Another great rail journey...oops, not quite!

It's been 3 weeks since I got back and have been spending some time sorting my life back to "normal", i.e. clearing out my boxes shipped from London, buying some new furniture, sorting out Internet, etc. Missing the European lifestyle meant that I have been scouring around the island for nice cafes serving a decent cup of coffee, which sadly, besides a handful, are pretty pathetic.

I suspect I am "suffering" from travel withdrawal symptoms as my restlessness is beginning to grow in me especially in the past week. Had been planning to post another entry to summarising my trip but been in procrastinating mode at many a time.

Anyway, my last post ended with one of the more eventful journeys and I basically ended up arriving later than expected in Bangkok to miss both the train and coach down south to Malaysia. As I had a friend who was arriving the following day, as well as the outbreak of H1N1 in Penang, I decided to chill out in the capital instead for 3 days, relax under a touch of luxury in a very nice service apartment (compared to my hostel stays) and tucking into the glorious thai food. Finally arrived into Singapore via Changi Airport on 21 May, just in time for my cousin's wedding the following day. It's amazing how much time you can save by taking a flight (2 hours compared to 2 days on train from Bangkok to SG) but given a choice, I will do the latter anytime, the option to interact with the locals, experience the local culture and just seeing the world pass you by in the cabin is just too great to miss, although I have to admit to some slight hangover from train rides from the tens of thousands of miles starting from Copenhagen to the Artic Circle, through Russia, Mongolia, China and South East Asia, 25 cities/towns in all and most importantly, fulfilling my dream of getting on the Trans Siberian rail journey, even though the trip was bundled with "interesting encounters".

Got a few mails from friends and strangers asking me on advice for their travels (do continue to send me your questions and I will be more than happy to help where I can), which was really nice and it gave the opportunity for me to relive the best days of my trip whilst jotting the email reply. If I were to choose the most memorable place(s), it will have to be Norway and Mongolia. China should probably be one of them as well but due to my time constraint, I will definitely spend some time in the country to explore it proper to give it the due credit.

Note:
The map trail is extracted from my dopplr updates in the various cities/countries on Mapme.at but there are some bugs with the application as it always screws up the order if you travel to more than one city in a day, which kinda explains why I was always traveling from Oslo in Norway.

Bingeing in Hong Kong

The overnight train T97 from Beijing to Kowloon was almost filled to the brim with most heading to the southern part of the country in particularly, Guangzhou province. I had bought the cheapest bed on the sleeper train - top bed in a 6 bed compartment. The 24 hour journey turned out to be one of the more boring train rides of my trip so far as I barely chatted with the locals in the bunk as I ended up staying along the corridor most of the time since it was just too crowded to have 6 people squeezed in a tiny compartment. As the train steamed towards the south, the main highlight has to be the moment when the massive Yangtze River came into view and the train rolling over the fast flowing water carrying millions of tons of silt from inner China.

My dive buddy was waiting for me at Wanchai MTR station (Hong Kong's Metro) before we headed to her flat where I will be bunking in for the next 2 nights. People along the streets were mostly wearing face masks as the first H1N1 case was found in a hotel just few blocks down the road. The 300+ customers were still in quarantined which meant plenty of reporters lining up the streets with cameras prying into those trapped within.

Hong Kong is very similar to Singapore, slightly more crowded in terms of population, flats are a tad on the smaller scale too due to the rocket high property prices. Everybody are used to literally rubbing shoulders with each other, either waiting to cross the street junction, taking a lift to your office or squeezing into the public buses and metro. The traditional trolley buses still plowing many of the routes on the 2 main islands are a must for anyone visiting, very similar to London's now-extinct Routemaster buses but much narrower in size - probably due to the smaller built of Asians.



We met up with another friend for dinner headed out to the famous Lan Kwai Fong
bar area after. The area is another of those tourist checkbox to tick against, but it really lacks any serious character unless you want to see and to be seen. Caucasians hang around here alot especially with folklore saying that you can literally pick up a local everytime you head to the bar counter to buy a drink. We met more friends after a mini bar crawl and ended up in a very loud club which we stayed on till the wee hours of the morning.

After a night of unusual high alcohol mixing and intake, I woke up surprisingly unscathed, with my the loss of my voice the only minor annoyance. As the day turned out to be quite nice, we headed up to Victoria Peak for a panoramic view of the country, on top of a 7 storey new shopping complex built at the top of the hill. The tram up the incredibly steep slopes is another interesting sight, else you can either take a cheaper alternative in the bus or even take a 30min slow walk to the top. If you have more time, I will definitely recommend you to head over to the rural Cheung Chau to escape from the urban crowds.

