March
2007
Oh
no! It's the last leg of of the tour and therefore
our last web update. We managed to end our
trip on a high, cramming in lots of exciting
new adventures. We left Beijing in the early
morning of 24th February to embark on our
epic "Trans-Siberian Express" railway
journey to St. Petersburg, Russia. Although
to set the record straight there is no such
train. The journey we did was a combination
of trains and routes, beginning with the trans-Mongolian
and trans-Siberian lines and continuing on
various routes through Russia. Now you know
the route, here's what happened along the
way...
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Through
Mongolia
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Bogey
change at Mongolia border |
The first train journey took us to Ulaan Bataar,
Mongolia, and was probably the most exciting
thing we've done in the entire year...for
the first 30 seconds, until the realisation
set in that we could be couped up in the 4-berth
cabin for the next 2 days with the devil.
Our travel companion, Fiona from Melbourne
(an undercover travel agent) wasn't too bad,
although we had our suspicions as she wore
fake Prada! The reality of the journey and
the train journey's to come was an exercise
in killing time - reading, playing cards,
learning Chinese Chess, eating and drinking
copious amounts of tea interspersed with watching
the sometimes great and sometimes dull scenery
go by. The highlight of the first leg (this
is how riveting it got) was the bogey change.
Nothing to do with blowing your nose but the
width of the railway track changes by nearly
10cm at the border between China and Mongolia.
So the changing of the bogeys (wheel bearings)
took about 2 hours and surprisingly went as
smoothly as a well-oiled machine. Despite
the carriage attendant trying to rip us off,
the rest of the journey to Ulaan Bataar was
uneventful.
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Yeh!
Our Ger in Mongolia
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Cozy
Ger interior! |
Having booked the Russian Experience so far
in advance (1 and half years ago) we were
relieved to be met at the station by our guide
Zolboo who took great care of us. Our warm
welcome was shared by Fiona and Chris from
Windsor who were to be our ger camp neighbours
for the next few days. We were whisked off
for a much needed freshen up at a very "Mongolian"
Japanese bath. This was a first for us all
and an interesting experience to say the least.
Us Brits and Aussies aren't quite used to
walking around in the buff and taking a shower
with complete strangers. But hey-ho, when
in Rome, Japan, Mongolia, or wherever! Finally
rid of the stink, we were taken 50km out of
the city through rolling snowy hills and an
hour later from the horizon appeared our secluded
temporary home for the next 2 nights, a traditional
Mongolia ger camp. We opened the door to our
ger and immediately fell in love with the
coziness and simplicity of the place.
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Twas
the morn
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Traditional
Mongolian Ankle bone games. |
A
ger (also known as yurt) is a portable, self-supporting
structure that doesn't rely on ropes or stakes
to hold itself up and is a marvel of physics
and engineering. This style of accommodation
has been used in Mongolia for millenia and
the large nomad population still live this
way today, packing up their entire home every
three months or so. With a central stove to
keep warm and proper raised beds we were pleasantly
surprised at the level of comfort. Despite
the average temperature of about -6% outside,
our friendly fire-starter kept us toasty warm,
so warm in fact that it sometimes felt like
we were in a sauna, not in a snowy tent in
the middle of nowhere. After the busy, polluted,
built up cities of China, it was an idyllic
and peaceful (if a little cold) retreat. Apart
from the toilets of of course, which were
basically a hole in a carpeted floor above
a stinking pit in a hut out on a limb away
from the camp. But at least they provided
a heater to keep our cheeks warm! With no
eateries for miles around, thankfully all
the meals were provided for us in a separate
tent with mini tables and stools. We were
treated to all the best Mongolian dishes which
included a lot of mutton and foods found in
the wild since their traditional nomadic lifestyle
and Shamanistic beliefs that the land was
holy and could not be cut prevented them from
cultivating it. Our first evening was followed
by age old games that are still played today
using the ankle bones of sheep and goats.
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Crazed
man at Sunrise!
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K
and her horse Barang (Dark in Mongolian) |
After
a deep sleep, G sneaked out for an icy eyelash
sunrise and after brekkie the four of us went
for a horse trek in the winter wonderland.
