Moscow – City of Mystery

Well comrades we have made it to Moscow, with a good train trip meeting an Australian and Canadian couple that we have seen in Ulanbaatar and Irkutsk who are doing a similar trip. Nice to chat and get different perspectives on places we have been to so far.

Upon arrival Michael decided the Metro would be fun to take to our hotel (only 4 stops). Well peak hour in the Russian Metro is not to be taken lightly and with much pushing with 5 bags we got there. I did not need to know Russian to understand some of the looks we got.

The hotel is Home Hotel At Kamergersky Pereulok , which is comfortable and in the theatre district and 10 min walk to Red Square and the Kremlin.

This place has changed in the last 30 years with high-end fashion stores, Bentleys and Maserati’s for sale next to Red Square along with McDonalds!

Did the Lonely Planet walk and could not believe the face-lift they have given to the GUM Department Store. When Christine and I visited it was a run down shopping centre with small shops that had very few items for sale and massive queues.  It is very different now as you can see from the pictures.

 

Visited Red Square and they had a practice parade on for the Unity day on the 4^th November. Unfortunately we were unable to view Lenin’s Mausoleum because of the parade practice.  Still, I am sure that he hasn’t aged a day since I last saw him. Visited the Armory Museum inside the Kremlin and viewed the gold and silver crafts which were exquisite in creation and size. Looking forward to St Petersburg. 

Walked around the rest of the Kremlin in areas that were closed off when I was last here, with the churches being opened and the beautiful art and frescos on display. As with most European buildings it is the sense of history knowing that these building have been around 600 plus years and are still here and being maintained. However, I was puzzled by 2 buildings in Red Square which I was sure were not there 30 years ago (or had Christine given me too much cognac at the time). Our night tour guide told us that two of the buildings were built in the 90’s in the same style as the original ones, as Stalin had them torn down as they interfered with the flow of his military parades. The buildings look as if they have been standing for hundreds of years.

Moscow itself has a lot of new development and refurbishment going on with the grand buildings being retained and painted. There are no modern high rises in this area to take away the spectacular views of the city.

On our night tour of Moscow we got to see outside the city with great views from the university precinct, the highest point of the city and the campus has a massive Stalin building which is one of 7 that you can see from this place. We later visited some more of this impressive buildings for sheer size and communist style.

We also visited the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Originally the site was a convent, however when Russia won the war against Napoleon the Tsar ordered the convent’s removal and a church was built on the site. One of the old nuns put a curse on the place saying that anything built there would not last more than 50 years (you know how spiteful nuns can be).  The church was built. It took 44 years to construct, until Stalin destroyed it in preparation for one of his tall buildings. This was delayed due to the war and only the foundations were built. After the war they had no money for building works so the Moscow council turned it into a swimming pool, which held the Guinness Book of Records as the world largest pool for just under 50 years. Then with Glasnost it was handed back to the Russian Orthodox Church who rebuilt the cathedral in the original style we a few modern touches in less than 2 years.  We will see if it lasts longer than 50 years.

Our guide told us the city never sleeps with bars and restaurants everywhere. Tim, not sure if you could get into this place based on the sign on the door.

Decided to get around the city by Metro subway, which is highly efficient and the stations were lovely as shown in some of the guide-books. The trains run every 2 minutes and connections are easy. The platforms are covered with mosaics, paintings and plaster works giving each station its own identity all with good CCCP themes. Michael was sure the coal workers would rather receive a beer than flowers, but that is Russia.

Took a trip to Gorky Park, which has had the amusement park removed and is now a lovely park to wander through. We then visited the outdoor sculpture gallery of old soviet statutes and new modern art works. It was a long weekend for Unity Day, which celebrates the victory over Poland. We also got to see the ugly side of Russians as the Soviet National Front type people were marching and protesting Russian Pride. Not the type of Pride march some of our friends attend. So we had to navigate around the road-blocks to get to places.  There was a huge number of police and army personnel controlling the march, many of them in full riot gear.  Pretty scary to see and I was glad when we left the area.