In this country, you can find food in every corner of the street, literally. There are so many "Tea cafe" which sell anything from buns to wonton noodle soup to roast duck rice. Even the 24 hour convenience store (7-eleven) is packed with snacks that can pose a serious danger to people like me to stuff ourselves to death with food! Dim sum is the other must do in the city, especially those older restaurants that still have the steaming hot buns and dumplings coming around in push carts by elderly ladies shouting at the top of the lungs the food that they have. Shopping is also brought to another new level of meaning when you wonder over to Mong Kok in Kowloon where billboards hug every square inch of the space above your head, where thousands of stores lined up the streets, selling from the latest electronic gadgets to shoes wore by the top sports athletics. For ladies, a visit to the "Woman Street" will sound a temptation unlikely to be missed, where the latest hand bags, cosmetics, shoes and lingerie are sold at prices and varieties matched only by those in Bangkok. After dinner at another roadside store, we joined the hundreds by the harbour to watch the "not-so-spectacular" night view of the office blocks that lit up Hong Kong island. Been a weekend, most of the buildings were down to their minimal lights and thus lost a bit of its wow factor that you see in postcards. Instead of taking the metro back, we decided to take the very affordable ferry across the straits instead, becoming a part of what thousands of locals do daily to get on with their lives.

Beijing, a metropolis with a twist

Hutong - Traditional Chinese housing typically with a large communal courtyard built around the Forbidden City during the long Chinese history. Toilets are usually shared amongst a few households along an alley with hundreds of families living in each narrow street. These historical buildings are fast disappearing to make way for more roads and modern buildings.

Marie miraculously arrived 20 minutes after us at Leo Hostel located in the middle of the Hutong area south of the Tiananmen Square. She did however spent 3 times the taxi fare to get here. Paul was giving me a cheeky grin as if to thank me for been able to speak to the cab driver and get here in the shortest time. During cab journey, the lady driver laughed at me for coming to the Chinese capital only for the first time at this stage of my life (she would obviously be even more unimpressed if she had known how old I was), which was kinda of weird as if thinking that all Chinese should visit this ancient city once in their life, just like a must for the Muslims to visit Mecca.

The rest of the day was spent sorting out the travel arrangements to Hong Kong as I only found out that the Chinese Railway has changed their Beijing-HK schedules, meaning I was only able to leave 1 day later than originally planned. Decided to pay a slight commission to the hostel to help sort out the tickets rather than to spend time queuing up at the train station. Had a quick taste of the cheap and wonderful Beijing dumplings with Paul before strolling to the massive People's Square.

Next day, after another very early morning wake before seven, I headed out to the Hutong area for some rather authentic breakfast of hot soya bean milk, porridge and fried dough fritters, all for only 50 pence! The neighbourhood was incredibly charming, with the young on their electric bikes heading to work, whilst the mom and pops continue on their trusty traditional bicycles to the nearby market, with stores owners breaking the calm dusty air with their shouts for business. A walk through it seems to take you back in time, especially for one who has been so used to living in a city like environment like myself.



As the sun rose higher, raising the temperature ever higher under the smog of dust covering the city, I headed towards the Forbidden City, avoiding the People's National Assembly and Mao's Mausoleum due to the massive queues. Joined the lines of thousands past the Tiananmen where the Chinese guards maintained a level of orderly flow by shouting at the crowd to move forward and not stop to take any pictures. Few enterprising locals were already doing a brisk business by charging 20Y for a picture taken for them and printed out immediately.

Paid 50Y for the entrance fee and another 5Y for a simple guide brochure of the city with some explanations and pictures. On first entry, I was quite overawed by the grand scale of the palace - it was just the size but the immaculate details that are put into each and every corner. My memories immediately drew me back to the days when I watch this on TV, and finally here I am, seeing it with my own eyes of this magnificent city within a city. I wasn't alone, as I can just see the amazement and glitter in every single person the moment they walk through the gates. The numerous tour guides will always start off with each tour group asking if anyone know how many rooms in total are there in the city - the answer is supposed to be 9,999.5, which they will then continue to add that a new born child will be 28 years old by the time he or she finished staying in a room for each day of their lives. To really absorb the history of the city, one should really join one of the hundreds of tour groups visiting for a true learning experience. As usual, I went for the "free" option, staying close to a group whenever there is one nearby, listening intently with my rusty knowledge of the language.

