"Novosibirsk...consider stopping in Tomsk instead" lonely planet
We have exactly 24hours 20 minutes in Novosibirsk. Why we chose to stop here is a mystery. We researched and planned this about a year ago and have forgotten our reasoning. Maybe I should learn to write down my workings out. According to our guide book this city has little to offer, there is not even a hostel or cheap hotel. We have been force to book a small apartment for lots of money. We arrive down hearted and regretting this stop. But almost instantly I start to feel good about it. Its 2am and -14 this is the coldest I have ever been. We are met by the owner of the apartment, very nice guy and taken the short walk to the flat. As accommodation in Russia is quite expensive we have been staying in dorm rooms. This is a little boring when traveling as a couple, for the obvious reason, of course, but also because you are never alone, constantly trying not to wake others or being woken. Always watching your stuff, keeping it packed and locked away. The instant our packs hit the floor of the apartment they exploded spreading their contents over every surface and most of the floor, we had no one else to consider for 24 hours.
Novosibirsk turned out to be a long way from a disappointment. It's a real town with real people living their lives. Snow covered the grey, drab communist buildings. Hiding the ugliness and giving an illusion of purity. The main road ran from the train station and our apartment to the centre square with the grand, silver domed Opera house taking pride of place. The stage is the biggest in Russia and the audition possibly one of the grandest. Tonight’s showing is "Le Traviarta" and our research shows that tickets range from £2 to £20. The non-English speaking box-office lady offered us a selection of price options in the cheaper end of the scale, we pick the most expensive she offered at £8 thinking it would be midrange, maybe middle of the stalls or front of the balcony.
A nice lunch, little walk around the town and a failed attempt to find the rail museum fits in perfectly before cooking in our flat and then rugging back up before the walk to the opera.
Turns out going to the opera is quite a posh affair in the middle of Russia with everyone wearing 'their Sunday best'. Turns out £8 is a top priced ticket (once again lonely planet got it wrong) We were sat in the centre of the front row. Everyone in their nice dresses and suits. We were wearing snow boots, combat trousers and fleeces. I have seen many operas, some enjoyable, some soul destroying, but I have never seen one from the front row. Normally I would not pick such seats, Front row of the balcony will do for me, but it was great sitting there. I could pick out each individual instrument, listen to what they contributed and for some of them, watch. The show was good; the story is not all puppy dogs and fluffy clouds but well performed. It was bitterly cold on the walk back and the ice forced us to walk slowly. We showered, packed and got ready for another 28 hours on the train.
Fuck Lonely Planet. I would stop here again.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Irkutsk and Lake Baikal- Russia
I am writing this entry in Vancouver months after the events from scrabbled notes and broken memory. The exact reason I wanted to blog, although the notes and pictures help the memories are still not as fresh as if I had written in the moment.
Our last stop in Russia was Irkutsk, 5185km from Moscow, which our lying cheating guide book claims is 'deservedly' one of the most popular stops on the entire railway. Maybe there are two 'Irkutsk' or maybe the Russian Government implemented a program to remove any joy or charm from Irkutsk that was started just after the writer of the guide left and finished- successfully- just as we arrived. Oh lonely planet, why do you always get it wrong?
This is not a town I would choose to stop in again but for two reasons.
First was the beautiful Elena. Elena runs a home stay in Irkutsk where we stayed in her spare room and her mother cooked for us. It was great to spend time with people that were not travelers like us, I think we got a good insight into Russian life with many long conversations comparing Elena's life under a communistic government and how it has changed for her 14 year old daughter. One thing that sticks in my mind from our conversations was Elena's comment in regards to her teenagers’ years: "I always knew I was not free" Another reminder for me that we as citizens of England, Australia and Europe are very lucky; we can travel anywhere, work anywhere and live anywhere. Currently I and Davina are planning our next steps around the world, we are not sure where to go but we could simply throw a dart at a map of the world and go where it lands (assuming it’s a country and that England/USA have not invaded it in the last few months.) Elena is like a lot of single mums who work hard to provide a home for their children but with large personal sacrifice. She dreams of coming to England and living the life of an English Lady.
We enjoyed a little get together with Elena and some of her friends and a little vodka, of course.
The one and possibly only thing that caught my attention in Irkutsk was a local
fascination with England. There was a British club that had pictures of
iconic British figures and a London pub. Of course we had to eat here.
There were no burgers, slot machines or girls drinking pints of Stella.
No very London.
The second and LAST reason Irkutsk deserves to be on anyone’s itinerary is it’s the closest stop to Lake Baikal, the 'Pearl of Siberia'.
Lake Baikal is the world’s deeps lake at 1637m and holds a massive 5th
of the worlds unfrozen fresh water. In the height of winter a layer of
ice covers the entire surface so thick you can drive across it (but
experience proved you cant drive a train across, silly Russians) and
it's so clean you can peer down through the ice like a window seeing
upto 40m down.
Visiting Lake Baikal numbed the pain of stopping at Irkutsk.
We court a min-van from Irkutsk to Listvyanka 60km away, on the lake
side. I luckily fell asleep almost instantly missing the sprawling and
ugly outskirts of the city and awoke as we were whizzing up and down
very steep hills in the middle of a pine forest. As pleasing as the
view was, both the wake up call and the ride were not.
Sat opposite us was a rather large woman. A women of such proportions
that two tickets would have been more appropriate. She suddenly felt
the need to look forward, this want required her to heave her
gargantuan bulk around 180 degrees. So at one split second all
her weight and the force required to move it was focused on my knee
by way of her knee as she pivoted, rudely and suddenly waking me up.
To rube salt into wounded knee she did not speak to the driver or
even request the next stop, rather pause, forward facing for a second
before spinning back into her seat where she stayed for the next 20mins.
A fully loaded min-van does not feel the safest mode of transport at
the best of times but it is Russia and winter so there is ice and snow
on the road with only thin tracks of Tarmac showing through the ice.
What happens if the driver misses as we race up and down these scenic
but steep hills and clips the ice sending us over the edge no doubt
turning us into a fireball of min-van, fat middle aged women, fake fur
and me. That is not the way I want to go.
Thank goodness we arrived safely and alive to tell the tale.
And it is as beautiful and peaceful as expected.