 

 

 

Out at dinner they had lovely background music including Boney M’s Rasputin, Abba and a number of American hits from the 70’s and 80’s. Most schools now teach English as a second language so we have been able to converse with some people at a basic level.

Well we are off to St Petersburg on the Sampan high-speed train. It is a shame to leave Moscow so soon as there is a lot more to explore and it has proven to be a delightful city that we would want to come back to.

Yekaterinburg – City of Infamy

Yekaterinburg is in stark contrast to Irkutsk with former bovver boy Boris Yelstin being a former rising star in the Yekaterinburg communist party. He introduced a number of changes to the city including the destruction of many old buildings to modernize the city. 


He even went as far as destroying the cellar building where the Romanovs were killed (last Tsar of Russia) as he was worried about the cult following it was creating. Stayed at the Trans Hotel, which was close to most things in the city so we got plenty of walking in.

Fortunately a number of magnificent buildings including a few old churches have survived. The crowning piece in the new Yekaterinburg is the Church of the Blood, a new church dedicated to the new saints of the Tsar’s family and servants, built on the site of their execution. The church is very controversial as it has the most expensive icons created in Russian history dedicated to the creation of them as saints. Even how they were canonised in the Russian orthodox faith is controversial as it was based on the manner and bravery of their deaths rather than as martyrs dying for their faith.  Lenin must be turning in his grave at how the Romanovs are now revered (well he would be if he wasn’t embalmed and on public display in Red Square).  

 

 

The city is lovely to walk around with a lake as the central theme, trams and lots of statues. 

 

Interesting the travel maps we picked up with walking routes only show non-soviet statutes and places of interest. The huge Lenin statue in front of the town hall gets no mention at all.

Went to the local zoo, which is in the heart of the city. There were a few bears, sable, fox and many other wearable animals on display. Unfortunately it was like the bad old days of Taronga Park Zoo when the bears were held in concrete pits.  Plenty of turtles of many different species were there - must have been a special on them and they are all kept in a hot house.

PETA has no influence here as everyone wears real fur with lots of shops selling them with no additional security. Walked into one store that had AUD2000.00 sable fur on the rack with no wires or security on it. Michael would not buy it for me, as it could not be worn at home. Besides, the fur looks better on the animals than on me! In the markets they sell sable and fur hats.

We re-board the train bound for Moscow.  Journey will take 24 hours so only sleeping there for one night. The train is the Rossija again so looking forward to that.

Jukebox in Siberia

Arrived in Irkutsk and staying at the Trans-Sib Hostel, more an apartment with a room for travelers. Nice, warm and safe it has 2 iron doors before you get to the front door. The hosts are very nice giving advice on places to see and have a nice black dog called Myxa (pronounced Mu-Kha meaning fly).

"The Trans-Sib Hostel 3rd floor "

Arrived at 8:00 am it was still dark, it does not get light here until 9:00 am and dark at 7:00 pm at the moment. Part of the problem is that they have decided to stay in Summer time all year round.

Had a guide take us around the city, who explained the history of the town and architecture including pre and post Stalin design. Basically anything that looks like a box is post Stalin design. The town is pretty with old wooden churches that are being restored after the Soviet period. These had been used as storage places during that time and the icons and paintings inside were painted over with white paint.  Only 8 of the original 35 churches survived post revolution with the rest being destroyed. 

 

The timber houses are badly in need of work, but council rules on renovations are very strict so the owners let them get run down until most catch fire. The town has a history of fires and after the last big one in 1890, a law was passed requiring all the main street shops to be built of brick. The people here are very positive about life post Soviet rule and the crime rate is down significantly from all the turmoil of a number of years ago.

 

 Michael got his dive into Lake Baikal, the water temperature was 5C and the air temp was minus 2 and snowing. As you can see from the photos he had his thermals on, plus a blue Tellytubby suit and then the dry suit. I went to the Natural museum, which included live Nerpa (seals) of Lake Baikal, the only fresh water seals in the world. The pair they had looked like they were over inflated and need some exercise. Usual communications of pointing and all signs were in Russian.

