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...

Closing a Baltic chapter

Finally a day when I am not rushing around catching a bus or train, lazing around in bed till 9 in the morning. Chatted with the friendly Irish gal in charge of Viru Backpackers as she was telling me about her Trans-Siberian trip last February, where she then stayed on 2 months in China and made her way down to Laos, Cambodia before ending up in Thailand. Managed to pick up a few useful tips on Do's and Dont's for myself on my way back home. She even passed me her "Southeast Asia on a shoestring" book! My bag is not getting any lighter...

Tallinn is quite small, especially if you only consider the interesting old town, but very medieval. What's good about this town is that you can enjoy most of the sights as much without a handbook as there is a useful acrylic plaque on the wall of the building of interest describing it's history in Estonian and English. Many probably remember this city/country made famous by Kazaa or Skype, a city that is perpetually enveloped by free WiFi completely - which obviously is useful for travellers like myself. Cafes are also very common amongst the locals and you can always find a little cosy looking one around the corner of the streets somehow. It's probably quite a refreshing change to walk on cobbled streets again after a week of fjords, snow and mountains. To be honest, one really just need a day to cover this city and probably best to move on or head out for day trips. Will be ideal to combine it with other Baltic states as well since it is so easy to get around. For me, it's really to close out the "unfinished business"from my last trip, where I started off in Latvia before heading down south.

Whilst here, remember to try out the pancakes (serves both sweet and savoury) at Kompressor, and coffee at Kehrwieder, which will be my recommendations. Also head over to the Museum of Occupation if you are interested to learn more about the years before Independence, where it was subjected to USSR, then Germany, and again USSR's control before it finally got it's independence in 1991 together with the other Baltic states. The city seem to be pretty big on Jazz and music festivals too, and I think there are plenty coming up over Spring and Summer. Did not take many pictures, but as usual, you can find a few on my Flickr.

Heading off to the bus station to catch the overnight Eurolines coach to St Petersburg, but first I have to find a pub to catch the big match. Might be mission impossible, but never say never...

Through the length of Finland and across to Estonia

Had one of my best sleep for in a week, completely knocked out on a sturdy bed in a room all by myself. No need to sneak around in the dark worried about waking others up, no need to wake up early for limited toilets, and best not having to endure painful snores. Breakfast was a refreshing change, considering that I have not have any proper meals for the last 18 hours, surviving on a tube of Pringles crisps which I finished all. The morning sun was barely visible, blocked by a thick layer of fog, as I strolled in the direction of the bus station. I was encouraged as a small group started to form for the bus that is due to arrive at 10.05am. The 30km journey to Kemi took about half an hour and the train station is just a short walk across the other side of the road.

Started to chat to a couple who took the same bus as well at the station - husband was Thai who married a Finn and are living in Helsinki after 5 years working together in Bangkok; a modern day love story of fate bringing 2 people from such extremes together. Glad to have some locals to chat to on the way down south. Had my first Finnish food - meat balls with mash potato on the train - hang on, I thought that was Swedish? Anyway, it tasted rather good as it was nicely made hot before serving although it was a pricey €9.40. Was rather embarrassed to find out that Finland has been using Euros for almost 10 years now instead of Finnish Marks.

Managed to catch a few video podcasts under the series "Magnum in Motion", highlighting the best photographers in the world and their creations. I find it interesting as it doesn't necessarily just discuss about photography but also about the society and environment in the creation of those pictures.

Due to the delay from yesterday, I was unable to stop by Tampere today. Had wanted to visit it to see how the city is like since it brands itself as the first Fairtrade city in Finland. Instead, I have been sitting on the train for the past 9 hours, staring at countless laptops in front of me as they attempt to pass time by watching movies. Arrived in very windy Helsinki and spent an hour getting to the correct ferry terminal (after I went to the wrong one the first time round and had to track across the city center). The ship is quite luxurious and even have free WiFi onboard as it crosses the Gulf of Finland, although it is so painfully slow that you give up after 10min. If you feel posh, you can choose to take a helicopter and arrive in Tallinn in 18min instead of the usual 2 hours.

Checked into Vru Backpackers, can't wait to check out this town in the morning. Sorry, no photos in today's post, need to catch up on some sleep before leaving for Russia later tonight.

A great Nordic Adventure

A relatively easy overnight bus ride from Oslo to Trondheim on a clear night with the full moon shining above. No sight of the elusive Aurora Borealis. The only light coming from the guy beside me busy chatting away to his mates on his laptop, with the occasional giggle always so often. I did the same myself after a while trying unsuccessfully to get to sleep; catching up on the missed episodes of Heroes.

