Sunday 28 September 2008

Europe - Asia boundary

So I know I've said in a previous blog that I was at the Europe-Asia boundary in the Urals. The geographical boundary that is. But one question I wanted to answer with this trip was whether there is a gradual or an abrupt change between Europe and Asia.

I am now in Mongolia, and am acutely aware that I am definitely in Asia - even though they still use the (now familiar) cyrillic script. This got me thinking, where did the change actually occur? There was a definite change in driving attitudes from East to West across Russia: the further east you go, the less lane discipline there is - in Ulan Ude they don't even bother driving on the road half the time! But I haven't quite reached the craziness I've previously experienced in Asia - I think because I've come across very few motorbikes on the roads. Actually in Mongolia they drive like the Italians - a bit crazy, sound their horns a lot, skip red lights, but will still brake for pedestrians. I wasn't convinced they would in much of Russia...

Saying this I'm pretty sure I can define where the boundary between Europe and Asia was for me. Lake Baikal. But it wasn't an abrupt border. Not a complete change, just a realisation that things were no longer European. Irkutsk (on the west side of the lake) is definitely European. The population was predominantly caucasian, although attitudes were changing and there was a definite increase in Asian features as I travelled further East. The other side of the lake, in Ulan Ude, the population was predominantly asian. Buryat to be precise - it is the capital of the Buryat region.

Now in Mongolia caucasians stick out as tourists. Thinking back I think we did in Ulan Ude as well, although we were by no means the only caucasians as we seem to be here in Ulaan Baatar. So that's my border, Lake Baikal, it's just a little fuzzy.

So I've spent the day in Ulaan Baatar, and tomorrow I head off to ger camps for much of the week. Mongolia is cheap, and I feel like a millionaire (with about 2000 togrot to the pound). It's the coldest captial in the world, and today was warm and sunny - for the first time I didn't wear a coat all day! Although the wind is cold, and you have to stay in the sun.

Mongolia seems to be a nice place - people are friendly and smile a lot (and not just those trying to please the tourists!), so I'm looking forward to the next few days living in a yurt!

Thursday 25 September 2008

If vodka is the answer then what is the question?

So it's been a while. And yes I am still alive, despite my best efforts to poison myself with Russian spirits...

I've been a bit in the back of beyond - or at least without internet, which feels like the back of beyond in todays day and age. However now I am in Irkutsk (if my cyrillic is correct), GMT+8, having spent many long hours on trains in tiny compartments with people I now know possibly better than I should!

Last post was in Moscow, since then I took a train to Yekaterinburg, managing to fit 15 people into one coupe compartment to drink vodka (3 Australians, 2 Germans, 1 Canadian, 1 Russian and the rest Brits). There isn't a lot else to do on the train... somehow the hours FLY by. Apparantly the Russian guy took a bit of a shine to me - I have been teased constantly ever since.

Yekaterinburg is an interesting place. The place of the Romanov murders, and the place where they were cannonised by the Russian Orthodox church. Also close to the border of the European and Asian plates, with lots of opportunities for cheesey photos! There seems to be less of the Russian pomp and circumstance there than in other places I have been, and very telling is the Afgan war memorial, where a soldier sits a broken man hanging his head rather than standing strong and proud as elsewhere.

We stayed in a soviet style hotel here as there was an absence of hostels. Walking down corridors that would be more at home in "the shining" was entertaining - less entertaining were the freezing rooms and communal showers, but it's all part of the experience!

Then there was a rather longer train journey - 2 days, 3 nights to where I am now. Boredom on this train meant that we visited the restaurant car having "dressed for dinner" first, which entertained us, and certainly entertained the Russians whose carriages we had to go through en route!

So I have just spent the last 2 days on the shores of lake Baikal - the deepest in the world, holding the greatest amount of fresh water of any lake in the world. Staying in a cosy log cabin surrounded by taiga forest, with views over the lake to the snow capped mountains across the lake was amazing. As was the cold. Although it is cold for the season there seems to be general agreement that we'd feel short-changed if we were in siberia and it was warm! I'm not sure how I can really describe where I've been, and photos won't do it justice, but I will upload some pics for you all when I find an internet cafe that has fast enough internet!

Things that are surprising about Russia :
  • The Taiga is silver birch trees and fir, probably with more birch than fir, meaning that the colours at this time of year are amazing. I don't know why, but I expected coniferous forests all the way.
  • Borsch is GOOD!
  • Cyrillic is surprisingly easy to learn.
  • Russians are incredibly shy (unless on the vodka), and never smile - until you get to know them
  • Babushkas scare people more than the dogs running around the streets
  • When a taxi driver starts miming shooting a gun then digging a grave, it isn't necessarily cause to scream!
  • The Urals seem to be the mountain range that isn't - much of Russia seems to be rather flat. Of course there is the possibility that we went through the mountains at night....
  • Flora and fauna so far look just like the UK, only the buildings and people are changing

Today is a slow day. Tonight we have a train to Ulan Ude, where we arrive at about 4am. It sounded better when we looked at the tickets (which are all in Moscow time - 5 hours behind us). I'm still very relaxed from the Banya we took yesterday. A Banya (for the uninitiated) is a Russian sauna. Very civilised - apart from you hit each other with birch and fir twigs! Many inappropriate comments and 45 minutes later we were completely stewed and even didn't scream (much) at the bucket of cold water thrown over you at then end!

So now onwards and Eastwards...

Thursday 18 September 2008

So Moscow then... bit chilly


So I should probably expand on previous comments on Moscow, otherwise it sounds like I'm having a pretty disaster-ridden time!

