Genghis Khan Land

I arrived in Mongolia earlier today, around 8am local time after a day on the Trans-Siberian from Irkutsk. It was a more interesting train journey this time, because not only was the carriage full of Mongolian traders but also a fair amount of foreigners. Along with the 3 Brits and I there was a Finnish man, a Swiss woman, a couple Canadian women and a couple Dutch guys. We all got along well and it was nice to be able to have full conversations in English in contrast to the limited English the locals speak, though the Mongolian traders were entertaining. They were extremely busy during the day, ferrying about all sorts of boxes and bags full of random products. Since there was only myself and one trader in my sleeper, it soon became full of stock. When we reached the Russia-Mongolia border and the customs officials came on board either end it soon became apparent pretty much everyone on board (besides the foreigners) was in on the deal. Even the provodniks were helping the traders cheat their way through customs, they were seen carrying around wads of cash after the officials left. It was quite funny.

The border crossing itself was a pain, though. We had to fill in about 3 seperate forms and about 5 customs forms, which was confusing enough because neither side labelled whether they were customs forms for Russia or Mongolia. The Russians then took our passports for 4 hours, in which time the toilets were locked and the restaurant carriage was taken off the train so it was very boring waiting around for so long. After finally getting our passports back it wasn't long before we had to do the same at the Mongolian side of the border around midnight, though they thankfully were a bit quicker than the Russians.

There was some amazing scenery during the train journey but unfortunately I've no pictures or video footage; I took one picture but the windows were so dirty it was hard to see out of. The Mongolians were definetely friendly enough people as were the westerners so it was a good journey overall.

Arriving in Mongolia after shower and a trip to an Asian bathhouse I was taken around the sites of Ulan Bataar by my guide. The man that existed 800-900 years ago is still worshipped over here, he has a whole building specially built for him:

The first picture is a close up of the middle statue of Gengis Khan.


This memorial in front of Genghi's Khan's building is to the leader of the 1921 People's Revolutionary Army.

I was next taken to the Gandan Monestary. Mongolia is 95% Buddhist so it's got a very special significance over here.


Pigeons over here, instead of being seen as pests and vermin, are fed seeds as they are beleived to be good for the soul or some such.


The stone beds in front of the temple are for people to lay on and pray.

Going in to the temple it was interesting to walk around with the air heavy in incense as Buddhist monks chanted and hit drums. You must always walk clockwise around Buddhist temples and photos are prohibited inside, unfortunately.


The next temple I was taken to is the biggest in Mongolia I believe, called the Eyes Wisdom temple and housed a huge 27m statue. Walking clockwise round this you can spin prayer wheels for good fortune, as many people did. The statue was surrounded by 6,000 smaller Buddha statues, which are believed to protect the large statue. At the altar at the front was burning incense and a framed picture of the Dalai Lama. He is a very respected man over here and seen as a great inspiration to people.

Unfortunately this entry has been a bit rushed since I am next off to the Mongolian countryside for a few days to live in a ger homestay. I'll be back in Ulan Bataar for one more day after that before boarding the final Trans-Siberian train bound for China and I'll probably be able to update then.

Irkutsk and Lake Baikal

Day 1

Early morning my train arrived at my destination, Irkutsk. After a transfer to Listvyanka village I was introduced to Olga, a friendly Siberian women who I will be stayed with for 3 days. She lives with her husband and son, though I never met them. The house is a traditional Siberian 'Izba', best described as a log cabin. At the centre of the household is a square brick structure that doesn't quite reach the roof. This is the heating structure and all the rooms are built around this to keep the house warm. It's kinda of hard to describe so I took a picture.


I was expecting only very basic amenities for a log cabin in the middle of Siberia. These expectations were reinforced when I was driven down the road off of which the house is located and saw what would best be compared to a ghetto back home. To my pleasant surprise, however, it was very comfortable and cosy. They have satellite TV,
a computer and everything much the same as you would expect from somewhere in the city. The toilet is an outhouse which is simply a house in the ground so that left something to be desired and they were missing one other basic amenity but apart from that it's a very nice place, somewhere you could certainly call home.

Russian cuisine left me with something to be desired. I ate street cendor foods, hotel buffets and on the train but nothing stood out as distinctely Russian; all I ate was rather bland and generic. Thus it was especially nice to be greeted in my Siberian homestay with a homecooked meal. Breakfast was a homemade spongecake with something like a sweet rhubarb relish, along with bread and cheese.