7am sharp, the bus whizzed into Trondheim bus station. Useful that it is directly beside the train station for me to catch my next onward journey to Fauske. (In case you are wondering why did I end up taking the bus, read my previous post). The sleepy town was just waking up to the streaks of sunrise coming through the horizon. Grab a packet of fresh buns from a very friendly man over the counter wishing me "Happy Easter" and hop onto the train. The train on this leg between Trondheim and Bode is clearly less busy as there are less carriages and the state of the interior is older than ones that I have been taking before.

As usual, I attracted a few additional glances from the locals not used to seeing an oriental in this part of the world. Just after Trondheim, the train pulled up against the station "Hell" - I wonder what and how do people live in this place! (I was just kidding, I am sure the words do mean something in Norwegian). The journey up north was nothing short of spellbinding. One moment, we were at sea level, the next we were hurtling up the mountains with deep ravines precariously beside the tracks, then through miles and miles of white flat plateau, occasionally dotted with a red hut or a skier huffing and puffing across the Arctic tundra.

Apparently there was some problems with the food delivery for the train resulting in no food available at the kiosk. The train master was kind enough to offer free coffee as apology and even ordered pizzas for the passengers which were collected along the way. Had my first cup noodle left behind by my mate from his last travel - instant noodles never tasted that good before, although on hindsight I should really have kept it for my siberian trip but I am on a vengeance to reduce as much weight on my shoulders as possible after a painful strained right shoulder that wasn't too happy carrying all these load. Although the good news is that my soles have recovered enough to walk properly after much rest from sitting on the trains/bus.

Few miles past Mo i Rana, we officially crossed into the Arctic Circle, past the Latitude N66'33.705, and very much still heading towards the pole. Few hours after, I dropped off at Fauske, an hour from the last station of Bodø on the Norwegian rail tracks and waited for a bus that will take me to the tiny town of Narvik. If Lonely Planet was to publish a "Top 100 bus rides before you die", I bet this bus journey will be one of the top few listed; no pictures of mine are able to portray the magnificence and brilliance of the Norwegian engineering feat - winding roads up and down the peaks, through miles of tunnels within mountains so huge that you wonder how can it be possible. 5 hours of pure adrenaline, with the only exception being the bus going onto a ferry crossing a fjord that the engineers probably felt that is the most sensible option for that part of the journey. One will be amazed how accessible this part of the world is even with such daunting natural wonders. The ferry ride was a refreshing change, with the snowy peaks against the blue skies that was just turning dark, and the bone-breaking winds blowing across your face.

We arrived in the small town of Narvik after the driver drove like formula one to catch up on lost time from been stuck behind several cautious cars driving in the complete darkness. The hostel "Spor 1" - which literally means "Track 1" is conveniently located 100m from the station, beside, as you guessed it, the railway track leading to the port where iron ore is still be transported out. A shower after 3 days on the roads was very welcoming and a night sleep on a proper bed feels like a long time back.

The Swedish/Norwegian (the 70 year old mom was born in this town, the son in Trondheim and the grandson in a town outside of Stockholm) in my dorm room were very friendly and gave me on some ideas to spend the day, whilst they heading up the mountain behind the town for some skiing. Also got to know later that the son did the trans-siberian rail himself too 20 years back but in the opposite direction as the one I am heading. Oh, did I mention his mom is also skiing?!?! It's amazing how people in this part of the world keep themselves so healthy and fit; can't imagine my mom going for a run with me, let alone speeding down the mountains.

The guy reminded me of Lofoten, a group of islands at the far edge of the Nordic fjords, where time literally stood still for centuries and fishermen still live there in their colourful huts, air drying herring and cod catch for centuries. Unfortunately I just miss the 5 hour bus by 10 min when I got to the station, which was quite disappointing but I guess there is only so much I can take in and maybe this is something to bring me back to this part of the world again. Instead, I took a cable car up the mountain where families were spending the Easter holiday, having picnic and just enjoying the glorious sunshine, and of course, the incredible view of the fjords as far as the eye can see.

Still no sign of the Northern Lights. Guess one really have to be extremely lucky to see one at this time of the year when it only turns dark so late and the skies are more often cloudy instead of the clear freezing weather that it needs to encounter this natural sight. At least I managed to get a bed for the night stay,even though it was a really dodgy one - my keys say "TV room", and it literally was a tiny space with 2 fold out beds which I will amaze me if it can really fit two in there. Even then, still costs me NOK200 after I tried in vain to ask for a discount based on the fact that it wasn't really a dorm! Chatted with a nice Finnish guy who is working as a polar guide in Santa Claus town of Rovaniemi who is in town to enjoy the skiing. People around here are really friendly and it's a refreshing change to find good sensible folks in hostels instead of kids whose aim to live seems to be getting themselves drunk every night and sleep in during the day.

