A couple more here.
Yaha Praha
At last, the Prague photos are up. It's funny, at the time I wasn't that swept away by Prague. I think i was suffering from a severe case of Old Town overdose. However, looking back now at the photos, it was probably one of the highlights of the trip. Well, it is where i took the most photos anyway. All 94 of them. Enjoy!
Home Sweet Home (Maybe)
After spending a few weekends looking at flats north of the river (Islington, Sheperds Bush etc) and realising that we were going to be spending $$$ for a tiny flat, we decided to check out south of the river. The places south of the river were a lot more affordable (although affordable rent in London is a bit of an oxymoron) and a lot bigger for the money.
Last weekend we got dropped off in Chelsea and walked down through Battersea Park, down to Clapham and Lavender Hill. Seemed like a pretty decent area. Last Thursday night we met a couple of Real Estate agents and they showed us around a few places. One of which was actually a house (!) rather than a flat - complete with a little garden. We put in an application (at a rather cheeky discount) on the place on Friday. Later that day the real estate agent got back to us to say our offer had been rejected as the landlord wanted more money. We were at our limit and decided to stick to it. However we did say that if our first offer was accepted we could move in pretty much immediately. Fortunately for us, the agent rang back later Friday and said that the landlord would accept our offer this time. Sweet!
Friday evening we headed down to the real estate agent and signed the rental agreement. Now it is all down to references. If all goes well the keys are ours on Monday.
Google Maps is once again our friend. The place is on Afghan Road near Clapham Junction. i.e. here. The area isn't exactly Mayfair, but it's not too bad. About 5 mins walk to Clapham Junction train station which has British rail trains every 5 minutes or so to Victoria and Waterloo stations. My commute should be down to about 30-40 minutes. Can get into the centre of town in about 20 minutes. Can't wait to move in.
Friday evening we headed down to the real estate agent and signed the rental agreement. Now it is all down to references. If all goes well the keys are ours on Monday.
Google Maps is once again our friend. The place is on Afghan Road near Clapham Junction. i.e. here. The area isn't exactly Mayfair, but it's not too bad. About 5 mins walk to Clapham Junction train station which has British rail trains every 5 minutes or so to Victoria and Waterloo stations. My commute should be down to about 30-40 minutes. Can get into the centre of town in about 20 minutes. Can't wait to move in.
Where Does Time Go ?
You arrive in London, late July. It is warm and sunny and you start looking for work.
Eventually you get a job. Not far from the Thames as it happens. Cool. Quite close to Tower Bridge even. 
Each evening you pass Tower Bridge 
as you head for the tube station (London Bridge) on the way home. 
. Before you know it, the leaves are turning yellow 
and falling off the trees 
. It is starting to get cold in the mornings. Nearly three months has passed. Time flies huh ?
It is just over 6 months since I left my job in Australia. Scary thought. Am slowly settling in to life and work over here. Both of which are very different to Perth. I have nearly been at work a month already. (Thank God because I joined two days before the last pay day, which means I have had to wait a whole month to get paid. Ouch).
Anyway, just a quick entry to let you know I am alive. Hope all is well with you all. Email me and fill me in how you are all doing.
Eventually you get a job. Not far from the Thames as it happens. Cool. Quite close to Tower Bridge even. Each evening you pass Tower Bridge as you head for the tube station (London Bridge) on the way home. . Before you know it, the leaves are turning yellow and falling off the trees . It is starting to get cold in the mornings. Nearly three months has passed. Time flies huh ?It is just over 6 months since I left my job in Australia. Scary thought. Am slowly settling in to life and work over here. Both of which are very different to Perth. I have nearly been at work a month already. (Thank God because I joined two days before the last pay day, which means I have had to wait a whole month to get paid. Ouch).
Anyway, just a quick entry to let you know I am alive. Hope all is well with you all. Email me and fill me in how you are all doing.
Naples
Just after I found out I had got one of the jobs I applied for, my recruiter rang me back and informed me that the company I was joining was having a company weekend away at Naples the week after I joined. A brief summary .... Photos hereGetting up way too early Friday morning I took a minicab to Liverpool St station, Stansted Express to Stansted and then the 0725 EasyJet flight to Naples, arriving Naples just after 11. The fun started with getting a taxi to the hotel. Bargaining was required and a price of 20 Euro was settled on (Fares over the weekend to/from the airport of other members of our group ranged from 18 Euros to 40). Driving in Naples is really something you have to experience to truly appreciate the level of chaos involved. Random lane changes, shortcuts, congestion, incessant honking. If evolution applied to cars in Naples, their indicators would have disappeared long ago.
The hotel was pretty sweet, but unfortunately we were too early to check into our rooms so we dumped our bags in the luggage room and made plans.
The others on my flight wanted to go to Capri, but I was keen to go to Pompeii, so we headed our separate ways. The streets of Naples seem to be laid out especially to confuse. After a couple of attempts at shortcuts through the backstreets I gave up and headed to the main street (Corso Umberto) and followed it up to the train station. Bought my train ticket (about 2 Euro) to Pompeii Scavi on the Sorrento Line and headed for the platform. Fortunately didnt have long to wait for the next train. The train ride to Pompeii isn't exactly what I would call scenic, but there are some nice views over the bay. Train journey took about 40 mins from downtown Naples.Getting off the train at Pompeii, it started raining. I think Mother Nature had probably struck a deal with the poncho/umbrella touts. As the rain began they seemed to appear from nowhere, selling whatever rain protection they had on offer. I was safe in the knowledge that I had been clever enough to bring my umbrella. After a minute of searching for it, I realised I wasnt quite so clever after all, it was back at the hotel. 4 Euros later I was armed with a new umbrella, bringing my total number of umbrella purchases for the year to three (Beijing, St Petersburg and Naples!). Bet you're glad you waste time reading this.
Ticket to get in was about 10 Euro. Had foregone the free maps on offer, on the left as you walk up to the ticket office, as I had a Naples guidebook with one in. Unfortunately, this meant I also missed out on the rather substantial info guide, with information on each numbered location, that they were also handing out. Too bad I only noticed this on the way back out.
Pompeii was amazing. I wasn't expecting it to be so large. The rain was a bit of a dampener (I crack myself up) but it probably did mean it was less crowded that it could have been. Spent about three hours there wandering about at random. Was kind of cool not to have a decent map, exploring at random instead. It is quite strange wandering around the ruined town, looking up at Vesuvius in the distance, thinking, "This will probably happen again some day .....".
Caught the train back to Central Naples and walked back to hotel (which went quite well until I left the main road and got completely lost after about 2 turns !). In the early evening we all met up in the Hotel Lobby, had a few drinks and headed out for dinner (Pizza of course!). The rest of the night involved, well, drinking. Lots and lots of drinking.Saturday we had a meeting at two. There were a few sorry looking people. What did I do Saturday morning, you ask. Ummm. I slept. It had been a late one. Saturday evening was Company dinner and then, hmmm, more drinking. Fade out.
Fade in Sunday morning 9am. Waking up. Hungover. Again. Packed and headed down to the hotel lobby. Checked out and caught a taxi to the airport with some other folks from work. Arrived at the airport to find out plane delayed 2 hours. Aaaargh. What better place to spend 2 hours - not. Finally we caught our plane and got back in to Stansted around 4 in the afternoon.It had been a long weekend. Didn't really get to see that much of Naples, but did get to know most of the people I will be working with at my new work. Wouldn't mind going back to Naples some day and having a proper look around. One day ..... Photos here
I Promise
I promise I will update this properly soon. The commute/work is taking a bit of getting of used to, so very tired by the time I get home again. Currently the trip in takes about 1.5 hours, but hopefully that will change soon when we move somewhere a little more central.
Caught up with a friend I met in Toronto 5 years ago tonight. Haven't seen each other for about 4 years. Was great to catch up, reminiscing about old times.
Anyway, gotta go sleep. Hope you are all well.
Caught up with a friend I met in Toronto 5 years ago tonight. Haven't seen each other for about 4 years. Was great to catch up, reminiscing about old times.
Anyway, gotta go sleep. Hope you are all well.
Naples Recovery Mode
The trip to Naples was awesome, but I am now paying the price of a couple of late & drunken evenings. Didn't have that much time to explore Naples but I did make it out to Pompeii which was incredible. Most of my photos are from Pompeii and I will post them soon.The other major news is that I got a phone call from my folks while I was in the Naples airport (waiting for my 2 hour delayed easyjet departure) to say that my sister had a baby girl this morning. Very exciting news. Congrats Sis !
Anyway thats it for now. I need some sleep. Probably more than I am going to get!
Some satellite maps to check out.
Pompeii Vesuvius & Pompeii (Pompeii is bottom right corner)
Work
Well I have survived my first three days at work. The first day was tough. A huge shock to the system after nearly 5 months off ! It is getting better though as I get to know the people and the product. Seem like a great bunch of people to work with. Will get to know my fellow work mates even better this weekend during the 3 DAY COMPANY TRIP TO NAPLES. How sweet is that! Talk about joining just at the right time.
Anyway, enough for now as I am tired as and need to get up a little earlier tomorrow coz I was a little late today. (Who ? Me !)
Anyway, enough for now as I am tired as and need to get up a little earlier tomorrow coz I was a little late today. (Who ? Me !)
It's Been A While
I couldn't very well update this blog too regularly considering the name. A brief update. Spent four great days up in Edinburgh over last weekend. Caught the train up there and back. Amazing seafood birthday dinner down in Leith. Managed to survive turning 30. Signed my job contract on Thursday and dropped it off at the office. My work is a stones throw (ok .... a large stones throw!) from Tower Bridge which is an awesome location. Start work on Monday. Scaaaary.
Spent yesterday arvo and this morning checking out places to Live. I think we've decided on Islington. Seems like a nice area. Reasonanly central. Now we just need to find a place to rent!
Will post some more Edinburgh photos soon.
Man of Leisure No More
Just got a phone call from my recruiter, and after a 5 minute chat about England winning the ashes, he informed me that the company I interviewed with yesterday want to make me an offer. Thank God! The company is pretty small (not quite 20 developers) and writes real-time electronic trading software. Is going to be a huge challenge but should be fun. Start Monday week. Looks like I will have a happy birthday after all!
Krakow
Only two more cities left to post, Krakow and Prague. Krakow has a beautiful old town square and castle. (It was one of the few major cities to escape severe damage during World War II). My photos don't really show off much of the Old Town or Castle though. Maybe I was suffering a bit from photo fatigue! That said, I am very happy with some of the more abstract ones which could've been taken anywhere! More photos here.Krakow satellite map, courtesy of google maps yet again, showing Wawel Castle (bottom) and Town Square (top). Wikipedia entry for the interested.
