Day 13 - Day18, Trans Siberian Railway pt.2

4.08.09 - 9.08.09

The train journey of epic proportions, 6000km and 5 nights on the train from Novosibirsk to Vladivostok. I'm going 2nd class this time as there were no bottom tickets available, which means it should be quite comfortable.

I'm on the top bunk and share my cabin with a mother (Alysa), her son (Yigor), her mother (Tatiana) and father (Sergei). They turn out to be going all the way to Vladivostok and we end up sharing food and having basic conversations, Alysa

speaks English and can understand me quite well. As for the rest of the cabin, they seem to be angry all the time and never smile, I can't quite figure it out, but it seems to be a theme on Russian trains. I end up chatting to a student called Irfim who informed me that it was just the Russian way on trains and people don't really smile.

On the journey, we pass by Lake B

aikal, which is absolutely enormous.

As my book tells me, it's the deepest lake in the world, contains more than 20% of the worlds fresh water, over a thousand plants and animals that inhabit the lake can't be found anywhere else and is the oldest lake in the world. As we went past you couldn't see the other side and it stetched out to the horizon in all directions, it was like an ocean and the scenery surrounding it was beautiful. I wish I got off here, but I chickened out when buying my tickets and went for the safe option of getting a ticket all the way to Vladivostok, at least I get to see the southern side of the lake as the railway skirts it for 180km.

Again, being on a train for so long and confined to such a small space is a weird

experience. You have your bed, about 6ft in length by around 3ft width to live in and that's it. You can stand in the corridor of the train if you wish or use the bathroom, but your allocated sp

ace is where you spend most of your time.

Also being thrown in with a family who I don't know for 5 nights and sharing

what is probably smaller than a prison cell between 4 people and a small child puts you in such close contact. I ended up playing with Yigor and making faces with him so much he started to call me dada, which was slightly worrying.

There are other families on the train, lone travellers, business p

eople and a whole host of characters. By the end of the journey I had made friends with the two train attendants, Julia and Marsha and also with a few other people in the carriage, some origami models distributed and eventually people were starting to look a bit happier.

I think in general people on the trains keep them selves to them selves and don't talk to people or interact much, I decided to go against the grain and it seemed to work.

I wouldn't call the trans Siberian a spiritual journey, but you definitely end up learning something along the way about people and social interaction.

Day 13 - Novosibirsk, Berdsk and the train

4.08.09
Tonight is my departure for Vladivostok, so I need to get back reasonably early to pack and prepare my things. We wake up reasonably early in the morning feeling a bit fuzzy and after our bed sharing experience.

Another walk around Novosibirsk centre and a trip to give Sasha back her keys as she is already at work when we rouse from our slumbers. We take a trip towards home on the bus, but make a stop off at the Railway museam, which is an open air camp filled with Russian locomotives. Some of the older steam models are ridiculously big and a comomon theme with Russian trains seem to be that they are about a mile high and sit so far off the ground. The tracks are also a lot wider then any other country and if you travel to or from Russia by train they have to change the wheels at the border to match the track size.

We eventually get home and I have to rapidly pack and grab a shower before leaving for the train station. Igor's dad gives me a old traditional Russian glass from Berdsk old town that is now flooded and a mosquito nead net as I seem to have tasty blood. He also gives me a special gift, a blue and white striped top, which is the trademark clothing that the Russian Airbourne Forces wear and his Russia SAS. It's not an imitation and is one of his own ones, I am so touched and my gifts of chocolate and food that I bought from the supermarket seem to have no value, but I make a promise to myself to send the family something special from my travels.

It's been an eye opening and fantastic week and their hospitability has left a mark.

Onto the train and a 4 day journey awaits.

Day 12 - Novosibirsk Centre

3.08.09
Planning day, I get my route through the north of China sorted to Beijing and decide to risk it at Vladivostok for the adventure and don't book a hotel. I will arrive at about 6.30am, so it will be enough time to jump on a bus to China or if not get a hotel sorted.
In the afternoon we head to Novosibirsk centre to meet Andrey and Anya who are going to show us around.

We take in all the main attractions among which are Lenin square and the opera

house named after him and a small Russian church in the middle of a road. In one of the parks we are joined by Sasha (Alexandria), who studies advertising part time with with Anya.

After Sushi for dinner, we realise that we have missed the last train and bus back to Berdsk and Andrey and Anya have missed their last link to Akamdemgorodok. In this situation there is only one answer, several litres of beer, lots of snacks and we camp out in Sasha's flat for the night.

Me, Igor and Andey sharing a single sofa bed, all in just boxer shorts, it was what can only be described as an intimate male experience.

After speaking to Sasha about what she's up to and her asking about my travels, she gives me the short stories of Ernest Hemingway to read on the train. It's a long journey and she said I will need something to do. Andrey and Anya also give me and Igor small Novosibirsk Crests carved out of wood I make some origami models and give them to everyone as it's the only thing I can give, and am touched by people's generorsity once again.

Day 10,11 - The Dacha

1.09.09 - 2.09.09

A 5 min train journey, a walk down a dirt road that has become a mud pool in some areas with the heavy rain. At the end of the road a blue picket fence surronding a garden/alotment, at one end a small two level building with two bedrooms and a kitchen/living room, at the other end an outhouse and a traditional Russian sauna called a Banya. This is the Dacha, which is roughly Russian for a country house.