We find our guest house and are greeted by the owner who, with no
English, shows us around and how everything works including the taps,
just incase taps are different in England. We are in a traditional
Siberian wooden house, warm, cozy and brightly painted. There is a
small kitchen and dinning room and three bed rooms but we are the only
ones staying as it is off season. Later as we explore, it seems like
we are the only ones staying in the entire village.
The cottage decor is a bizarre mishmash of very dated styles. A bit
like the home of an old woman that did decorate regularly but stopped
40 years ago. There is even patterned wallpaper with glitter on it.
We loved it.
I can't believe we had three nights in Irkutsk but only one here. If I
was to do this again I would get off the train at Irkutsk and get
straight on a bus to the lake. Maybe even closing my eyes as we travel through Irkutsk so I don’t even have to look upon its ugliness.
We dump our stuff and go exploring. The house is in a small valley and
about 160m from the lake side. Due to the snow and increased layers of
clothing even short distances like this take an age to cover.
The shore line is very interesting. Ice forms on anything that gets
splashed or washed over. So as the waves lap over the rocks layer
upon layer of ice forms. All the plants have an ice shell. Individual
strands of tall grass have ice crust like they are on display in a
museum.
The sun starts to set and the temperature drops.
We have to brave the cold to get an evening meal. The closest restaurant
offers a menu in English. I have the fish that is only found in this
lake. On our way back I have my hood pulled down to just above my eyes
and my scarf to just below them. The only exposed part was my eyes. It
was ok until the slight breeze hit my unprotected eyes, my goodness did
it sting.
First thing in the morning I have to get some cash out.
It's our last real day in Russia as our train leaves at 5.25am
tomorrow and we want to leave with as little rubles as possible. It’s
a perfectly clear morning allowing me to see all the way across the
lake to the mountains on the other side. It's also perfectly quite, the
waves lapping the pebble beach making the only sounds.
For my 20th birthday I was kindly given an aerobatic plane ride. This
was 30 mins in a small 2 seater plane with a rather large pilot that
spun and twisted us through the air. Loop-da-loop, corkscrews and
dives. I was sat next to him with my own set of controls and at one
point he said 'over to you'. I had control of the plane; I could go
up and down, left or right. It was an extraordinary thought that I had
control. A very similar experience yesterday. After about 2km the
instructor put the break on and motioned for me to take his place. I
put both feet on the break, wait for him to sit down and then jump off
the break on to the foot plates and we are off at what feels like a
million miles an hour pulled along by 7 very strong and very excited
dogs.
I had control of the sledge. I could go left or right....well, if the
dogs also wanted to go that way. It was not long before I fell off.
Our treat for Russia other than Russia it's self is a 10km dog sledge
ride.
I have joyous images of dogs bounding through the flat wide tundra
pulling a sledge where I romantically sip mulled wine with Davina.
Try controlling a sledge over what must be a world class mountain bike
course while being pulled by seven very excited dogs that have only
two speeds: still and not still.
We chose a 10km ride expecting that we would do the riding. In very
limited and broken English one of the staff explains that the
instructor will start then we will swap. He will sit in the sledge with
me standing on the back steering. Most important thing is not to let
go. The dogs won't stop.
There are 35 dogs in total and they know some of them are about to run and
they all want in. They bark as if selection is done on noise created.
They are brought from their individual kennels clipped to a secure
rope and harnessed up. This all happens very quickly.
Davina is off first and you can barely hold my team back.
Off we go.
First thing that struck me was the peace. As soon as we left the other
dogs calm down and now the wind rushing past my ears is all that
could be heard.
Next thing that stuck me was the floor as we left it and then
reconnected with it again rather abruptly dashing my romanticized images
of a smooth ride. It was bumpy. Like really bumpy.
And the dogs were fast, I assume we were the first run of the day.
After about 2km we stop and swap places. You stand on two skis like
platforms and in-between there is a pedal which acts as a break by
shoving nails into the snow.
I fall off almost instantly tipping the sledge over and the instructor out.
We cling on, tip the sledge back up, standing on the break and
then off again. I find it very hard to negotiate the ruff terrain
falling off at least 5 times which must have pissed the dogs off no end.
We complete the course. As we pulled into the compound a team is
waiting to receive the dogs and very quickly de-harness them and return
them to their houses. I am very grateful it was over. It was amazing
and thrilling but scary.
It's surprisingly warm and the sun is out so we enjoy a walk along the
lake before catching the bus back to Irkutsk.
The lake was stunning. If only we had more time there.
Finally being out of cities made me want to be remote. Away from lots
of people and noise.
I have a sore knee, sledging or fat women...
Our last stop in Russia was Irkutsk, 5185km from Moscow, which our lying cheating guide book claims is 'deservedly' one of the most popular stops on the entire railway. Maybe there are two 'Irkutsk' or maybe the Russian Government implemented a program to remove any joy or charm from Irkutsk that was started just after the writer of the guide left and finished- successfully- just as we arrived. Oh lonely planet, why do you always get it wrong?
This is not a town I would choose to stop in again but for two reasons.
First was the beautiful Elena. Elena runs a home stay in Irkutsk where we stayed in her spare room and her mother cooked for us. It was great to spend time with people that were not travelers like us, I think we got a good insight into Russian life with many long conversations comparing Elena's life under a communistic government and how it has changed for her 14 year old daughter. One thing that sticks in my mind from our conversations was Elena's comment in regards to her teenagers’ years: "I always knew I was not free" Another reminder for me that we as citizens of England, Australia and Europe are very lucky; we can travel anywhere, work anywhere and live anywhere. Currently I and Davina are planning our next steps around the world, we are not sure where to go but we could simply throw a dart at a map of the world and go where it lands (assuming it’s a country and that England/USA have not invaded it in the last few months.) Elena is like a lot of single mums who work hard to provide a home for their children but with large personal sacrifice. She dreams of coming to England and living the life of an English Lady.
We enjoyed a little get together with Elena and some of her friends and a little vodka, of course.
The one and possibly only thing that caught my attention in Irkutsk was a local
fascination with England. There was a British club that had pictures of
iconic British figures and a London pub. Of course we had to eat here.
There were no burgers, slot machines or girls drinking pints of Stella.
No very London.
The second and LAST reason Irkutsk deserves to be on anyone’s itinerary is it’s the closest stop to Lake Baikal, the 'Pearl of Siberia'.