Interviews continued
Brief update about the work situation. Had another interview this afternoon which, I think, went ok. Called my recruiter to see if i had had any feedback from mu interview on Monday. Apparently they were "sitting on the fence", whatever that means. They said I was ok technically but they werent sure wether I would fit in personality wise. Well, I guess their recruiting was working well in one respect, because I felt the same way. I told my recruiter to tell them I wasnt interested. Maybe a bad move, but hey. Will know sometime tomorrow wether I got the job I interviewed for today. Hopefully ..... wish me luck.
Am heading up to Edinburgh, Scotland for the weekend. Nice change of scenery for my birthday. What! Don't tell me you had forgotten. Shame on you. Will be in touch tomorrow to let you know wether I have joined the land of the gainfully employed.
Am heading up to Edinburgh, Scotland for the weekend. Nice change of scenery for my birthday. What! Don't tell me you had forgotten. Shame on you. Will be in touch tomorrow to let you know wether I have joined the land of the gainfully employed.
Warsaw cont
We didn't get off to a good start in Warsaw. After getting off the overnight bus trip in a rather frazzled state, we jumped straight into a Mafia taxi (a dodgy taxi which rips you off - apparently, according to all the tourist literature we read AFTERWARDS, they are rife!). After arriving at the hotel with our lightened wallets we crashed for a bit before heading in to town. The Old Town in Warsaw was quite scenic. Amazing considering it was pretty much flattened during the war, and then rebuilt in the old style. Apart from the Old Town I don't really have much good to say about our time in Warsaw. A handy hint for Warsaw Train Station, buy your tickets in the underpass if you can. It saves you time, especially after you waited in line for half an hour only to have the person behind the counter to shut up shop for no apparent reason!
Interviews
Well my "face to face" interview on Thursday turned out to be a written test which took about an hour. Some curly questions again, but a few were repeated from the telephone interview which was handy. There was no other interaction apart from here is a test, call me when you're done. Call, hand over the test and then leave. I thought I did ok. There was a whole section on database stuff for which I had no clue. Rang my recruiter and it turns out that they were happy with my results, so I have another interview tomorrow morning (Monday) 9am. I have no idea what to expect from this one.
My Friday arvo interview was pretty interesting. Once again I arrived, only to be handed a "test" to be done and 30 mins to do it in. Wasn't too difficult. Find a couple of bugs in some C code and reverse a string. After 30 mins the cavalry arrived and we went through my answers. They seemed happy enough. The next hour or so was pretty much a standard interview. The finale was a bit of an open ended question where you are expected to ask questions etc to get the full scope of the problem before continuing. Didnt do so well on that. Turns out it wasnt a complete failure as I got a second interview with them too. Not sure about the second interview with these guys either. The recruiter hinted that the questions in the second interview would be more kind of logic/thought process stuff. Should be interesting.
It is actually turning out to be a little bit stressful all this job hunting. I can't wait until its' all over. I will either be a very happy or sad boy by the end of next week. We shall see.
My Friday arvo interview was pretty interesting. Once again I arrived, only to be handed a "test" to be done and 30 mins to do it in. Wasn't too difficult. Find a couple of bugs in some C code and reverse a string. After 30 mins the cavalry arrived and we went through my answers. They seemed happy enough. The next hour or so was pretty much a standard interview. The finale was a bit of an open ended question where you are expected to ask questions etc to get the full scope of the problem before continuing. Didnt do so well on that. Turns out it wasnt a complete failure as I got a second interview with them too. Not sure about the second interview with these guys either. The recruiter hinted that the questions in the second interview would be more kind of logic/thought process stuff. Should be interesting.
It is actually turning out to be a little bit stressful all this job hunting. I can't wait until its' all over. I will either be a very happy or sad boy by the end of next week. We shall see.
Interview Fallout
My phone interview this morning was succesful so I have a "face to face" interview tomorrow at 9am. This is in addition to the one on Friday at 2pm. All of a sudden I am looking forward to relaxing on the weekends again !! Hopefully my days as an unemployed bum could be drawing to a close.
Warning, the rest of the post will probably be of interest to about 20% of you. Read at own risk of severe confusion and or boredom.
-- TECH RANT BEGIN ---Warning, the rest of the post will probably be of interest to about 20% of you. Read at own risk of severe confusion and or boredom.
(*) Invested in a subscription to Safari Bookshelf yesterday. It has come in very handy already. Basically it gives you online access to a huge array of computer/technical books for US$20 a month. No it isnt overly cheap, but to put it in perspective, its only about a pint a week (hmmm ... on second thoughts ....)! The only catch with it is that you can only have 10 books on your virtual bookshelf at a time, and any one book has to stay on the shelf for at least a month. That doesnt seem too bad though. The selection is excellent. First two weeks are free so if you are vaguely interested you should sign up. (You will need a credit card though.)
While I am on a tech reference rant, currently the C/C++ Users Journal has a limited offer of 12 month access for U$20. This gives you access to 12 months issues, plus all the back issues. FWIW.
--- TECH RANT END ---
Warsaw Part 1
Yes taking the overnight bus from Vilnius to Warsaw does save you a nights accomodation. No its not worth doing. Look at those shot eyes. Ouch.
Reality Check
Just a brief update on what I am up to. Still looking for work. Had a phone interview today which was successful, so I have a followup face to face interview on Friday arvo. The company looks pretty good so fingers crossed. The phone interview was very technical, luckily the recruiter had clued me up a little bit as to what to expect. It actually seems like a pretty good idea to do a quick 15 minute phone interview first before calling people in. I also have another phone interview tomorrow morning, with a ridiculously large American organization. We'll see. Should be interesting if nothing else.
Whoops ....
Just tried loading this page with Internet Explorer and noticed that the title image doesn't load. Whoops. Will have to have a look at that some time. It means 50% of you are missing out on the life changing title image that accompanies this page. Or maybe it is just my version of Internet Explorer.
Anyway, the easiest way to solve this is for all two of you reading this blog is to download Firefox and improve your life.
Anyway, the easiest way to solve this is for all two of you reading this blog is to download Firefox and improve your life.
Trakai
Trakai is a small town located about 28km outside of Vilnius. We caught a local bus out there, which meant cheap but no aircon. Luckily it didn't take too long and we managed not to completely melt. The Castle on the lake is ridiculously scenic, although up close it looks a little over restored. Still, better than it falling down forever I guess. This place is definitiely worth the day trip from Vilnius. When it came to catching the bus back home we managed to get there by the time it was standing room only. Decided to see if the driver would mind if we sat on the entrance stairs by sitting there and seeing what he did. Instead of telling us off he handed us a paper to sit on so we didn't get our asses dirty ! Try that in Oz. Best of all, we got to be the door chaeuffeurs for all the people who got on/off all the way back to Vilnius !Satellite Map. This interactive map is pretty cool too. Unfortunately most of the photos on the interactive map site are far more interesting than mine, so look at mine first to prevent disappointment. If you are really interested, the Wikipedia article is good too.
Click on the photo to see the other photos .... Consistency be damned.
Vilnius, Lithuania
After Nida we caught the bus most of the way across Lithuania to Vilnius, the capital. (It's also when I started reading Anna Karenina which I've only just finished. I thought it would be a good idea to read Tolstoy in Russia, but unfortunately I didn't get around to it IN Russia! FWIW : it wasnt bad, bit of a slog at times.)Vilnius is a great town : plenty to see and nice relaxed atmosphere. As you will see from the photos, our hotel was pretty, well, how you say, Soviet ! Photos here.
Nida, Lithuania
Unfortunately the photos from Nida really arent that exciting, but I didnt want to leave the place out of the blog as it was quite interesting for several reasons.For brevity ...
- it is located on a narrow stretch of land known as the Curonian Spit which may be doomed to erosion in the future,
- a few kilometres further south is Kalingrad, an outpost of Russia. You could see the jeeps driving up and down a road through the sand dunes patrolling the border on the horizon.
- the beaches are great and the water much better than Parnu (for a start it isnt brown)
- the traditional houses scattern through the town are very cute.
Anyway, as usual the photos are here. Check out this satellite photo to see the location.
Abandoned Soviet Missile Base
From my diary. 11th July 2005.Photos for those who don't like to read.
After arriving in Klaipeda from Siauliai (Hill of Crosses) at about 10 in the evening, we found our HI Hostel, thankfully not far from the train station. After checking in we inquired about the tours for the Missile Base that we had read about in the Lonely Planet. Apparently the woman who normally did the tours was away, but the woman at the hostel thought she might be able to arrange something for us. Cool. We would sort it in the morning.
Next morning the woman said she knew someone who could take us if we were still interested. Yep. The guide arrived at about 11, a young Lithuanian guy who was home from studying in Vilnius (I.T.). We dumped our backpacks in his red Nissand (just fitted), jumped in and off we went. It was to be about an hours drive to the site.
After about an hour we turned off the main road onto a gravel road in to Zemaitija National Park. People swimming in lakes surrounded by forest. Followed the signs to Military Exposition (in Lithuanian..) and finally we were there, pulling up in front of a large barbed wire gate. There were a couple of other cars and a rangers booth, all deserted. Could see the top of the missile base, four concrete domes and a stage in the middle. There was already a tour happening so we had to wait 15 minutes or so. While waiting our guide told us more about the base. When it was built the Russians covered it with plastic trees to hide it from satellite photos. According to the Americans, it didn't work.
The ranger came out from the site, bringing out the previous tour group of three. A discussion followed in Lithuanian between the ranger and our guide, the gist of which I thought was "no dice"!. But it turned out that the ranger was happy to unlock the place and let our guide show us around while the ranger took another group which had arrived while we were waiting.
Through the gate we walked over to one of the four missile domes which covered the missle silos. Rusty metal and flakin ....
Oh man. I just finished writing this entry and somehow when I went to post it I lost everything from here on. Aaaarrrh. Hmmm. I think it may be lost forever. Enjoy the photos .....
Jog Blog
For those hitting the road over the weekend, running in the Perth City to Surf or the Adelaide Marathon (B you're nuts) : *** GOOD LUCK ***
Local Tickets For Local People
Woohoo ... got my League of Gentleman tickets in the post today. Sweet. Not until the 4th of December though, so will have to keep the precious things safe until then.
What else have I been up to. Not a real lot. Been in touch with a few recruiters. Not a real lot of action on the job front though. Next topic.
Did something very nerdy and went to an Agile Development (thats software speak for you non techies) get together in a pub last Tuesday night. It is a weekly social gatehering where people who are interested in Agile Programming get together and network/swap ideas and drink copious amounts of beer. Was pretty good.
Spoke to a friend in Adelaide this morning (Hi B) using the new google talk app. I'm sure it is probably just like skype as far as the VoIP thing goes but it was pretty cool. Basically if you have broadband you get free phone calls over the internet using your computer. You need a gmail address to use it. If you want one I might give you one if you ask nicely .....
The travel photos will resume soon. It is just that the next lot are from the Soviet Missile Base and that deserves a decent explanation which requires a bit more story effort than the usual entry. For now here is a quick taster.
