Stories from the middle of the middle kingdom.

Moscow, Russia

Russians love rollerblading! This is exactly the kind of cultural insight I was hoping to gain from my voyage around the world. They also love ice cream...even in the winter... this is why they will never be defeated acording to Churchill. Moscow is an awesome city, I mean this literally and figuratively, the Russians really know how to do epic from their churches to their shopping malls and then there is the fact that after weeks of people warning me to "Be Careful" it would have been tough for me to feel more safe.

Day 1: had a kip cos I was knackered from the overnight flight. Got up at about 1 and decided to explore the city. It did take me a while to master their Metro system as the map I was given had the English stop names but the trains and stations themselves only used the cyrillic spellings. By the end of the next day I was actually enjoying the Metro puzzle as it reminded me of the codes I had to break in puzzle books from when I was younger. When I did emerge from the Metro I had by pure chance stumbled across one of the many entrances to the Kremlin. Although Kremlin sounds slightly ominous because it is spelt simiarly to those weird green goblins it actually means Fortress (or Castle) and is exactly that. A massive red fortress right in the middle of Moscow which is where their parliament, national treasures and most famous churches are. To be honest makes Big Ben seem a bit shit. One part of the Kremlin is called the Armoury this is were they store their most valuable treasures and this is were I visited first. Highlights included Faberge eggs, Royal carriages and the most extravagant incense burner I have ever seen.

Day 2: started much earlier with a guided tour, I could list all the facts and figures I learnt but you'll just have visit Moscow yourself but I will mention a tradition that I thought was quite romantic. When couples get married they go together to a shop to buy the toughest pad lock they can, they then write their names on it, they then go to a bridge and lock their lock on to the railing (or some bridges have specially designed metal trees) and together throw the key into the river, this symbolizes their eternal love...ahhh!

Day 3: included visiting the rest of the Kremlin (it is massive) and a couple of art galleries which although boring to read about I did enjoy.

Moscow summary

Russians (like asians apparently) are not that bothered about queueing whether on foot or in a car yet at the same time are actually very polite (they are especially quick to offer up seats in the Metro).
Some of Moscows highlights are underground...the Metro stations are surprisingly beautiful, they also have a massive underground shopping mall and the subways which are essential for crossing the street safely are a curious combination of lingerie shop, weapons shop (including samurai swords (these 2 shops are actually right next to each other)), Gregg the bakers and occassionally a live music venue.

Chapter 2 will include the Primark train and ger camps. Stay tuned.

written by

redherobluevillain7 on June 30, 2009 from Moscow, Russia

from the travel blog: Stories from the middle of the middle kingdom.

Send a Compliment

5 comments...

Irkutsk, Russia

After a long day of sightseeing in Moscow it was time for me to continue my journey to China. The company who I booked the journey through had arranged for a taxi to pick me up and asked the drivers to ensure that I got on to the train safely. I assumed this was just because they knew that I couldn't read the Russian signs. But when I arrived at the station along with two other British travellers who had booked similar journeys I realised the truth wasn't quite that simple. There are in fact several different trains which travel along the Trans-siberian railway and they do differ substantially in quality. I was booked on to train number 6, a train which is subsidised by the Mongolian government and therefore was mostly being used by either Mongolian students returning home or Mongolian traders who sell cheap Chinese clothes at each stop of the journey. This meant that upon arriving at the station in Moscow we were greeted by a horde of Mongolians all eager to cram their goods into every nook and cranny of the train so as to maximise the profit of their journey not only this but also but they felt it necessary to use mannequins to make the merchandise more appealing so their were heads, limbs and buttocks in the most unusual of places. Thankfully I was sharing a cabin with the two aforementioned Brits and a quiet Mongolian student but even more thankfully we were escorted there by are two well built Russian taxi drivers who proceeded to forcefully empty our cabin of unwanted merchandise, mannequins and Mongolians. Quite exhausted I went to sleep at 10 without exploring most the train.

As I am sure you can imagine 5 days on a train is not the most exhilarating of stories but I will proceed to describe the highlights and lowlights. The cabin was cramped as every four berth cabin I have ever been in has been. Luckily my cabin mates were very nice: Simon a middle class man who although originally from Liverpool but didn't have much of an accent, Jennifer a Scottish women who has Parkinsons syndrome and a Mongolian student who we did not communicate with much because we didn't speak the same language but mostly because she was never in the cabin preferring to spend her free time with the other students on the train.

My days were spent reading, talking, sleeping or photographing the passing scenery. Some of the views were very beautiful but due to my inexperience with a camera, the moving train I was on and the sheer vastness of the views I did not really manage to do them justice with my photo's. As my the journey progressed I slowly met more and more Westerners on the train either those who were merely in other carriages or those who boarded at later stations. These included Michelle another Brit, a Swedish couple, a French couple with a tandem bicycle (for cycling around Mongolia!), a tour group guided by the very helpful Natalia, two very liberal Finns and 80 year old merchant navy veteran.