Lake Baikal is the world’s deeps lake at 1637m and holds a massive 5th
of the worlds unfrozen fresh water. In the height of winter a layer of
ice covers the entire surface so thick you can drive across it (but
experience proved you cant drive a train across, silly Russians) and
it's so clean you can peer down through the ice like a window seeing
upto 40m down.
Visiting Lake Baikal numbed the pain of stopping at Irkutsk.
We court a min-van from Irkutsk to Listvyanka 60km away, on the lake
side. I luckily fell asleep almost instantly missing the sprawling and
ugly outskirts of the city and awoke as we were whizzing up and down
very steep hills in the middle of a pine forest. As pleasing as the
view was, both the wake up call and the ride were not.
Sat opposite us was a rather large woman. A women of such proportions
that two tickets would have been more appropriate. She suddenly felt
the need to look forward, this want required her to heave her
gargantuan bulk around 180 degrees. So at one split second all
her weight and the force required to move it was focused on my knee
by way of her knee as she pivoted, rudely and suddenly waking me up.
To rube salt into wounded knee she did not speak to the driver or
even request the next stop, rather pause, forward facing for a second
before spinning back into her seat where she stayed for the next 20mins.
A fully loaded min-van does not feel the safest mode of transport at
the best of times but it is Russia and winter so there is ice and snow
on the road with only thin tracks of Tarmac showing through the ice.
What happens if the driver misses as we race up and down these scenic
but steep hills and clips the ice sending us over the edge no doubt
turning us into a fireball of min-van, fat middle aged women, fake fur
and me. That is not the way I want to go.
Thank goodness we arrived safely and alive to tell the tale.
And it is as beautiful and peaceful as expected.
We find our guest house and are greeted by the owner who, with no
English, shows us around and how everything works including the taps,
just incase taps are different in England. We are in a traditional
Siberian wooden house, warm, cozy and brightly painted. There is a
small kitchen and dinning room and three bed rooms but we are the only
ones staying as it is off season. Later as we explore, it seems like
we are the only ones staying in the entire village.
The cottage decor is a bizarre mishmash of very dated styles. A bit
like the home of an old woman that did decorate regularly but stopped
40 years ago. There is even patterned wallpaper with glitter on it.
We loved it.
I can't believe we had three nights in Irkutsk but only one here. If I
was to do this again I would get off the train at Irkutsk and get
straight on a bus to the lake. Maybe even closing my eyes as we travel through Irkutsk so I don’t even have to look upon its ugliness.
We dump our stuff and go exploring. The house is in a small valley and
about 160m from the lake side. Due to the snow and increased layers of
clothing even short distances like this take an age to cover.
The shore line is very interesting. Ice forms on anything that gets
splashed or washed over. So as the waves lap over the rocks layer
upon layer of ice forms. All the plants have an ice shell. Individual
strands of tall grass have ice crust like they are on display in a
museum.
The sun starts to set and the temperature drops.
We have to brave the cold to get an evening meal. The closest restaurant
offers a menu in English. I have the fish that is only found in this
lake. On our way back I have my hood pulled down to just above my eyes
and my scarf to just below them. The only exposed part was my eyes. It
was ok until the slight breeze hit my unprotected eyes, my goodness did
it sting.
First thing in the morning I have to get some cash out.
It's our last real day in Russia as our train leaves at 5.25am
tomorrow and we want to leave with as little rubles as possible. It’s
a perfectly clear morning allowing me to see all the way across the
lake to the mountains on the other side. It's also perfectly quite, the
waves lapping the pebble beach making the only sounds.
For my 20th birthday I was kindly given an aerobatic plane ride. This
was 30 mins in a small 2 seater plane with a rather large pilot that
spun and twisted us through the air. Loop-da-loop, corkscrews and
dives. I was sat next to him with my own set of controls and at one
point he said 'over to you'. I had control of the plane; I could go
up and down, left or right. It was an extraordinary thought that I had
control. A very similar experience yesterday. After about 2km the
instructor put the break on and motioned for me to take his place. I
put both feet on the break, wait for him to sit down and then jump off
the break on to the foot plates and we are off at what feels like a
million miles an hour pulled along by 7 very strong and very excited
dogs.
I had control of the sledge. I could go left or right....well, if the
dogs also wanted to go that way. It was not long before I fell off.
Our treat for Russia other than Russia it's self is a 10km dog sledge
ride.
I have joyous images of dogs bounding through the flat wide tundra
pulling a sledge where I romantically sip mulled wine with Davina.
Try controlling a sledge over what must be a world class mountain bike
course while being pulled by seven very excited dogs that have only
two speeds: still and not still.
We chose a 10km ride expecting that we would do the riding. In very
limited and broken English one of the staff explains that the
instructor will start then we will swap. He will sit in the sledge with
me standing on the back steering. Most important thing is not to let
go. The dogs won't stop.
There are 35 dogs in total and they know some of them are about to run and
they all want in. They bark as if selection is done on noise created.
They are brought from their individual kennels clipped to a secure
rope and harnessed up. This all happens very quickly.
Davina is off first and you can barely hold my team back.
Off we go.
First thing that struck me was the peace. As soon as we left the other
dogs calm down and now the wind rushing past my ears is all that
could be heard.
Next thing that stuck me was the floor as we left it and then
reconnected with it again rather abruptly dashing my romanticized images
of a smooth ride. It was bumpy. Like really bumpy.
And the dogs were fast, I assume we were the first run of the day.
After about 2km we stop and swap places. You stand on two skis like
platforms and in-between there is a pedal which acts as a break by
shoving nails into the snow.
I fall off almost instantly tipping the sledge over and the instructor out.
We cling on, tip the sledge back up, standing on the break and
then off again. I find it very hard to negotiate the ruff terrain
falling off at least 5 times which must have pissed the dogs off no end.
We complete the course. As we pulled into the compound a team is
waiting to receive the dogs and very quickly de-harness them and return
them to their houses. I am very grateful it was over. It was amazing
and thrilling but scary.
It's surprisingly warm and the sun is out so we enjoy a walk along the
lake before catching the bus back to Irkutsk.
The lake was stunning. If only we had more time there.
Finally being out of cities made me want to be remote. Away from lots
of people and noise.