What else have I been up to. Not a real lot. Been in touch with a few recruiters. Not a real lot of action on the job front though. Next topic.
Did something very nerdy and went to an Agile Development (thats software speak for you non techies) get together in a pub last Tuesday night. It is a weekly social gatehering where people who are interested in Agile Programming get together and network/swap ideas and drink copious amounts of beer. Was pretty good.
Spoke to a friend in Adelaide this morning (Hi B) using the new google talk app. I'm sure it is probably just like skype as far as the VoIP thing goes but it was pretty cool. Basically if you have broadband you get free phone calls over the internet using your computer. You need a gmail address to use it. If you want one I might give you one if you ask nicely .....
The travel photos will resume soon. It is just that the next lot are from the Soviet Missile Base and that deserves a decent explanation which requires a bit more story effort than the usual entry. For now here is a quick taster.
Kew Gardens
Made the most of a fine English summers' day today and headed off to the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. The garden itself is pretty amazing, but the highlight for me was definitely the glass sculptures of Dale Chihuly. Check out the photos here.
Satellite photo.
For Blog's Sake
Thought I would provide some photographic evidence that I am actually in the UK! Taken last night on the way back to London after a sunny day in Oxford drinking pints by the baby Thames.
Ok. What else. I have been trolling through the job web sites, and contacting the odd recruiter, which is starting to get a bit depressing. Most of them are finance jobs, which would be cool, if I had finance experience. Grrrrr. It is early days yet .. we'll see.
Hmmm ... exciting entry isn't it. I felt guilty when I saw the Australians had awoken and passed their browsers by, only to be greeted with yesterdays news.
Not sure that this really fills the "news" void, but hey. ping
Ok. What else. I have been trolling through the job web sites, and contacting the odd recruiter, which is starting to get a bit depressing. Most of them are finance jobs, which would be cool, if I had finance experience. Grrrrr. It is early days yet .. we'll see.
Hmmm ... exciting entry isn't it. I felt guilty when I saw the Australians had awoken and passed their browsers by, only to be greeted with yesterdays news.
Not sure that this really fills the "news" void, but hey. ping
Hill Of Crosses
The Hill of Crosses is an amazing site near the Lithuanian town of Šiauliai. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, and well worth the effort of getting there. Effort? Yep! It involved taking a local bus from Riga, crossing the Latvia-->Lithuania border, to Šiauliai. Then a taxi from Šiauliai out to the Hill of Crosses and back. Our taxi driver waited for us which was nice, considering he had both our back packs in the boot of his car ! Finally a train to Klaipedia, rocking up at a youth hostel around 10 at night to take two of the last beds. It was quite a day. But like I said, definitely worth it.More photos here. More info here.
Riga, Latvia
Google Maps
Yes I know they have been around for ever, but damn its cool. Check out these couple of maps of places from my travels (found courtesy of Sightseeing With Google Maps)
Forbidden City, Beijing
Kremlin & Red Square, Moscow
And here is one I found on my own, Bolshoe Goloustnoe on the shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia.
Forbidden City, Beijing
Kremlin & Red Square, Moscow
And here is one I found on my own, Bolshoe Goloustnoe on the shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia.
Sigulda, Latvia
Sigulda is a town known as the "Switzerland of Latvia" (mainly by the Tourism Bureau I think ....). It is about an hour out from Riga. (map)
To be honest, my favourite bit of our overnight trip to Sigulda was the cool sculpture park, rather than its castles and ruins. Particular fave was an awesome sculpture of a woman's face. You might have guessed this from the number of photos of it!
Feast your eyes here.
Estonia
Some more photos at last !!!! This batch is from Estonia, in particular the towns of Tallinn and Parnu.
I dont know about you, but I knew next to nothing about Estonia - just a vague notion of it being one of the former Soviet bloc countries. To help you a little I've provided some links to Google maps so you can see where these places are. (Damn Google maps rocks ....)
Where is Estonia? Where is Parnu? Where is Tallinn?
Note : Zoom controls are top left of map.
I dont know about you, but I knew next to nothing about Estonia - just a vague notion of it being one of the former Soviet bloc countries. To help you a little I've provided some links to Google maps so you can see where these places are. (Damn Google maps rocks ....)
Where is Estonia? Where is Parnu? Where is Tallinn?
Note : Zoom controls are top left of map.
We Interrupt This Programme
A brief respite from the travel photos is in order I think ! Things are cruising along here in London. I still don't have a job. If I did, that would be some kind of miracle because, well, I haven't actually applied for any yet ! Shock horror ! The first week after arriving in London was pretty much spent sleeping and zombieing around the house. The second week has been more of the same, with some job-oriented reading thrown in. I haven't worked for four months so I am a little worried what it will be like when I have a job interview and they start firing technical questions at me. Hence the job related reading. And hence the sleeping and zombieing around the house ! A vicious circle.
The downside of all this is that without a job it is quite hard to get on with life over here. London isn't a place you really want to spend too much time in while not earning pounds. Hance I have been leading a very quite life. Not that that is a bad thing either. I think I needed a holiday from the travelling. But in order for life to return to normal one must return to doing normal things, like working. Hmmm. This is quite a ramble.
In summary, next week I am going to get a job. Or at least start looking very seriously for one.
The downside of all this is that without a job it is quite hard to get on with life over here. London isn't a place you really want to spend too much time in while not earning pounds. Hance I have been leading a very quite life. Not that that is a bad thing either. I think I needed a holiday from the travelling. But in order for life to return to normal one must return to doing normal things, like working. Hmmm. This is quite a ramble.
In summary, next week I am going to get a job. Or at least start looking very seriously for one.
Ferry Photos
Photos taken on the ferry from Saint Petersburg to Tallin (Estonia). Apart from being a nice change of transport, it provided some pretty cool photo opportunities to boot. Check them out here.
Saint Petersburg Photos
The photolanche continues. Sorry if some of the earlier ones have been a bit dark. In my hurry to put them up I have been a bit slapdash with the post processing (more posting, less processing !).
Anyhow, I made a fraction more effort with this lost so enjoy.
First off the rank, some random Saint Petersburg shots, followed by a few from Peterhof, aka the Summer Palace, and finally the gorgeous Hermitage.
Anyhow, I made a fraction more effort with this lost so enjoy.
First off the rank, some random Saint Petersburg shots, followed by a few from Peterhof, aka the Summer Palace, and finally the gorgeous Hermitage.
Bolshoe Goloustnoe Photos
Okay, the other places have been pretty obvious so far. So, where on earth is Bolshoe Goloustnoe? It is a small Siberian village on the shores of Lake Baikal, about 2 hours from Irkutsk. Lake Baikal you ask ? Shame on you. Lake Baikal is the largest and deepest lake in the world, containing about 20% of the Earth's fresh water. More info for the curious here.
Rest of the photos can be found here.
Note: In case you haven't tried it, try the "View as slideshow" link (just under the flickr logo) - its pretty neat.
Rest of the photos can be found here.
Note: In case you haven't tried it, try the "View as slideshow" link (just under the flickr logo) - its pretty neat.
Singapore Photos
Hmmmm ... I am meant to be job searching, but dammit, uploading photos is way more interesting. Let the fun begin.
and a few more here on flickr
and a few more here on flickr
Photos
The photos are getting closer. The official tally was 2330 photos and 5 short movies! Pretty impressive. Many many many many many thanks again to my awesome workmates who bought me the compact drive to take away. Perfect present. All the photos were still on it safe and sound upon arrival in London. Without it I wouldnt have got half the photos that I am happy with through fear of having to get 100 rolls of film developed upon arrival !!
Here is a taster for now until I trim the collection down a bit.
Here is a taster for now until I trim the collection down a bit.
London Town
Arrived safe and sound in London Monday night. Unfortunately blogging has taken a low priority compared to, well, sleeping. Its funny how you only realise how tired you are when you have the chance to sit back and relax ! The original plan was to start looking for work, house hunt etc on Tuesday but that, surprise surprise, didnt happen. Still, nice to relax for a bit.
Am staying at A's folks place for the time being which is pretty handy. Nice to be in a family environment after 2 months on the road. Spent today (yep nearly a whole day .....) setting up a wireless network in the house. Just like being at work ...... the upside is that I got it to work and am now using my laptop to update my blog from the comfort of the couch in front of the TV - sweeeeet. Handy hint: if you cant ping the modem/router, try enabling ping through the software firewall. Doh!
Next use for it - job hunting.
Am staying at A's folks place for the time being which is pretty handy. Nice to be in a family environment after 2 months on the road. Spent today (yep nearly a whole day .....) setting up a wireless network in the house. Just like being at work ...... the upside is that I got it to work and am now using my laptop to update my blog from the comfort of the couch in front of the TV - sweeeeet. Handy hint: if you cant ping the modem/router, try enabling ping through the software firewall. Doh!
Next use for it - job hunting.
E.O.T.T.S.
(EOTTS - see previous entry)
Sadlz the trip is nearlz over - flz back to London, from Prague, tonight a bit after nine, getting us to London just after ten. Was quite strange walking around last night, knowing that at the same time the next night we would be in London. Verz odd feeling. Although I am quite looking forward to not having to repack my bag every two or three days.
Am a little nervous about heading to London - finding somewhere to live and, joy of joys, finding a job. Hopefullz it shouldnt be too bad, but after three months of not working and getting out of bed at nine thirty, it is probablz going to be a bit of a shock to the system.
The trip has been awesome but it is sooooo hard to write about some of the amaying things we have seen. (and as I have found, these blog things dont actually update themselves ... shock horror - writing takes time) Over the coming few days I should be able to get some of my photos up for all to see. Will be a bit nerve wracking copying all the photos (about 15G worth I think, about 2000 or so photos) off my portable hard drive onto my laptop and checking some of them out. They always look so different on a big screen compared to the LCD on the back of the camera.
Hmmm ... I am rambling now. Next entry will be from London - the end of the tour.
Sadlz the trip is nearlz over - flz back to London, from Prague, tonight a bit after nine, getting us to London just after ten. Was quite strange walking around last night, knowing that at the same time the next night we would be in London. Verz odd feeling. Although I am quite looking forward to not having to repack my bag every two or three days.
Am a little nervous about heading to London - finding somewhere to live and, joy of joys, finding a job. Hopefullz it shouldnt be too bad, but after three months of not working and getting out of bed at nine thirty, it is probablz going to be a bit of a shock to the system.
The trip has been awesome but it is sooooo hard to write about some of the amaying things we have seen. (and as I have found, these blog things dont actually update themselves ... shock horror - writing takes time) Over the coming few days I should be able to get some of my photos up for all to see. Will be a bit nerve wracking copying all the photos (about 15G worth I think, about 2000 or so photos) off my portable hard drive onto my laptop and checking some of them out. They always look so different on a big screen compared to the LCD on the back of the camera.
