The Train and Russia

Ok so it was ages ago now, but once upon a time we were in Russia! Here's what happened...

Basically we got on the train from Mongolia for a four and a half day train journey. Yes, that's right 4.5 days! The train itself was better than the one from China because it had air-conditioning even if it was turned off and on randomly. However the food car was really expensive and quite dodgy so we pretty much had to provide for ourselves which wasn't much fun when you don't have a fridge or any cooking facilities. There was some stuff at the stations in shops and also a few Babushkas(below) selling random things like smoked fish, bread, fruit etc.

We amused ourselves with sleeping, vodka and talking about food we'd like to eat and finally arrived in Moscow. And we were just in time to experience the biggest down pour of rain i think I've ever seen or maybe the biggest downpour I've ever been stupid enough to go out in. Here's a pic of Paul and Chris enjoying our first taste of the European summer.

While we were in Moscow we checked out the usual suspects; The Kremlin, Red Square (pictured below) and the vodka museum which was pretty cool. Including a free shot of vodka which i had to sit out on due to the fact that i already felt like i was going to throw up.

We also went to the markets which is where Nate and I had the photo in the Russian hats. They had a dancing bear which was really sad.

Anyway i ended up being sick while we were there and spent two days in bed or walking around like i was dead. Not much fun and i feel like i didn't get enough time to really enjoy Moscow. Luckily we had booked for an extra two nights after the tour. Also the weather was horrendous and it poured with rain the whole time we were there so i also didn't get too many photos which I'm a bit disappointed about.

We did get a feel for the place and we managed to check out quite a few of the flash Metro stations. We also saw heaps of the local dogs which seem to just hang around the Metro. And of course women selling random things on the street. The women in the photo below is selling stethoscopes!

On the last day i was feeling much better so we went in search of the Moscow Cat Theatre. Anyway the guide we had told us that it would be open and that there was a show at 4pm, so we rocked up there to find out it was closed. We were disappointed, but we ended up walking for another 10 minutes and finding the hugest shopping mall I've ever seen (i think it was 6 levels). It had an ice rink at the top! Anyway, here's a pic. We ended up hanging there for ages and eating lots of delicious treats.

Moscow was a really expensive city to visit as everything was really pricey. I was whinging about having to pay $8 for a coffee but i just saw a friend on facebook say that he was in Moscow and wasn't too keen on forking out $20 for a side order of steamed rice at a Moscow restaurant. Enough said!

Our life in pictures. Well, some of it in Mongolia anyway.

This is a picture of the conservative party building in Ulaanbataar. Our guide showed us this on day one, cause it was near our hotel and on the way to dinner. Apparently some guys broke in, drank a lot of vodka from the mini-mart on the ground floor and then set it all on fire. There's a lot of political tension in Mongolia after the latest elections; we didn't tell our mothers, but there was a state of emergency declared for a few days, a couple of weeks before we left on our trip.

Did we mention it was a seven hour bus ride to our first ger camp? Well it was. This is an impromptu frisbee game at one of the toilet stops. Note the lack of toilets, other people, bitumen, buildings and civilisation in general. It's just rolling, grassy steppe under an enormous blue sky...

How's the serenity.

Laura found these urchins drinking beer in a cafe after we went out one night. That's not a joke. She wanted to take a photo of them, but these are street smart Mongolians we're talking about who realised that this was a slightly tipsy white woman with money in her pocket. We're still unsure about how much money Laura gave them (she claims it was the equivalent of twenty cents), but we're sure that it was enough to buy their next beer.

Has it been so long?

(Us with hats in Moscow)

Whew it's been a while since we made a post huh? Well we're in sunny, summery Cardiff right now (read that as 17-18 degrees and raining). How did we get here I hear you ask? Well, let me tell you.

We spent a week staying at a hotel in Kensington sorting out a place to live and touching base with our employers. We've put in an application for a little place in Willesden Green that is small, but adequate for our needs. However, the background checking etc. is taking a bit longer than we want it to, and we had to choose between staying in London until it was sorted, or getting out into other parts of Britain or Europe.

But why Cardiff of all places? Firstly we got coach tickets for 10 quid each (a bargain we thought), secondly we thought that we could probably do most of what there is to do in Cardiff in the couple of days that we'll be here. It still seems that way too...

London was pretty fantastic. We just relaxed, wandered around a bit, ate out a lot and saw a few of the tourist-y things. The weather though... that's been really unpredictable. Apparently London received half of it's average monthly rainfall in two hours yesterday. Aaah Summer! Though there was enough sunshine for a Pimm's in a pub just after lunch yesterday too, so it's not ALL bad.



N

Yet again another short post without pictures...

Hey all,

We arrived in Moscow yesterday afternoon after four nights on the train. Our hostel does in fact have internet, so I'm sure there'll be more posts soon.

The train was remarkably comfortable, though the food situation was rather dire. I am never eating 2-minute noodles again. We saw some beautiful countryside, including a few hours travelling next to Lake Baikal, which is definitely something that needs to be seen to be believed.

Moscow so far has been pretty awesome, though so much more expensive than we expected. Our breakfast coffees were about AU$7 each, though it was worth it for the first cup of good coffee since we left home.

We did all the touristy stuff today: the souvenir market, Red Square, the Kremlin and a Vodka museum. I have an awesome hat now, there will definitely be some photos of that soon. We didn't get to see Lenin though, he's only open weekdays and till 1pm Sundays, so we might have to go see him tomorrow.

Well, until we have some photos ready to post, I'll leave things there.

N.