G mounted Bones and K Barang meaning dark
in Mongolian (yes, they were nameless so we
gave them one of our own). And with Chris
a horse-trek virgin and princess Fiona as
she became known due to her need for comfort
and luxury and her lack of preparation, we
ventured out...Fiona wearing a pair of G's
thermal trousers. It was a very tranquil ride
and we returned a couple of hours later with
sore bottoms. Another good feed and we were
back out with the horses, this time just the
two of us snuggled up in a sheep skin pocket
enjoying a sedate sleigh ride. Later we enjoyed
a feeble attempt at archery and rounded off
our ger camp stay watching a National Geographic
docu-film about nomad life called 'weeping
camel' - recommended if you want to know more
about Mongolian life.
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G
riding in the Mongolian hills
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And
we're off! |
The
following day we reluctantly left the camp
(we could have stayed for a couple of weeks)
and journeyed back to the capital, Ulaan bataar.
The four of us had a tour of the city led
by Zolboo where we encountered the only Monastery
to have survived the 1930s anti-religious
purges, Gandan Monastery. A much restored
complex including the Great Temple, housing
the largest Mongolian Buddhist statue (the
all-seeing Lord) and a smaller temple with
enchanting chanting monks. Here we found out
that the tarot gods that form the basis of
the cards originated in Mongolia. As is customary,
we walked in a clockwise direction and were
impressed by the continuation of the traditional
attire, as we spun the wheels of fortune (see
pic). We finished our tour at the heart of
the city, where stands the mighty icon of
Ghengis Khaan at the north of the city square.
Mongolia is obsessed with him, despite the
fact that during the communist rule even mentioning
his name was highly illegal. You can understand
their infatuation for the once unofficial
ruler of the world. The monument wasn't overly
flattering but we had already seen the most
spectacular monument to him, built by those
who feared him most. After all the Great Wall
of China was constructed to keep him and his
Mongol army out.
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Monastery
temple
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Spin
the wheel - Mongolian monastery |
On
our last full day in Mongolia we spent the
morning trailing through the snow souvenir
hunting and the afternoon visiting the Mongolian
National History Museum which turned out to
be very good. In the evening we said our goodbye
to Zolboo and boarded the train to our 16th
and final country, Russia. The four of us
squeezed into the cabin and for the next day
and a half did the usual killing time antics
including G hatching a plan to steal the very
cute Mongolian kid on our carriage. Whilst
cutting through the red tape at the excruciating
10 hour border crossing we were required to
declare if we had any Justin Timberlake CD's
with us (we kid you not). We had a good few
hours to agonise over whether to declare our
one JT song on the MP3 player, but decided
against it.
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Us
& Genghis
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Yey,
it's snowing! |
We
skidded on to the platform at Irkutsk, met
by our guide Lydia and a temperature of -20.
Having dropped Chris off in Ulan Uday our
driver took us and the Melbourne Madam to
our home stay in Listvyanka. Rita, our Russian
Mum for the next 3 days, welcomed us into
her home and proceeded to try to fatten us
up and succeeded for the duration of our stay
by serving up lots of yummy Russian dishes.
Sensibly wrapped up for the cold (unlike Princess
Fifi), we set off on our tour of the pretty
village that is Listvyanka, which lies on
the bank of Lake Baikal. With a population
of just 3,000 people, the sights were simple
essentials, such as a souvenir shop, a pub
and the village church which is the only wooden
church to have survived the numerous forest
fires. We were also taken to the local museum,
the focus of which is of course, Lake Baikal,
its history, its impact and its wildlife,
most of which was inside, either stuffed or
pickled. There was a very small aquarium too,
home to a couple of the world's only species
of fresh water seals, found in the vast lake.
We ended the day with a banya - a traditional
Siberian dry heat sauna (not steam) and a
welcome wash down with some warm water. A
much needed sleep awaited us, only interrupted
by the odd freezing jaunt to the outside drop
toilet.
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Cute
choo choo
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Us
& Zolboo, our excellent Mongolian
guide |
A
definite highlight of the trip followed the
morning after when we treated ourselves to
a Siberian dog sled ride. G took the opportunity
to test his knees again by opting to take
the speedy ride stood on the back with the
instructor sat calling the commands, while
Keira chose to sit in the safety of the sleigh.