Hmmm ... I am rambling now. Next entry will be from London - the end of the tour.
Prague
Prague is beautiful. What else can you say (except I cant wait to get to a kezboard where the punctuation kezs work and the y isnt where the z should be .....) Have spent the passed couple of days wandering the streets soaking up the atmosphere. First morning walked up through park to tower giving great view over down town and charles bridge, then down through the castle, across Charles Bridge (which was packed) and then into Old Town. All punctuated with the beer stops that seem to be necessary to give us the strength to go on - have been doing an awful lot of walking over the passed eight weeks (although the diet heavilz augmented with beer and chocolate has nicelz balanced out all that exercise).
The sheer size of Pragues' Old Town far exceeds any of the other cities we have visited in Eastern Europe. Definitelz a highlight of the trip, although it has been a little overshadowed by a case of E.O.T.T.S. (end of the trip syndrome.) .....
The sheer size of Pragues' Old Town far exceeds any of the other cities we have visited in Eastern Europe. Definitelz a highlight of the trip, although it has been a little overshadowed by a case of E.O.T.T.S. (end of the trip syndrome.) .....
Krakow > Prague
Krakow turned out to be a pretty nice city, much better than Warsaw.
Wednesday we went to Auscwhitz (60 or so km south west of Krakow) which was a pretty sombre day. May it never happen again.
Thursday we caught the train from Krakow to Katowice (still in Poland), and then from Katowice to Prague (Czech Republic). For most of the 6 hour trip we were the only ones in our compartment so had plenty of room to stretch out. Sweeeet! Mixed feelings on arriving in Prague. Was a bit sad as it is the last destination of the trip (fly to London on Monday.) At the same time so many people rave about Prague I was looking forward to checking it out.
After some pretty interesting accomodation on the trip we decided to stay in some comfy digs in Prague, resulting in most of the first day in Prague lazing around the hotel room! Did get out for a bit of a look around though. Stunning city!! Cant wait to have abetter look around tomorrow.
Anyway. Gotta go. Have already used up 30 mins of the 15 minutes I am meant to be on this machine in the hotel lobby (sadly the hotel room has free broadband internet access, but we have no laptop!!!)
Wednesday we went to Auscwhitz (60 or so km south west of Krakow) which was a pretty sombre day. May it never happen again.
Thursday we caught the train from Krakow to Katowice (still in Poland), and then from Katowice to Prague (Czech Republic). For most of the 6 hour trip we were the only ones in our compartment so had plenty of room to stretch out. Sweeeet! Mixed feelings on arriving in Prague. Was a bit sad as it is the last destination of the trip (fly to London on Monday.) At the same time so many people rave about Prague I was looking forward to checking it out.
After some pretty interesting accomodation on the trip we decided to stay in some comfy digs in Prague, resulting in most of the first day in Prague lazing around the hotel room! Did get out for a bit of a look around though. Stunning city!! Cant wait to have abetter look around tomorrow.
Anyway. Gotta go. Have already used up 30 mins of the 15 minutes I am meant to be on this machine in the hotel lobby (sadly the hotel room has free broadband internet access, but we have no laptop!!!)
Warsaw-->Krakow
Warsaw old town ended up being pretty cool in the end. especally considering what it looked like after wwII.
Monday we headed in, with packs in tow, to buy train ticket from Warsaw to Krakow. After waiting about 30 mins in line the lady at the ticket counter just closed up and told everyone to go - apparently it was break time!! I joined another queue while A decided to try his luck at one of the ticket sellers in the subway maze just outside the station. He returned triumphant about ten minutes later while I still hadn't moved a single spot!! Bizarre. At least we found a quicker way, those queues weren't exactly humming along.
Train to Krakow took about 3 hours in which time I managed to read Wired magazine cover to cover. Good for a technology fix!!
Wandered around Krakow old town last night. Amazing. The square is stunning, especially in the setting sun. Thumbs up.
Anyway, off to check out the castle now.
Monday we headed in, with packs in tow, to buy train ticket from Warsaw to Krakow. After waiting about 30 mins in line the lady at the ticket counter just closed up and told everyone to go - apparently it was break time!! I joined another queue while A decided to try his luck at one of the ticket sellers in the subway maze just outside the station. He returned triumphant about ten minutes later while I still hadn't moved a single spot!! Bizarre. At least we found a quicker way, those queues weren't exactly humming along.
Train to Krakow took about 3 hours in which time I managed to read Wired magazine cover to cover. Good for a technology fix!!
Wandered around Krakow old town last night. Amazing. The square is stunning, especially in the setting sun. Thumbs up.
Anyway, off to check out the castle now.
Filling In The Gaps
Time to face reality. I don't think the gaps after Sigulda are going to be filled in anytime soon. Will wait to write about those places when I can get my photos off my portable hard drive (which is still going strong thanks, nearly 1500 photos later!!)
Warsaw
After a 9 hour overnight bus trip we made it to Warsaw with another stamp in my passport. Definitely not the best way to get a good nights sleep. Managed about three hours. Paying for it today with a severe lack of interest in anything but sleep!!!
Warsaw has been a little underwhelming so far, probably a little marred by lack of sleep and the fact we got a dodgy taxi within about 15 mins of getting into town and paying (literally!) the consequences. C'est la vie ... the rest of the trip has gone pretty smoothly so can't complain (touch wood).
Off to see the "Old" Town now, most of which was rebuilt after it was flattened in WWII. And then an early night! Off to Krakow tomorrow and then Prague next Thursday. Can't wait until Prague, especially considering we have decided to give up beer while in Poland - before our livers give out!
Warsaw has been a little underwhelming so far, probably a little marred by lack of sleep and the fact we got a dodgy taxi within about 15 mins of getting into town and paying (literally!) the consequences. C'est la vie ... the rest of the trip has gone pretty smoothly so can't complain (touch wood).
Off to see the "Old" Town now, most of which was rebuilt after it was flattened in WWII. And then an early night! Off to Krakow tomorrow and then Prague next Thursday. Can't wait until Prague, especially considering we have decided to give up beer while in Poland - before our livers give out!
Bye Bye Baltics
Am at the Vilnius Bus Station waiting for our 2300 bus to Warsaw (Poland). Quite sad to leave the Baltics. Vilnius has been great - could have done with an extra day. Out to Trakai castle today. Was a great way to spend a relaxing day.
Anyway .. thats about it ... 1 Lita doesnt buy a lot of time on this internet kiosk !!!
Promise to fill in some blank spots once I get to a decent internet place !!!
Anyway .. thats about it ... 1 Lita doesnt buy a lot of time on this internet kiosk !!!
Promise to fill in some blank spots once I get to a decent internet place !!!
Sigulda, Latvia
Next stop after Parnu was Sigulda, the "Switzerland of Latvia". Caught the bus from Parnu to Riga (about 2 1/2 hours) and then caught a local bus in Riga to Sigulda, about another hour out. FWIW, the driver looked an awful like Hunter S. Thompson. Spooky.
Arriving in Sigulda I realised that I hadnt actually bothered to look up the address of the place we were staying in. Slight oversight. Headed to where the Lonely Planet said the info centre should be, colocated with the rather swanky looking Sigulda Hotel, but no dice. Bit of a regular occurrence - things seems to change quickly in this neck of the woods. Asked the girl behind reception for directions to info centre. She talked, we nodded our heads, walked out, looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and then headed off in the wrong direction. Got chased by a young guy who had been sitting in reception who spun us around and headed us in the right direction! Never did find the info place (well not until the next day). Instead stumbled across an info post that had our Guest House on it. Sweet. Finally found the place okay and checked in okay with the help of A's German.
Next day was spent hiking around Sigulda. Caught the cable car across the Gauja valley, catching glimpses of the restored Turaida castle across the valley, to the ruins of Krimulda castle. After a beer stop on the steps of the Krimulda Mansion (now half hostel, half youth sanitorium) we headed off down the valley to get to Turaida castle. Wandered along the valley floor, via Gutmanis cave in which there are carvings of crests/names dating back from the 16th century. Quite cool.
We got extorted by an accordion player who, spying us coming his way along a narrow track, quickly struck up a tune. Talk about a captive (captured?) audience. Would've been a bit hard to walk pass without dropping some coins. Points before audacity!
The quickest way to get to Turaida castle is to follow the road up when the track hits the main road. We didn't go that way, instead following the track along the river. Of course, not only was the road the quicket, it was also the simplest. We walked and walked. We saw one track up into the forest but, well, I'm not sure why we didn't take it - it was obvious in hindsight. Instead we wandered on a bit further until we came to a collection of three or so deserted houses. Quite spooky. According to our map there was a track leading up from behind the "village" but we couldn't find it. Ended up walking back to the track we saw earlier and heading UP it. Hard work.
Came out of the forest into a clearing containing a very cool statue/sculpture park. Quite bizarre after out little detour to come across a sculpture park amongst manicured lawns. If you ever get there, the statue of the woman's face was definitely my favourite - will post photots when I get to London.
The sculpture park was in the grounds of the Turaida Castle so we wandered over to it. This time we agreed with the Lonely Planet, it was "best viewed from afar". And full of tour groups to boot. Wandered back to the main entrance to find that by coming up the forest track we had avoiding the "whopping" entrance fee of 1.5 Lats (about $3)!.
After another beer stop (well two actually, mainly because of a rather full on thunderstorm which stranded us under an umbrella for 45 mins!) we walked the 5km back to Sigulda centre, via the bobsleigh track which snakes its way down the side of the Gauja valley at one end of the town.
Nice to have a day out away from the city after Tallin and the packed beaches of Parnu. Definitely worth a look, just don't expect castles in the Alps - it aint that Swiss(h) !!!
Arriving in Sigulda I realised that I hadnt actually bothered to look up the address of the place we were staying in. Slight oversight. Headed to where the Lonely Planet said the info centre should be, colocated with the rather swanky looking Sigulda Hotel, but no dice. Bit of a regular occurrence - things seems to change quickly in this neck of the woods. Asked the girl behind reception for directions to info centre. She talked, we nodded our heads, walked out, looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and then headed off in the wrong direction. Got chased by a young guy who had been sitting in reception who spun us around and headed us in the right direction! Never did find the info place (well not until the next day). Instead stumbled across an info post that had our Guest House on it. Sweet. Finally found the place okay and checked in okay with the help of A's German.
Next day was spent hiking around Sigulda. Caught the cable car across the Gauja valley, catching glimpses of the restored Turaida castle across the valley, to the ruins of Krimulda castle. After a beer stop on the steps of the Krimulda Mansion (now half hostel, half youth sanitorium) we headed off down the valley to get to Turaida castle. Wandered along the valley floor, via Gutmanis cave in which there are carvings of crests/names dating back from the 16th century. Quite cool.
We got extorted by an accordion player who, spying us coming his way along a narrow track, quickly struck up a tune. Talk about a captive (captured?) audience. Would've been a bit hard to walk pass without dropping some coins. Points before audacity!
