Cautionary visa requirements for travelers to Russia

For travelers going into the country, do take note of a new visa requirement by the Russian authorities. When going into the country, you will retain the visa form that the immigration returned to you with a stamp. You will need to bring your passport and visa to a nearby police station to get it stamped by 72 hours into the country. For any stopover that you are staying for more than 3 days, you will also need to do the same for that location. Some hotels and hostels can also do it for you, but you will probably have to make the arrangements yourself if staying in a guesthouse. This precautionary measure was introduced to reduce illegal immigrants and people overstaying their visas. During my recent trip across Russia, I was quite lucky to leave the country into Mongolia without problems at the border even though they were questioning me about the missing stamps as I have stayed more than a week in the country. Stories from fellow travelers revealed of people getting fined from USD$50 to been brought back to Moscow to spend 3 months behind bars!

So spare yourself this hassle and remember to do what is needed!

Goodbye Russia, hello Mongolia

The trip out of Russia was a test of anyone's patience;
- Waited 4 hours for train from Irkutsk;
- 7 hours at the Russian border of Naushki;
- Another 3 hours at the Mongolian border of Suhbaatar.

It took an incredible 32 hours to cross 1115km of track, even though parts of the rail around Lake Baikal was once the most difficult bits to build. Was completely exhausted at the end of the day from waiting for the day to pass and my 6th pot noodles on the Trans Siberian trip was getting to me as well - the first taste delicious, the 6th feels like a torture.

On the bright side, the scenery after Ulan Ude towards the border was a refreshing change as the train headed south into the once great steppes of Genghis Khan - rolling mountains, rivers and lakes combine with sparse colourful SIberian log cabins to form a very picturequse sight. There are times when a curious cow comes ever so close to the oncoming train only to stop at the very last moment by the horn.

2 ladies joined my compartment at Naushki heading for a shopping trip across the border in Mongolia. I seem to understand that they were history teacher and architect prior to taking up this current job of a border guard because there are not enough jobs in their former city. Their expressions and language tells the story of how boring this job is, and looking at how tiny the village was when I passed, I really feel sad for them. This is especially when one of them, Natasha, has 2 little kids at home in Volga (very far from here) whom she can't visit till 2 years of her contract is up.

Leaving Russia, I can definitely see and feel the change sweeping across the biggest country in the world, modernisation, westernisation, brand, class, have overtaken the basic needs of survival. It will be a long road ahead, and a tough one, especially for the majority group who are struggling with keeping up with the pace of change. I have met and befriend some of the most amazing and friendly people on my trip, be it their innocence and simple way of life that reflects the world that we hardly see much of in this 21st century of ours. I look forward to Mongolia, to a different land so sparse of human presence, where the great Genghis Khan once ruled much of Asia and Europe, where steppes, mountains, glaciers, desert and sand rules over all.

Journey to Lake Baikal

Train 222 from Yekaterinburg to Irkutsk turned out to be very local and full. A couple, Ruslan and his wife-to-be Nadine, shared the compartment with me. Ruslan, with his splattering English, was doing his best to strike up a reasonable conversation with me, whilst gulping down the first of his 5 pints of Russian beer for the night. They insisted on viewing the photos I took on the trip after I traced my journey so far on a paper map, which I gladly obliged, under a constant stream of Russian rap and dance music from their mobile phones. Ruslan showed me the catalog of giant copper cables that his company produce, which he sells to customers, even though the only think I understood was the diagrams and pictures that looked incredibly familiar from my uni days of studying electrical engineering. When he tried to guess my age, it was a ridiculous 20 - maybe he was just been extremely polite.

They got off the next morning at the city of Omsk and the compartment did not welcome a another visitor until the train called into Novosibirsk, where a big woman, dressed in red from top to bottom, including her bags and shoes, came onboard and immediately pulled out a bottle of Russian beer and asked if I wanted some. She tried to say a few words of mandarin from the notebook that she pulled out from her handbag. Her interests in our conversation came and went almost as quickly after I kindly turned down on the drinks. In no time, she was fast asleep soundly without even finishing her 2nd bottle.

The train crossed another 3 time zones (I am now the same time zone as Mongolia, China and Singapore, the good news is that I will be sticking to this time zone all the way from now) by the 2nd day of the journey, 4400km from Moscow, but not even halfway to Vladivostok, and I was starting to get restless and sleeping at night was a challenge. The struggle to understand the locals to strike up any useful conversation was also building into frustrations, and there was not a single like-minded traveller on the train as well - It seemed that my ticket was uncommon for Trans-Siberian travellers like me. Having the train aligned to Moscow time whilst we were actually 5 hours ahead doesn't help with the meals. Breakfast, lunch and dinner seem to completely mixed into a convoluted mess, but I tend to just stick to my biological clock. On the hygiene aspect, the toilet seems to have a "natural" ventilator in the source of the same hole on the floor that drains away any water spilled from the tiny basin, very cooling at times - nice!

