If you know Finnish (or google translate is your best friend) do read Juho's blog (earlier mentioned as 'The Deranged Finn'. With love, of course) to get a clear picture of what life on the Trans Manchurian really was like.
Well, our train-reality was a bit more sober, and a whole lot cleaner, since we discovered the 'toilet shower' already on day two. But still, read it.
(he just came to the end of our train ride, so you'll have to scroll back a bit)
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Nov 29, 2010
Oct 18, 2010
Summing it up through pictures: Trans-Manchuria - Day 3-10
Sophia and Hanna posing with our beloved train. Beijing here we come!
Sophia and Ruut in our compartment, doing what we did most: looking out the window, reading, listening to music and eating, all at once. (well fine, they're drinking not eating here.)
We tried to exercise at every station, since we basically didn't use any energy while on the train... if walking to the toilet or another wagon to visit the swedes/finn/dutchmen doesn't count. Here's Sophia running up and down stairs at a train station in Russia. This was a small station... so you can probably imagine the big ones.
Buying more water at ever station. We became quite fluent:
Priviet!
Voda spassiba!
Nie gas. Litr, litr! (pointing at big bottle) da,da!
(they show price on calculator) Aha! da? (give them the wrong amount of money, they correct you) aa, da!
Spacciba, dasvidanja!
A typical meal, beans and mashed poatoes. Other days it was noodles, soup or soy pasta. We had a samovar, so we got warm water, and even had access to a microwave.
Sophia and Ruut posing in Ulan Ude. The fresch air, the superb view!
Ruut in the Chinese restaurant vagon with Tom (the brit), Yaro and Djeff (dutch).
Our comparment usually looked a bit crowded in the evenings (uh, nights) which didn't make our provodnik too happy.
Summing it up with pictures - Helsinki - Moscow - Day 1 to 2
Hey!
So this blog post(and the following ones with pictures) are actually posted by my mom from Finland (but written here in Beijing) since we had (major) problems uploading pictures (see previous post).
So, since you can only send 5 pictures/e-mail, and we have around 1000 pictures so far, we're only able to share a tiny bit of our journey with you, but at least now you'll get picture proof that we've actually been to the places we claim to have been to!
So, first off: we've really been to Moscow
Excited that our journey has begun! Hanna and Ruut sipping tea in our Helsinki-Moscow train. Be warned: the tea and coffe that are offered on the trains come with a pric
7.30 AM, just arrived in Moscow, trying to find our Hostel. This picture should give you a good idea of how horrible we stood out from the masses. (And still do, now even more since everybody's got darker hair and are at least a head shorter. Oh, and look sorta asian.) The Russian woman always looking they're best in high heels, top of the line clothes, hairdo's and makeup. Us... well, lets just say we're totally rocking the tourist look most of the time. Eh, all the time.
Walked to the Red Square, saw Kreml, St. Basil's Cathedral, soldier's marching in a funny way, tuorists and expensive shops. Didn't see: Lenin nor the inside of Kreml(d'uh). We loved every minute in sunny Moscow, which might explain the happiness that got Ruut and Hanna jumping of joy.
Oct 15, 2010
Last day in Moscow - Day 3
Our attempt to see Lenin's Mausoleum, at the red square failed, since the entire square was closed on Thursday (nobody really knew why, just loads of armed men and women standing there guarding the place and not letting people in) and on Friday the man in question was out for his weekly sprucing up.
Instead we decided to check out Saint Basil's Cathedral, which lies at the edge of the square.It's actually not one church, but several small ones crammed into one big, colorful and surreal one.(Remember to bring your student card with you if you want to avoid the heftier adult price.)
Once again we we're blessed with extremely good weather, so we decided to just stroll along Moscow's wide streets and head towards Gorky Park to have an outdoor lunch in what we thought would be a serious and serene place.
The park turned out to be half amusement park, half concrete jungle, with not as much as the tiniest flower bed. We made friends with a crippled dove and listened to Christmas carols and hard core techno that kept blasting from the omnipresent loudspeakers.