The short but exhilarating ride through the
snowy forest was something we'll never forget.
In the afternoon we took the opportunity to
take a look at the other end of the village
where the remains of ice sculptures with built-in
slide were on show. Our inner children couldn't
resist having a go! We also stumbled across
the medal ceremony at the finishing line of
the Lake Baikal ice marathon - nutters! We
walked on water (well, on the frozen lake)
and hung around to watch the sun set over
the icy expanse and behind the distance mountains.
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Departing
Ulaan Bataar
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Can
we adopt that one?
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The
thrills kept coming the following day with
some snow-mobiling which we'd been looking
forward to for a very long time. And it exceeded
our expectations. We went whizzing through
the woods and crossed the lake like lightening
(well, that is when we weren't slowed down
by Fiona who turned from princess to queen
Mum within seconds of setting off!). It was
great fun, even when Keira took a wrong turn
on the frozen river and found herself surrounded
by thorny mounds of ice. The whole snow mobile
experience was easily one of the best things
we have done on our trip. Chris had followed
us like a good smell joining us at the home
stay, and the four of us whiled away sometime
sipping warm tea at the local cafe and playing
our Mongolian bones game. Sadly, the next
day it was time to leave our homely haven.
Again it would have been nice to have stayed
longer.
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View
from the train in Russia
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Listvyanka |
In
Irkutsk we had our first taste of what we
could expect from cities in Russia, namely
a frosty reception. Our home stay hosts, Olga
and Sergi weren't too bad however, and their
hot shower was just what we were calling out
for. There wasn't much to see or do in Irkutsk
but we did check out the local historic churches.
Graham managed to horrify the nun at the Russian
Orthodox church when he accidentally pointed
to 'atheist' rather than 'agnostic' in the
phrasebook. This prompted a gasp and a 20
minute sermon in Russian, in a vain attempt
to try and convert us...we finally managed
to escape - thank god!
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Sauna
(left) and toilet (right)
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Dismounting
the dog sled |
On
leaving Irkutsk what lay ahead was the longest
continuous train journey of our lives to date.
It was 3 whole days but in fairness it seemed
to go quite quickly. A lot of cards were dealt,
books read and expensive food garnishes paid
for in the dining car, yadda yadda, blah blah.
There was one encounter with our carriage
attendant who came into our cabin ranting
and raving like a crazed lunatic (in Russian).
Once the steam from her ears had escaped,
we deciphered that she wanted to charge us
for the ruffled bedding on the unoccupied
bed in our compartment. A heated exchange
ensued, where the phrasebook was thrown at
us and the attendant stormed off in a sulk.
G decided a new tact was called for and so
wrote down a few translations along the lines
of "Why shout? It not help. Relax. Write
it down. If not, go away. This isn't life,
this is torment. We'll work it out. It helps
to have a sense of humour." What we really
wanted to say was "Speaking of sick minds,
tell me, which lunatic asylum did they get
you out of?" and "Your plans for
world domination are sadly mistaken."
which were genuine phrases in our trusty guide,
taken from Bond film 'From Russia With Love'.
Much to our surprise, she calmed down and
the situation was resolved. G even managed
to squeeze a smile out of the old sour face!
We arrived late on at a much warmer, rather
miserable Moscow, and after dinner hit the
sack.
As
a child my parents told me
When I was sulking like a prat
"When the wind changes...
Your face will stay like that!"
I never believed it true
Until in Russia for a while
I came round to their suggestion
As no one seems to smile
Miserable, glum and moody
Like a sad circus clown
How do you say in Russian?
"Turn your frown upside down" |
We couldn't visit the capital of Russia without
seeing the Kremlin and Red Square so that
was our first not so secret mission when we
awoke. The prices at the Kremlin prepared
us for our imminent return to the UK and the
cost shock we were bound to encounter. Inside
the walled city there are a number of government
buildings closed to the public but more notably
some 16th Century ancient Cathedrals where
Tsars were christened, crowned and buried.