A few more metro lines have since open for service since the Olympics Games last year and are excellent forms of transport to explore the city at the cost of only 2Y per single trip. Tried to find a place called "Jiu Ba Qi", literally translated to "987", where art galleries and chill out cafes are awash in the area, but ended up in the bars and nightlife area of "SiMaiTai" instead. Slightly disappointed, I decided to head towards the Olympics Park instead after tucking into some Pho Bo at a newly opened Vietnamese outlet behind a brand new shopping complex that seems to be sprawling out in every corner of the city.

If you are thinking of doing the same, you might want to consider going after dark as that is when the lights come on for both the Olympics Stadium, also known as the "Bird's Nest" to the locals, as well as the Aquatics Center. The pride and joy of their success in the Olympics last year can clearly be felt in the air as hundreds of locals congregate to take pictures beside these 2 incredible human architectures. I probably spend the same time helping others to take pictures and my own. Some of the locals were even asking how much I charge for a picture as they mistook me as a freelance with my big camera and tripod setup.

Paul and I joined 8 others from the hostel for a trip to the "Secret Wall", which was basically an unrestored section of the great wall about another 30 minutes drive from the the touristy Baidaling. It took almost 2 hours before we left the famed city morning rush, jammed packed with ever increasing number of cars. I will really exchange that for millions of bicycles instead anytime. An elderly man met up in the village at the foot of the Great Wall and been the only Mandarin speaking person of the group, I was naturally "promoted" to be the translator. The 30min climb up to the wall proved to surprise a few as some of them were huffing and puffing by the time we reach the top. But the view was well worth the efforts - an incredible crumbling wall snaking around the peaks of the mountains as far as the eye could see in the thick layer of smog, just the way it has been for thousands of years, no restoration, no touts selling you drinks and best of all, no need to jostle with thousands of other tourists. It was just the eleven of us, enjoying this amazing piece of Chinese history at our own pace. At times, the elderly man will try to spice up the journey with some stories about that section of the wall, which I will translate back to the group. Apparently it was very steep in history as the rebel Li ZhiCheng was said to have invaded the Beijing from here.

Back in the capital, I brought Paul out for another local dinner in the Hutong area which both of us enjoyed a great deal. The next morning, I brought him to try the breakfast that I had the other day and took advantage of my last day to stroll through this wonderful heritage that is in danger of disappearing as the city steams into the 21st century. In the cab to Beijing West station to catch my train to Hong Kong, I felt an unusual disappointment to leave the city. It has been the one and only place in my travels so far where I have felt so much at home, primarily due to my language advantage, but also because it has turned out to be a lot better than I expected it to be. Maybe I was falling into my comfort zone, which is unhealthy and best to leave on a bright note.

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!

Last leg of Trans Siberian journey

Marie woke me at 0630hr for our train in an hour and half time. Had a terrible night as I had to visit the toilet on more than one occasion the moment I got back from the restaurant the night before. Also started to run a temperature and only felt slightly better after a dose of lemsip. The others were also struggling with the early hours as they were out partying till the wee hours and barely had more than 3 hours of sleep.

Bobby of UB Guesthouse had to chase us onto the waiting minibus to the train station as they had to be at the platform to pick up arriving guests as well. Dave wanted to spend more time in the country which meant only Marie and Paul travelled together with me on this journey. We all slumped into our respective berths the moment the train left the station, me with another dosage of lemsip, and slept through most of the day, not helped by the stuffy atmosphere in the compartment as the train slowly made its way south across the searing heat towards the Chinese border at Erlian.

It was quite a close shave at the border as the Chinese authorities have started to screen out any potential case that might have anything to do with the swine flu. Was lucky that my temperature has subsided when he pointed the infra red thermometer on my forehead, although Paul did get a 2nd check of his temperature using a mercury thermometer as they have assumed that he has come from USA where there have been reported cases. Won't be able to face everyone if I end up getting everyone on the train to be quarantined!

The train was held at the border for more than 5 hours as all the carriages were brought into the warehouse for bogie changing, with everyone onboard! I suspect they did not allow anyone to get off the train due to the swine flu checks and just wanted to reduce any chance of human contact. This meant that we were unable to get off to watch the entire bogie changing process as the carriages have to be put on a smaller set of bogies due to the narrower rails in China as compared to the wider ones used in Russia and Mongolia.

By morning, the train was speeding towards Beijing and I was quite disappointed to miss the section of the rail where it cuts through the Great Wall. Was even more disappointed to learn from the attendants that the Chinese have rerouted the train route to Beijing meaning that it no longer climbs up the mountains for a view of the Great Wall, but instead go through countless new holes that the Chinese have tunneled through the mountains.