I have a sore knee, sledging or fat women...
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Vancouver- the morning after
Its the morning after. You wonder out of your bed room knowing that you have to look at the carnage at some point, feeling a little hung over and maybe disoriented. Its a lot quieter that you last remember it. There is a strange stale smell and everything is out of place.
This is the morning after the house party the night before. This is Vancouver.
Two significant things have happened in the last couple of days. First the Olympics finished. It was crazy here for 17 days, there were people everywhere and there was a great vibe about the place, in particular on the days Canada won a gold. People would pack the streets and party well in to the early hours. All the main streets would be a sea of red and white high fiving and whooping but the bell rang and everyone has gone home.
Significant thing too is we have acquired a set of shelves so our bed room no longer looks like the room of a junkie.
Just because we packed up everything we owed and journeyed through wildest Mongolia does not mean I have found a new unmaterlistic state of being.
I have not smashed my Iphone and tye'dy shirt, but its quite refreshing not having a lot of stuff. We arrived in Vancouver from Hong Kong with just our rucksacks and instantly started acquiring more stuff.
Before we left London we packed a case to send to Canada but in the chaos of leaving our lives the contents of the case did not get a lot of thought. I packed a lot of really smart shirts, dinner out type but not going to the office type, but no smart shoes. Davina packed two pairs of smart wedding typed sandals but again no shoes that would work for work.
After months of looking like travelers, wearing Tshirts, trekking trainers and quick-drying trousers, everything fitting in our small packs. I was very ready to look a little smarter, wear a shirt and jeans. Looking for work wearing trainers is not the best look.
So we start to acquire stuff. We got Davina the cheapest pair of smart-ish black shoes and a black winter coat. I get a nice pair of jeans and a shirt. The next day we both get work. Davina in a shop that sells clothes for travelers so she can literally wear what we arrived in and me with a lighting company where a shirt looks out of place even on the boss.
Landing in Vancouver was just like getting home from a beach holiday. We left exotic and sunny Hong Kong and arrived in a dark, cold and rainy Vancouver where the Holiday was over.
First we stayed for a few nights with a great couple we met via 'Couch Surfing', CS is a bit like a platonic one-night-stand via Internet dating. You have a profile on the website which tells all about you, like a dating website. You search for people that you have stuff in common with in your area, like Internet dating. Then you stay on their couch for free....like Internet dating??
Really its a world wide community. You offer your couch or spare room to travelers, which they sleep on. Then when you travel you stay on other peoples couches.
Currently there are 1,677,566 couch surfers with people offering couches in every town and city all over the world. The idea is not only a free place to sleep but a community to come together to exchange ideas, friendship and cultural exchange. We found Pat and Katlin via CS and they kindly offered us a room for our first three nights in Vancouver and they continue to be good friends which we make ice cream and drink beer in pubs that don't have TVs in. Next we moved into a long term guest house for a month while looking for somewhere a little more permanent and it was via Couch Surfing we found a french couple who had a room in their flat. Gex and Millie did the same as us. Packed up everything, gave up their jobs and moved to Vancouver. We also live with Bree, a girl from Perth. The flat is a long way from luxury, unfurnished and bland but its not about the flat. We looked at about million different flats, some rooms in over crowed houses, some basement flats that look like a set from a terrorist public relation film and some rather nice self contained perfect little flats. After I started to justify the expensive rent on a couple of nice places, Davina reminded me what we were here to do and it was not to live upto our means and alone even if the decor was nice. We are here to met new people, experience Vancouver and ideally save money.
It was this moment that Gex and Millie posted on Couch surfing about their flat. The rent is the cheapest we found, the people are the best and we plan to have couch surfers stay with us.
All the furniture was found on free-cycle websites or from charity shops. But our room was almost completely empty. We just have a boxspring with a mattress on the floor and our suitcase. Looks a little like the room of a heroin addict that has sold everything for just one more hit and oh how I crave stuff.
I want a bed that's not on the floor, then I would need a bedside table to put some stuff on. I expect that I would need a bedside lamp so I can see what ever is on my bedside table. Once I have the lamp I better get a picture or painting to put on the stark walls that are now illuminated by the bedside lamp on my bedside table next to my real bed. Tell you what would look good under a picture on the wall would be a set of draws, here we could put some nice little things, bits of stuff
But we do now have a set of shelves, a nice ikea type flat pack that we got for free and I put some photos up on the wall so it now looks like we don't have some crack habit and live in nice room.
A nice Canadian shared a with video with me when we were in China and I was reminded of it this morning.
Someones trash is someone Else's treasure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac
This is the morning after the house party the night before. This is Vancouver.
Two significant things have happened in the last couple of days. First the Olympics finished. It was crazy here for 17 days, there were people everywhere and there was a great vibe about the place, in particular on the days Canada won a gold. People would pack the streets and party well in to the early hours. All the main streets would be a sea of red and white high fiving and whooping but the bell rang and everyone has gone home.
Significant thing too is we have acquired a set of shelves so our bed room no longer looks like the room of a junkie.
Just because we packed up everything we owed and journeyed through wildest Mongolia does not mean I have found a new unmaterlistic state of being.
I have not smashed my Iphone and tye'dy shirt, but its quite refreshing not having a lot of stuff. We arrived in Vancouver from Hong Kong with just our rucksacks and instantly started acquiring more stuff.
Before we left London we packed a case to send to Canada but in the chaos of leaving our lives the contents of the case did not get a lot of thought. I packed a lot of really smart shirts, dinner out type but not going to the office type, but no smart shoes. Davina packed two pairs of smart wedding typed sandals but again no shoes that would work for work.
After months of looking like travelers, wearing Tshirts, trekking trainers and quick-drying trousers, everything fitting in our small packs. I was very ready to look a little smarter, wear a shirt and jeans. Looking for work wearing trainers is not the best look.
So we start to acquire stuff. We got Davina the cheapest pair of smart-ish black shoes and a black winter coat. I get a nice pair of jeans and a shirt. The next day we both get work. Davina in a shop that sells clothes for travelers so she can literally wear what we arrived in and me with a lighting company where a shirt looks out of place even on the boss.
Landing in Vancouver was just like getting home from a beach holiday. We left exotic and sunny Hong Kong and arrived in a dark, cold and rainy Vancouver where the Holiday was over.