Waking up in the morning and picking fresh Raspberries, Gooseberries, Strawberries, Redcurrants and Blueberries; for dinner and lunch having meat skerwers grilled over an open flame called a shashlyk, accompanied by a salad just picked and young potatoes just boiled with a touch of butter, nearlly all the ingredients apart from the bread were grown at the Dacha and picked just before they were eaten.

Walking through the fields to do pier jumps into the River that I have now seen almost day for a variety of activities. We laze on the beach and have another swim, try some fishing from the end of the pier and end up losing more than we take.

Sitting in the Banya, me, Igor, his dad and older brother all stark naked pouring water onto hot stones, the temperature apparently hits 90-95C at it's hottest and at times is an overwhelming burning sensation, but it's not painfull. whipping each other with a Venik, which is the dreid branches and leaves of a young birch tree. After each 'sweat' we run outside and into the cold plunge pool and fully imerse ourselves in the water so we cool off. The Banya was built by Igor's Dad and his elder son a few summers ago and is a wonderfull experience, you feel so fresh and clean after.

It's a phenomenal weekend and the Dacha is a truly amazing place. It's so simple, quiet, peacefull and a different way of life. It's definitely the way forward.

Day 9 - Berdsk and Novosibirsk

31.07.09



 Row row row your boat gently down the stream is today's motto. We take a short walk down to the river banks with the rubber dinghy, a homemade life jacket which is quality and a pair or oars. Igor's dad takes him out first and explains a bit of river safety, then we head out together and end up towing Nikolaj around the river.It's quite a small dinghy for two tall people and so if you relax too much you deform the boat and let water in, we also manage to pop the seating boards out of their position, which creates a small moment of panic. Both decked out in aviators in a rubber dinghy, we look like real tourists! On the way back from the lake, we also stumble upon some more mushrooms randomly growing next to the path, my newly learnt scavenging skills come into play and we harvest some fantastic fungi.

The evening excursion was into the academic part of Novosibirsk called Akademgorodok, where we meet some ex students who Igor's dad used to teach, Andrey, his wife Anya and their friend Katia. Andrey's English is almost flawless, although like most people I have met he is adamant he can't speak very well. The special thing about Russia is that you can walk into shops with 1,2,3 or even 4 litre plastic bottles, pick a beer from a list of about 30 and get it filled with live beer straight from the keg. Absolutely amazing!
We go to a subterranean joint that seems to be a beer shop combined with a pub, meet an ex police major who was fired due to corruption, a massive Russian guy who tries to teach me various informal language and a guy who spent several years in Texas and has the accent to match. A lot of beer and cured seafood saw us away until the early hours.

Unfortunately for both activities today I deemed it too risky to take my camera and so no photographic evidence exists.

Day 8 - Novosibirsk

30.07.09

Shrooms is the order of the day and we wake up at 5.45am don our forest gear and proceed to grab a bus out to the forest. Once there I get the low down on what mushrooms you can eat, which ones will make you ill and which ones will send you off a journey of another sort. Igor's dad comes out to the forest early to pick, as lots of old men and women come to the forest and gather the mushrooms and they live near by so if you arrive later in the day, they will all be gone. He also tells me that in the morning the grass is still wet and so he can easily see where other people have been and picked, so he can find the spots which haven't been touched. We end up gathering 3 bags of mushrooms and Igor finds an absolute beast! I manage to stumble upon some kind of mushroom holy ground and harvest a collection of beauties right at the end, which fills my bag out nicely. We are dressed for the occasion and among our items we have over boots, made by Igor's dad from Russian radioactive/chemical warfare suits. Safe!

We get back home at around 9.30 and clean all the shrooms and cut them up. The big ones are massive meaty buggers as big as my hand and look amazing.


The next task of the day is to get what Igor called the true Russian experience and have my visa registered. We get to the police station just after 3pm and end up leaving at about 6.20pm. The details are too long to go into, but it involved a mass of forms photocopies, queuing, confusion, unhelpful people, helpful people and letters written on my behalf. An interesting experience.

Day 7 - Novosibirsk

29.07.09

Today as Igor's dad puts it, is business day. We have admin stuff to do and bits and bobs around town. The main tasks for me are to buy my train ticket and also register my visa.

I manage to get my ticket to Vladivostok at the train station without too much trouble, except the lady at the ticket window seemed to have woken up on the wrong hemisphere, let alone the wrong side of bed. I should also probably state, that I didn't get my ticket, Igor got it as my Russian skills would still have her barking at me now. A train ticket bought from Novosibirsk to Vladivostok takes just over 4 days, and you travel about 6000km in total to the east crossing 4 time zones. It cost me 9430 Rubles which is about 197 quid, not so cheap, but for such a long journey and travelling second class (Out of 4), it's not so bad.

We also try and get my visa registered today, but the police station is closed, so put it off until tomorrow afternoon.
Igor's dad is quite creative and creates mosaics and makes medieval armour and swords, so we obviously don the chain mail helmets and take a few snaps.
Tomorrow is mushroom picking day and a 6am start, so we call it a day quite early in preparation for our forest adventure.