My third visitor was Roman, one who spoke with great pride of his same name as the owner of Chelsea football club, who was also eager to show me the photo in his wallet of his wife and 4 year old son. He seems to be very proud of his home town in Irkutsk and tells me of his Japanese car (part of the influx of used cars from Japan and other booming Asian economies) and own apartment, especially when I told him I had a bicycle which I use to cycle to work and most other places, is jobless and will be living with my parents when I get back home. He was also into his third bottle of Russian beer well before the sky started to turn dark and snow heavily. Seems like most locals simply drink to pass the incredible long time spent on trains although I have not met anyone on the train who drinks the legendary vodka yet.

Finally arrived in Irkutsk at 02:35 and was only glad to have a young guy speaking fluent English (Finally!) holding my name on the platform to pick me up to the village of Listvyanka, by Lake Baikal for the next 3 days. The journey took another hour and half before we finally stop at a house overseeing the frozen lake. Jarin, collected me and showed me my room which I settled in but struggled to get to bed after the multiple transits.

This UNESCO listed lake is more than 1.6km in depth, deepest and oldest lake in the world, containing roughly 1/5 of the world's fresh water supplies. Water is so clear (up to 40m visibility) and deemed drinkable as it is, literally. Locals often bring a big container a metre in height and he will have 2 small fillers down to the lake to scoop the water. The ice of the surface forms a mirage that often misled people to think that the mountains peaks bordering Siberia with Mongolia seems nearer than they should. Darwin would be so amazed if he were to know a species of fresh water seals have evolved and acclimatize to this environment so far inland. Their numbers have been recovering slowly after a hunting ban for their precious fur on these amazing mammals. I wonder if the polar bears will wander this far south if global warming is to continue melting the ice up in the North. Another native fish found only in this lake, Omul is a delicacy here too and its meat taste delicious and sweet, which I tried at the excellent Cafe ProshliyVek, where I had my dinner for the 2 nights I stayed by the lake (homestay only included breakfast). The visit to Baikal museum was fascinating, although tiny to describe the size. Paying 350R to see the pair of enclaved seals and other fish and sponges found in the lake seems a bit too much especially when the guidebook indicated only 100R. I do have mixed feelings about such exhibits but I think it is important to educate the public where necessary, and in this case, I have definitely learned more about the wildlife in and around the lake. The climb up the hill behind the museum is also well worth the effort for an excellent view of the lake and Angara, the only river that the lake flows into, where a dam has been built near the city of Irkutsk for the cheapest electricity for the residents in the whole of Russia - as per the locals.



The couple of the homestay I am living with goes on with an extremely simple lifestyle. They spend majority of the day at home watching television as their 3 children are all working in other cities, especially during this period of time when it is neither winter nor spring. Living beside a lake huge enough for the entire world's population for the next 40 years if all other freshwater were to run out today, I am pleasantly surprised by how water efficient they are as there are drums palced in almost everywhere possible in the gardens to collect runoff water from the hills behind as well as the melting snow for agriculture usage I suppose.


Winter never seem to end in this part of the world, only the temperature goes up slightly higher above freezing. After another night of heavy snow, the sun is at least showing up the following day. Unable to find more activities to do and again struggling to have any reasonable conversation, even with the local tourist office, where I was trying to find out on the availability of things to do. Ended doing more trekking up north by the lake, only to be turned back after 4km in as sections of the path has been submerged. It was a pity to see endless empty or broken beer bottles and other rubbish left behind by humans along this beautiful lake.

Spent more time watching BBC Iplayer downloads for the remaining day than I would have liked but also took the opportunity of the brilliant sunshine to sit by the lake, in front of broken iceberg, trying to come to terms with Mr Darwin's evolutionary book. The amazing sunset over a frozen lake was enough to ease all prior frustrations.

Got out of Listvyanka to Irkutsk the next morning on a local bus costing 101.50 R. Spent the afternoon wondering around the Regional museums. Again felt the entrance fee has been jacked up to 200R from the quoted 100R in the guidebook. The ticket office literally gave me 2 tickets of 100R each to explain why I was paying that amount! Stocked up more food at the supermarket before trekking another 5km to the train station, for my 32 hour journey, finally leaving Russia and heading into Mongolia.