The next morning, I bid farewell to my new-found friends as they wish me luck for my upcoming long journey as I cross from Europe to Asia. Oh, and why do they always have to remind me of the movie "Trans Siberia" all the time? It's not like I have any russian dolls in my bag! :-)

Travelling in Europe on Easter Sunday is strongly discouraged - not a single shop is open and my stomach has been growling since last night as I had my 2nd cup noodle in 2 days. Had to watch my spending as I have easily spent a quarter of my planned budget so far. Everything is just ridiculously expensive in this part of the world, and I have still Sweden and Finland to pass through! Did not help that the train kiosk refused to accept my remaining Norwegian Krone coins since it is operated by the Swedish rail although they did accept notes. Reluctantly ended up paying over the top for a small sandwich, coffee and orange juice using debit card.

It started to snow as we crossed into the swedish border of Riksgrasen station high up in the mountains. The trees seem to be grasping for air as the thick coat of snow is at least a few metres deep. Winter doesn't seem to come to an end this north, in fact, it looks like it has just started - you jump off the train, put on your skis and you're off. Cars or shoes are useless in this part of the world, it's how the Scandinavians have lived for thousands of years.

The mountains and fjords slowly transform to flat plains of arctic wilderness as a lonely moose lazily looked back at the bewildered stare from me as it trooped off across snowy land. Probably my closest encounter to this incredible animal which reminded me of my conversation with the Finnish guy that they go around hunting these animals in Lapland and their meat is especially delicious in stew, chewy if you do not cook for long enough. The train stopped for 20 minutes in the town of Kiruna, the source of the iron ore that is delivered to Narvik and Stockholm on rails twice a day. We continued south, heading towards the imaginary line of the 66 degrees, ever closer to the Finnish border.

Switched to a connecting bus at Lulea, the last stop of the journey after another 7 hours on the train, followed by another 2:20 hours to Haparanda, the Swedish border town where I had to walk pass the huge Ikea, across to Tornio, the Finnish town across the motorway to catch another bus to Kemi to get onto my train to Tampere. Alas, I completely forgot that Finland is another hour ahead and bus schedules are severely reduced from the Easter holidays. It's no fun walking around a completely unknown town close to midnight in freezing weather, disoriented and starving. Checked into the only B&B for €30 after accepting that I will not be going anywhere tonight. On the positive side, I get to have a room to myself. Have to scale back my plans tomorrow as the bus and trains are reduced service for the holiday, hopefully everything will be better; Happy Easter all!

Note: Photos from my Norway adventures

Danish to Swedish to Nordic in a day

I do not sleep alot, but 4 hours is probably too little in this case. Took 35min walking unusually slow on my slightly blistered toes to Copenhagen Central train station, snaking by the canal and the tip of the red light district. Pleased with myself for spending all DKK36.50 of my remaining coins on apples, bananas and a ham croissant - not a single Danish amount left, which helps from the ever growing coin pouch that contains the little bits left of my previous trips. This city is really big on 7-11, you find one at every other corner of a main street, helps if you have to grab something at 5 in the morning.

First day into my 5 day rail pass, which I thought was really easy to use - you just fill up the date of your travel and show it to the inspector that keeps popping up to check after every station. The train sped by the airport and across the bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden - another piece of amazing human engineering feat that spans across the entire channel separating the two lands. In the distant, I could even make out a massive wind farm in the middle of the Baltic sea, trying to lift themselves from the morning fog. The 30min journey to Malmo central ended up to be twice the length as the train hit some problems and had to reverse back into another station for all the passengers to hop onto another.

The sun was coming up on the horizon as I strolled past workers on the morning rush hour. Headed to Lilla Torg, to find Pronto cafe beside a lovely old phone box recommended by Richard. Alas, I was too early, the only people up this early being the folks replenishing the beer drums of the restaurants and bars in the square. A short stroll around and my short Malmo experience has come to an end. Glad that everything in Nordic region can be paid by electronic - guess they have to if their stuff are that expensive! Caffeine fix sorted out by trusty Nationwide card that doesn't charge me for foreign usage; at least not till June if I remember correctly.