The quickest way to get to Turaida castle is to follow the road up when the track hits the main road. We didn't go that way, instead following the track along the river. Of course, not only was the road the quicket, it was also the simplest. We walked and walked. We saw one track up into the forest but, well, I'm not sure why we didn't take it - it was obvious in hindsight. Instead we wandered on a bit further until we came to a collection of three or so deserted houses. Quite spooky. According to our map there was a track leading up from behind the "village" but we couldn't find it. Ended up walking back to the track we saw earlier and heading UP it. Hard work.
Came out of the forest into a clearing containing a very cool statue/sculpture park. Quite bizarre after out little detour to come across a sculpture park amongst manicured lawns. If you ever get there, the statue of the woman's face was definitely my favourite - will post photots when I get to London.
The sculpture park was in the grounds of the Turaida Castle so we wandered over to it. This time we agreed with the Lonely Planet, it was "best viewed from afar". And full of tour groups to boot. Wandered back to the main entrance to find that by coming up the forest track we had avoiding the "whopping" entrance fee of 1.5 Lats (about $3)!.
After another beer stop (well two actually, mainly because of a rather full on thunderstorm which stranded us under an umbrella for 45 mins!) we walked the 5km back to Sigulda centre, via the bobsleigh track which snakes its way down the side of the Gauja valley at one end of the town.
Nice to have a day out away from the city after Tallin and the packed beaches of Parnu. Definitely worth a look, just don't expect castles in the Alps - it aint that Swiss(h) !!!
Bumper Edition Soon
Okay. Its not that I haven't been chipper for the past week. Just been busy. Swimming in the Baltic, visiting abandoned Soviet missile bases, avoiding stag parties in Riga and visiting the bizarre Hill of Crosses in Lithuania.
Currently in an internet cafe in Nida surrounded by kids with high pitched voices playing shoot em ups while the lady behind the reception counter is listening to some very dodgy euro pop. Not conducive to a long blogging session .....
Off to Vilnius this afternoon.
Currently in an internet cafe in Nida surrounded by kids with high pitched voices playing shoot em ups while the lady behind the reception counter is listening to some very dodgy euro pop. Not conducive to a long blogging session .....
Off to Vilnius this afternoon.
Riga, Latvia
Got in to Riga (again, had been here briefly the other day on the way to Sigulda ...) today, a bit after twelve, from Sigulda. Dropped our bags off at the hostel (Friendly Fun Franks - run by an Australian .... ) and headed out for a drink where we saw the news of the London bombings. Aaarghh. Makes you feel sick. Hope everyone I know in London town is okay (well, anyone for that matter, but you know what I mean). Hmmm .. will blog more stuff about Parnu & Sigulda when I am feeling a little more chipper.
Parnu, Estonia.
We caught the bus from Tallin yesterday down to a place on the westcoast of Estonia, called Parnu. About a 2 hour bus ride (140 kms or so). The scenery on the bus ride wasn't bad - very lush and green.
Parnu is supposedly known as the Baltic Riviera, although the "stretch" of beach isn't much of a stretch compared to the Perth coastline! It also looked rather shallow with people wading out 50m offshore still up to their knees!!
There doesn't seem to be a lot to see, per se, in Parnu apart from some nice leafy streets\parks and intersting architecture. I think it is better known for its sanitoriums where people come to "recover"! Still, it will be a nice place to spend a day doing a few of the things we need to (organise more accomodation, catch up on internet, and most importantly washing (which we paid for by the kilo!)). Maybe even a lie on the beach could be in order. The weather is pretty spectacular. Sorry to those of you in winter climes .... ;-)
Parnu is supposedly known as the Baltic Riviera, although the "stretch" of beach isn't much of a stretch compared to the Perth coastline! It also looked rather shallow with people wading out 50m offshore still up to their knees!!
There doesn't seem to be a lot to see, per se, in Parnu apart from some nice leafy streets\parks and intersting architecture. I think it is better known for its sanitoriums where people come to "recover"! Still, it will be a nice place to spend a day doing a few of the things we need to (organise more accomodation, catch up on internet, and most importantly washing (which we paid for by the kilo!)). Maybe even a lie on the beach could be in order. The weather is pretty spectacular. Sorry to those of you in winter climes .... ;-)
Tallinn, Estonia
Arriving in Tallin was relatively painless. Passport control was pretty laid back compared to all that we had endured before! No visa required so I guess that makes life a little easier. Custom no hassle either. Was strange, even after being off the boat for 5 minutes, you could sense that it was going to be a lot different to Russia.
Found the hostel (Beata Hostel), just on the edge of old town, without too many hassles. Turned out to be a very handy place to stay, close to all of the sights.
Most of the time in Tallin was spent wandering the old cobble stoned streets and sampling the local brews. (Saku seems to be pretty popular, as well as A. Le Coq. About $2.50 for a pint. Not too bad. Although the cheap beer does have one downside, it does to seem to attract the stag parties from the UK.). So much easier in than Russia, people are actually interested in serving you!!!
The Old Town has been very well restored with quite a large amount of the old town walls still standing. Great for a wander at 11 at night with the sun just setting.
It is hard to do it justice in words. When I get to London town I will get around to posting some photos ! (The portable hard drive storage for my photos still seems to be working. Though I think it is going to be a nervous moment when I actually plug it into a computer to get my photos off it!!)
Tallin did have a bit of a Disneyesque feel to it, I guess it was just that it was sooooo charming - and swarming with tourists. Eastern Europe (at least Tallin, and I expect most places on our plan) isn't exactly the "undiscovered" part of the world I expected. To be honest, I expected it to be quite poor and behind the times, which has certainly not been the case. The streets sport quite a number of BMWs and AUDIs with the odd porsche or ferrari. There are also quite a few wifi access points as well. Even heading out of the Old Town in to the new town centre didn't really make that much difference to the standards.
I would definitely recommend Tallin for a weekend or so. Has been a great place to relax after some of the hassles of St Petersburg!
Found the hostel (Beata Hostel), just on the edge of old town, without too many hassles. Turned out to be a very handy place to stay, close to all of the sights.
Most of the time in Tallin was spent wandering the old cobble stoned streets and sampling the local brews. (Saku seems to be pretty popular, as well as A. Le Coq. About $2.50 for a pint. Not too bad. Although the cheap beer does have one downside, it does to seem to attract the stag parties from the UK.). So much easier in than Russia, people are actually interested in serving you!!!
The Old Town has been very well restored with quite a large amount of the old town walls still standing. Great for a wander at 11 at night with the sun just setting.
It is hard to do it justice in words. When I get to London town I will get around to posting some photos ! (The portable hard drive storage for my photos still seems to be working. Though I think it is going to be a nervous moment when I actually plug it into a computer to get my photos off it!!)
Tallin did have a bit of a Disneyesque feel to it, I guess it was just that it was sooooo charming - and swarming with tourists. Eastern Europe (at least Tallin, and I expect most places on our plan) isn't exactly the "undiscovered" part of the world I expected. To be honest, I expected it to be quite poor and behind the times, which has certainly not been the case. The streets sport quite a number of BMWs and AUDIs with the odd porsche or ferrari. There are also quite a few wifi access points as well. Even heading out of the Old Town in to the new town centre didn't really make that much difference to the standards.
I would definitely recommend Tallin for a weekend or so. Has been a great place to relax after some of the hassles of St Petersburg!
Ferry Ride
The ferry ride was great, just by virtue of the fact we were on it ! Was a reasonably large ship complete with several restaurants, gymnasium, swimming pool and casino. Was nice to leave Russia by ferry, slowly edging away from the harbour side and then cruising away from St Petersburg passed a huge number of dockyards.
Weather was good so had no worries with getting sick. (Not even Kwells even though i was prepared .... !).
The room wasn't bad. Two berth. No windows so that sucked a little but that is what you get when you go scummy class!!
Stayed up fairly late due to my body deciding that "normal" sleeping hours are no longer required. Wandered the decks for awhile listening to my walkman. Quite cool at one in the morning, still not completely dark (could only see one star despite it being a cloudless night), staring out at various cargo and cruise ships passing.
Slept pretty well, but the best bit of all was the included buffet breakfast. Hmm .. bacon. Best breakfast we've had since we left home! Sad the things you become obssessed with !!
Check out the ferry company. The sheer indulgent luxury.
Weather was good so had no worries with getting sick. (Not even Kwells even though i was prepared .... !).
The room wasn't bad. Two berth. No windows so that sucked a little but that is what you get when you go scummy class!!
Stayed up fairly late due to my body deciding that "normal" sleeping hours are no longer required. Wandered the decks for awhile listening to my walkman. Quite cool at one in the morning, still not completely dark (could only see one star despite it being a cloudless night), staring out at various cargo and cruise ships passing.
Slept pretty well, but the best bit of all was the included buffet breakfast. Hmm .. bacon. Best breakfast we've had since we left home! Sad the things you become obssessed with !!
Check out the ferry company. The sheer indulgent luxury.
Left Russia ... Just
Okay. So the ferry departure time was 8pm and being the careful lad I can be sometimes, I booked a "taxi" in the morning for 630pm that night. We had to be at the ferry a bit before 715pm to pick up tickets, pass through customs and passport control - so we had given ourselves plenty of time ... the sea terminal wasnt that far away ... riiiiight.
Our "taxi" driver rocked up a bit before 630, all good so far. Turns out that the "taxi" driver was probably a relation of the hostel owner. Whatever. A taxi is a taxi is a taxi(ish) - at least it is when the price has been agreed up front. Piled into the car and off we went. Now, I would've thought that as we were at the end of Nevskii Prospekt (st) we would've just headed down there, followed it to the end, crossed over the Neva River, turned left after the bridge and that would've been about it. We headed in the opposite direction. Okay. This guy is a local. Give him the benefit of the doubt (is that a saying?). Traffic not too bad so far, until we started heading in the right direction. Gridlock St Petersburg style. Slowly our taxi driver began his descent into madness muttering things in Russian, waving his hands, abusing other drivers, cutting in front of other cars.
After about 5 minutes of this he decides to try another street. He turns off of the one we were on and heads to the other one, only to get there and be greeted with the same mess of cars. He mutters something else in Russian, wave his hands and heads back to the street we just came from.
He turns around and asks us what time we need to get there (at least we think that is what he asked). We gesture 7pm which brought a shake of the head, more muttering and more waving of the arms. At this point we have already blown 10 minutes and hardly moved anywhere. The awareness of our deadline caused our driver to shift in to top gear in the mania stakes. Turning back TOWARDS the hostel he beeps and swerves his way back towards the main street (Nevskii).
By this stage I am starting to get a little worried. It is about ten to seven and we have got about 2% of the way there.