We had dinner at a strange farm inspired Russian home cooking restaurant, out in a residential area and marveled at Russians who downed one vodka bottle after the other without even flinching.
In the evening we nervously headed towards the train station to catch the Beijing train. Eventually (after a lot of hassle and poorly pronounced Russian train travel related phrases later) we found the right platform and we could relax.
//R
Instead we decided to check out Saint Basil's Cathedral, which lies at the edge of the square.It's actually not one church, but several small ones crammed into one big, colorful and surreal one.(Remember to bring your student card with you if you want to avoid the heftier adult price.)
Once again we we're blessed with extremely good weather, so we decided to just stroll along Moscow's wide streets and head towards Gorky Park to have an outdoor lunch in what we thought would be a serious and serene place.
The park turned out to be half amusement park, half concrete jungle, with not as much as the tiniest flower bed. We made friends with a crippled dove and listened to Christmas carols and hard core techno that kept blasting from the omnipresent loudspeakers.
We had dinner at a strange farm inspired Russian home cooking restaurant, out in a residential area and marveled at Russians who downed one vodka bottle after the other without even flinching.
In the evening we nervously headed towards the train station to catch the Beijing train. Eventually (after a lot of hassle and poorly pronounced Russian train travel related phrases later) we found the right platform and we could relax.
//R
Oct 8, 2010
Quick update - Day 3
Check out is due in an hour, and since the train isn't leaving until very late in the evening we decided to leave our packs in the hostel reception/common room and go see Lenin and do other touristy things. Take a last good look at mighty Moscow.
This'll probably bee our last post in Russia, so the next time you hear from us we'll be in Beijing! We're all actually looking forward to the long train ride :D. 6,5 days of complete laziness, sounds good to me!
//R
This'll probably bee our last post in Russia, so the next time you hear from us we'll be in Beijing! We're all actually looking forward to the long train ride :D. 6,5 days of complete laziness, sounds good to me!
//R
Helsinki - Mockba - Day 2
GREETINGS FROM MOSCOW!
That's right, we're here, and our trip has actually started!
Honestly though, feels like we've already been in Moscow for ages, and know our way around the city quite well, although we only arrived this morning!
So, about the traintrip...
14 hours felt like all too short a time!
We hardly found time to sleep, since there where too many interesting things to see when looking out the window, too many interesting things to read about in our Lonely Planet: Trans Siberian railroad (WE LOVE IT!) and too much candy to eat (given to us by our sweet, sweet friends. No pun intended) and too much tea to drink (brought by our nice train "mama". Be warned, everything comes with a price.)
When we arrived in Moscow this morning we didn't have any problems finding our hostel, since we'd been smart enough to print out all maps we'd need in Moscow. (we strongly recommend this!)
After that we bought our train tickets to Beijing for tomorrow, no problems there either.
Then we where free to wander around Moscow, and get amazed by all the huge buildings.
We did visit the State of History Museum and found in quite interesting, showing the history of Russia from the Stone Age forward. But it wasn't quite worth the 250r (adult price, 1e = 38r) we paid for it, at least not without the audio guide and more time than 1,5h.
Since visiting Lenin's mausoleum and the Red Square was not a possibility (closed all day due to.. well, no one knows, not even the dozens and dozens of policemen who made sure no one tried to get past the fences) we took the time to ride around with the metro for a bit, only to jump on the wrong subway train a couple times, so we where rather successful, according to us at least. Luckily we bought a 5 ride ticket, costing 125r, so we still have rides left for tomorrow!
We finished our sunny but chilly day in Moscow by eating at a, hehe, fancy Sushi restaurant.
But we aren't planning on visiting Japan, so we think we're forgiven. And we'll try to find some Borscht soup tomorrow instead.
But the sushi was delicious (especially the Spring Roll-ish things) and the price okay, so after buying some breakfast for tomorrow (apples, bread, water, salad, mandarins, something that might be a spiky cucumber and grapes) we're happily back at our Hostel and our budget still holds!
