The train trip
What i remember..
The long and winding blog entry
Siberia
Irkutsk
(Siberia, for real)
Just settled into a charmless Soviet-style hotel in Irkutsk, or, Иркутск as I've learned (Cyrillic is slowly settling in). The english on their print brochures is even funnier than the copy on their website.
We actually reached Irkutsk the night before last, but were whisked off by the ever-efficient travel agency to lake Baikal where we spent two nights; heaven knows how we'll manage in China without them.
The train trip was, predictably perhaps, rather more eventful than you'd have thought a four day train trip could be. I'll post more about that tomorrow, after we've sorted out all our bank statements etc.
//richard
(Irkutsk)
Leaving Mosow
Off on the train tonight
at 22hoo this evening we'll be catching the nominal trans-Siberian express (i don't think that's its correct name) for four nights. we're very nervous about who'll we'll get to share a cabin with. to be honest, it'll probably be two Brits, or worse, Aussies. watch this space.
Moscow at last
only three days on a train so far.
it's been one heck of a mission so far. the hardest being getting around this city. in the underground, the people move around in a direct purposeful way, in the same way they do in London. however, the western European tourists stand out by a mile, as they stand in the middle of the people torrents and try to decipher the signs. and we've had to be the same!
Haven't we been down this street once already...?
Moscow
So, the train trip was fairly uneventful and the sleeper train between Cologne and Moscow was actually a very pleasant way to travel. We only had one other English speaker on our carriage, a Kiwi guy called Jonathan who was going to be meeting up with an Aussie friend of his here in Moscow and then getting the trans sib on from here. He's doing pretty much the same trip as us to Beijing so we'll probably bump into him again along the way. The other people in our carriage were all Russian - I think - and were quite friendly in a gruff kind of way. The carriage attendants seemed to take pity on us and offered to bring us endless cups of - very strong - tea or coffee plus various different kinds of biscuits. Actually, quick tip, if ever you take this sleeper train remember to pack some food as there's no restaurant car! Fortunately we had bought a few snacks at Cologne station, but two days eating only crisps, a chorizo and a couple of apples is not the ideal diet.
The train travelled through some varying countryside on its way here, ordered Germany, fairly bleak looking Poland, deserted (or so it seemed) Belarus. Belarus was odd. Even in Minsk we only saw about ten other people, despite it only being 10pm in the capital city it just seemed completely empty. I can't imagine getting to any station in London and not seeing hundreds of people on the platform let alone a central station. We awoke this morning after a second very good nights sleep on the train to look out the window at the Russian countryside. Russia seems very modern after Belarus, the only problem is that we've been completely unable to find our way anywhere - we have a (not very good) map and have just wandered round and round trying to decipher place names etc. It's hilarious to see all the other tourists also unable to make head nor tail of the cyrillic alphabet dithering around in Metro stations. We've seen at least one couple walk past us twice within the space of ten minutes(going in a different direction each time and poring over a map). I've been in giggles several times when we've been walking in ever decreasing circles......and at some point we've got to try to get back to our hotel
The other main thing I've noticed so far is that I evidently look nothing like my passport photo. I don't think i've ever been so closely scrutinised as I was at the border between Poland and Belarus - they made me take off my glasses, let my hair down, stand in the corridor so they could get a better look etc. Very strange and actually quite disquieting! As this is turning into a bit of an essay I'm going to sign off now - hope everyone is well. B
Leaving Do
A picture paints a thousand words
Pictures of our leaving do on the Queen Mary (see the venue really wasn't that bad, was it?!) and then on to the Albernach.
I'm not sure going to bed at 5am on the morning you are due to finish packing and leaving your flat is the right thing to do in hindsight, but all's well that ends well. Two days later we feel almost human again.
Pics here.
Last day in Düsseldorf
Oh how I do like to be beside the Rhineland.
Well, here i am on the BA0942 18hoo flight back to London. Don't know if i'll be going back to D'dorf again anytime soon. Depending on how things work out, I wonder if i'll ever go back there again. Certainly it should be ages before i get on an aeroplane again (or even avail myself to the free booze in the BA lounges)
FYI, here're some random pics taken in Düsseldorf.
Boxes everywhere
The enthralling subject of packing
Well our flat is kind of packed up and ready to go. I just cannot believe how much stuff we've accumulated...
A Life more ordinary
(a long August..)
Counting down the days as usual. August has come and is about to go. The most exciting thing so far is that we got our passports back - with Russian, Mongolian and Chinese visas in place.
Richard's been doing a lot of cycling to pass the weeks (hence the pic). Managed to do quite well in the London triathlon, in the olympic team event. I've also done quite a few criterium races. Although i suspect that that has come to an end now.
Becky's resignation wasn't too traumatic. So that's over and done with...