We make it back to the main street and start heading in the right direction. At least the traffic was actually moving on this street, albeit slowly. But I wasn't complaining. At this stage any progress was better then swerving from one street to another making no progress at all!!! So the madness continued all the way down Nevskii Prospekt. At one point the driver broke out into a huge guffaw when we passed a police car with its siren and lights going, stuck in traffic also. He turned around to us and with two index fingers raised above his head, twrling them around, he tried to explain the joke. Yep.
We finally made it to the end of Nevskii Prospekt at about ten past seven. At this point there was a small growing hope that we might actually catch the ferry. The odds had certainly shortened from the 300-1 odd I would've offered you about 20 minutes before.
The traffic was much better once we crossed the bridge over the Neva River and headed towards the sea terminal. Not to say that the erratic driving didn't continue : more cutting across lanes, frantic muttering and the odd curse at other drivers. Hitting the last leg of our taxi ride we could see the ferry at the end of the road. Just as we got right near the drop off point we had to take a huge detour (okay 750m or so but at this stage anything was a huge detour!!!) before we could then turn back and enter the terminal.
The detour behind us, the taxi driver pulled up about 100m from the terminal door and let us out. We grabbed our bags, handed the driver the cash and ran to the terminal. About half seven by this stage, maybe a little earlier. Entering the terminal, looking worried no doubt, a guy pointed us to the ticket desk and, thank god, they gave us our tickets. As our tickets our handed to us the man behind the counter says, "Hurry up, checkin has closed.". We jog past the closed x ray machines and up to passport control. There is one family and one old man in front of us, but other than that was it. We were the last ones through. Yep, the last two on the ferry. One or two more minutes and that would've been it!
Russian passport control turned out to be rather painless, probably because we didn't have any time for them to hassle us! No customs forms, nothing. Worse still, no time to buy some cheap cold beer before we left Russia :-(
Through one last door, outside, up some stairs, over the gangway and on to the boat. Damn it felt good to be on that boat. In the taxi I had had visions of having to return to our booked out hostel, organising a bus ticket to Tallin before our visa expired the next day and then a 12 hour bus trip to Tallinn.
I don't think I want to go in the Amazing Race after all. "Detour: Make your way to Tallin by ferry and find the Beata Hostel in the Old Town. The last team to arrive may be eliminated ...."
(I must say in defence of the taxi driver, we probably should've given ourselves a bit more time and the traffic was incredibly bad! Without his desperate attempts we probably would be on a bus right now ...)
Our "taxi" driver rocked up a bit before 630, all good so far. Turns out that the "taxi" driver was probably a relation of the hostel owner. Whatever. A taxi is a taxi is a taxi(ish) - at least it is when the price has been agreed up front. Piled into the car and off we went. Now, I would've thought that as we were at the end of Nevskii Prospekt (st) we would've just headed down there, followed it to the end, crossed over the Neva River, turned left after the bridge and that would've been about it. We headed in the opposite direction. Okay. This guy is a local. Give him the benefit of the doubt (is that a saying?). Traffic not too bad so far, until we started heading in the right direction. Gridlock St Petersburg style. Slowly our taxi driver began his descent into madness muttering things in Russian, waving his hands, abusing other drivers, cutting in front of other cars.
After about 5 minutes of this he decides to try another street. He turns off of the one we were on and heads to the other one, only to get there and be greeted with the same mess of cars. He mutters something else in Russian, wave his hands and heads back to the street we just came from.
He turns around and asks us what time we need to get there (at least we think that is what he asked). We gesture 7pm which brought a shake of the head, more muttering and more waving of the arms. At this point we have already blown 10 minutes and hardly moved anywhere. The awareness of our deadline caused our driver to shift in to top gear in the mania stakes. Turning back TOWARDS the hostel he beeps and swerves his way back towards the main street (Nevskii).
By this stage I am starting to get a little worried. It is about ten to seven and we have got about 2% of the way there.
We make it back to the main street and start heading in the right direction. At least the traffic was actually moving on this street, albeit slowly. But I wasn't complaining. At this stage any progress was better then swerving from one street to another making no progress at all!!! So the madness continued all the way down Nevskii Prospekt. At one point the driver broke out into a huge guffaw when we passed a police car with its siren and lights going, stuck in traffic also. He turned around to us and with two index fingers raised above his head, twrling them around, he tried to explain the joke. Yep.
We finally made it to the end of Nevskii Prospekt at about ten past seven. At this point there was a small growing hope that we might actually catch the ferry. The odds had certainly shortened from the 300-1 odd I would've offered you about 20 minutes before.
The traffic was much better once we crossed the bridge over the Neva River and headed towards the sea terminal. Not to say that the erratic driving didn't continue : more cutting across lanes, frantic muttering and the odd curse at other drivers. Hitting the last leg of our taxi ride we could see the ferry at the end of the road. Just as we got right near the drop off point we had to take a huge detour (okay 750m or so but at this stage anything was a huge detour!!!) before we could then turn back and enter the terminal.
The detour behind us, the taxi driver pulled up about 100m from the terminal door and let us out. We grabbed our bags, handed the driver the cash and ran to the terminal. About half seven by this stage, maybe a little earlier. Entering the terminal, looking worried no doubt, a guy pointed us to the ticket desk and, thank god, they gave us our tickets. As our tickets our handed to us the man behind the counter says, "Hurry up, checkin has closed.". We jog past the closed x ray machines and up to passport control. There is one family and one old man in front of us, but other than that was it. We were the last ones through. Yep, the last two on the ferry. One or two more minutes and that would've been it!
Russian passport control turned out to be rather painless, probably because we didn't have any time for them to hassle us! No customs forms, nothing. Worse still, no time to buy some cheap cold beer before we left Russia :-(
Through one last door, outside, up some stairs, over the gangway and on to the boat. Damn it felt good to be on that boat. In the taxi I had had visions of having to return to our booked out hostel, organising a bus ticket to Tallin before our visa expired the next day and then a 12 hour bus trip to Tallinn.
I don't think I want to go in the Amazing Race after all. "Detour: Make your way to Tallin by ferry and find the Beata Hostel in the Old Town. The last team to arrive may be eliminated ...."
(I must say in defence of the taxi driver, we probably should've given ourselves a bit more time and the traffic was incredibly bad! Without his desperate attempts we probably would be on a bus right now ...)
Lets Get Organized
After another rather frantic attempt to find accomodation in Tallin (our next destination) we have decided to try and book the rest of our accomodation for the trip. All 30 nights of it!
We spent about 30 mins in a cafe sorting out our itinerary and a further four hours in the internet cafe trying to book hostels in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic. Reasonably successful. Some of the smaller towns don't have facilities to book online so we still have a few phone calls to make.
We had met a couple on the train who had prebooked all their accomodation and we had thought they were mad!!! Turns out accomodation can be (a) expensive if cheaper places are full and (b) the cheaper places tend to fill up quickly!!! I stand corrected.
We catch the ferry tonight to Tallin in Estonia. Should be an interesting experience. The room we have has no windows so I might finally get a decent nights sleep. Nearly every morning I have woken up with the sun at about 4:30 !!! Not to mention going to bed with the sun at 11:30 - a grand total of about 5 hours a night. Those of you who know me know I like to sleep :-). Arrive in Tallin about 930 in the morning.
We spent about 30 mins in a cafe sorting out our itinerary and a further four hours in the internet cafe trying to book hostels in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic. Reasonably successful. Some of the smaller towns don't have facilities to book online so we still have a few phone calls to make.
We had met a couple on the train who had prebooked all their accomodation and we had thought they were mad!!! Turns out accomodation can be (a) expensive if cheaper places are full and (b) the cheaper places tend to fill up quickly!!! I stand corrected.
We catch the ferry tonight to Tallin in Estonia. Should be an interesting experience. The room we have has no windows so I might finally get a decent nights sleep. Nearly every morning I have woken up with the sun at about 4:30 !!! Not to mention going to bed with the sun at 11:30 - a grand total of about 5 hours a night. Those of you who know me know I like to sleep :-). Arrive in Tallin about 930 in the morning.
St Petersburg Take II
Yesterday we went to the State Hermitage Museum. We got there just before 10:30 which is opening time, to be greeted by a line about 75m long! Luckily it moved reasonably quickly and we were inside the museum within about 1/2 an hour.
The museum is largely housed in the old Winter Palace of the tsars which makes opulent seem like an understatement. Some of the rooms were works of art in themselves, if somewhat unsubtle !!! Massive staircases, columns lining the walls, gilt ceilings, massive chandeliers - you name it.
We spent about 4 hours wandering through room after room with paintings lining the walls and sculptures providing obstacles in the middle of the rooms for the huge crowds. Out of the window I counted about 30 tour buses parked outside!! Trying to go against the flow of the tour groups lining up for a DaVinci painiting was quite an onerous task!
The collection was impressive but unfortunately I'm not the biggest appreciator of art so most of the artists/periods/styles etc elude me. There were a lot of Monets, Picassos, Matisses, Van Goghs, Cezanne, Gauguins - a lot of which were plundered from private collections during world war II.
St Petersburg has been a completely different experience to Moscow. Very scenic and a bit more relaxed. That said, I am willing to start up a fund for another Metro station at the end of Nevskii Prospect (the main drag). I walked that stretch a little too often in the few days we have been here.
The museum is largely housed in the old Winter Palace of the tsars which makes opulent seem like an understatement. Some of the rooms were works of art in themselves, if somewhat unsubtle !!! Massive staircases, columns lining the walls, gilt ceilings, massive chandeliers - you name it.
We spent about 4 hours wandering through room after room with paintings lining the walls and sculptures providing obstacles in the middle of the rooms for the huge crowds. Out of the window I counted about 30 tour buses parked outside!! Trying to go against the flow of the tour groups lining up for a DaVinci painiting was quite an onerous task!
The collection was impressive but unfortunately I'm not the biggest appreciator of art so most of the artists/periods/styles etc elude me. There were a lot of Monets, Picassos, Matisses, Van Goghs, Cezanne, Gauguins - a lot of which were plundered from private collections during world war II.
St Petersburg has been a completely different experience to Moscow. Very scenic and a bit more relaxed. That said, I am willing to start up a fund for another Metro station at the end of Nevskii Prospect (the main drag). I walked that stretch a little too often in the few days we have been here.
St Petersburg
St Petersburg has proved to be a welcome relief from Moscow. Such a beautiful city. Admittedly I haven't been making the most of it ... first day was spent catching up on sleep after the "sleeper" train, and most of today was spent sleeping off a hangover after going out last night.
It is 11:30pm at the moment and it is only just starting to get dark outside. It is a very wierd feeling. It doesnt do wonders for the body clock !!! Sun is back up at 4:30.
One thing I did manage to do today was go on a bit of a Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky) walking tour courtesy of the lonely planet. Saw the streets where the book was set, as well as the stairwell and flat of the main character in the book (whose long Russian name eludes me at the moment ... Raskalnikov or something like that). Very cool.