After breakfast a local guide took me to the Limnological museum, which is very popular with Russian students judging by the amount of tour groups that showed up throughout the day. The museum was all about the local lake, Lake Baikal, the biggest freshwater lake in the world and home to thousands of species of animals, over 75% of which are unique to the lake. It is in extremely clean lake too; water can be drank straight from it without filtration and the museum was keen to point out that some bottles of Baikal water it had bottled in 1992 were still drinkable to this day.

My guide next took me on a hike up the steep mountain overlooking the Angara river and Lake Baikal, which offers some amazing views of port Baikal.


It is distinctly clear where frozen Lake Baikal ends and the Anagara river begins. Apparently the Angara river never freezes because it is too shallow.


Siberia, far from being a frozen wasteland, offers some truly beautiful scenery.


This is the Shaman Rock. Shamanism is very popular around here, in fact the word Shaman comes from a local native language. Each of the lakes 363 (or there abouts) outlets was considered to be a living god. All were male bar one. Old man Baikal wanted Angara to marry one of the feeble tributaries but she ignored him and ran off with the mighty Yenisey river, the biggest in Russia. Old man Baikal was so angry he hurled a rock at her, but she managed to escape. There the rock remains.

Back home for lunch after cabbage soup with sour cream I had fried Omul, one of the fish indigenous to Lake Baikal, found only here and in one other lake in the world. It had a light batter and was very tasty. It didn't have a very strong flavour but it's definetely unlike fish I've tried before. If anyone ever visits Lake Baikal I reccomend it.

The other missing amenity I mentioned earlier is any sort of bath or shower to wash with. Instead, what I got to experience was a Russian 'banya', sort of like a sauna but the Russians feel theirs is superior as there is no steam, only dry heat. A furnace sits in the corner with a tap coming out of it housing hot water. You can increase the heat by opening a vent in the furnace and pouring water over the stones inside, though it can get VERY hot. A unique experience, but I'll stick to a shower.

Dinner was like raviolli but filled with potato and salad which, judging by the allotment outside, was homegrown.

Day 2
There's only one way to get across the frozen lake.


The snowmobile and my instructor, whose instructions were, in whole, "Right accelerator, left brake. Distance 10 metre'. Simple enough.

We drove out on to the lake, which was a mix of ice with intermittent snow mounds. Between the bigger gaps of snow mounds where there was nothing but pure ice you could feel the back end swaying every now and then, so I thought I would be cocky and try to ride sideways. I did eventually do it, though admittedly I spun out the first couple times. After those spin outs, I was fairly far behind my instructor
so I had no choice but to go faster to catch up  The experience of the cold air rushing against your face as you shoot across the frozen ice and snow at 50mph is one I will not soon forget. Hitting some snow mounds I even managed to get a small amount of air.

I spun out once more right near the end of the journey, when my instructor chose to stop on a particularly slippery path of ice. I managed to hold it, though, and did a perfect 360 spin without stopping. To anyone watching, I did it on purpose.



On the way back my instructor took me through a small clearing along a dirt road through the forest to some huts that looked more like the log cabins I was expecting.



Here we stopped for tea before heading back.

Day 3

I lied above, there is one other decent way to get across the lake.



Experiences and excursions in Siberia are unlike what we have back home. There's something to be said for the lack of health and safety regulations. Yesterday I was expecting to have to sit on the back of a snowmobile as my instructor drove it, but instead I got to ride my own. Likewise today I was expecting to be in the seat but instead that was where my instructor sat; I had to stand at the back and take the reigns. My instructions were even simpler than yesterday: hold on.

The dogs move a hell of a lot faster than expected and as the sled went over the first snow mound it threw my feet off and so I ended up running/skiing (ice) along with the dogs. They don't stop in Siberia, of course, so I had to keep up before I could jump back on. I was a lot more careful with my footing afterwards, especially when going over/through snow mounds.

Later that afternoon I met up again with the 3 Brits I'd met on the train. They're also coincidentally taking the same Ulan Bataar bound train as I am, in the same carriage no less. We took a walk across the lake, which involved a few precarious spots. The day before part of the lake had thawed out and there was a circle of water acround the outer perimeter of the lake. Considering it had been snowing that night and all of today, it had froze back over again but only a very thin layer. In reality we were in no real danger as there was another layer of much thicker ice below it. You try teling that to us as we hear of stories of cars plunging through the ice and myself even bearing witness to the rescue operation of some vehicle below the ice and feel our feet slightly sinking into the lake. I knew there was really no danger though as I'd seen all sorts of vehicles cross the ice and had been across it on a snowmobile and dog sled myself, but it was funny to see the 3 of them worry incessantly.

We soon found a lakeside bar and stopped for a pint of beer, where we discovered out paths met again. They also confirmed my suspicions about the restaurant carriage of the Trans-Siberian. The Russian carriages are all privately owned so they can be anything from horrible to amazing. We simply had a bad one on the way here, the one the 3 of them got from Ekaterinburg was apparently better.

