The Trans-Mongolian Part V - St Petersburg and Goodbye Intrepid

Our last over night train journey was probably the nicest and most comfertable out of them all....and it was only 12 hours!!! We left Moscow station in the evening and arrived in St Petersburg bright and early at 7am, where we were informed that at 10am we were going to be doing a giant walking tour of St Petersburg....exactly what you want after an overnight train journey!!!!!

The walking tour was actually brillant, even though we were all absolutely knackered by the end of it! Our guide took us through all the back streets of St Petersburg, where I saw some of the most amazing street art I had seen so far on the trip. St Petersburg appeared to be alot more "communists" looking than Moscow, which screams capitalists at the top of its lungs. All the apartments have that standard square look about them and the city in some parts did look a lot more run down. However, in saying this, I think I enjoyed walking around St Peterburg alot more than I did Moscow. I think maybe because it was the Russia I imagined while reasearching. Its a little bit new, a little bit old and has a hell of alot of character about it.

The following day we spent the day walking through the Hermitage Museum, which is one of the biggest museums in the world. The buildings itself was amazing to walk around, let alone the 3 million odd displays of art work from all over the world. There is a fact I read somewhere that if you visited the hermitage, and spent just 1 minute looking at every piece of art work, you would be there for over 3 decades. Pretty crazy huh?

The Hermitage building itself used to be a royal residence back in the day, and the ineterior certainly depicted this. Walking through the various halls was quite similar to walking through somewhere like the Sistine Chapel in Rome, just on a much larger scale. Holding artworks from such big wigs like Picasso, Da Vinci, Monet & Van Gough, the Hermitage is somewhere you have to dedicate at least half a day to walking through, even if its just to have a quick peak. Seriously, 5 - 6 hours is a quick peak!

We spent the afternoon walking up and down the massive Nevsky Prospect, the main street (or avenue rather) in St Petersburg. Holding shops for all tastes and budgets aswell as most Restaurants and nightclubs, you can imagine just how busy this place gets. Honestly, you can't walk in a strait line for more than about 30 - 40 seconds before some one comes barging into you.

That evening we had our final tour group meal, and said our goodbyes to everyone. After spending 3 weeks with these 12 people, it was quite sad to finally bid them farewell. However, not being much of a tour group traveller, I was really looking forward to being back out travelling on my own again (in the company of Sophie for the next 3 months!).

The following we checked out of our hotel, and jumped on a night bus to Helsinki, Finland.

Photos from Suzdal and Moscow

Suzdal









Suzdal







St Basils Cathedral, Moscow



One of the many amazing Moscow Metro Stations

The Trans-Mongolian Part IV - Suzdal & Moscow

On arrival in Suzdal, my first impression was how small it was! And the fact that there were next to no people anywhere to be seen. Apart from the market that was set up in the church yard oppisite our Hotel, there was honestly no other people anywhere.

But I guess you have to kind of expect that in a city with no more than 11,000 people in it!

Although small, Suzdal was yet another side to Russia I wasn't expecting to see. Suzdal is a bit of a "weekend" get away for most of the people who live in Moscow, as it's only 5 hours away. So it was quite the laid back town to walk around. No one was in a rush, there was hardly any traffic (due to the fact there were hardly any people!), so you could feel free to just wander around at your own pace.

One thing Suzdal doesn't lack in are churches. They are everywhere! Big ones, small ones, you name it - Suzdal's got it. It was here in Suzdal that I had my first chance to see a Russian Orthodox Church. You know the ones I am talking about, really REALLY big with the giant colorful domes on the top. It was amazing to finally see one in reality after seeing so many in books while researching the trip.

The insides of the church are a fantastic sight to see, unfortunately though I have no pictures! However, if you can imagine your house with every single spare piece of space painted in the most vivid colorful religious paintings, then maybe you get a small idea of what I mean. There is no spot uncovered; the floors, walls and ceilings are all painted depicting different scenes from the bible. Now, although I am not an overly religious person, it really was quite moving to see. While inside one of the churches, we were treated to a group of Russian Tenors singing a hymn, which sounded so wonderful, especially in the painted surroundings of the Church.

We spend the following day on a walking tour of the town, (which as you can imagine didn't take very long given how small Suzdal is!) which included a trip to a folk festival that was on. There was traditional russian singing, dancing and plenty of people in traditional costumes. Quite the sight to see.

We then headed to Moscow the following morning on a 5 hour bus, which me Ben and Sophie were lucky enough to sit up the back next to two severely drunk and smelly russians. It's moments like these that really paint Russia as a whole for me!!

Arriving in Moscow from Suzdal gave the system quite a shock, due to the sheer size of the city, the amount of people and the amount of cars wizzing by at 100 miles an hour. Moscow is the first European City (if you can call it that) that I had encountered so far, so as busy as asia was in its major cities, Asia has NOTHING on Moscow.

We checked into apartment which was right smack bang in the center of Moscow, and went on a walk down to the Red Square. As I said previously, the churches in Suzdal were pretty amazing to see. But in my opinion, you HAVE NOT seen a church until you have seen St Basils Cathedral in the Red Square. The best way to describe this church (aside from flipping HUGE), is as a giant ice cream. The outside is so colorful, and it stands out so much in comparison to all the communists era buildings surrounding it. The church is really the image that I think most people have of Moscow, if not the whole of Russia.

The following day we headed out on our tour of the Kremlin, which has been and still is the center point of Moscow and Russian politics. We walked past where the president resides and spent around 2 hours touring the art galleries inside.

