24 – 26 june Sankt Peterburg

Slow train to St P, arrived lunchtime. Our hostel accom was interesting so say the least. 12 bunks in each room, one shower, but bed it was. A couple of wet days in the city and, at almost 60 degree North, no sign of getting dark even at 11pm. Many people out and about for white nights festival and first day of school hols.

Moscow had a few big buildings. St Petersburg has massive colonnaded buildings that go the length of the street, soft yellow and white, or luscious pink with facades borne by greek gods, the usual outstanding cathedrals and churches and canals. We took the city doubledecker bus tour with audio history, architecture and cultural explanation. We continue to gain by osmosis a little more knowledge of St p as an important and wealthy city over the last 1000 years.

And then, of course the impressive summer palace of Elizabeth and Catherine. We arrived early and beat the crowds, straight though to the egyptian mummies and then by stages through one jaw dropping visual assault to the next. grand ballrooms with enormous chandeliers, rooms that made you feel as if you were inside a blue and white Wedgewood vase, the next inside gold tinsel and christmas lights, the next blood red velvet walls, frescos rivalling the Sistine, tapestries, thrones, boudoirs, hanging gardens the size of Olympic swimming pools on the second floor, artworks by the Who’s Who of french renaissance, impressionism, add in Van gogh, Rodin. Do not know what the poor russians must make of it. Guess they are proud of such a public treasure. It was too much for us.

After two nights in Hostel Dodgy, we treated ourselves to a room to our selves in a brand new hotel, its name on an A3 page near the door. The walls were being washed for the first time ever but the room was clean and the shower was hot. We had tickets for the Symphony orchestra. The band was a good size- 8 double base, 8 cello, 8 viola, perhaps 32 violin, various wood and brass and two harps. The conductor waved wildly and the instruments played as one. Unbelievable. Precise. Beautiful. exciting. Never have we heard anything so wonderful. Prokofiev , Stravinski and Tchaikovski. The last with opera singers who made the floorboards rumble and the chandeliers tremble. And also a male choir of thirty voices. Wow!

22-23 june Veliky Novgorod

Moscow was amazing. Perhaps if you were here ten years ago, you would have a different impression. There has been so much hype about St Petersburg. . . we will see!

Finding accommodation in St P is difficult and there are no tickets for any train, so we decide to go to Veliky Novgorod. Lonely Planet says there is a good Kremlin and cathedral. We arrive early and explore the town. Yes the Kremlin and Cathedral get a tick. The pretty riverside beach has attracted plenty of sunbaking Russians and the ubiquitous icecream vendor. Lots of authentic w 12 to 17 century churches (some whiewashed) and none renovated. Sergei, the Russian ex-British olympic gymnast team coach invited us to his club. We talk to his group of 10 to 16 y o boys for half an hour before they practise their tumbling and pommel. meanwhile about 40 girls are doing amazing somersaults, vaults, beam and bar training. Wow!

Next to the Kremlin, near the statue of Rachmaninov is Rob Simmon’s dream- a chess club which is open six days a week from 2pm to 8pm. Tony only watched as the local players’ 10 minute games were a bit scary. Still daylight at midnight!. The ancient Soviet era trolleybus are still going.

18-21 june Moscow

From Suzdal, bus to Vladimir, and then a short 2 hr train (seats with a lunch in a bag) to Moscow. We found ourselves by pure luck at Kurzky Vokzal (station) in walking distance to our hostel. This in turn was walking distance along Varvarka St (the old Moscow of the 16th century wealthy boyars and reign of Peter the Great, Tsars Alexander, Ivan and Nicolas (many of each) who were powerful or wealthy enough to just throw up a magnificent church or two. The daylight lasts until 11pm so plenty of time to wander past buildings of all eras (medieval, imperial, Soviet and modern)  to Red (“beautiful”) square with Lenin tomb, Ivan the terrible’s crazy multicoloured Basil cathedral, over the Moscow river to old town, dinner at a “point and pay”.

Next day, did a free walking tour from statue of Methodus and Cyril (of Cyrillic alphabet fame).  There is an incredible amount of renovation and reproduction of palaces and gardens, buildings and monuments. Churches and buildings in lolly shades of pink, yellow, green and blue. Impossibly grand buldings 3 stories high (like the trade centre) which go the length of the city block. The walk ended at Cathedral of Christ the Saviour which was unbelievably rebuilt in 2 years in 2000. Visit the Kremlin. Get told off for walking on the road, get told off for walking on the road! The frescos and iconostasis in the cathedrals are amazing.