Photos of Trans Siberia set.

26 hours on rail, from Moscow to Yekaterinburg

Kupe - 4 bed compartments with doors for privacy commonly found on the trains ploughing the Russian tracks.

Began my longest train journey so far in my life - 26 hour ride from Moscow's Yaroslavsky station to Yekaterinburg, also known as Sverdlovsk on the Russian train time tables, 1816km from the capital. Shared my compartment with a senior Russian woman returning to Irkutsk on probably one of the best Trans Siberian train - Train No. 10. The fierce and unfriendly looks from the city were immediately transformed to keen and curious questions about myself as we settled into the tiny space. After much nodding, shaking of heads and hand gestures, managed to pick up a few tricks on how to best store my luggage and change into comfortable "train wear" within the comfortable 25 degrees of the cabins opposite the freezing chills sweeping the platform outside the view.

Throughout the next day, there was an keen interest about finding out more of this strange Oriental all the way from Singapore, doing in this part of the world. I showed them pictures of places I been, and showed them maps of my journey so far and the plans to arrive back home on land. The woman seems to be returning to Irkutsk with hand cream made by her mom to sell (or was she trying to say both she and her mom use the same cream). She showed me her son and grandson and I learnt a few more Russian words by writing them down as she tries to induct me into the Cyrillic world.

The little gal in the next cabin seems to be attracted to me for some reason and kept popping over to get me to "talk" and play with her. Our only communication were mainly me saying "Nyet", "Da" and a shrug of the shoulders, but she still seem to enjoy every moment. Guess she just needed someone to keep her company.

The view on the train can be immerse especially when the woman woke me up at 05:50 and raised the curtain to see the amazing sunrise - biggest sun I have seen in my life - rising from the horizon. I assumed she is on Irkutsk time zone which is 5 hours ahead of Moscow. Along the way, you could really see wooden huts, endless birch forests and bobs of industrial cities as the train slowly made its way East. Time can pass by quite easily for most folks, as I walk along corridor, at times peeping into the life of the locals who are so used to using the rail as transport across the Siberian tundra. Some read, some were eating cup noodles, some staring into the empty space and some simply just sleep the day away (which was what 2 Brits were doing most of the time during the journey). The trains hardly go faster than 80-100 kph and during most stops, most head out for a breathe of fresh air and some exercise, as well as buying some food from the hawkers peddling food along the platform. You can buy most cup noodles and small snacks from the Provodnitsa or carriage attendant or head to the food carriage if there is one. I regretted not bringing enough instant coffee sachets thinking that I wouldn't get to drink that much, but turns out that you keep looking for things to drink or munch to pass the time, along with a handy book at hand. There is a stove fired samovar which hot water can be obtained at any time. I even got a very delicately styled cup for my hot drinks from the Provodnitsa for free, but to be returned when you disembark the train.

Had a mini incident with the Russians authorities again at Perm 2 when I popped out to take some pictures, only to find 2 huge Ruski policemen grabbing me and indicating to me "no pictures". They had wanted to bring me away before I insisted that I was from the stopping train and got the attention of the carriage attendant who got me out of trouble. Learnt from locals later that this is the city where they manufacture the Sputnik rockets (or was it where they fire the rockets) and I should stay away from policemen as they are mostly crazy.

Arrived in Yekaterinburg at 03:55 with a private cab arranged by Katie of Meeting Place hostel waiting for me outside the station. Air was freezing as it had been snowing for much of the day and arrived at the doors of the hostel, with Katie waiting for me after 20 min. Struggled to sleep again after, I am now 5 hours ahead of GMT, 2 hours ahead of Moscow and have to resort to keep my watch to Moscow time, and phone to the local time, as the trains are based on Moscow time - how odd!

Took a day trip out to Ganina Yama on a public bus, 17 km outside the city, in the middle of the forest, where the last Romanov Tsars were murdered, disposed and dismembered after to remove all trace of the atrocity by the red army. The place has since been transformed into a monastery and it has a very calming effect as you walk through the woods with Russian Orthodox church music in the air. To get there, head to the bus terminal outside the railway station and look for a kiosk with the words "Ганина Яма" on top of it. The mini bus 17 plys the route every 2 hour and cost 25 R each way. You can check the schedule outside the kiosk or at the monastery when you arrive.

There isn't much else in this sprawling city with top brands and new apartments taking over the city as you walk through the main streets. On the other hand, people are alot friendlier than the ones I have encountered in the previous 2 metropolis, and you could really feel the keen interest to know you better. Another photography exhibition gave me much inspiration again to take better pictures and decided to use the remaining day to stock up on my supplies for my 49 hours rail ride to Irkutsk before making my way down to Lake Baikal to spend a few quiet days to reflect.