 

 Went for a trip to the markets, a bit like the Queen Vic. A visit to the market shows lots of food with no queuing and people actually having the money to purchase what is on offer. Found out where all the camel socks and jackets ended up from our last blog, all there in pristine condition for sale. Russia has certainly changed since last time I was here nearly 30 years ago. 

Camel Socks or Jacket?

I kept telling Michael about the coffee shortage and how expensive it was when you did actually find some to purchase and insisted that we come prepared with bags and bags of coffee for our trip. When we got here we have found abundant supplies and even cheaper than home. 

The meals have been good and communications overall has not been to bad although the locals still shake their heads when Michael starts speaking.

Have been catching trams around the city, which still have conductors on. The stops are pre defined so getting around is pretty easy.

Went to one of the local parks to feed the squirrels. They were not timid at all and were enjoying the biscuits, although Michael believes they would have preferred honey coated macadamia nuts.

 

Now travelling to Ekaterinburg with 2 nights on the train to get there. We have gone from -16 outside as we crossed Siberia to a pleasant 0c. This has been the best train yet “Rossija” number 1. First class cabin has been excellent and compared to the Russian train out of Mongolia, the food and facilities have been way better.  We can take as long as we want over our meal and can dine whenever we want too!

Ulaanbaatar or the land of Chinggis

Booked a tour of the city and was taken to the four major places - Gandan Khiid temple where Michael started a mini riot by walking anticlockwise around the statue of Buddha. As part of their history they lost over 10,000 monks and 100 temples in the purges of the 1930’s under Stalin’s orders. Paul note that pigeons are seen as holy animals here as you can see from the photo. Then onto the Mongolian History museum and shrine to the Khaan’s family, plus all the different national dress.

Up to the Zaisan Memorial, which was constructed by the Soviets to remember those lost in war. Pretty impressive mosaic, but the locals don’t like it as it reminds them of the bad days before their independence which they are ferociously proud of when you talk about the past.

 

Finally onto Sukbaarar Square named after the 1921 revolutionary hero who ushered in communism for the Mongolian people. The square is large and has the parliament and prominent buildings around it. 

The parliament buildings have Chinggis Khaan sitting in the middle and his son and grandson mounted on horses in front of him. Later we got to go inside the parliament building as there was a National Geographic photographic exhibition being held. 

Many people were dressed up in national costume which is apparently standard for country folk and were very impressive in there design and colours, they even had flash looking guards.

 

Had our first bit of snow, more flurries than snow so it was a pleasant minus 3 degrees to walk around.

The fun continues in Ulaanbaator in walking around seeing the sights. Chinggis Khan (Genghis to us) is the nation’s hero and they name everything after him including beer and vodka.

Michael decided to get a beer tasting paddle at one restaurant and discovered on arrival it was a Mongolian Vodka tasting plate. Just so happens that the vodka names are the same as the beer.

Had an attempted pick pocket on Michael which I was pleased to foil, but have given them full points for being brazen enough to try, especially as they are not that tall. Needless to say Michael now has his rain jacket over the pack as we walk around.

Last day was a lazy day and decided to get some geocaching in and found 4 and DNF 2. 

So we covered a bit of ground around the city with is nice and flat and on a Sunday most of the loons are off the road.  Cars are not required to stop for pedestrians at either traffic lights or zebra crossings, they are just required to take more care.  That seems to entail driving full bore at pedestrians even if there is a traffic policeman on duty.

Decided to have dinner near the hostel in a flash place called Topaz Hotel. It was a grade above the other local places we have visited, or so we thought. A drunk greeted Michael as his long lost friend. Michael then conversed with his little book of dishes with the waitress and the Mongolian menu. English is not big here and most of the local restaurants do their menus in Mongolian with no pictures. We have discovered that the Cyrillic used in Mongolian has different meanings to Russian and Google translate does not do Mongolian. After much gesturing and eyeing off other diners’ meals we got a lovely fried Chicken and Turvas (beef noodles).