Take up Svetlana’s (from Suzdal) generous offer to stay one night in her Moscow flat. Spend a wonderful two days guided through marble metro, to parks and gardens, fantastic wooden Kolomenskoe and Tsaritsyno palaces (both recently rebuilt), views of the river from the city, and views of the city from the river.  Fortified Convents and monestaries with peaceful gardens. And best of all, home cooked blini (russian pancakes) with fox mushrooms, tomato salad and Caviar.

16 – 17 june Golden Ring

On the train again, only 22 hours on train 005. Met 3 germans who were on a  Irkutsk to moscow nonstop. The vast forests of birch and pine were occasionally interrupted by grassy fields and purple lupins(?) and wooden homes. The uneventful crossing of the urals from asia into Europe brought a change of green (and cooler weather and rain). Arrive in Vladimir and even in the rain find too many photo ops of onion domes going back to 12th century start of the russian versian of christianity.

Bus to Suzdal. Rural town, pop 12000. Think Beechworth with twenty churches, 5 cathedrals, 2 monasteries and 3 convents and tourists. Lovely town, walk around the whole place in a day. Spectacular frescos, icons, bell ringing, male singers, museums, Byzantine architecture and honey mead! The medovuka was introduced to us by Sergei and Svetslana who had also helped us use the ATM in russian.

14-15 june Ekaterinburg

The train from Krasnoyarsk to Ekaterinburg was 36 hr stretching over 2 nights, our longest leg on the Transib. getting used to reading the timetables in Cyrillic and moscow time.

Met 2 kiwis who were doing Irkutsk to Moscow nonstop. Good to hear of their 9 months in Japan and share some other stories. Chris and Megan were also good sports helping with the drunk Russian man in our compartment.

Arrived in Ekaterinburg at 5am (local time) which is not a good time to arrive. Too early for info, too early for buses, trolleys or trams and without accommodation booked. Walked the almost deserted main street past magnificent Church of the Blood, built only 10 years ago! Tsar Nicholas and his family (the Romanovs) were murdered in 1914 and remembered here in elaborate museum.

Found the faded stencil of “The Meeting Point” hostel on the wall of a run down concrete housing bloc. No signs of life, manager in hospital and hostel won’t be open until 3pm. Walk cross town to tourist bureau which doesn’t open until 10am and then they take an hour to find some accommodation. We don’t seem to be able to catch a bus that keeps going in the right direction. None of the locals can read a map! Aya from Okinawa joins us in renting a fantastic apartment. Tony finds a direct bus to the Voksal to buy train tickets. Home cooked meals for two nights and some time to relax.

So we are walking down the street at 6 pm and a young Russian man says hello, etc. We say we want to go to a synphony orchestra. he says he will show us, stops outside the Theatre Opera, says he is the dancer in a big poster, we say no way, he says come in to see Puccini opera. OK, we go in, everyone knows him, he sits us second row middle seats, Madam Butterfly, how good is that? bit long but orchestra brill, went backstage!

11 – 13 june hike and train

11th june is Russia Independence Day. In 1991, Yeltsin was elected president of Russia and this was the end of the mighty USSR (or CCCP), You know the rest – Ukraine,Belarus, Chechnia… So it was a holiday and all the girls were out in their bikinis and “the boys” without shirts (just think Boris of kamchatka  and Vladimir Putin multiplied by hundred).

We caught the local bus and walked into Stolbi Nature reserve. It was the usual story for us – setting off on a 15km bushwalk without a map. The expectation is you pay someone to guide as there appears to be no information available to foreigners. Even Lonely Planet said it was difficult to find the track and best to go with a tour! Julia was very concerned and lent a GPS which we didn’t know how to use. Brand new timber decked walkways which hadn’t yet seen a winter, a 4km bitumen road and 3km of good gravel made a mockery of everyone’s cautions! Proper scale maps were displayed on information boards. Liz took a photo of it and this was very useful.

Rock climbers scaled impossible cliffs.

 

However  small tracks lead everywhere. We asked other walkers which way… and Russian walkers asked us which way! We knew we were nearing our traverse of the park when the path became crowded with tourists in stillettos, eating icecreams and carrying handbags. great views, a free trip down the funicular and safely home to Julia’s tiny rundown bedsit.

7 – 10 june Baikaler to krasnoyarsk

Feeling very clever (with the next few days all planned and mapped out), we left most of our gear and caught the local bus (65km = 100rubles) to Listvyanka on lake Baikal. Had chicken and pork skewers and local beer. Russian tourists in bikinis, Liz braved a dip in the cold to add, legend has it, a few months to her life.