In and out of Moscow in 24 hours

3 years ago, I set foot into Moscow and was reasonably wowed by how everything are so gigantic. 3 years later, I still get this same feeling. This time round I got a taste of the train stations after arriving from a packed overnight train from St Petersburg with 3 other blokes in my cabin - glad it was a peaceful sleep through the night. Will be a short stopover this time round as I am catching the night train out of the city, and only had few things in mind to see. The former KGB building off Lubyanskaya Pl, which was slightly disappointing since it hardly look any sinister to what the guidebook mentioned; St Basil Cathedral - still fascinated by this "funky" looking cathedral which stands out from the many others that I have seen around Europe; and a first hand experience in a public banya, or traditional Russian steam bath. It is very similar to the hammam that I had in Istanbul, with the main difference been the men (I think there are different sections for women as well) going into a ridiculous hot steam room, armed with birch branches, which they will use to hit against their bodies, legs, arms, etc to improve the blood circulation. As usual, my high tolerance to heat means that I struggle to sweat initially and had to shower myself and go in and out of the steam room few times to get the glands going. Have to admit that I underestimated how hot it can get as I almost fainted at one point after it got so hot from the constant steam generated by the caretaker who was splashing bobs of water into the heater. To make it even more exciting, you are supposed to dip yourself into freezing water outside the steam room to cool yourself off. You repeat this to the point that you think you finally have enough! I have to admit that sitting in the steam room, flanked by huge naked russian men, with the smell coming from the birch leaves, was quite a weird one, but it left me feeling so refreshed, especially after been on the roads for 2 over days and warmed me up considerably under freezing Moscow weather. I stopped short of letting the Russians do a body scrub - not without any towels!

Took a short detour to see the world's biggest Mcdonalds, which opened in 1990, to queues of crowd lining round the square in front of Pushkinskaya Metro station - there were probably 20 or more counters and seats 700 people! Elsewhere, one will only be surprised by the number of luxury cars on the roads, and the number of new luxury stores that keep popping up along the streets...I guess this is true Capitalism, especially when you see how many beggers are around the streets as well.

Had another bad encounter with Russians whilst collecting my rucksack from the luggage room, where the old man handling the bags as I misplaced the token that was given to me in exchange for the bag. He obviously knew which bag I was carrying as he was on the verge of handing it over before I struggled to return him the token, and started shouting and cursing at me, even though I offered to pay for the "loss". After 10 minutes of "begging" him to return my bag, the token finally "reappeared" in one of my zipped compartments which he then finally literally threw the bag back at me. I apologised and knew I was in the wrong but he doesn't seem to take in anything I said and continued to shout at me...he's probably had a long day, wife made him sleep on the sofa the night before, and did not have enough to drink for the day, but still, there is no reason for me to be on the receiving end of such service.

Can't wait to get on the 23:25 train to Yekaterinburg and leave 2 forgetable cities behind me...not the best start to the journey, hope the worse has ended here...

St Petersburg - corrupted, overhyped?

Crossing into my 3rd time zone since leaving the English capital. My body is adapting fine but the poor bus journey was not making this any easy. The bus dropped in at some station other than the one I was expecting. Luckily there was a Metro station beside it although it took me few minutes to figure out exactly what station it was. First stop was the Intourist office several stations away, made slightly challenging with an interchange to another line. The Metro system is an unusually deep underground, taking one easily 2 minutes to get to the platform from the surface, assuming the reason behind was that it doubled up as bomb shelters during the 900 day siege by the Germans during WWII.

English is next to useless in this part of the world, and people are strangely very unfriendly. I am not sure been Oriental played a part to this but even the security guards at the reception of the building of the travel agency were refusing to allow me to get to the office, and kept speaking to me in Russian when it was obvious that I understood nothing of it. After much efforts and waiting for 30min, I finally got my tickets I came for and left for Moskovsky Vokzal station to deposit my bag. If you get a chance to use the luggage deposit, make sure you remember the following sequence to save yourself more unnecessary time and sign language with the involved.

1. Pay the amount (R72.10) at the counter; where the lady will then hand over a token to you.
2. Find an empty locker.
3. Stuff in your bag and everything else you want.
4. On the inside of the locker door, there are 4 dials; the first is a Cyrillic character and the next 3 are numbers; select the combination you want and remember them by hard.
5. Close the locker door and insert the token from earlier and you should hear a "click" of the locker successfully closed and locked. Otherwise you might have to find another locker that is working. Remember to scramble the lock combination at the front before you leave.