The 9.03 am train to Oslo, via Goteborg was really comfortable, considering this is equivalent to the regional trains in our context - seats wider than Ryanair, individual reading lights and radio, and even handy power sockets although the angle was a abit weird since it was hanging off the ceilings above the seats. At Helsingborg, had to run off to the first carriage before it split off to Goteborg. 3 hours in, we arrived in Goteborg, extremely modern looking connecting to the bus station that made Victoria bus terminal look like prehistoric. Grabbed a Subway sandwich and jumped onto my next train to Oslo, another 4 hour journey across the Swedish west coast. Operated by the Norwegian train company, NSB, the carriages look and feel like Eurostar's business class, except for the food and champagne, but nonetheless made me feel that I have basically got half the value back from my £240 railpass.

The journey to Oslo rekindled the reason why I am taking this trip again - tracks going through mountains (not massive though), crossing tiny towns, overlooking frozen lakes, etc - how did the rail engineers do all these? The first sight of snow sent my heart fluttering again. Been a visual person - I am always the first to choose a window seat, on flights, bus or trains, you cannot ask for anymore better than this. Listening to Eddie Vedder's "Guaranteed" from the "Into the Wild" soundtrack makes me so look forward to even more from the few weeks. Norway is definitely going to be even better. The leg to the Arctic Circle is a huge unknown, the ride across Siberia is going to be heaven or hell.

I had 5 hours to see Oslo before my overnight train to Bergen and managed to catch the main sights in town, highlight been the Vigeland Sculpture Park, with tens if not hundreds of unique sculptures of family interactions. Look carefully at every of them and you will realise that there is not one that is the same, and the unique aspect is that each portrayal is so real life. The Oslo bay wasn't as beautiful as I thought as the day has been overcast mostly, with the sun struggling behind the thick clouds. Had enough time to pop into a pub overflowing with Liverpool supporters for the Champions League match against "yet again" opponents Chelsea. Really disappointed that the Reds went 3-1 behind by the time I left to catch the train after a brilliant opener by Torres. Promise myself not to let this affect my trip - *trying my very best!!!*

Paid additional £5 for a standard seat for the overnight train, with a sleeper costing a ridiculous £160 on top of my inter-rail pass!!! Ended up on a carriage full of school kids returning from some excursion back to Bergen - my earphones cum earplug are proving to be really useful, passive blocking of at least 80% of the ambient noise without even playing anything.

Woke up on multiple occasions through the night, not the most comfortable train ride but I guess I was just getting what I paid for. Kept an eye to the full moon sky for any signs of the elusive Northern Lights but the only thing showing up was clouds, and more clouds. Arrived at Bergen 6.30am, with my next train leaving for Oslo at 7.50am. The skies were raining quite heavily, not the kind that you get in the tropics, but heavy enough to put you off most things. This is one of those annoying things that you have to get used to when travelling between winter and spring; well, at least Bergen seems to always bear the brunt of the Atlantic front blowing across UK (I noticed this during BBC's weather forecast, you will notice that the west coast of Norway always rain every other day).

The journey back is to take me to Myrdal where I will change to the well-known Flam railway. It leaves from Myrdal at 863.5 metres and goes through 20 km of tracks, and over 20 tunnels drilled directly through the mountains before reaching sea level Flam town, which is a Fjord port accessible all the way from the North Sea. I had to pay additional for the tickets as they were not covered by the Inter-rail pass but did get 30% discount off the original value. It's quite an amazing engineering feat and I definitely recommend anyone to take it if you plan to come to this area, but include some hiking in between and the journey will be definitely be better mine! Boarded the 12.25pm train back to Oslo, another 5 hours through Europe's highest plateau - the Hardangervidda, a flat plain completely covered with pristine powder even at this time of the year. Loads of people get on and off along the various stations and you can see them doing cross country skiing on the giant white sheet of snow, which was so hurting to eyes under the best sunshine I have so far on this trip.

Found out that there were no overnight trains on the eve of Easter - DARN! how can I forget that? Luckily, there was an overnight bus heading to Trondheim, but cost NOK49.50. The frustration of last minute travel suddenly hit me again with my poor planning. Because of my change in plans to improve my chances of seeing the Northern Lights, I decided to head further up north to Narvik, I decided to pay the premium and not want to regret not trying after going so far (Lesson learnt from my last trip). So it's going to be another of train and bus ride tomorrow, and let's hope I will be able to find somewhere to stay in the town, where I really need a nice shower after 2 days on the road.

First stop - Copenhagen

On way boarding the SAS flight, 3 women in corporate attire were chatting in front of me. "Where did get this laptop bag?", asked the 1st woman. "You just have to fill up a form from IT dept and I got it the next day", she replied while in the middle of a furious twiddling of the tiny keyboard on her blackberry. "Oh, that's brilliant, I will do the same when we get back", she shot back and immediately started to scroll on her own blackberry. At this point, the 3rd woman immediately opened her bag and took her blackberry out and started her own "crackberry" addiction. It was really quite funny seeing this interaction and the responses from each person from behind.