Why they needed 6 of them in such a small
area we have no idea. We admired the beautiful
exteriors and soaked up the atmosphere of
the interiors. They also have a thing for
having the largest...bell and cannon. We thought
it was a load of balls. They have some of
them too but they don't fit the cannon. There
is also the famous armoury collection, which
isn't a collection of armoury at all, but
priceless objects like Faberge eggs, jewels,
coronation regalia, etc and is housed in the
former weapons store thus acquiring its name.
Beautiful, ornate pieces, but to be honest,
after the first few it became a bit 'samey'
as there was no interpretation, even in Russian.
Their saving grace though was the Cinderella-esque
carriages which captivated Keira.
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K
rushes past
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Frozen
in time |
Having
seen pickled Mao, we decided not to see pickled
Lenin (what can top that?!), but still marched
into Red Square, a vast open space the name
of which has no connection to communism but
has been called that since the 15th Century.
We crossed the square to the iconic building,
symbolic of Russia, Saint Basil's Cathedral.
It's unlike any other place of worship we've
seen before, with it's colourful, onion shaped
domes giving it a magical appearance. It wouldn't
look out of place in Disneyland. Keira explored
the inside while Graham sat outside in a huff
due to another stroppy attendant who annoyed
him. We went off in search of ballet tickets
(Russians are famed for their ballet), but
the seats at the Bolshoi were way out of our
price range. Perhaps the highlight of the
day was stumbling across an enchanting rendition
of Vivaldi's Four Seasons in an underpass
on our way back to the hotel.
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Slippy
ice slide
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Very
unprepared Aussie Fiona with a little
help from Russian Mum Rita |
We awoke the next day to be met by one of
the few smiley people in Russia, our guide
for the morning. Having seen some of the well-known
tourist haunts already, we asked her to take
us to some of the lesser known attractions.
She picked out some interesting sights for
us to sample, including a luxurious supermarket
inside what was once a rich nobleman's home
where you can buy cheese under the light of
a chandelier. We meandered round the streets
that are home to the Muscovites, spotted the
first McDonald's in Russia, and were shown
the bachelor homes that had been built without
kitchens... (it was assumed they wouldn't
use them!). Our tour ended with a visit to
the Gorky Museum - an elaborate art nouveau
style house, once home to the famous Russian
intellectual, play write, poet and political
chess piece under the Stalin regime. We would
have liked to have spent more time with our
guide as we had been able to talk frankly
with her about many things regarding the history,
politics, religious and social issues of Russia.
We crammed lots into our afternoon with a
stroll down Arbat Street and the adjoining
streets in search of more golden churches,
eventually finding our way to the Cathedral
of Christ the Saviour - a relatively new and
grand building which occupies the site that
between the 1930s and the 1980s was an open
air swimming pool. We had good views of the
Kremlin and the Peter the Great monument from
the bridge over the river. After some cherry
dumplings, we headed underground to the extravagant
subway stations adorned with chandeliers,
stained glass, mosaics, statues, etc., that
if sold could probably wipe out the national
debt.
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Bring
it on!
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Catch
the Aussie princess driving like the
Queen Mum |
We
spent our final day in Moscow visiting the
Museum of Modern Art and ambling around the
city to kill time. We arrived back in good
time to chill out and order a taxi to the
railway station. Or so we thought, until G
realised the ticket actually said 20.26 not
22.26...bugger! We failed dismally at flagging
a taxi down, and for the first time on our
entire trip, we were faced with the prospect
of missing our onward connection. With the
clock ticking, G managed to persuade a kind
lady to give up her taxi for us, and after
a white-knuckle ride, we arrived at the station
and caught our train with minutes to spare.
Finally a bit of luck came our way as we had
a two-birth cabin to ourselves. We arrived
at St. Petersburg early in the morning, not
quite refreshed, but relieved to have arrived
at our final destination in one piece. St.
Petersburg was a welcome relief from grey
and miserable Moscow, being a colourful and
vibrant city with lots of European influences.
Our guide took us on a fascinating, in-depth
and enlightening tour of the city... it was
a shame we couldn't really hear or understand
what she was saying very well, but it at least
orientated us and she did get us a good price
on some ballet tickets for our last night.
We did see a number of architectural highlights,
most of European design except the Church
of the Spilt Blood which was our favourite.
