The phrase of the journey “That’s so Russian hey!”, whether it was the non-existent smile, the Adidas tracksuits or the gangster-looking mafia men, the phrase was always used. Before arriving in Russia we only had a version of Russia we see in Hollywood movies and western media’s version of Russian politics and its people. Now we can say there are definitely some truths as well as false facts presented to us in the West.
We only scraped the surface of what Russia has on offer to explore, we had no idea there were so many ethnic groups encompassed within Russia nor did we fully understand how Russian states work and how each differ. We travelled 7622km from our departure point in Ulanbataar, Mongloia to Moscow, then onwards to our exit in Helsinki, Finland. We travelled by public train the entire way, spending many nights aboard the famous Trans-Siberian.
Siberia
We boarded the train from Ulaan Bataar where we settled in for 2 nights in a 4 birth cabin with a smelly old retired Frenchman called Claude. As we settled in for the night it wasn’t long until we were drifting off to sleep with the blissful sound of the wheels on the tracks. This was until Claude started up his trumpet (snoring) at which time we looked at each other knowing it was going to be a long few nights. We woke at the Mongolia/Russia border where we were stopped by Russian troops who inspected our cabins for stowaways, perused our visas and asked us a few questions about our travel plans. This was our first taste of the Russians, they were not the friendliest bunch to have met first off the rank but hey, they were border control.
It took us another full day and night to reach our first destination Irkutsk, where we took a 2 hour bus ride out to Lake Baikal. After refreshing in a much needed shower we headed out to this beautiful enormous lake. Lake Baikal is the largest fresh water lake in the world holding 20 percent of the worlds unfrozen surface fresh water. It has a depth of 1642m at the deepest point making it the deepest lake in the world. From the township of Listvyanka we were treated to an amazing view of the Baikal mountain range, still snow-capped, and the endless lake. We had a great day walking around and exploring, we also took a seat on one of the sightseeing boats with a glass bottom, which was interesting to see coral and freshwater Baikal Seals. The next day in Baikal the weather had turned so we took the opportunity for a down day and Hayley tried to recover from a head cold.
The next day we attended the very popular Seal show in a very small enclosure, although it was a super cute and funny show put on by these fresh water seals. In the afternoon we returned to Irkutsk where we wondered the city streets stopping off in many cafes and bars using their wifi as we awaited to board our midnight train to Kazan.
On the train again and this time for what we thought was 2 nights 2 days but on day 2 we realized we had read our ticket wrong and still had a further night and day, let’s just say there were a few unhappy faces between the two of us. This was the oldest train we had been on to date it was wooden and super noisy all adding to our Trans-Siberian experience! As we rolled through Siberia you could only describe it like this: “Tree, Tree, Tree, Small Village, Tree, Tree, Tree, Small Village”. We had a few different cabin buddies along the way, mostly all men either coming or going to work. Although they didn’t have much English, using the small amount they did have they were able to express their shock and horror that we would optionally choose the Tran-Siberian as a holiday destination. We tried to explain that it was famous worldwide but they just laughed at the thought. By the end of day two, boredom had really sunk in and there were only so many books to read, music to listen to and cards to play. The only thing left to do was buy some beers at the next train stop and drink some leftover Mongolian Vodka. The next 12 hours flew buy and before we knew it we were arriving in Kazan.
Kazan
Arriving in Kazan it was straight to the hotel and straight in the shower! We ventured out for a much needed stretch of the legs after three days on the train. Kazan is the capital of Tatarstan, a Republic within the Russian federation approximately 700km to Moscow and north of Kazakstan. This city was a complete contrast from Siberia with new modern and refurbished buildings and a beautiful waterfront precinct. The very next day we met with our local Honcho, (guide) Aigul who showed us her amazing city. We walked through the old Kremlin that encompasses a Mosque and Orthodox Church side by side. We spent a big part of the day firing off questions and trying to understand the Russian way of life. We had a great day with Aigul visiting the city sites and gaining and insight into life as a young person in Russia.
Moscow
From Kazan we were back on the train this time just for one night, but were surprised to find ourselves on the newest Russian train - a double decker, it was so nice and modern and a welcome surprise. We exited the train in Moscow where we checked into our hostel and waited for the arrival of our next Honcho. Helen arrived and spent the day with us taking us to Red square, the Kremlin, and a few local hot spots like old Soviet supermarkets. The architecture in Moscow is amazing, very different to the European style, with big facades on the buildings that are almost fierce looking. We tried the local food at the many cafes, our favourite was the Brosch which is like a beetroot and capsicum soup with meat. Pete tried a few Russian Lagers along the way. Mostly though we just missed the amazing flavours of Asian cuisine. It was often meat with potato or in a pancake and often quite bland to our taste. Helen was a very patient guide with two very tired travellers and managed to tick off some of the main sights in Moscow. We ended our day with a tour of the Moscow Metro which is like no other, the beautiful murals and differing designs at each station made for quite a sight.
The next few days we took our time to wander through the city, no matter which way we walked we were just in awe at the buildings presented before us, I mean ridiculously huge pillars and soviet style buildings everywhere. Our highlight of Moscow would have to be the Bolshoi Theatre where we watched the Ballet, Giselle. We pulled out the best outfit we both had and put it on and headed out for a night at the ballet. Having some of the cheapest tickets in the house didn’t matter as we had a spectacular view of the entire venue and were given some binoculars. This is a night we won’t forget for a long time to come.
After the ballet we raced back to the hostel to catch our last night train the St Petersburg.
Saint Petersburg
Our first morning in St. Petersburg we met Lydia who was our local for the day, all our Honchos were either young people studying English at university, already English teachers or in the tourism industry looking for some practice. Lydia was looking to improve her already amazing English. She took us through the main sights of St. Petersburg which is very European in its appearance, the only difference was all Russians! We really enjoyed St. Petersburg, it had the history and culture that we were keen to explore as well as a lively summer nightlife. We ended up in a “Soviet café” for lunch where we tried traditional food which included fish soup with a side of vodka, Russian meat dumplings and some picked vegetables.
The next day we boarded the train to Helsinki which was a short 3 hours commute. Our time in Russia had come to an end and we think we were pretty keen to enter Europe. The Russian people we met once we got speaking with them were absolutely lovely and we really appreciated all our guides for showing us their Russia. It was an amazing place to visit and incredibly interesting but we were glad to be met with the smiles of the Finnish.