Even in Ulanbaatar they love Gangnam style

During the meal the entertainment arrived in the form of a drunk and his partner trying to sell a big tin of tomatoes to the waitress. The waitress was having none of this, so she called security and then proceeded to kick the man until he left (and I mean really kick him hard repeatedly in the shins).  We thought we had better not get on her bad side or the same could happen to us.

Time to board the train to Irkutsk, the Provodnitsa lived up to our expectation of true Russian beauty of Soviet proportions that could knock a sailor out with her hardened stare. Even Michael was a little bit more respectful upon entering her domain.  We shared a nice 2^nd class carriage with a lady from Ulan-Ude and after we worked out she had 1 child of 5 years and not 5 children as she only seemed 18 herself, we went through broken English learning about Ulan-Ude and the Russian ways. She had spent the weekend in Ulaanbaatar buying up winter season clothes for her family as prices are a third cheaper in Mongolia compared to Russia. There were 8 carriages on the train when we started.

 

I did not sleep well on the train as they turn the heat right up to passing out point and the cabins get a extremely claustrophobic. The train also stopped outside the Mongolian border station at 5:30 am and had to wait until 8:30 am for customs to open. When we got up we found that our carriage had been decoupled from all carriages and the engine and was just sitting there outside the customs hall all on its own.

Lonely carriage?

Then fun really started as traders started to board before the Mongolian- Russian border. One woman was assigned to our berth who had a massive collection of camel wool socks and then started to proceed to distribute them through the carriage, hiding them in bags and then out came the shoes the slippers scattered around the berth.

Once we had cleared Mongolian customs by staying in our carriage and waiting 2 hours while they pretended not to see all the traders’ stuff, we moved onto Nashuki station with our one carriage to start the process again. Our lady friend warned us that our bags would get checked as customs do a thorough search. On came the immigration and customs people in their ridiculously oversized hats. Our trader lady was wrapping socks around her legs, belly and into pockets of coats. Once again our passports were taken away and all the nationals were quizzed. We only had to say Australian and they shook their heads and moved on. The customs guy said do you speak Russian we said no and then asked if we had anything to declare, we said no and they left us alone. The trader got a grilling and showed one bag containing nothing and kept saying nyet to everything. The Ulan-Ude lady said where she had been and next thing bags were being opened and she had to complete a long double-sided form of what she had purchased in Mongolia. The guy seemed happy with the form and spoke a bit more. We sat there wondering why no one seemed to notice that our cabin held a thousand pairs of brown camel socks and that all the traders were wearing brand new camel jackets (some with price tags on) and had identical shoes that were brand new in each berth. Welcome to Russia.

A bit later the passports were returned and the customs guy came back and had a social chat to the trader. During all this time Michael was quizzing the two ladies on food and how it is written in Cyrillic for his next restaurant adventure. The Ulan-Ude woman must have thought we were here to eat them out of house and home.

 

Had 2 hours to kill in Nashuki after the 3 hours spent on the train with customs and immigration officers. It was funny watching all the traders get off with more bags than they could carry back in their normal clothes walking past all the officials as if there was nothing wrong. The town did not have much to offer and we practiced our Russian ordering Goulash and dumplings. Not bad for our first Russian meal.

Nashuki how would you spend two hours here?

Our Ulan-Ude lady must have either found Michael questions or snoring too much as she left us to continue her journey by bus to Ulan-Ude.

I like Chinese food the waiters never are rude

Sorry about the delay in our blog, the Great Firewall of China does not allow blogging or Facebook.

Well we have made it to China with an overnight flight with Jetstar. Arrived at our hostel at 3:00 am with a taxi driver who could not find our hotel hidden in a hutong (narrow lane) that was blocked by a construction truck and wanted us to walk down it without knowing where we were going and no lights.

Upon arrival at the hostel The Happy Dragon Courtyard there was confusion over our booking and they put us in a dorm to ourselves (not happy), the next day it was all sorted and moved into a basic double bedroom with ensuite. The Hostel is in a traditional hutong structure of a large entry gate with rooms around a courtyard. The courtyard has been built up to have a café and restaurant. It is close to Zhangzizhonglu subway station (don’t get Michael to pronounce it),which has proven to be a real bonus.