I also learnt Russians do not like giving change, as when we tried to pay the 200 rouble bill for the beer with a 500 rouble note we were denied and had to go back and make it up with smaller notes. I guess you can be 'too rich' in Russia.

Day 4

Right now I'm in Irkutsk proper and staying with a host family in a Soviet style apartment for the night, before I board my train bound for Mongolia at a ridiculous hour of 5am. I shall probably meet the 3 Brits once more on the station and have in fact just now ran into a Brit from Kent in this Internet cafe,
who is trying to travel the world without boarding a plane. It's amazing the people and stories you run into while travelling. The next time I'll be able to update will probably be in Ulan Baatar, which will be perhaps 2-3 days.

Trans-Siberian Railway

I haven't updated in a while, mainly due to the fact I have been on a long train journey for a while. I'm in Siberia right now and have time to make a few posts.

This train, in fact:


By chance a young woman came up to me on the station while I was waiting for the train and started speaking Russian to me. When she realised I was English she told me about 3 other Brits and introduced us. Luckily I had some advice beforehand about Jaroslavl station and sure enough it turns out the 3 Brits had had a bag of theirs stolen at the station containing their train tickets, amongst other things. It turns out the young Russian woman and her partner had not only helped them file a police complaint and buy new tickets, but they'd even put
them up for the night when they were unable to find a hotel vacancy. Acts of friendliness and altruism like this don't seem uncommon out here;  since my last update I had one final day in Moscow before boarding my Irkutsk bound train at 11pm. Instead of going back into the city centre, I decided to check out a more local market place and get a feel for everyday Muscovite life. While the market was a lot like simple street markets back home, they sold a lot of old communist gear; everything from hats to uniforms to badges to flags to posters. I was trying to buy something but could find nobody by the stall and few most people
speak little or no English. A man came up to me and asked me something in Russian. I sort of shrugged and muttered under my breath 'I dunno' to which he started speaking English. It turns out he was a Quebecan living in Moscow. He then not only helped me look for what I wanted but also haggled and translated for me with the shopkeeper.

By a huge coincidence the 3 Brits and I are in the same carriage, but in different sleepers. Sleepers are small compartments with two tiers of beds either side of a small table.

My home for the next 3 days.

The 3 people in my sleeper with me were all Russian and spoke no English so besides a few words being exchanged nothing much was said. They have however, been very helpful when I have had problems as they are clearly more experienced at this than I.

That night the 3 Brits and I decided to have a celebratory drink. After downing half a bottle of Polish vodka they had on them we went to the bar and ended up drinking 1 and three quarter bottles of vodka between us.

Most of the next day was spent in bed.

In the evening, after the standard 'never drinking again' agreement we went to the bar to order some dinner. I ordered Stolianka, meat soup, while one of the others ordered salted fish, which hilariously turned out to be a tiny slab of raw fish on a dish the size of a butter plate under a mound of onions.

Mine was not much better, though. When my flavoured water arrived I found it contained everything from olives to a lemon slice. I'm pretty convinced instead of meat soup they simply threw whatever they could find into the pot. I also learnt it's a bad idea to try to eat soup on a moving train.

After dinner we went back to their sleeper and played cards for a bit before exchanging phone numbers and email addresses as they left that night at Ekaterinburg. So too, it turns out, did my sleeper companions which left me with the entire sleeper to myself for the night.

Whilst on my own during the morning of the next day I took some shots from the train, which passes by some amazing scenery. I have plenty of video footage too, but that will have to wait till I arrive home as I doubt I'll find an Internet connection
fast enough out here to upload them.




A Russian village tucked away in the middle of nowhere.


It's nice to know the Russians have special train cabins for their less fortunate.

Mid afternoon that day a man joined my sleeper as the train stopped at Omsk. At first he started speaking Russian to me but I attempted telling him I didn't know what he was saying. I showed him my Russian phrasebook, which he took and began looking through. Soon enough we were exchanging the book between us, he using the Russian > English dictionary at the back and I are English > Russian. Though both of us spoke little of each other's languages, I learnt his name was Sergei, he was 50 years old and was travelling on the train 
for a business trip; he was in the oil industry. He had two sons and a wife, who spoke English and even put me on the phone to her where she wished me all the luck in the world with my trip, University and the future in general.

As we continued chatting he offered me some Russian chocolates and some herbal tea using dried herbs he'd hand picked in a local forest. I don't really like tea but I enjoyed it. Unfortunately I didn't really have anything English to offer back as I'm travelling lightly. I gave him some Twix, which they don't have in Russia but I'm not sure if he liked chocolate.