Had the luxurious chalet to ourselves to just relax. Next day took a hydrofoil to Bolshie Koti, a cute little village with no road access or shops. There is a 17km path back to Listvyanka but we couldn’t find it. After a 2 hour climb with track getting worse, decide to try to enjoy the pretty forest and return by boat.

Met two germans who had toughed it out from the opposite. We had been warned about bears and ticks and that we should check each other carefully. Didn’t find any bears but plenty of ticks on our clothes. Liz had a tick half buried in her thigh. Helena from Finland expertly twisted the damn thing out jaws and all. Phew! A lovely shared meal with Helena and Yuri.

After a restful sojourn, back to Irkutsk and on to Krasnoyarsk to homestay at “Julia’s” , city sightseeing, a incredibly good regional museum of ancient and modern history and culture and Russian Ballet.

4 – 6 june UB to Irkutsk

Spent the day in UB local attractions. Tony to try to retrieve a cashcard lost in ATM and Liz to the Museum. Liz had more success learning about Chinggis Khan and his conquests, Mongolian national dress and Desert paintings.

Caught a crowded, slower than walking pace, bus in  the clogged traffic to the black market. A dirty forlorn part of town where the muddy potholes would swallow a bicycle, you could buy anything including the kitchen sink.

Up to the temple area, a random agglommeration of buildings, stupas, prayer wheels spinning, pigeons feeding, Tibetan monks chanting. Dinner at Cafe/ bar point at the pictures menu and luckydipped on plate of Lamb’s Fry followed by Beef, egg and veg. Quite good with a couple of bottles of beer.

Leaving the land of least dense population but enormous traffic problem, where more than half the cars are RH drive Toyotas and the others are LH drive Hyundai, Jeeps, etc, driving is chaotic and parking is anywhere you like. Swapping Ghengis Khan for Ivan the Terrible, horses for tractors, toogroog for roubles. We had a 4 bunk Kupi to ourselves for 27 hour train trip (including the obligatory 4 hours on the border for passport control and change the train wheels again). Sunset getting very late (after 10pm) and wake to views across Lake Baikal.

Arrived Irkutsk grand railway station, Liz in good books with “provodnista”, and rode an ancient trolley to the hostel in Lenin and karl marx streets. checked out the local church, secondhand shop, bistro, outdoor shop, purchased russian simcard, homestay and train tickets for onward journey.

1 -3 june Mongolia on a Motorbike

Cheke (the Mongolian in our train compartment) had two rental motorbikes for us. She wanted to recce a new route to Terelj NP and we tagged along. We were inadequately and underprepared other than had our thermals and down sleeping bags. Yes, we had carried them in our wheeliecases from Oz and this was their first use. Cheke had a GPS but no map. Liz was no worries on the Chinese 150cc Mustang. Tony was glad of the ignition button for all the times he couldn’t find neutral and stalled. Cheke looked like she had never ridden a bike.

We set off through the city traffic, thankfully manageable due to children and mother’s day holiday. Then it rained and hailed and then we left the potholed bitumen and onto the rockstrewn pick you own path along the valley road.

Stopped for lunch of dumplings and potatoes and milk tea at Cheke’s fathers Ger. It is his modest summer dwelling, one cow, 2 calves, a dog, a vegie patch and unbelievable views. We walked up the nearby ridge for 360 deg views.

Had a very generous offer of stay overnight but rode on up the valley, stopping to ask the way, backtracking, asking the way again and riding up a rough steep challenging track to a pass, marked by tripod. Cautiously down and up thru a second pass to next valley. Weather deteriorating and decide to find shelter. Local nomads offer very rudimentary unheated loft.

Dinner consists of endless milk tea, home made fizzy yoghurt, crumbly cheese and noodles with chunks of fat. The ger became crowded as it filled with children and families. The rain had set in as we watched the daily routine of the men on horseback going up the hill to collect their cows and sheep and goats and horses and bring them to the safety near the home. The daughter from the city (just graduated in Japanese) helped milk the 15 cows. The guard dogs barked at wolves in the night.

Next morning was cold and miserable. More family arriving we needed to move on. Great indecision regarding route – over the pass to our destination Terelj proved too slippery for our basic bike skills, down the valley involved a impassable river crossing so back we went over pass number two while it was snowing. Arrived somehow intact and found a yurt. Got the fire going and thawed out. So toasty you could not stand up in case your hair caught fire. No wonder they have those kiddy stools. Owners kept us supplied with wet sticks so fire needed continual feeding.

Third day, sunny, snow covered hills, more weaving alternate braided tracks, picnic lunch by river, onto highway of boken concrete back to UB and bumper to bumper undisciplined pushy traffic. Parked the bikes, relieved that we had survived a great adventure.