Well the tourist map shows the whole of Beijing and makes it look small, so a quick train trip to Tiananmen Square (blocked in a google search) burst that bubble. The place is massive and not just the square, all the buildings are huge and keep the whole place in perspective. Walked around the square and to the Arrow Tower which was one of the inner gates and which was huge also. Even though there would have been thousands of people there you did not feel crowded.

 

Full credit to the ancient Chinese on being able to build on such a grand scale. The city is clean and modern with no hawkers like the other countries we have visited. Covered a fair bit of ground looking at the shops and alleyways. Had some street food, but didn’t try the bugs, scorpions and seahorses on sticks.

Decided to get our jackets and boots for the train trip, which turned into an adventure. We wanted to get proper stuff and not the fakes that are everywhere. Michael looked up one place in a major shopping centre. We were approached by a nice English speaking couple who said they were art students and they invited us to view their work. So we went along to the 27^th floor of some building to a room full of Chinese art (yes alarm bells should be ringing by now) they went through their spiel on the art and its meaning for half an hour and then the sell started. We did not buy anything and later found it was one of the many scams in Beijing. Michael did however give the attractive impoverished art student a donation of $15.00!   Other scams included overpriced bananas, not getting change from vendors and gem/tea shops. We have managed to avoid the last one.

Went to the Silk Market where they were offering Columbia, Canadian Goose and other top brands for around RMB 150 ($25). We did not want to find out in minus 15 degrees in Siberia that these were made of paper so we passed the deal up.

Finally found a shop with the right jackets and got a Chinese version of Goretex. Michael could not find any shoes in his size and they said that no one is that size in China. He pointed out that Yao Min would be his size and got a laugh.

Next day headed out on a tour to the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu. Got to see the countryside and wonder where all the people live, as there are 21 million people in Beijing. I was still not 100% recovered from my operation and to save half an hour climbing the wall we took the cable chair to the top. The Wall is impressive and scale and size has to be seen to be believed.  There were too many stairs for me so I let Michael go off and explore the wall and he disappeared for an hour and was happy with what he saw and found a cache. Back down on the chair lift.  I could have opted for the toboggan but thought better of it.

Well the Telstra ad may be right that the wall was built by Emperor Nasi Goring to keep the rabbits out as we have proof of some captured rabbits at the wall.

Usual hawkers at the bottom with nice Obama pictured like Mao t-shirts. Even our art student paintings were there at greatly reduced prices.

On Monday went to the Forbidden City which is another huge complex and interesting to walk around, but with 800 buildings and 7 palaces it gets to be a bit much to take in after 4 hours still well worth seeing.

We organised a night tour with the hostel through the same company as the Great Wall tour. As there was only Michael and I they took us around by car to see the Birds Nest and Water Cube (very nice buildings), Hi Hai Lake, National Opera building and Tiananmen Square lit up. As a side trip got to walk around a few other areas as well. Well worth the trip

Last full day in Beijing has been spent looking at hutongs and soaking up the local environment. A spot of rain so Michael thought were looked like locals again with our ponchos on.

On the train to Ulaanbaatar for 29 hrs and 33 minutes starting at 8:00 am. The journey was good and Anne you would feel at home here with real working class hours for meals. 

Our  "Voucher" entitled us to lunch at 11:30 to 12:00 and dinner 5:30 to 6:00. The kitchen Nazi was on hand to make sure we did not enjoy the meal too much as it was weight watchers size with rice. At dinner Michael ordered a bottle of Great Wall of China Red (Cabernet, Gamay Noir) and shared it with another table. They were packing the place up at 6:00 and were pushing us out the door. As it was Michael's second red wine of the trip he said it was better than the Dalat one.

Hit Chinese customs at 10:00 pm and got cleared then the train was taken away for two hours to have new bogies (wheels) put on for the wider Russian/Mongolian tracks. After this was done we had to clear Mongolian customs and finally got to bed at 2:30 in our comfortable carriage. The first leg of the trip we were the only people in the carriage and our guard (below) was quite happy to chat in pigeon Chinese English.