First we stayed for a few nights with a great couple we met via 'Couch Surfing', CS is a bit like a platonic one-night-stand via Internet dating. You have a profile on the website which tells all about you, like a dating website. You search for people that you have stuff in common with in your area, like Internet dating. Then you stay on their couch for free....like Internet dating??
Really its a world wide community. You offer your couch or spare room to travelers, which they sleep on. Then when you travel you stay on other peoples couches.
Currently there are 1,677,566 couch surfers with people offering couches in every town and city all over the world. The idea is not only a free place to sleep but a community to come together to exchange ideas, friendship and cultural exchange. We found Pat and Katlin via CS and they kindly offered us a room for our first three nights in Vancouver and they continue to be good friends which we make ice cream and drink beer in pubs that don't have TVs in. Next we moved into a long term guest house for a month while looking for somewhere a little more permanent and it was via Couch Surfing we found a french couple who had a room in their flat. Gex and Millie did the same as us. Packed up everything, gave up their jobs and moved to Vancouver. We also live with Bree, a girl from Perth. The flat is a long way from luxury, unfurnished and bland but its not about the flat. We looked at about million different flats, some rooms in over crowed houses, some basement flats that look like a set from a terrorist public relation film and some rather nice self contained perfect little flats. After I started to justify the expensive rent on a couple of nice places, Davina reminded me what we were here to do and it was not to live upto our means and alone even if the decor was nice. We are here to met new people, experience Vancouver and ideally save money.
It was this moment that Gex and Millie posted on Couch surfing about their flat. The rent is the cheapest we found, the people are the best and we plan to have couch surfers stay with us.
All the furniture was found on free-cycle websites or from charity shops. But our room was almost completely empty. We just have a boxspring with a mattress on the floor and our suitcase. Looks a little like the room of a heroin addict that has sold everything for just one more hit and oh how I crave stuff.
I want a bed that's not on the floor, then I would need a bedside table to put some stuff on. I expect that I would need a bedside lamp so I can see what ever is on my bedside table. Once I have the lamp I better get a picture or painting to put on the stark walls that are now illuminated by the bedside lamp on my bedside table next to my real bed. Tell you what would look good under a picture on the wall would be a set of draws, here we could put some nice little things, bits of stuff
But we do now have a set of shelves, a nice ikea type flat pack that we got for free and I put some photos up on the wall so it now looks like we don't have some crack habit and live in nice room.
A nice Canadian shared a with video with me when we were in China and I was reminded of it this morning.
Someones trash is someone Else's treasure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Where have all the Blogs gone?
Location: Canada- Vancouver
Day: about 5 and a half months after leaving
Status: Red and White
Author: Simon
I know what happened. It was two fold really.
First the novelty wore off, once you have been on one night bus. Stayed in one hostel. Got lost and on the wrong bus/train (think wrong train in Romania at 1am, ekk) its no longer sucha big deal
Second we left eastern Europe and started on Russia.
The plan was to blog about our travels. Not for other people to read really, I never thought I would do anything worth noting. But mummy and Nana like to read about where we are.
But really I wanted to write about what we did and what it was like so I would remember.
To start with it was fun to blog, it also killed the time when we were on long bus/train journeys. We would use the Iphones, then swap to check and edit then just email the blog off to our website. It was really easy.
But once we left eastern Europe we stopped.
Eastern Europe really was 'off season' there was no one there, so no other travelers to chat with and spend time with. But once we got to St-Petersburg it was a different atmosphere. All hostels were full, we meet loads of cool people. Most people were on the same journey as us and a few of them we met up with along the way, in the middle of Russia, in Mongolia and finally in China. So its much more fun to go out with other people that sit alone in your pants blogging.
I tryed to keep notes on what we did so now I am working on those notes and updating our blog to live in the Cyber-Ether forever.
Day: about 5 and a half months after leaving
Status: Red and White
Author: Simon
I know what happened. It was two fold really.
First the novelty wore off, once you have been on one night bus. Stayed in one hostel. Got lost and on the wrong bus/train (think wrong train in Romania at 1am, ekk) its no longer sucha big deal
Second we left eastern Europe and started on Russia.
The plan was to blog about our travels. Not for other people to read really, I never thought I would do anything worth noting. But mummy and Nana like to read about where we are.
But really I wanted to write about what we did and what it was like so I would remember.
To start with it was fun to blog, it also killed the time when we were on long bus/train journeys. We would use the Iphones, then swap to check and edit then just email the blog off to our website. It was really easy.
But once we left eastern Europe we stopped.
Eastern Europe really was 'off season' there was no one there, so no other travelers to chat with and spend time with. But once we got to St-Petersburg it was a different atmosphere. All hostels were full, we meet loads of cool people. Most people were on the same journey as us and a few of them we met up with along the way, in the middle of Russia, in Mongolia and finally in China. So its much more fun to go out with other people that sit alone in your pants blogging.
I tryed to keep notes on what we did so now I am working on those notes and updating our blog to live in the Cyber-Ether forever.
Trans-Siberian Train 1
Location: Small cell like cabin on our first Trans-Siberian Train.
11.30pm and board the first official of our 4 trans-Siberian trains.
This part of the trip is the longest at 48 hours.
The entire journey from Moscow to Beijing vis Mongolia is 7865km and
7days. Some people do it straight through. This has to be the ultimate
in human endurance and borderline insanity.
It's not like a Cruise ship that stops for hours at a time and offers
a delightful selection of in house entertainment, west end style shows and
bingo. Oh no. The train stops to be serviced, topped up with water,
pick up/drop off passengers and change engine. All this takes a maximum
of 20 mins. A perfect amount of time to get off the train and walk
around maybe purchase some snacks and beer but no more. As this and
the Russian radio being played in the carriage is the only form of
entertainment 7 days would be testing.
We have booked out tickets through an agency all the way from Moscow
to Beijing. We met people that booked each leg as they go, maybe just
one days notice and for less money. But you run the risk of not
getting the train you want, not advisable in summer.
We are in carriage 7, second class. Which means 9 cabins of 4 people
per carriage with 2 toilets and 1 attendant (well 2, one rests while
the other takes care of us). First class is 9 cabins of 2 people and
3rd class is open plan with 54 beds still 2 toilets.