One of the funnier things that happened on this paticular day: In order to get into the Kremlin, you must check in all of your bags (ie Handbags, Backpacks etc etc) into a locker room about a 10 minute walk from the entrance. Us being the organised tour group, had obviously done this. However, a gentleman of about 40 in the group in front us obviously thought he could slip past the Russian guards with his back pack still on......under his jacket (It wasn't one of those small packs either, he kinda looked like the hunch back of Notredam...!). After walking through the metal detector, the alarm bells going off and him insisting for at least 5 minutes that he had nothing to hide, the Russian guards eventually looked behind and saw his bag. He was promptly escorted out, and down to the lockers. What an idiot!

We then headed into one of Moscow's #1 truly bizarre sight, The Mausoleum of Lenin. Here you can bask at Lenin in all his communist glory, deader than dead, yet fully embalmed for all the world to admire. As freaky as it is to see a dead guy in a glass case, that was nothing in comparison to the 20 odd russian guards who stand in threes in all corners and walls of the Mausoleum, watching your every move. As it's quite dark in there (so as not to disturb Lenin in his sleep I presume), you actually don't see these guards until you are about 2 meters in front of them. They really do give you quite a fright!

No trip to Moscow is complete with out a tour of the underground metro system. The various metro stops dotting the center of Moscow are more like living Museums than Metro stops. Full of sculptures, chandeliers and various paintings and mosaics through out, these stations really were a highlight of any visit to Moscow.

A trip to Moscow is also incomplete if you don't make an effort to check out the legendary under ground Moscow Night Club scene. Now, by underground, I mean UNDERGROUND. Ben and I spent around an hour looking for a club one night that was supposed to be a ten minute walk from our apartment. After finding some young guys in the street who spoke English and asking for their assistance, they offered to take us to the club. After walking for about 5 minutes down a back street we are told by our new friends "there it is"....and pointed at a door. With no building behind it. They walked up to the door, knocked, the door was opened and we were greeted by 5 flights of stairs going down to a club full of people! It was absolutely bizarre! After spending around half an hour there, our Russian friends offered to take us to another club...and another...and another, until me and Ben found ourselves walking back to the Apartment at 6am the following morning! Each club was more hidden than the next..the complete opposite of anything I had ever seen before.

The next day we jumped on our last night train, heading for our last stop, St Petersburg.

Photo's from Russia

Photo's from Mongolia

Photos from Train Journey - Beijing to UB

The Party Cabin: Me, Ben, Nat and Sophie



Leaving China



Eating some quality Mongolian train food


The changing of the Bogies (wheels) on the Monlgolia/China border


Sunrise over the Gobi Desert


The Gobi

The Trans-Molgolian Part III - 3 nights on a train, Irkutsk to Vladimir & Suzdal

I'm guessing most of you just read the above heading and thought "3 nights on a train!!!!", but trust me, it was no way near as bad as it sounds!!!!!

We hopped on the train in Irkutsk at 5pm, armed with instant noodles, bags of chips, fruit and vodka, as well as our normal giant bags...the whole group looked quite the sight as we attempted to board the train.

After settling into our cabins and a having a few pre sleeping vodkas, we all fell asleep quite early getting ready for the following day which was full of.......sitting on the train!!!

It actually quite hard to write about this part of the journey, because in order to pass the time we all really just sat around talked the whole time. Thinking back on it now, I understand that it was a really long time to stay in one place, however during the actual journey, none of us really noticed.

We filled in the time chatting to each other, telling jokes, eating, drinking, listening to music and staring out the window. I dedicated a good chunk of my time to reading Nat's Russian Phrase book, trying to memorise as much as possible, however considering at that point I was having enough trouble saying Hello and Thankyou, it wasn't going as well as I planned.

Staring out the window was more interesting than it sounds, as the ever changing landscape of Siberia was amazing to look at. All the small villages, the millions of birch trees and the sheer nothingness that you sometimes see.

I made friends with some Russians from Irkutsk, Marsha and Den, who were just married and on there way to Moscow for there honey moon. Even though they spoke little english, and none of us really spoke much russian, we still all got on quite well. Mark, who was on our tour, could speak quite a few words of russian and managed to translate most of the conversations for me. One rather funny moment, was when Mark was explaining to Marsha and Den what my travel plans were and how I was going to be away for two years. Up until that point, the pair of them hadn't seen me with any shoes on, which caused them to ask (quite seriously) "Jess is travelling for 2 years with no shoes on??"!!!

On our second day on the train, the 12th of June, I did what every 22 year old in the world wanted to do. I celebrated my 23rd birthday in true Siberian style, aboard the train. Of all the birthdays I have had, this one will definitely stay in my memory for a while! I was given presents and cards from all the tour group and a neat collapsible shot glass from Marsha and Den (which considering they known me less than 24 hours was pretty generous!). After being dragged away for a birthday beer with Nat, I came back to my cabin and discovered Sophie and Ben had completely decorated it with Baloons and streamers, and decked out some food aswell! In the cabin next door we had Marg, Angela and Penny serving drinks from our make shift bar. An just when I thought it couldn't be any better, Marg pulls out a cake with candles and everything! We spent the evening listening to music, eating food and drinking vodka (suprise suprise!) and I had an amazing time....!

The following day was much of the same again, just eating drinking and staring out the window of the train, until the next day we arrived in Vladimir, and headed strait to Suzdal.