Big Train Ride

Sunday, 30 May 2010

Photos from Tomsk and Moscow

St Basil's cathedral, Red Square, Moscow

Riding the Moscow metro

Traditional Russian stacking dolls at the market, Moscow

German-Russian house, Tomsk

Wooden Tomsk house

We're in Moscow now, the final stop on the return journey. We arrived three days ago on the train from Tomsk (mid-Siberia). We'd been there for two days after catching the train from Irkutsk.
Tomsk is a small university city, off the main trans-Siberian line. We shared a cabin with two Russian guys on the way there, but they only boarded halfway so we avoided any vodka sessions. Tomsk itself is a charming place full of back streets lined with traditional wooden buildings with ornate fretwork around the eaves and windows. There's not a lot to do there, but we had a pleasant day wandering around, looking at the architecture and the views across the river. We did have a bit of a disaster when we arrived however, as the hotel we thought we'd booked had no record of our reservation and was already full. Tomsk isn't exactly geared up for foreign tourists, so we spent a couple of hours marching around the city's wide faceless boulevards looking for alternative accomodation. Not the best fun when you're carrying heavy rucksacks. Still, we ended up in a nice place, if very 'Russian' - all mismatched chintz and metallic wallpaper. We did get a sofa in the room though.
It took the best part of three days to get from Tomsk to Moscow, with two nights on the train. We shared our cabin all the way, first with two quiet businessmen, then a mad old army major with gold teeth who spent most of the day trying out different Russian sentences on us while holding his face two inches from Louis's ear, in the hope that his proximity might encourage understanding on our part. Other than some very basic information, it was totally useless however. Not that it stopped him trying different questions, over and over again. He got a friend eventually, when another guy boarded, so that was good. He also gave us some very tasty cake biscuit things. The last day we shared the compartment with a young couple and their screaming child. They were friendly enough, but after a few hours trapped in a small room with a truculent toddler, you just want to get off.
Moscow has been great. We visited the state gallery of 20th century Russian art. There were virtually no other visitors in the massive building, so we felt a little like VIPs who have to visit places out of hours to stop them being mobbed. Some of the art was excellent, other pieces...well, not so good. We've walked around a lot of the city centre, including a trip to a covent where Peter the Great walled up his half-sister (nice) and one of the city's biggest markets, full of trinkets and antiques.
This morning we visited Red Square: the Kremlin, St Basil's Cathedral and Lenin's creepy mausoleum - in the halflight of his underground bunker he looks like a tiny wax dummy. All very strange. We're off to the station now to catch the train to Warsaw, then back home via Germany and Belgium.

Friday, 21 May 2010

Siberian photos

Our log cabin

Robin and friend

Invigorated by the fresh air

Frozen beach on Olkhon Island

Local wildlife on Olkhon Island

Siberian Wilderness

We're in the wilds of Siberia now. We caught the train from Ulaanbaatar (Mongolian capital) to Russia - a two day ride - and spent a day in the Siberian city of Irkutsk before catching a minivan to Olkhon Island - a 70km long island in the middle of Lake Baikal, west of Irkutsk. We spent three days there before returning to Irkutsk this afternoon.
The train from Ulaanbaatar was a good journey - apart from the 10 hour border crossing, possibly the worst of the three trans-Siberian border crossings we have done. We shared our cabin with Sean Connery and his son. Well, a German man who was the spit of the Scottish actor, and his son. They both spoke excellent English, so we were entertained most of the journey. The scenery was pretty similar all the way - lots of rolling steppe and dust but it was relaxing all the same. At the border loads of Mongolian traders came onboard and turned the train into an impromtu market for an hour or two.
We arrived into Irkutsk early in the morning. It was pretty cold, but at least the snow had gone. We spent the afternoon walking around the city. There are some beautiful old wooden buildings and churches. There's also a Nerparium - where you can see some of the famous but endangered Siberian nerpa seals, but the price had tripled since the guidebook was written so we couldn't afford to go.
The next day we had a day trip to the lakeside town of Listvyanka, where the trendy Russians have their summer breaks. At this time of year it's deserted, but we got to walk up to a lookout point at the top of a local ski resort. It gave us great views over the still partially frozen water.
We left for Olkhon Island the following morning - a seven hour journey in a minvan over extremely bumpy roads. That far north the ice on the lake was still more or less solid, so the ferry ride across the narrow straights was pretty hairy. Imagine Titanic but without the Irish dacing, naked paintings or Celine Dion soundtrack, just the fear of an iceberg ripping the hull in two.
The island itself is really beautiful, if totally desolate at the moment. We stayed in a place called Nikita's Homestead. You sleep in a log cabin, wash in a banya (a kind of sauna-washhouse) and eat your meals in a communal canteen. We had great food, including massive breakfasts of eggs, rice pudding and blinys (a sort of Russian pancake served with jam and sour cream). There's not much to do there at this time of year except walk, sketch, gaze at the amazing frozen beach (white sand and five foot ice waves) and try to get photos of the marmottes.
By the time we caught the ferry back most of the ice had melted down that end of the island, though there was apparently six inches of snow here yesterday (all gone now) so it seems winter hasn't totally left us yet.
We're off to Tomsk tomorrow and Moscow a few days later. Then home.