Already in his place is our roommate when we arrive. And not the most
friendly of fellows, not rude just not in to small talk. He keeps his
self on his side of the room and we on ours.
After a hour or so of settling in, reading and very nice wine but
drunk from our thermal mugs that still smell of soup we bed down.
Laying there and listening to a Jonathon Ross podcast
- a little aside. The list of travel essentials now lists as:
Custom ear plugs
Eye masks
Thermal mug
And iPhone. Not for it's phone-ness but for it's wonderful wireless
Internet capacity and for enabling me to regularly down load podcast,
keeping me entertained and up to date with the celebrity world.
So I was enjoying Jonathan chat with Dizzy Raskel think I should
really try and sleep. But why? What will happen if I go crazy and
listen to a second podcast staying away longer than I would have if had
work the next day or even some site seeing to do.
The night trains, unlike cruise ships, don't offer many entertainment
options. There is chatting, well our friend made it clear that was not
going to happen. There is eating, reading, podcast and sleeping. So I
went crazy and stayed up one extra podcast, then slept for maybe 9
hours. Of course I had two little sleeps the following day, one mid
morning and one mid afternoon.
Breakfast was bread and Nuttella, the last jar in the shop the day
before.
We left Moscow and built up Russia in the dark and woke up to a
beautiful snow covered landscape, there most have been at least a foot
of snow on everything. Now and again there were small towns comprising
of ramshackle wooden houses but not allot else.
We stop about 4pm and I get off for a little walk.
We read and heard lots of horror stories about people getting off,
wandering too far and the train leaving without them. One lonely
planet writer got arrased after his train left him as he did not have
his passport with him and another old guy got left in just a bathrobe
and slippers. So I had money and passport with me and I kept close to the
train. There were hundreds of people on the platform selling everything
you could need, snacks, sweets, beer, a cup-tree complete with cups
and even warm meals. I got stopped by one guy who spoke English. He not
did try and sell me anything, rather he wanted to practice his already
perfect English. He wad telling me that out of a population of 30000
500 make their living from selling to passengers.
It is now dark at 4.10.
We walk through the train to third class to find our friend.
And it's a different game down there. People every where. Constant moving
around and much nosier. In second class people stay in their cabins
and most keep the door closed so when some does move along the carriage
you don't notice. In third class you see and hear everything. Most
beds are filled, family's, elderly couples, young people, soldiers. We
find Chris and start chatting. We instantly attract the attention of
locals and within no time we are seated in a group chatting. People
were interested in what we were doing, why be in the train and go
through Russia. For Russians long distance train travel is second
nature. Everyone knows what to expect and comes well prepared. We are
surrounded with food, tomatoes, instant noodles and most important
alcohol. The guys explain that all there is nothing to do but drink. They
kindly share a spirit that smelled like Christmas with Davina. Me and
Chris did not get offered any!
One of the guys was a young student on his way home from Moscow and
spoke good English and acted a translator for us. There was a 27 year
old singer who's English was limited and, for him, frustrating. But
when he sang he got all the words perfect and even his accent was good.
I guess he just copies the songs. There were a number of young
soldiers, one in particular looked 14 but insits he was 19.
We decide that second class travel was for us. But we would have gone 3rd class. Its cheaper and allot more interesting.
Next day we meet Chris in the resturant car, a very modern, plastic car offering a limited menu of unknowns. We choose just beer.
Its nice to get out of our cabin and chat for a while. The service was poor, menu options limited and expensive but still Virgin could take some pointers from here.
11.30pm and board the first official of our 4 trans-Siberian trains.
This part of the trip is the longest at 48 hours.
The entire journey from Moscow to Beijing vis Mongolia is 7865km and
7days. Some people do it straight through. This has to be the ultimate
in human endurance and borderline insanity.
It's not like a Cruise ship that stops for hours at a time and offers
a delightful selection of in house entertainment, west end style shows and
bingo. Oh no. The train stops to be serviced, topped up with water,
pick up/drop off passengers and change engine. All this takes a maximum
of 20 mins. A perfect amount of time to get off the train and walk
around maybe purchase some snacks and beer but no more. As this and
the Russian radio being played in the carriage is the only form of
entertainment 7 days would be testing.
We have booked out tickets through an agency all the way from Moscow
to Beijing. We met people that booked each leg as they go, maybe just
one days notice and for less money. But you run the risk of not
getting the train you want, not advisable in summer.
We are in carriage 7, second class. Which means 9 cabins of 4 people
per carriage with 2 toilets and 1 attendant (well 2, one rests while
the other takes care of us). First class is 9 cabins of 2 people and
3rd class is open plan with 54 beds still 2 toilets.
Already in his place is our roommate when we arrive. And not the most
friendly of fellows, not rude just not in to small talk. He keeps his
self on his side of the room and we on ours.
After a hour or so of settling in, reading and very nice wine but
drunk from our thermal mugs that still smell of soup we bed down.
Laying there and listening to a Jonathon Ross podcast
- a little aside. The list of travel essentials now lists as:
Custom ear plugs
Eye masks
Thermal mug
And iPhone. Not for it's phone-ness but for it's wonderful wireless
Internet capacity and for enabling me to regularly down load podcast,
keeping me entertained and up to date with the celebrity world.
So I was enjoying Jonathan chat with Dizzy Raskel think I should
really try and sleep. But why? What will happen if I go crazy and
listen to a second podcast staying away longer than I would have if had
work the next day or even some site seeing to do.
The night trains, unlike cruise ships, don't offer many entertainment
options. There is chatting, well our friend made it clear that was not
going to happen. There is eating, reading, podcast and sleeping. So I
went crazy and stayed up one extra podcast, then slept for maybe 9
hours. Of course I had two little sleeps the following day, one mid
morning and one mid afternoon.
Breakfast was bread and Nuttella, the last jar in the shop the day
before.
We left Moscow and built up Russia in the dark and woke up to a
beautiful snow covered landscape, there most have been at least a foot
of snow on everything. Now and again there were small towns comprising
of ramshackle wooden houses but not allot else.
We stop about 4pm and I get off for a little walk.
