 69,55 41,96 46,39 101,99 15	43,82 56,33 106,45 19,99 64,12 159,89	92,71 29,54 42,61 45,47 4,58 0,00	65,18 35,47 72,27 9,92 103,72 50,38	90,93 28,54 53,79 25,96 371,20 61,80	393,40 219,43 317,08 147,73 645,61 287,07
Total	709,56	4689,43	1332,88	2755,88	4127,97	13615,72

Total costs

  5.063,14 (pre- and post-trip-costs)
13.615,72 (costs on the road)
18.582,58

updated on 04 January 2013