To take the Metro, you also need to buy tokens off the counter costing R20 each, which you can use to take to any stop. Headed to Nevsky Pr and walked towards the Neva River for the State Hermitage Museum, where at one time, I was so sleepy and struggled to stay awake even though in front of me were probably some of the most impressive art display in the world - I guess I wasn't into the cultural mood at that moment. A pair of elderly American ladies asked me for directions as they too struggled with getting any information from the locals.

The number one thing to remember in Russia that is different from rest of Europe - almost everything seems further than what they look like on the map! Everything here is SUPERSIZED - roads, buildings, rivers, etc. Unless you really prefer to walk, it would be a better option to take the Metro where possible as the roads are especially dusty and you can spent a long time to get to your destination, although most of the sights are centered around Nevsky Pr, which is a very long road linking Moskovsky station (all trains to and from Moscow ends here) to the Neva River before it joins the Gulf of Finland. At this time of the year, one will see loads of broken ice sheets following down the river, where it is famed to become a mosquito breeding ground during the summer.

I heard about winter swimming and was lucky to see one brave soul doing a 30 seconds swim from the island of Peter and Paul fortress. Really cannot imagine how cold that is but learnt from the locals that it is supposed to be very healthy activity as your blood rushes through your arteries and veins after that to continue to keep your body warm, provided you do not die of a heart seizure.

As my train was way past midnight, I spent my remaining hours at the train station where I ran into the my first encounter of the corruption in the country. As I was earlier "chased" out of the food court after sitting and reading for 3 hours, I went back this time to buy a small bowl of Stroganov soup, paid and sat down to enjoy the football match that just started. Within a few minutes, the same policeman walked over and handed me a paper with "R78" written on it, and pointed me to the cashier. As I argued to say that I have paid, he continued to point at the paper and spoke in Russian. After, he left and came back with another older policeman and both started to demand me to do the same. I realised it was a lost cause, not speaking a word of Russian and no one to help even though I tried to get the guy who paid after me to confirm that I have indeed paid for my soup. Annoyed, I went to the cashier with the 2 police and handed the money as requested and specifically asked for a receipt this time round. If you are in Russia, make sure you ask for the receipt for everything you buy, you never know who or what might come after you. I guess I made the mistake to not take the receipt and they took the opportunity to get something out of me, even though it was such a small amount. But that was enough to annoy me that I just left immediately and stood outside for the remaining 2 hours to wait for the train instead. Maybe I was one of the unlucky ones, but at that time, this was the only impression in my mind, far from good and I can't wait to take the train out immediately. Frankly I can't see the attraction that so many regard of this city. Besides the Hermitage, it's just another one them - rude, dirty, corrupted and overrated, but I will leave it to you to decide from your own experience.

Crossing from Estonia into Russia

Almost missed my 23:59 bus to St. Petersburg as I was looking out for a Eurolines bus which I booked, which was no where to be seen. Instead, a dodgy looking old double deck bus came along and I literally had to run to catch the bus from leaving. As usual, it was a bus load of Russians with curious eyes on the one and only oriental, wondering if I had taken the wrong way.

At 3:15, the bus arrived at the Estonia border after an extremely bumpy ride; or was it the bus? A border guard came up to collect everybody's passports and left. It was a nervous wait especially since I knew neither Estonian or Russian, and probably no one knows the language that I speak too. 10 minutes later, the same guard came back and distributed the passports back to individuals and the bus drove on across the bridge separating the 2 countries, with a raging river below.

On the Russian side, everyone were asked to carry all their luggage, with the immigration forms filled up for the border checks. As expected, the woman behind the counter looked at me with suspicion, called out to her superior and they both started to talk in Russian for a good 10 minutes. The superior scrutinized every page of my passport to the degree that I was worried that it might fall apart anytime. I suspect they are wondering why would anyone have such thick passports? (I get this asked many times on my travels) After another minutes of scanning under the UV light, going through all the pages again and again, she finally put a stamp on my visa and handed back my passport.

It took a good hour before the entire bus got through the border, mainly waiting for me to get through to be exact. Has been a nervy experience, not helped by the fact of the language problem and not knowing exactly what they might decide to do. I guess this is the type of "unusual" encounters that attracts travellers to continue to come into this crazy country despite all the hassle and efforts to get here. Alas, all is well and we loaded back onto the bus at 04:30 and continued the journey to St Petersburg...amidst a worse road...