After some more dictionary exchanging and him trying to recall his English eduction of 35 years ago, we stopped at a station he had told me about, Barabinsk. Here they sold fish freshly caght from the lake nearby. He then bought two fish each and a beer to split. When we got back to the train he even got his wife on the phone to warn me the fish contained small bones so I had to be careful.

Both fish were freshly caught and whole; head, fin and everything. He told me the names of them but naturally in Russian so I don't know what they were. The fish was smoked and the second salted but raw; both were good.

After supper we spoke some more and since topics that are taboo between strangers over here such as politics isn't so in Russia, the conversation soon swayed to life in the Soviet Union. He had only been in oil for 5 years and for 25 years prior he was an officer in the military. It's humbling to think had the orders
been given the man who would have shot my countrymen was laughing and joking with me and buying me fish for supper.
   I had gone to Russia with the impression of growing anti-wester sentiments, a disdain of foreigners and worsening British-Russian relations. However I have found no evidence of this on
my travels and have found Russians to be an exceedingly friendly people. The relations between governments has no bearing on the people of the government. By the time I woke up the next morning, Sergei had gone but I found a Russian chocolate he had left of the table. Truly one of the nicest people I have ever met.

Nothing of much interest happened socially on the third day as nobody joined my sleeper so I had it to myself for the entire day, though I did pass some spectular scenery as the train weaved through the mountains.


...Well you try to take a picture from a moving train.


Over the Angara river.


4,100km from Moscow.

Москва

Здравствуйте!

Today's my first full day in Russia after landing at Domodedovo aiport yesterday afternoon and getting settled in.

I've just finished a morning tour I had where I was taken on the Moscow Metro to Red Square. I got to see the Kremlin, Lenin's Mausoleum (though not in it as it's closed for 6 months unfortunately), St Basil's Cathedral and much more. My guide first took me on the Moscow Metro, which has a station conveniently right outside my hotel. The stations are so much better than the ones on the London underground. The one I got off on for Red Square was one of the first underground stations built by the Soviets and is lined with more than 70 statues of 'the people'; soldiers, craftsmen, sailors etc.

On leaving the station right in front of me was Bolshoi Theatre, which unfortunately is undergoing some renovations or I would have been able to take a picture of the commemeration plaque where the Communist Party was founded or some such?

Apparently over 80% of old Moscow was lost when the Soviets came to power. Their original 1930s plan was to demolish almost all the old architecture to make way for the new government. My guide was showing me many buildings which have since been rebuilt, at great expense, such as cathedrals and the gates to Red Square, all of which I have pictures of.

As soon as you pass through the gates into Red Square this lays straight ahead of you:

To the right of that is the famous building where a lot of Russia's political history was decided.

Slap bang in the middle of Red Square is Lenin's Mausoleum, though unfortunately it was closed as they were doing restoration work on the body.

Behind Lenin's Mausoleum many famous statesmen, minus Kruschev, are buried. To the side of it is the only remaining bust of Stalin, where he lies after being moved from next to Lenin inside the mausoleum. It was atop that building the top Soviet members used to gather for special events such as military parades, which would pass on by near enough where I'm standing.

I also got to see the changing of the guards by the Eternal Flame and the row of plaques with soil from each city which suffered the most losses defending Russia in World War Two.

All whilst snowing (you can just about make it out in the pic above); it was amazing. Funnily enough though, despite all the snow it's really no colder than a bitter day in England.

What of Russia's past? Well, there are still some signs of it:

Although right below it:

And you can't escape them...

Getting round Russia and getting food, directions etc isn't too bad. I can read Cyrillic so I'm not totally screwed. I'm saving that for China. A lot of Russian words are literally the same in English once you translate them, for example 'лифт' literally translates to 'lift' (although oddly for some reason whenever an English translation is available they write it as 'elevator' despite their word for it being the exact same as ours)

Not many people can speak English, though, so there's still a fair amount of pointing and monosyllabic Russian/English going on but that's half the fun, really.

Tomorrow is my last day in Moscow, I check out of the hotel at midday and am taken to the station at 10:15pm to board my train on the first part of the Trans-Siberian railway. I'll be on that for three days straight before my first stop in Irkustk so I don't know how often, if at all, I'll be able to update between then.

Until then, пока!

A road less travelled

This blog is about my travels as I cross Russia, Mongolia, China and Hong Kong on my gap year before University. I'm travelling alone, taking the Trans-Siberian railway across Russia, through Mongolia and into China before flying to my destination on the south coast of China in the Fujian province. I'm also spending a few days in Hong Kong at the very end before flying back to England.

I leave on 20th March.