G also got to make a wish by fulfilling a
local tradition of throwing a coin onto the
ledge of the smallest monument in the city
overlooking the river. Later that day we were
dragged out for a bottle of Russian champagne
by Princess Fiona, who we still hadn't managed
to shake off.
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WOW!
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Russian
kids show how it's done |
The
Hermitage and Winter Palace were our mission
for the next day. It is basically a huge three-storey
mansion with Baroque facade that is the former
royal residence of the Romanov family, later
home of Katherine the Great. It was she who
added an annexe to the palace which became
her hermitage where she could escape from
official duties. She filled it with one of
the most extensive art collections in the
world. Exhausted and over-exposed to all things
arty, we headed out in search of food with
an English menu.
On our final full day of our mammoth trip
we hid under the covers in a confused state
of denial. We eventually surfaced as we were
curious about the Chamber of Curiosities which
is a collection of grotesque objects that
Peter the Great acquired. He would conduct
new foreign ambassadors around the collection,
and those who successfully controlled their
heads and stomachs were rewarded with lots
of vodka, whilst those who couldn't handle
it would be sent home with a request for a
better ambassador. To say it was owned by
Peter the Great, it actually wasn't that great.
After some photo stops and dinner, we arrived
at the theatre expecting to see an obscure
ballet only to find it had been replace by
the old classic Swan Lake. G refrained from
throwing himself over the balcony of the highest
box which we shared with a New Yorker called
Maeve. After enjoying the ballet, in true
Russian style, we got into the spirit of things
by downing a few vodkas - a fitting way to
end our last day, drowning out what lay ahead.
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Old
house in Irkutsk
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A
big deal? |
The
return journey to old Blighty was an interesting
one to say the least. After surviving the
crazy death wish taxi ride to the airport,
we said goodbye to our trusty rucksacks and
boarded our flight to Heathrow. We were excited
to hear British accents and read a British
newspaper. That is until we realised that
it was full of depressing news and political
correctness gone mad. Without yet touching
British soil, we transferred to our delayed
flight up north and were welcomed by the news
that Keira's bag, having travelled round the
world, including 14 flights, had been lost.
Welcome home! We were however met with a much
warmer welcome by G's folks, advertising cheap
rates at their Pudsey hostel.
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Survivors
- arrived in Moscow after 3 days on
train
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Tsar
cannon - largest in the world |
It
was difficult to end our world trip, and it's
even harder to summarise the year we've had.
So it's probably best we don't even attempt
it. Suffice to say, it has been the best year
of our lives and we will not easily forget
it (although with Keira's memory there's a
good chance she will!). We hope you've enjoyed
reading our regular updates (huge thanks to
Paul Swift to whom we are forever indebted
for his work on the website), but we can't
deny it will be a relief not to have to document
our lives from now on. We've been living the
dream for the year and now it's time to live
a greener dream for the rest of our years
to come.
Signing off,
Graham and Keira Relton. x
P.S. If you've enjoyed Graham's poems you'll
be pleased to know he's trying to get a book
of them published (some of which are on the
website and many of which aren't). With a
lot of luck, 'Around the World in 80 Poems
- rhyming reasons to travel the globe...or
not!' will be available to buy some time in
the next year. Drop us an email if you're
interested.
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The
Assumption Catherdral - Kremlin
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Red
square late afternoon |
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Colourful onion line up
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Red
star by night |
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Busking
spectacular
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Supermarket
swish |
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Art
Nouveau staircase in Gorky's house
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The
Catherdral of Christ the Saviour from
the bridge |
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K'Kremlin
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One
of the bronze creators of the new socialist
world |
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Novoslobodskaya
underground station
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Lenin
in mosaic |
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Stained
glass in the Moscow subway
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Komsomolskaya
with it's chandeliers |
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St
Petersburg architecture - close up
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Wishing
statue - G got his 2 pence coin onto
the ledge |
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Church
of the Spilt Blood
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The
Winter Palace |
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Inside
the Winter Palace
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A
small section of the Hermitage collection |
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From
the Winter Palace
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Peter
& Paul fortress |
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Theatre
auditorium
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Swan
Lake ballet |
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Into
the spirit of things with Maeve
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Welcome
home! |