I arrived late, very late, and the cash point was out of order, and the currency exchange place was closed for the night. So after 11pm at night, on my own, speaking barely a few words of the language and NO local currency. Hmmmm.... One thing I have discovered here is that if in doubt a friendly babushka (have I spelt that right?) will always mother everyone. I was taken under the wing by a lovely old lady who marched me to a hidden door behind which was a currency exchange desk, where she stood beside me berating the cashier in Russian the whole time. Seems I got a pretty good exchange rate! She then delivered me to the metro and pointed me at a cashier! As such I arrived at the hostel in one piece and sane(ish).

First day, well, I met vodka-trainers and an accidental lenin lookalike. We visited the real Lenin (seriously, go to Madam Tussauds or something - the guards are less scary...) and generally hung out round Red Square (getting cursed by gypsys en route...).

The evening consisted of vodka (yes I was careful, but Russian vodka does not seem to disagree with me the same way as British vodka!). Many entertaining photos (not of me) helped everyone piece together the night.

Today the Kremlin, freezing our arses off, and tomorrow the museum of the revolution. At some point I will learn cyrillic. As it stands I'm very glad I learnt a few words of Russian! Tomorrow we head off to the border of Europe and Asia on another long train journey. I'm wondering whether I should pack a fire extinguisher?

Wednesday 17 September 2008

Do 2 curses cancel each other out?

We got cursed by a gypsy beggar yesterday when we refused to give her money, maybe this will cancel out the curse of the flaming trains?

Tuesday 16 September 2008

Maybe the trains are telling me something?


When your train does an emergency stop it generally isn't a good thing. You all groan and wonder how long until they move the branch/leaves/whatever the big issue is that day. When your carriage guard starts shouting and runs down your carriage with a fire extinguisher you know the outlook isn't good. Only then did I notice the smoke outside and distinguish the strange smell of things burning that shouldn't be from the residual musty cigarette smoke that seems to permeate everything Russian.

Long story short, my sleeper train between Berlin and Moscow caught fire, in the next carriage down from ours, about 20 minutes out from Berlin. What with this and the Eurostar fire I'm starting to wonder whether taking trains half way round the world really IS such a good idea...

Looking on the positive side, I have some really impressive photos of German fire fighters, and it did break the ice with the Russians on the train, meaning that we did attempt to communicate, and boy am I glad I learnt a bit of Russian, because they were ALL Russian, with only a few words of English between them! I have now made it to Moscow, albeit 3 hours late, and very sleep deprived from the 4.20 am and 5.20 am border crossings, plus that the train driver seemed to decide that he enjoyed the emergency stop so much at the beginning of the journey that he'd continue to use that as method of choice meaning that EVERY stop during the night (of which there were many) sent everything flying round the cabin, including the occasional person!

Saturday 13 September 2008

Second time lucky?


So, I made it to Berlin!

And I have a hangover. I had one of those nights when you end up in a basement bar watching a live rock band in Berlin, happens to us all eh? I'm pretty sure it was the fault of my roommates... I'll blame Martin anyway...

So I've been doing the tourist trail. Predominantly I've been in East Berlin. I visited the holocaust memorial, and it really got to me. I didn't expect it to hit that hard. When you stand on the edge you're just looking at a rippling sea of concrete rectangles (that are vaguely reminiscent of posh victorian graves). You walk into it and the ground is rippling, so you don't really realise that the blocks are getting bigger until suddenly they're way above your head and the sound all around cuts out. That's when it gets you.

I went to checkpoint Charlie today, where there's nothing to see except blokes posing for photos in American Uniforms in front of an American flag. That's all you see everywhere. Not British, not French, it's the stars and stripes. Anyone would have thought they HADN'T arrived late!! It must be especially annoying as there's and American flagged gate right outside the French embassy, bet they LOVE that!

I nearly forgot to mention the currywurst. Drowned in ketchup, best hangover cure ever! Photo to come when I work out how to upload them...

Friday 12 September 2008

And she's fallen at the first hurdle....

Oh yes, I'm NOT in Berlin. I'm back chez Mum and Dad for the night. What went wrong? Eurostar. Seems there's been a lovely chemical fire in the tunnel, which I found out as I arrived in St Pancras by the hordes of people milling around. There will be no trains tonight. There may be no trains tomorrow, although if there are there will be very few. Basically, chances of getting to Berlin by train before my Moscow train leaves? Slim to none. So I'm on an Easyjet flight tomorrow morning. So much for green credentials eh?

Of course it's fine, I have travel insurance. Except they'll only pay per 12 hours delay. Whoopee. So I could hang around for 2 days, miss Berlin and risk missing my train to Moscow, and earn enough insurance money to pay for a flight (although not the hostel accommodation I'd booked). Or I could get on a plane tomorrow morning and only arrive a few hours later in Berlin than I originally intended... I made my choice, I want to see Berlin. Although this does mean I'm not travelling London-Beijing by train. Which I'm more than a little irritated about.

So now I'm going to stop ranting and get back to my glass of wine before having an early night and getting up stupidly early to get to Gatwick. Second time lucky?

Thursday 11 September 2008

And she's off!

So this is it, I'm off! I'm nearly ready too... I'm sure I'll work out what I've forgotten soon enough. Next stop Berlin!

Friday 5 September 2008

OK, the idea is that I will not be sending out enormous emails to everyone (and therefore will avoid the hate mail from clogging peoples inboxes up - other hate mail ("I'm so jealous!", etc) is still expected...). So, if you haven't heard from me it doesn't mean that I'm dead/in the custody of the mafia/I hate you... well, not necessarily....

Obviously some parts of the world will be easier to blog from than others. Don't be surprised if all goes quiet as I travel through Siberia/Mongolia/China!