As the train roll into Beijing Main train station, it also meant that we have come to the end of our Trans Siberian train adventure - all 7755 (thereabouts) kilometres in all (a little bit more for Paul and myself as we started from St Petersburg). I am just about halfway to my journey back home but was rather looking forward to my next adventures through Asia, starting from this huge capital housing 15 million people. Was immediately overwhelmed by the crowds coming off the trains heading for the exit, and Marie was immediately lost in the sea of bobbling heads...

Lost in the beauty of Mongolia

Amid volcanic craters, pine-clad lava fields and the occasional herd of grazing yaks lies the Great White Lake, as it’s known in English, lies the Khorgo-Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur National Park. According to legend, the lake was formed when an elderly couple forgot to cap a well after fetching water. The valley flooded with water until a local hero shot a nearby mountain top with his arrow; the shorn top covered the well and became an island in the lake (Noriin Dund Tolgoi). In reality, the lake was formed by lava flows from a volcanic eruption from the nearby Khorgo Uul volcano many thousands years ago. When we arrived, the beauty of this place immediately mesmerise the entire group, especially as the Russian beast pull over the peak for a panoramic view of the nature park. We all agreed that it probably has the best toilet view in the world, whilst doing your morning "business". The winds turned into light snow in the night as we huddled together inside the Ger, under the cozy warmth of the burning firewood.

The following day, we jumped onto the horses waiting outside our Ger as the wind howl towards us in a relentless mood. As my jacket was left in the UB Guesthouse back in UlaanBaatar, the host deemed that I was wearing too little with my 4 layers of tops that I have brought along for the trip (for a sense of how cold it was, I had a base layer, 2 t-shirts and wool fleece) and was ill-equipped to ride to the volcano. He came back from his Ger with his traditional Mongolian coat and helped to put it on me. I was also the lucky one to get the only white horse in the group which during the 4 hour ride, kept trotting to the front of the group and refused to be overtaken by anyone else.

Amidst a vast lava field strewn with black lava rocks, we visited 2 lava caves with ice that has not melted for thousands of years before heading towards Khorgo Uul volcano. As it was my first horse riding experience, I did eventually end up with a sore back bone (the piece just at the base of your back bone) and wobbly legs at the end of it as I tried all ways to make my ride more natural and comfortable, especially when the horse went on one of his ego-charge gallops to run away from the group. Paul said his kidneys hurt more than anything (wonder if it was the Russian vodka or the ride) else after the ride although he was in much better shape after a good siesta. The 4 hour ride only costs us £6 additional each! We had more mongolian noodles for dinner and it was starting to get to all of us (was hilarious when Marie took a first bite, said it tasted "AWESOME", but spat it out after I dared her to take another mouth as I suspected she was been polite, being Irish).



I set my camera up to try to take a long exposure shot of the night sky, with the eventual result showing the stars circling around the North Star, with the streaks of white light behind each. Unfortunately the camera on my battery died after 2 tried of 30 minute exposures but it was certainly an encouraging start. Even without the camera, one can only appreciate the beauty of the stars yourself in complete darkness. That was when I understood the meaning of "putting your hands out to reach for the stars...", as it really gave me that illusion.

On day 4, we packed up, thanked our lovely hosts and hop onto the Russian beast again and sped off on the dry landscape under the careful manoeuvre by Baatra. We stopped halfway to chat to another jeep of former Peace Corp volunteers heading to the west before coming across our first herd of camels. It was another 5 hours of probably the toughest off road before we arrived in the flatlands halfway between the Great White Lake and UB. The view was however one of the best of the trip as endless of mountains lined alongside us. I was enjoying the sights of the countless herds of sheeps, yaks and cows by mimicking their sounds on every passing, with Baatra contradicting me with the sound of the other animal every time. He did miss a moment of concentration and hit a sheep as it tried to cross in front of the car but was a step too late.

Our last stop on the flat plains happened to be staying in the Ger of Baatra's mom and brother, who are still living there in the wild, although few modern amenities have supplemented their simple life in the form of solar panels, satellite dish and tv. I had my first experience of a mini sand storm while walking back from the nearby river after a washup with herds of goats and sheep around me. Ended up taking shelter in a depression on the ground for half a minute for it to pass. Was kindly invited by Baatra into his mom's Ger for tea where she proudly displayed his wedding pictures and his 3 month old daughter. As there was not a single tree around, the fire burning in the Ger was fuelled by dried cow dung instead, which burnt pretty well but gives off a smell that, let's just say, not pleasant.