A couple things we learned to day:
-you need a bigger water bottle than you think.
-always carry band-aids and headache-pills with you.
-it gets dark fast
-always carry snacks in your bag (Sophia's homemade Snickers bars kept us going)
-a calculator would be handy, since we keep giving people the wrong change...
All in all, this day has been WONDERFUL, and we still can't quite believe our dream is actually happening. To be able to just walk around and take it all in, with no hurry anywhere is... indescribable.
But, to our beloved folks at home: thank you for the wonderful goodbye at the train station, and we've read all your "Valentine" notes and all we can say is... we love you so incredibly much. And we'll update as often as possible!
Hitting our bunk beds now, trying to get an early start tomorrow, and to find some time to update before we leave for the train to Beijing.
Oh, and perhaps upload some of our pictures. There are quite a lot thanks to Hanna's overactive picture snapping.
We love you all!
*Sophia & Hanna
ps. Guess what Nationality our room mates are(question mark. Can't get it to work)
That's right, we're here, and our trip has actually started!
Honestly though, feels like we've already been in Moscow for ages, and know our way around the city quite well, although we only arrived this morning!
So, about the traintrip...
14 hours felt like all too short a time!
We hardly found time to sleep, since there where too many interesting things to see when looking out the window, too many interesting things to read about in our Lonely Planet: Trans Siberian railroad (WE LOVE IT!) and too much candy to eat (given to us by our sweet, sweet friends. No pun intended) and too much tea to drink (brought by our nice train "mama". Be warned, everything comes with a price.)
When we arrived in Moscow this morning we didn't have any problems finding our hostel, since we'd been smart enough to print out all maps we'd need in Moscow. (we strongly recommend this!)
After that we bought our train tickets to Beijing for tomorrow, no problems there either.
Then we where free to wander around Moscow, and get amazed by all the huge buildings.
We did visit the State of History Museum and found in quite interesting, showing the history of Russia from the Stone Age forward. But it wasn't quite worth the 250r (adult price, 1e = 38r) we paid for it, at least not without the audio guide and more time than 1,5h.
Since visiting Lenin's mausoleum and the Red Square was not a possibility (closed all day due to.. well, no one knows, not even the dozens and dozens of policemen who made sure no one tried to get past the fences) we took the time to ride around with the metro for a bit, only to jump on the wrong subway train a couple times, so we where rather successful, according to us at least. Luckily we bought a 5 ride ticket, costing 125r, so we still have rides left for tomorrow!
We finished our sunny but chilly day in Moscow by eating at a, hehe, fancy Sushi restaurant.
But we aren't planning on visiting Japan, so we think we're forgiven. And we'll try to find some Borscht soup tomorrow instead.
But the sushi was delicious (especially the Spring Roll-ish things) and the price okay, so after buying some breakfast for tomorrow (apples, bread, water, salad, mandarins, something that might be a spiky cucumber and grapes) we're happily back at our Hostel and our budget still holds!
A couple things we learned to day:
-you need a bigger water bottle than you think.
-always carry band-aids and headache-pills with you.
-it gets dark fast
-always carry snacks in your bag (Sophia's homemade Snickers bars kept us going)
-a calculator would be handy, since we keep giving people the wrong change...
All in all, this day has been WONDERFUL, and we still can't quite believe our dream is actually happening. To be able to just walk around and take it all in, with no hurry anywhere is... indescribable.
But, to our beloved folks at home: thank you for the wonderful goodbye at the train station, and we've read all your "Valentine" notes and all we can say is... we love you so incredibly much. And we'll update as often as possible!
Hitting our bunk beds now, trying to get an early start tomorrow, and to find some time to update before we leave for the train to Beijing.
Oh, and perhaps upload some of our pictures. There are quite a lot thanks to Hanna's overactive picture snapping.
We love you all!
*Sophia & Hanna
ps. Guess what Nationality our room mates are(question mark. Can't get it to work)
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