  

  

 The Chinese country side was very nice rural and mountainous. However once we hit Mongolia it was a flat and dry place as you can see from the pictures.

 

Have made it to UB (Ulaanbaatar) with a hectic taxi ride to the hostel with the hostel owner who walked to the station in 10 minutes and took 30 minutes to get back as the driver did not know about a new bridge that takes you away from the city. Strange that anyone can be a taxi driver and there is a standard set of fares (you don't have to drive in a marked taxi, your own car will do).

The city is dirty and semi chaotic, but the people are very well dressed and nice to us.

Go back to where you started

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Well the journey continues and I am well enough to take back from Michael the Blog writing now that he has had his small victory win and at James’s request no more lame Dad jokes.

Unfortunately the specialist could not treat me in HCMC and he organised a medical evacuation back to Singapore. Dr Ion Terakawa from the Family Medical Practice was fantastic and travelled with us back to Singapore on Friday night.

I was operated on in the National University Hospital on the Saturday morning and other than a few holes have made a full recovery that we can continue the journey into China. Our insurance company Chartis have been extremely helpful in getting us back to Singapore and teeing the doctors up. Thank you Ray for your advice.

The hospital was excellent with the room being bigger than some of the hotels that we had stayed in. The medical staffs were first class and fears that it would be worse than what Vimal had at the Alfred were unfounded with a very modern and well-staffed hospital.

Michael spent most of his time organising various parties to get me here and stayed with me most of the time. He did find time to explore Singapore’s Chinatown and find things to eat that I did not want to hear about.

Have now organised the Mongolian visa here in Singapore and will book our China flight after Wednesday’s appointment.  Follow up appointment with Professor Jimmy So spent more time talking to Michael about Irkutsk and the trip. So all must be ok.

Now booked to go to China Thursday night to Beijing to let the trip continue.

 

Big win on the weekend, Hanoi and back to Saigon

A good day in Hoi An checking out the ancient city with a bit of rain to cool things down a bit. The dragon shows continue each night with a build up for the full moon on Saturday.

Our last day in Hoi An included watching the mighty Swans do their damage. They only seem to win when I am out of the country. Annette has taken it graciously and is disappointed with her boys. Mr. Rob will know what Buddy’s problem is.

A long train trip to Hanoi for 18 hours by soft sleeper and shared a berth with an elderly Vietnamese couple that had the upper berth and went up and down the bunks like squirrels. They were a lovely couple with a lot of sign language and sharing of food on the trip. The trip was ok, but Annette was a bit unwell from dodgy food and still suffering shock from the loss of her team.

Arrived in Hanoi and stayed at the Rising Dragon Palace Hotel in the Ancient quarter of the city. I looked around near the Hotel while Annette recovered. Plenty to see as the streets traditionally had only one type of good sold in each street know as the 36 streets i.e. silk street, Coffin Street. Most were still there although expanded into electronic gear and phone plans.

Not finding the traffic too bad and it may not be as horrendous as I was told as we have been to many cities that are just as chaotic, if anything they actually stop at the lights.

Found some Weasel Ass coffee to try or more politely green coffee beans that have passed through a Civet (similar to a Weasel) and then collected, roasted and blended. Not too bad and as they say bottoms up.

Headed out to the full moon night market, which was more of a Halloween event than a traditional Vietnamese/Chinese affair. People everywhere wearing devil horns (must be Melbourne supporters), Masks and blown up 1000 pound hammers not sure how it fitted into the full moon part, but they seemed to enjoy it.

Unfortunately Annette had not recovered after two days and headed off to an English Speaking medical practice which was very good, but could not help after two days and recommended we head to Saigon to see their Gastro specialist rather then go to the Hanoi Hospitals.

Sadly James, I did not get to go to the street barber to have a cut and shave. I had selected one guy that had the hairstyle of a Vietnamese Mr T and keep point at my face. I hope it was to give me a shave and not slit my throat.

So back in HCMC and the Victory Hotel were we last stayed. The hotel name does sum up the weekend. Annette is a lot better now, but still being treated.