Another 350km drive on the hottest day of our trip on the 5th day back to the capital ended our Mongolian wild adventure. We stopped halfway for lunch and had more Mongolian noodles, this time only Baatra, Paul and I been the only ones eating; Dave has also joined Marie and surrendered to pot noodles instead. We arrived back in UB Guesthouse just before 6pm and immediately took turns for a nice long shower to clean away all the sand and dirt from the last 5 days. Looking back, I was really glad to have done the trip, and experienced the kind and warm people of normadic Mongolians first hand, which was greatly enhanced by a bunch of like-minded and fun travellers. We celebrated our "clean" self again by heading to a Cuba restaurant for some steak and Coca Cola!

Flickr to Mongolian set

Mongolia, a vast land of surprises

The Mongolian capital feels like a huge dustbowl, similar to many of the Russian cities that I passed by. Not helped by the huge Russian influence in the shaping of this city where winters can get as low as minus 50 degrees and up to 40 degrees in the scorching summer heat. Bobby from UB Guesthouse picked me up from the station at the Irkutsk/UlaanBaator train calls to a halt. I had planned to only stay for 2 nights, with most of the time spent out living in a Ger in a nearby Nature Park, and continue my journey into Beijing, only to find out that the only trains to run directly into the chinese capital only service on Thursdays and Sundays. The other alternative is a 3 day journey via a local train to the Mongolian border, followed by mini bus across to the Chinese border and another bus ride from there to the capital. Figured that I can't afford the additional day of travel even though it was half the cost of the train ride, only to be convinced by various in the hostel to take up a 5D/4N trip to the Great White Lake on the west of this vast country. That night, I withdrew 450,000 worth of Togrog, equivalent to about USD$250 to pay for the trip and train ticket ($125), felt like a millionaire at that point in time!

The hostel was almost full that weekend, with Dutch forming the majority of the numbers. A fellow Singaporean, Jo, was also staying in my dorm room, together with a Korean and Japanese. She has been making her way westwards from China into Mongolia, with Russia being her next stop. It was refreshing to find travellers from home with the keen sense of adventure and unafraid to step out of the comfort zones of their jobs and homes to see the world. A group of us headed to a Korean restaurant for a meal of very good and authentic Korean dishes before Jo left to catch her train. I headed to the State Departmental Store with Paul (American from Las Vegas) to stock up on food for the next 5 days.

Next day, our group of 4 got onto a Russian-built 4x4 van and headed west for a 350km drive to Kharakorum, the former capital of the country back in the 13th century. Behind the wheels was a very cheerful Batra, young man who recently have his first daughter of 3 months. Besides Paul, there was Dave, a Brit in his mid twenties who got fed up with the work that he has been doing and decided to go on a road trip round the world, and Marie (I can't spell her real Irish name!), an Irish nurse who has loads of energy and can't seem to stop chatting. We stopped halfway at a place known as mini-Gobi to see the sand dunes that is synonymous with the famous desert, only to find a few small sand peaks reaching barely 10m in height. Paul, been on another 7 days trip south to the Gobi desert prior to this trip, did not even bother to get down the van, or maybe he was just nursing his hangover from the deluge of vodka from the night before. We arrived at Kharakorum just before sunset, a 8 hour back breaking drive on a combination of tarmac and off road. Settled into a Ger, which is a traditional Mongolian tent used by the normadic Mongolians, easy to setup but yet strong enough to withstand the ferocity of the 100 mile winds. We spent the rest of the evening running up the nearby hills, mimicking sheep bahs and enjoying the vast emptiness of the surroundings, before settling back into the Ger to "enjoy" the local Buuz (mongolian dumplings) and burning real firewood to keep warm. We enjoyed our first traditional throat singing performance by a 54 year old local, who entertained us for almost 40 minutes of very traditional mongolian art, frequently rotating his musical instrument. Considering that his is his hobby (he said he started learning it since 17), he is not too bad!

The 300km drive to Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur National Park was another back breaking ride on some of the most off road, crossing small streams and going over numerous mountains. Some of the scenery along the way were really amazing, as the colours on the mountains start to change from brown to its bright summer glories. We stopped by a small town for lunch and had the first of our many "fried noodles with mutton" dish over the next few days. It's amazing how they can reuse this dish in various different forms - fried, soup, more fried, soup using mongolian tea - tasted great on the 1st day, after which I came to run when I smell of it. Marie did not even want to try and stuck to her beef goulash, which was a mix of rice, some carrots and fried beef/mutton (we can never seem to figure what meat it was, as long as it didn't come from the camel).

...to be continued...

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.