We read and heard lots of horror stories about people getting off,
wandering too far and the train leaving without them. One lonely
planet writer got arrased after his train left him as he did not have
his passport with him and another old guy got left in just a bathrobe
and slippers. So I had money and passport with me and I kept close to the
train. There were hundreds of people on the platform selling everything
you could need, snacks, sweets, beer, a cup-tree complete with cups
and even warm meals. I got stopped by one guy who spoke English. He not
did try and sell me anything, rather he wanted to practice his already
perfect English. He wad telling me that out of a population of 30000
500 make their living from selling to passengers.
It is now dark at 4.10.
We walk through the train to third class to find our friend.
And it's a different game down there. People every where. Constant moving
around and much nosier. In second class people stay in their cabins
and most keep the door closed so when some does move along the carriage
you don't notice. In third class you see and hear everything. Most
beds are filled, family's, elderly couples, young people, soldiers. We
find Chris and start chatting. We instantly attract the attention of
locals and within no time we are seated in a group chatting. People
were interested in what we were doing, why be in the train and go
through Russia. For Russians long distance train travel is second
nature. Everyone knows what to expect and comes well prepared. We are
surrounded with food, tomatoes, instant noodles and most important
alcohol. The guys explain that all there is nothing to do but drink. They
kindly share a spirit that smelled like Christmas with Davina. Me and
Chris did not get offered any!
One of the guys was a young student on his way home from Moscow and
spoke good English and acted a translator for us. There was a 27 year
old singer who's English was limited and, for him, frustrating. But
when he sang he got all the words perfect and even his accent was good.
I guess he just copies the songs. There were a number of young
soldiers, one in particular looked 14 but insits he was 19.
We decide that second class travel was for us. But we would have gone 3rd class. Its cheaper and allot more interesting.
Next day we meet Chris in the resturant car, a very modern, plastic car offering a limited menu of unknowns. We choose just beer.
Its nice to get out of our cabin and chat for a while. The service was poor, menu options limited and expensive but still Virgin could take some pointers from here.
St Petersburge
Day 39 9th November 2009
Location: Train. St petersburge to Moscow
Status: Hung over
Lesson: It is not essential that you 'finish the vodka off, there is
only this last bit left'
Author: Simon
We are currently on the train from St Petersburg to Moscow. An easy 7
hours during the day. The train is full but not crowded, this route is
very popular and tickets sell out even in low season like now. We are
the only tourists that I can see, at least the only English speakers
in our carriage, mostly we are surrounded by middle aged Russians. It's
eerily quiet, both the train and the people, it's obviously the driver
is in no hurray allowing us plenty of time to soak up the scenery.
Scenery that is exactly in every detail to what I imagined it would
be. It's neither mountainous nor flat, I guess hilly with quite allot of pine
forests interspersed with lakes, small collection of houses and some
times just nothing. Most important in my pre-arrival self-created
imagery is the light undisturbed dusting of snow on everything. All the
small wooden houses with the tall, pointy roofs have a column of smoke
flowing out of their chimneys. The lakes are partly frozen over and
currently there is no factories or industry to corrupt this beautiful
image.
It's 4pm, 3 hours in to our journey, so just light but there is
no sun. There has been no sun other than on the first afternoon. I
imagine that a long, cold, sunless Russian winter would be taxing.
Russia and the Trans-Mongolian has always been the centre of our trip,
most of research and reading was directed here and the first half of
the trip was dictated by ensuring we get to Russia at the right time.
We deliberately chose to come at the beginning of winter, we wanted to
see Russia and Mongolia in the snow.
We flew into St Petersburg from Warsaw which is a slight break in the
plan to get the train from Turkey to Hong Kong. But the only train on
offer was a 28 hour journey in 3rd class, which means seated in a open
plan carriage, very little chance of sleep all for £93. So we got a
two hour plane for £120. Little more for allot more.
I don't know what I thought St Petersburg would look like, maybe a
little scary, like a communist state should look- thinking 1984.
I looked out as we descended and i was very relived to
find it looked kinda normal. There were a large number of ugly, cheap
and efficient buildings that looked like Lego bricks stacked to
varying heights. The airport was like every other airport with signs in
the local tongue and in English.
I was warned about the Cyrillic alphabet used in Russia. It was suggested that I memorised it before arriving.
I did download it but of course looked at it for no more than 2 minuets. And what I have learned from this is ignorance is bliss.
So far most country's we have passed through use an alphabet like ours and often words are very similar or at least easy to pick up a few of the necessary. But with the Cyrillic alphabet its a whole nother language, all the letters are crazy and nothing is the same as English, what were they thinking?!
So when I look around I see no sign I can read or even guess at so I ignore them. This makes dealing with language very easy.
Getting into Russia is not easy. You have to go the extra mile, put
the effort in. The visa is expensive, £150 for 30 day tourist, and
time consuming. The Russian embassy had our passports for 8 days. It's
not convenient, it can not be issued more that 90days before you travel
and requires a letter if invitation, list of hotels you are
stopping in for every night and registration at post office every time you
stay in one place longer that 72 hours. All this red tape and
bureaucracy makes it hard work thus only attracting dedicated travelers.
On a little aside, Argentina passport holders do not require visas,
how random?!
You are also required to carry at least a copy of you passport and
paperwork at all times and if you are checked and this is missing or
incorrect you get a £100 fine.
All this made me a little concerned and nervous particular at passport
control, but after a little typing I was allowed in.
We stayed in a nice but over crowded hostel very close to the centre.
The owner looks 18 but I assume she is older and a traveler her self, so knows what makes a great hostel.
Really well equipped kitchen, lockers in the rooms with built in power sockets and a nice social area with large tv and limited DVD collection.
It seams everyone at the hostel is on the same agenda as us, Trans- Mongolia to China, but planned very different ways.
We were concerned about this part of the trip so prebooked all train tickets and visas, this we paid for.
There were many people buying ticket's as they went along, off season this is the cheapest option but not sure it would be wise in the summer.
Oh and there is snow on the ground here!
Location: Train. St petersburge to Moscow
Status: Hung over
Lesson: It is not essential that you 'finish the vodka off, there is
only this last bit left'
Author: Simon
We are currently on the train from St Petersburg to Moscow. An easy 7
hours during the day. The train is full but not crowded, this route is
very popular and tickets sell out even in low season like now. We are
the only tourists that I can see, at least the only English speakers
in our carriage, mostly we are surrounded by middle aged Russians. It's
eerily quiet, both the train and the people, it's obviously the driver
is in no hurray allowing us plenty of time to soak up the scenery.