Arrived at the capital of Denmark just after lunch - everything seems so organised and structured; a far cry from the Heathrow airport that I left behind 2 hours back. Checked into Sleep-in-Heaven, a 15min walk from the Forum metro station, for a 14 bed dorm, that looked more like a scene from WWII - they stack up to 3 beds in each. Can't complain much as it was the cheapest (£18/night) I could find in the city. Anyway, food and drink is basically 50% more expensive than UK, especially with the current poor rates, so beware! Headed out straight after dumping my bag, only to find out that find that the 2 museums that I wanted to head to - Gallery for Doodles and Danish Design Center - are both closed today! Even then, I managed to clock my longest distance covered in a day so far - 22km! And my feet are really hurting, not sure why though as my shoes should have been very well-conditioned by now. My last stop to the Little Mermaid statue was marred by some rowdy punks doing some disgusting poses to the naked statue and climbing onto it - the ugliest side to tourism. Oh, and not forgeting a trip to the self-governing Christiania, no pictures allowed though, unless I don't wish to get out alive...

Need to sort out my planning for my Norway rail journey, still unsure if I should make my way to Bodo from Trondheim or even as far north to Narvik, and then make my way from there to Rovaniemi in Finland, although the rail doesn't connect all the way on the north of Sweden to Finland; will probably have to find a bus to get into the Lapland - Any suggestions from anyone who are familiar? I have to admit that I have only planned 30% of this entire journey, and leaving the remaining open-ended - exciting but also quite stressful considering that my dates are so tight since my dates in Russia are fixed. Oh by the way, no guidebooks for majority of this trip as well besides Estonia and Russia! And thanks for all your lovely tweets, gonna miss you all too, make sure you come visit me in sunny S'pore :)

Stupidly early morning 6am train to catch to Malmo tomorrow for a few hours to soak in the city before moving on to Norway's capital. Glad to have my amazing shures with me for this trip, time to go to bed.

Link to pictures from Copenhagen (not many to show)

Goodbye London

With much sadness and nostalgia, I am finally leaving this British capital for good (at least for now), embarking on a month and half journey through Arctic landscapes and the great Russian wilderness to my little home country call Singapore. It has been an amazing 4 years plus of my life, and nothing compares to the journeys and friends that have crossed my path during. Stay in touch and do come over to visit me if you have a chance...ciao for now.

Counting down to next adventure

I attended my last Fulham home game against Liverpool at Craven Cottage yesterday. Very strange as I am a out and out Reds fan but have adopted the boys in white by River Thames as my London club since a few of us chipped in to share few season tickets. The atmosphere was electrifying, with the usual 20,000 odd West-enders trying to out-sing and out-muscle Liverpudians from Merseyside by on and off the pitch. It seemed to be one of those days of "dominating and not getting a result" again after hitting the woodwork 4 times in the first half. Even the man in black was taking pity on Pool with some of the decisions that were given. Alas, a 92nd minute winner from Yossi proved to be the decisive break although I had to tone down my wild celebrations considering that I was sitting amongst the Fulham faithfuls. Poor Whites, it was a bitter blow that's football and frankly, it can only be good for the league although our bitter rivals had lady luck on their side again to win 3-2 against Villa today, thanks to an exquisite goal from a teenager today - Football is cruel...

Did my last minute packing and planning of places to stay along my "long way home" journey after a morning trip to the Columbia Flower Market, with breakfast at Terence Conran's Albion along the way. Little arty farty shops and cafes dotted around the market makes it the interesting bit, especially if you are not at all keen to carry pots of plants back to your tiny london flat. Tomorrow is my last day in the capital, strange feelings going through my mind today, think I will miss the place, the freedom and all my friends in town. Regardless, I have spent a great deal of my last 4 and half years in this part of the world, but on the other hand, I do very much look forward to the my trip across Scandinavia, into the Artic Circle, hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive Aurora Borealis, before hoping onto my greatest adventure dream since arriving in London - the Trans Siberian rail journey across Russia, stopping twice along the way before Mongolia, and finally ending up in Beijing. After which I will find my way down Southeast China to home, in any transport besides planes.

I will be continuing to update my adventures online where possible, although I suspect I will be offline a lot more since I will be on the train most of the time. A Ukranian mate warned me against drinking too much vodka with the locals on the train - if you do not hear from me for 10 consecutive days, you know who to call.