It is 11:30pm at the moment and it is only just starting to get dark outside. It is a very wierd feeling. It doesnt do wonders for the body clock !!! Sun is back up at 4:30.
One thing I did manage to do today was go on a bit of a Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky) walking tour courtesy of the lonely planet. Saw the streets where the book was set, as well as the stairwell and flat of the main character in the book (whose long Russian name eludes me at the moment ... Raskalnikov or something like that). Very cool.
"Sleeper" Train
Arrived in St Petersburg early (well 8am is early isn't it?) this morning after about 8 hours on the "sleeper" train from Moscow (yes that's catching the midnight train. Train stations aren't the most salubrious places at the best of time. Capitalism was flourishing in park just down the street from the train stations ....) As for "sleeper", well it got light at about 4 in the morning and I think I woke up every 10 minutes. We had a Russian couple in our 4 sleeper cabin which is the first time we have actually shared with locals. Was pretty sweet though, no hassles and they even wished us well in the morning!!! (Yes it is saying something if that makes a big impact on your day!!)
I think I was quite ready to leave Moscow last night. It has been fun and it was great to see all the sights but was a bit like hard work at times. Hmmm - now I just sound like I am whingeing so I will shutup.
That said, did get to see a very cool photo competition (entries from Muscovites of various day to day subjects) at the Moscow House of Photography before we left.
We are currently trying to work out our plans to get to London. It looks like the overland route mught get the ass due to it being about 200 quid more expensive than a 2 hour flight from prague to heathrow. Sad but true. (And russia is a lot more expensive then I had bargained on. A cup of coffee in Moscow costs about $6. Yikes.)
I think I was quite ready to leave Moscow last night. It has been fun and it was great to see all the sights but was a bit like hard work at times. Hmmm - now I just sound like I am whingeing so I will shutup.
That said, did get to see a very cool photo competition (entries from Muscovites of various day to day subjects) at the Moscow House of Photography before we left.
We are currently trying to work out our plans to get to London. It looks like the overland route mught get the ass due to it being about 200 quid more expensive than a 2 hour flight from prague to heathrow. Sad but true. (And russia is a lot more expensive then I had bargained on. A cup of coffee in Moscow costs about $6. Yikes.)
MoscOw .. part II
Well have been in moscow foUR days now and .. well .. as much as i wouLd love to say I love the Place, I cant make up my mind. It Is pretty hard work trYing tO make Yourself understoOd and even the simple act of trying to buy an icecream can turn intO a frustraIng experience when theY cant change that 500RubLe nOte (~$25).
YesterdaY I trIed tO go tO visit the Kremlin but the whOle area was off limits (One cOp everY 10 metres OR so around the perimiteR. Net! Net!) NOT sure what Is going on bUt I think there iS a 60year anniversarY of wOrld war II cOming UP (red squaRE Is all decked oUt with a large stage at one end) so the whOle red sqUare/kremlin visting thing has been a bIt hit and miss.
Did manage tO see Lenin this morning though. After waItign fOr about an hOur In line we fInallY made It to the front on the line (literally, not one or two back, but the FRONT Of the line) when the gUard sUddenly started indIcatIng "closed" (at least that is what I thInk It was) and moved the barricade acrOss the entrance.
EverYOne in the line was looking a little peeved when suDdenly the gUY decIded tO let the whOle line thrOUgh. What the ! On to the next check point where we had tO check any cameras in at a baggage point (whIch meant losing the Place in line - thanks for the mercy dash alex!!). Don't try and sneak those mobile phones in eIther ... theY are wise to that One !!
FInally about 10 minutes before 1 (when it closes) we made it IntO Lenins tomb and it was ... well ... bIzarre I guess. It does look like the real deal thoUGh. To some extent. I guess It takes a lot of chemicals to preserve a bOdy that long (as in tIme ... Lenin was shOrt .... !)
I guess Moscow has been fUn (nOw It has stOpped raInig), but It can be pretty frustRatIng. NOt understanding when things go even slIghtly wrOng Is Par fOr the coUrse. DOn't get me wrong ... I dont mInd travelling in non_english sPeakIng coUntrIes .. but anY attempt at even trYIng tO fumble thrOugh is typicallY met with a prettY familiard word by nOw ... net (ie no !!!)
We leave for St Petersburg tOmOrrOw nIght on the tRAIn (11:55) so it shOuld be InterestIng tO comPare the twO.
Anyway .. better go. Hope I'm not boring you all whOever you are ...
YesterdaY I trIed tO go tO visit the Kremlin but the whOle area was off limits (One cOp everY 10 metres OR so around the perimiteR. Net! Net!) NOT sure what Is going on bUt I think there iS a 60year anniversarY of wOrld war II cOming UP (red squaRE Is all decked oUt with a large stage at one end) so the whOle red sqUare/kremlin visting thing has been a bIt hit and miss.
Did manage tO see Lenin this morning though. After waItign fOr about an hOur In line we fInallY made It to the front on the line (literally, not one or two back, but the FRONT Of the line) when the gUard sUddenly started indIcatIng "closed" (at least that is what I thInk It was) and moved the barricade acrOss the entrance.
EverYOne in the line was looking a little peeved when suDdenly the gUY decIded tO let the whOle line thrOUgh. What the ! On to the next check point where we had tO check any cameras in at a baggage point (whIch meant losing the Place in line - thanks for the mercy dash alex!!). Don't try and sneak those mobile phones in eIther ... theY are wise to that One !!
FInally about 10 minutes before 1 (when it closes) we made it IntO Lenins tomb and it was ... well ... bIzarre I guess. It does look like the real deal thoUGh. To some extent. I guess It takes a lot of chemicals to preserve a bOdy that long (as in tIme ... Lenin was shOrt .... !)
I guess Moscow has been fUn (nOw It has stOpped raInig), but It can be pretty frustRatIng. NOt understanding when things go even slIghtly wrOng Is Par fOr the coUrse. DOn't get me wrong ... I dont mInd travelling in non_english sPeakIng coUntrIes .. but anY attempt at even trYIng tO fumble thrOugh is typicallY met with a prettY familiard word by nOw ... net (ie no !!!)
We leave for St Petersburg tOmOrrOw nIght on the tRAIn (11:55) so it shOuld be InterestIng tO comPare the twO.
Anyway .. better go. Hope I'm not boring you all whOever you are ...
Train train ...
Well i fIgUre i probably should dO at least One post abOut the train ride considering we sPent so much time On there.
That said, the trIP from Irkutsk to VladImir (jUSt outside of moscow) was quite uneventful, no 12 hour bOrder crossIngs or working OUt wether or nOt bOoks were "printed materIal" as far as RussIan cUstoms were concerned!!!
There was the fUn of trYIng tO buy things In the dInIng car thOUgh. The ladies rUnnIng the thing had hairdOs which made them seem lIke extras from the Rocky Horror Picture show. The service was interesting to say the least. Basically yoU wOUld gesture for them to cOme over and then maybe 5mins later they wOUld wander over. All very bIzarre!
Three nights on the traIn, leavIng 4:30pm the first day and arrivIng abOUT 1Pm on the last day. TIme spent maInly eatIng, readIng, cards and drinking (baltika - a fIne russian brew). The odd drop Of vodka.
Strangely enough it was quite sad to get off the train. Had settled into quite a relaxed rOutIne.
So that was the Trans MOngOlIan .....
That said, the trIP from Irkutsk to VladImir (jUSt outside of moscow) was quite uneventful, no 12 hour bOrder crossIngs or working OUt wether or nOt bOoks were "printed materIal" as far as RussIan cUstoms were concerned!!!
There was the fUn of trYIng tO buy things In the dInIng car thOUgh. The ladies rUnnIng the thing had hairdOs which made them seem lIke extras from the Rocky Horror Picture show. The service was interesting to say the least. Basically yoU wOUld gesture for them to cOme over and then maybe 5mins later they wOUld wander over. All very bIzarre!
Three nights on the traIn, leavIng 4:30pm the first day and arrivIng abOUT 1Pm on the last day. TIme spent maInly eatIng, readIng, cards and drinking (baltika - a fIne russian brew). The odd drop Of vodka.
Strangely enough it was quite sad to get off the train. Had settled into quite a relaxed rOutIne.
So that was the Trans MOngOlIan .....
Moscow
FInallY made It tO moscOw after 3 nightS On the traIn and a night In a small place juSt OUtside of MOscOw called SUzdal.
The weather here is q bIt of q shOcker qnd the keyboqrd is zierd so forgive ,e
aaaarrgggh .... bqck lqter: dInner tI,e :::
The weather here is q bIt of q shOcker qnd the keyboqrd is zierd so forgive ,e
aaaarrgggh .... bqck lqter: dInner tI,e :::
Bolshoe Goloustnoe
Well we made it in to Russia after a 12 hour border crossing from Mongolia, most of which involved sitting on the train scratching our head wondering what was going on !! Luckily no hassles with the visas after all the stress when organizing the trip.
We got off the train in a town called Irkutsk and then got driven to Bolshoe Goulostnoe on the shore of Lake Baikal. FYI Lake Baikal is the largest/deepest/oldest freshwater lake in the world. It is also very cold as we found out when we tried to go for a "swim". Our swim consisted of mad dashes into the water, a quick dunk and then a mad dash back out before our feet went completely numb. Very refreshing! I think the water was about 5 or 6 degrees. Not the warmest.
We stayed in a local's house and ate local food - borsch, potates and lots of fish (omul) from the lake. Oh yeah, we also drank lots of vodka (pepper vodka - pretty firey stuff) and raw frozen fish from the lake. The village was quite small and most of the houses were traditional Siberian wooden houses. Was a great place to relax after a couple of nights on the train.
Weather has been great, 25 degrees yesterday and almost feels warmer today. It has been staying light until about 11pm. Quite wierd. Is going to be even worse (better?) in st petersburg where they celebrate "White Nights" at the end of June where it hardly gets dark at all, only for an hour or so. Should be great fun, quite the party apparently.
Am catching the train to Moscow in about two hours which involves being on the train for three nights, nearly 4 whole days. Should be interesting. Should get a bit of reading done! Have bought a Russian-English dictionary to try and learn to read some Russian before I get to Moscow. It is quite strange getting used to a Cyrillic Alphabet.
So far Russia has been great. Pretty much what I expected, very, well, ... Russian I guess. Moscow and St Petersburg should be great. There has been a change in plans in that we are now contemplating going all the way overland back to London instead of flying from Prague. Sounds like more fun than "cheating" halfway through!!
Anyway, there won't be any updates for a few days while I am on the train ....
We got off the train in a town called Irkutsk and then got driven to Bolshoe Goulostnoe on the shore of Lake Baikal. FYI Lake Baikal is the largest/deepest/oldest freshwater lake in the world. It is also very cold as we found out when we tried to go for a "swim". Our swim consisted of mad dashes into the water, a quick dunk and then a mad dash back out before our feet went completely numb. Very refreshing! I think the water was about 5 or 6 degrees. Not the warmest.