Scenery that is exactly in every detail to what I imagined it would
be. It's neither mountainous nor flat, I guess hilly with quite allot of pine
forests interspersed with lakes, small collection of houses and some
times just nothing. Most important in my pre-arrival self-created
imagery is the light undisturbed dusting of snow on everything. All the
small wooden houses with the tall, pointy roofs have a column of smoke
flowing out of their chimneys. The lakes are partly frozen over and
currently there is no factories or industry to corrupt this beautiful
image.
It's 4pm, 3 hours in to our journey, so just light but there is
no sun. There has been no sun other than on the first afternoon. I
imagine that a long, cold, sunless Russian winter would be taxing.
Russia and the Trans-Mongolian has always been the centre of our trip,
most of research and reading was directed here and the first half of
the trip was dictated by ensuring we get to Russia at the right time.
We deliberately chose to come at the beginning of winter, we wanted to
see Russia and Mongolia in the snow.
We flew into St Petersburg from Warsaw which is a slight break in the
plan to get the train from Turkey to Hong Kong. But the only train on
offer was a 28 hour journey in 3rd class, which means seated in a open
plan carriage, very little chance of sleep all for £93. So we got a
two hour plane for £120. Little more for allot more.
I don't know what I thought St Petersburg would look like, maybe a
little scary, like a communist state should look- thinking 1984.
I looked out as we descended and i was very relived to
find it looked kinda normal. There were a large number of ugly, cheap
and efficient buildings that looked like Lego bricks stacked to
varying heights. The airport was like every other airport with signs in
the local tongue and in English.
I was warned about the Cyrillic alphabet used in Russia. It was suggested that I memorised it before arriving.
I did download it but of course looked at it for no more than 2 minuets. And what I have learned from this is ignorance is bliss.
So far most country's we have passed through use an alphabet like ours and often words are very similar or at least easy to pick up a few of the necessary. But with the Cyrillic alphabet its a whole nother language, all the letters are crazy and nothing is the same as English, what were they thinking?!
So when I look around I see no sign I can read or even guess at so I ignore them. This makes dealing with language very easy.
Getting into Russia is not easy. You have to go the extra mile, put
the effort in. The visa is expensive, £150 for 30 day tourist, and
time consuming. The Russian embassy had our passports for 8 days. It's
not convenient, it can not be issued more that 90days before you travel
and requires a letter if invitation, list of hotels you are
stopping in for every night and registration at post office every time you
stay in one place longer that 72 hours. All this red tape and
bureaucracy makes it hard work thus only attracting dedicated travelers.
On a little aside, Argentina passport holders do not require visas,
how random?!
You are also required to carry at least a copy of you passport and
paperwork at all times and if you are checked and this is missing or
incorrect you get a £100 fine.
All this made me a little concerned and nervous particular at passport
control, but after a little typing I was allowed in.
We stayed in a nice but over crowded hostel very close to the centre.
The owner looks 18 but I assume she is older and a traveler her self, so knows what makes a great hostel.
Really well equipped kitchen, lockers in the rooms with built in power sockets and a nice social area with large tv and limited DVD collection.
It seams everyone at the hostel is on the same agenda as us, Trans- Mongolia to China, but planned very different ways.
We were concerned about this part of the trip so prebooked all train tickets and visas, this we paid for.
There were many people buying ticket's as they went along, off season this is the cheapest option but not sure it would be wise in the summer.
Oh and there is snow on the ground here!
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Warsaw
Day 32. 2nd Nov 2009
Location: Warsaw
Status: Cold but cool
Author: Simon
Location: Warsaw
Status: Cold but cool
Author: Simon
My goodness. It's chilly.
To think a mere 17 days ago we were drenched in beatuliful sunbeams,
sucking in the vitim D and showing off our tans. Now it's cold.
Yesterday we made our way from krakow to Warsaw and it was in krakow I
learnt about windchill. Sure knew that in winter when the wind blow it
is cold. I experienced this when on childhood walks, normally boxing
day, that seamed to involve a beach. Who ever thought that setting
foot on a English beach at any time other than the two week summer was
a good idea is beyond me. Well no it's not really beyond me, it was my
mother who must have thought this. Anyway, I knew wind could be cold.
But Poland in November. It's a whole other thing.
Krakow was beautiful, wonderful arcitechture, massive medieval castle
and churches. Tree lined paths winding their way through parks. Clear
blue sky, sun shining, leaves all autumnal. Almost like krakow was the
city with roads pathed with gold as the leaves fell to form and
uncollected goldern blanket. (perfect for running through and kicking,
which we did of course)
Out of the wind it was almost warm.
In the wind the Goldern city changed to a land that summer forgot,
maybe an enternal winter like narnia.
So out came the thermals and the MA fleases.
I pride myself on being at the cutting edge of fashion. Almost a trend
setter. If I was on radio one I would be 'timmy trendy' maybe with my
own daytime TV show about how to keep 'on trend'
Keeping top of my fashion game is a lot harder in this dam icey wind
when carring such a limited wardrobe.
I gave a lot of thought to what clothes I would take away. I wanted to
ensure maxium flexablity within my clothes. Allowing me to mix and
match outfits.
Step one was to pick a small amount of clothes, 3 pairs of trousers, 4
t shirts, 2 fleases, set of thermals.
Step two is to ensure Colour Blindness. This allowed me to match any
two garments with no knowlage or concern if they work as a fashion
combo.
Step 3, this is only relevant to wind chill. Wear eveything at once.
Then it must go together.
Today I purchased a pair of thermal trousers, a Warsaw must have, to
compliment my fleese.
But let's be greatful we had our training in cold, damp, grey london.
We are currently sharing a room with two people from the Asia area,
not that I am jumping to conculsions, but they must really be
struggling with the temperature. I make this assumption because of
their sleeping attire, not that I look, which is basically tacksuits.
Now we are currently in a £7 per night six person dorm rooms which
are, as there are 6 people, rather snug and cosy and I do not require
much in the way of PJs. So if they require full sleeping suites they
must find the icey winds crippling.
Sent from my iPhone
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