We stayed in a local's house and ate local food - borsch, potates and lots of fish (omul) from the lake. Oh yeah, we also drank lots of vodka (pepper vodka - pretty firey stuff) and raw frozen fish from the lake. The village was quite small and most of the houses were traditional Siberian wooden houses. Was a great place to relax after a couple of nights on the train.
Weather has been great, 25 degrees yesterday and almost feels warmer today. It has been staying light until about 11pm. Quite wierd. Is going to be even worse (better?) in st petersburg where they celebrate "White Nights" at the end of June where it hardly gets dark at all, only for an hour or so. Should be great fun, quite the party apparently.
Am catching the train to Moscow in about two hours which involves being on the train for three nights, nearly 4 whole days. Should be interesting. Should get a bit of reading done! Have bought a Russian-English dictionary to try and learn to read some Russian before I get to Moscow. It is quite strange getting used to a Cyrillic Alphabet.
So far Russia has been great. Pretty much what I expected, very, well, ... Russian I guess. Moscow and St Petersburg should be great. There has been a change in plans in that we are now contemplating going all the way overland back to London instead of flying from Prague. Sounds like more fun than "cheating" halfway through!!
Anyway, there won't be any updates for a few days while I am on the train ....
Mongolia
Am currently in Ulaan Bataar, the capital of Mongolia, with half an hour to go before we have to be back at hotel before catching the train. UB isn't the most beautiful city on earth (and it has been raining today and quite cold), but the Mongolian countryside made up for that.
Spent 3 nights sleeping in gers out on the steppe. First two nights were in a tourist camp so was relatively comfortable. The last night we did a homestay which was great fun, but nuts at the time!!
While at the homestay we spent most of the time riding horses which was a bit of a trial for someone like me who has never ridden before. I could barely walk last night!!! I swear we spent a least 6 hours within 24 in the saddle. Was quite lucky that we got to ride out to a mini festival which started with a Buddhist ritual at the top of a hill. Monks chanting and then an offering of food (including a whole sheep). I kindly accepted the piece of small intestine I was offered, and then proceeded to accidentally drop it over the side of the hill. After that we rode to a tent where the rest of the festival took place, which included Mongolian wrestling and a horse race run by the kids. We were the only two westerners there so it was quite bizarre.
We also went horse riding at night. There was virtually no moon and we were meant to be out guarding the horses from 11 until 2 in the morning. We only made it until midnight. It was quite scary riding at night, especially when your horse is going a little nuts and braying rather eerily every 5 minutes. We had a lot of trouble finding our ger in the dark and managed to ride through someone elses ger camp and got chased out by some scary sounding dogs. It was officialy nuts. Cool in hindsight but at the time is was "What the f... are we doing out here?". Especially considering my huge horse riding experience of a couple of hours the day before!!
Wish I had time to upload some photos as the scenery was amazing. Herds of sheep, goats, cattle and horses roaming the fenceless countryside. We stayed in the herdsmans ger and ate the same food as them which involved mutton in various forms. No more small intestines (or any other offal for that matter) thankfully.
That is about it for now. Gotta go catch the train to Russia. Next stop Irkutsk.
Spent 3 nights sleeping in gers out on the steppe. First two nights were in a tourist camp so was relatively comfortable. The last night we did a homestay which was great fun, but nuts at the time!!
While at the homestay we spent most of the time riding horses which was a bit of a trial for someone like me who has never ridden before. I could barely walk last night!!! I swear we spent a least 6 hours within 24 in the saddle. Was quite lucky that we got to ride out to a mini festival which started with a Buddhist ritual at the top of a hill. Monks chanting and then an offering of food (including a whole sheep). I kindly accepted the piece of small intestine I was offered, and then proceeded to accidentally drop it over the side of the hill. After that we rode to a tent where the rest of the festival took place, which included Mongolian wrestling and a horse race run by the kids. We were the only two westerners there so it was quite bizarre.
We also went horse riding at night. There was virtually no moon and we were meant to be out guarding the horses from 11 until 2 in the morning. We only made it until midnight. It was quite scary riding at night, especially when your horse is going a little nuts and braying rather eerily every 5 minutes. We had a lot of trouble finding our ger in the dark and managed to ride through someone elses ger camp and got chased out by some scary sounding dogs. It was officialy nuts. Cool in hindsight but at the time is was "What the f... are we doing out here?". Especially considering my huge horse riding experience of a couple of hours the day before!!
Wish I had time to upload some photos as the scenery was amazing. Herds of sheep, goats, cattle and horses roaming the fenceless countryside. We stayed in the herdsmans ger and ate the same food as them which involved mutton in various forms. No more small intestines (or any other offal for that matter) thankfully.
That is about it for now. Gotta go catch the train to Russia. Next stop Irkutsk.
Bye bye Beijing
Well a week in Beijing is already up and we catch the train to Ulan Bataar (spelling?) tomorrow at 7:40 am, which will be the earliest start we have had in a while. We have a day and a half on the train which should be fairly interesting. Leave from main beijing station, passing through the outskirts of beijing, glimpses of the great wall and then eventually out on to the Mongolian steppe.
Have been pretty slack with the updates while in Beijing, been pretty tired by the end of each day.
Have done all the usual things : Tianamen Square, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven Park, visited the Great Wall, ate duck, nearly run over crossing the road (the roads are nuts) ... pictures one day I promise.
Next post from Mongolia hopefully !
Have been pretty slack with the updates while in Beijing, been pretty tired by the end of each day.
Have done all the usual things : Tianamen Square, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven Park, visited the Great Wall, ate duck, nearly run over crossing the road (the roads are nuts) ... pictures one day I promise.
Next post from Mongolia hopefully !
Beijing
After collapsing in bed for about 8 hours we headed out to get a taste of Beijing. We walked down to Tianamen Square (excuse the spelling ...) which took about an hour and had a wander around. Strange to see it in person with the iconic painting of Mao. Spent a bit of time walking around the first few courtyards of the forbidden city (the ones before you have to pay - another day) and then headed to the square itself. Quite cool.
Got some cool photos. Unfortunately some of the good lighting was courtesy of an approaching thunderstorm which we left it a little too late to escape from. Resulted in a last minute bolt for shelter, huddling under the eaves of a temple with a few of the locals for half an hour or so. Even hailed for a bit!
Next stop was dinner. Using the lonely planet map again we managed to get ourselves completely lost in the back streets (some rather narrow little alleys!), with darkness quickly falling, as we searched out a recommended duck restaurant. We gave up and managed to find a different duck restaurant on a main street rather than buried in a maze of alleys. Very cool.
That was pretty much the end of our first day in Beijing. Bit of a shock to the system after Singapore which was quite straightforward (and people spoke English). The language barrier is huge ... very few signs are in english and hardly anyone speaks more than a few words. Makes for some entertaining gesturing when things get confusing. Really should've learnt the basics of the language before I came !! Maybe if I come back ....
Got some cool photos. Unfortunately some of the good lighting was courtesy of an approaching thunderstorm which we left it a little too late to escape from. Resulted in a last minute bolt for shelter, huddling under the eaves of a temple with a few of the locals for half an hour or so. Even hailed for a bit!
Next stop was dinner. Using the lonely planet map again we managed to get ourselves completely lost in the back streets (some rather narrow little alleys!), with darkness quickly falling, as we searched out a recommended duck restaurant. We gave up and managed to find a different duck restaurant on a main street rather than buried in a maze of alleys. Very cool.
That was pretty much the end of our first day in Beijing. Bit of a shock to the system after Singapore which was quite straightforward (and people spoke English). The language barrier is huge ... very few signs are in english and hardly anyone speaks more than a few words. Makes for some entertaining gesturing when things get confusing. Really should've learnt the basics of the language before I came !! Maybe if I come back ....
Can You Read This
It would appear that I can't access my own blog from here so if you can, lucky you!!
Beijing Arrival
I am so slack at this. But anyway, I will do a bit of catching up now.
We arrived in Beijing last Tuesday (31st May) after a rather bad flight from Singapore. The flight itself was okay but the attempt to sleep overnight on the plane was rather unsuccessful. Not to mention painful. I think chiropractors must have shares in airline companies forcing them to keep their seats uncomfortable. Anyway, I digress.
Okay, rant aside. We arrived in Beijing at about 8am and cruised through customs and immigration. Thinking we would do it the local way we caught the airport shuttle in to town. (12Y, about A$2). This was all good until we got dropped off in the middle of town not having a clue where we were !! Unfortunately swarming at the drop off point was an army of rickshaw drivers waiting for some fresh newbie backpacker blood. We spent the next 20mins walking around trying to find street names that looked something like those on the lonely planet map in the back of the Beijing book, while trying to shake off a rather persistent rickshaw driver who had his own ideas on where we should stay.
Eventually we found a street name that looked familiar and headed off towards our hotel, in exactly the wrong direction. This diversion lasted about 10 mins before we realised the error of our ways. Considering we were carrying our full back packs around, we had had next to no sleep on the overnight plane, it was smoggy & hot and we were continually getting stared at I think we did quite well not to break down and cry on the spot ! About 40 minutes later we finally found our hotel (which was a very cool old style courtyard hotel). It turned in the end our hotel was only about a 10 minute walk from where we got dropped off.
Helpful Hint For The Day: Bring a decent map of Beijing with you and perhaps even a compass !!
We arrived in Beijing last Tuesday (31st May) after a rather bad flight from Singapore. The flight itself was okay but the attempt to sleep overnight on the plane was rather unsuccessful. Not to mention painful. I think chiropractors must have shares in airline companies forcing them to keep their seats uncomfortable. Anyway, I digress.
Okay, rant aside. We arrived in Beijing at about 8am and cruised through customs and immigration. Thinking we would do it the local way we caught the airport shuttle in to town. (12Y, about A$2). This was all good until we got dropped off in the middle of town not having a clue where we were !! Unfortunately swarming at the drop off point was an army of rickshaw drivers waiting for some fresh newbie backpacker blood. We spent the next 20mins walking around trying to find street names that looked something like those on the lonely planet map in the back of the Beijing book, while trying to shake off a rather persistent rickshaw driver who had his own ideas on where we should stay.
Eventually we found a street name that looked familiar and headed off towards our hotel, in exactly the wrong direction. This diversion lasted about 10 mins before we realised the error of our ways. Considering we were carrying our full back packs around, we had had next to no sleep on the overnight plane, it was smoggy & hot and we were continually getting stared at I think we did quite well not to break down and cry on the spot ! About 40 minutes later we finally found our hotel (which was a very cool old style courtyard hotel). It turned in the end our hotel was only about a 10 minute walk from where we got dropped off.
Helpful Hint For The Day: Bring a decent map of Beijing with you and perhaps even a compass !!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