The tour company I had booked through had very helpfully provided me with a guide book telling me interesting facts and informing me of essential information. Less helpfully this information was very inaccurate and therefore I now question the authenticity of the interesting facts. For example it told me that I would have access to a shower (false), that it would be unwise to bring Pot Noodles as they would offend the nostrils of the other train users (false all the Mongolians ate was a Russian version of Pot Noodle), that I would be able to charge electrical gadgets (false none of our adapters were compatible to the Mongolian plug sockets) and finally that the restaurant car would be a heaving hub of social activity (false, run by a Russian family most of the activity came from the nine year old child who would muck about when not watching Tom and Jerry). Another strange thing about the restaurant car was whatever you ordered one day would either look completely different the next day or would not be available the next day. Fortunately I didn't eat much because I wasn't using much energy.

Although the lack of amenities made the journey slightly unpleasant physically, the scenic views and the interesting and entertaining conversation of my fellow travellers made it an enjoyable journey overall.

written by

redherobluevillain7 on August 7, 2009 from Irkutsk, Russia

from the travel blog: Stories from the middle of the middle kingdom.

Send a Compliment

2 comments...

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

We arrived in Mongolia late at night. We were all roused by the ritual that is the swapping of the trains wheels. Russian and Mongolian train lines are different so the carriages have to be hoisted of their wheels and on to new ones. This is slow and noisy process but after 4 days on the train seems the height of excitement. As we crossed Mongolia the train slowly started to empty we said goodbye to our mute Mongolian student room mate at around 5 in the morning. We arrived at the capital still early in the morning when were greeted by our petite tour guide. I say we, we did not know how big the we was until we arrived. Me, Simon, Amanda and Jennifer had worked out that we had booked through the same company but along the journey we had been joined by Canadian father and son who it transpired were to join our motley crue. We had exchanged brief pleasantries but were forced to become much more comfortable with each other very quickly. We were transported to hotel to have our first shower in 5 days. We were all understandably enthusiastic to enjoy this modest luxury. This excitement was stymied by the realisation that this particular hotel favoured the Japanese style shower. For those of you who don't know what this means imagine open swimming pool showers but with the shower head situated at waist height and a childish looking stool placed in front of it. After a short awkward silence we manned up and cleaned ourselves up. Next we were transported to a restaurant and given breakfast which consisted mainly of goat or horse, it was never made 100% clear. Then we our your guide gave us brief tour of the city before taking us to the Ger Camp. My personal highlight of the tour was while standing in the central plaza of Ulaanbaatar we were given a abridged history of the city. Situated in the middle of this large plaza was the Mongolians war hero astride a strapping stallion. Our guide proceeded to inform us that after expelling the Chinese from their country their leader made a speech to his people on this spot and that during the speech the horse had relieved itself. When the speech was finished a strange spectator decided to mark this spot with a large stone. So when the Mongols traditionally a nomadic people decided to build their capital they built it with this spot as its centre point. Then they named the city Ulaanbaatar after that famous leader it literally means Red hero. After the tour we were taken to visit one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries. Most of the original monasteries were destroyed by the sequential communist overlords who banned religion and forced the traditionally abstinent monks to marry. When the Mongol's regained independence special allowances were made for married monks who wanted to rejoin the order including special accommodations for them and their families next but segregated from the monastery. In the main shrine there is a massive statue of the Boddavhista which it is rude to turn your back on even when leaving the building. This is particularly challenging as their is a high step at the entrance which one must step over as it is also seen as rude to step on it. As you pray you should walk in clockwise direction around the shrine. If you don't have time for this their are also prayer wheels with pre-written prayers in side metal tubes which you can spin as you pass them outside the shrine. What felt strange to me was how similar the shrines and rituals of the Buddhists was to those of the Russian Orthodox Catholics. The central plaza was surrounded by several impressive buildings. Although what struck me about the city was how new it felt; unfinished. Their was a lot of construction work going on and as we left the capital we passed many ger tent settlements. Although not as squalid it did remind of the favellas of south america and my GCSE Geography lessons which told me how when a city is growing too fast their isn't enough time to build accommodation for its new citizens. Another interesting fact is that 1/3 of Mongolia's 3 million population now live in Ulaanbaatar. The journey to the ger camp was exciting due to the fact that inside the capital the roads weren't in great condition but outside the capital road isn't accurate description of what we were travelling on. The driver was obliged to swerve wildly to avoid the many potholes but so were the drivers of the oncoming traffic which meant there were many hair raising moments. The traditional ger camp turned out to be not so traditional. We were welcomed by a troop of female young Mongolian students who rather to the embarrassment of some of us proceeded to carry our weighty luggage to our tents. These females were accompanied by one tall male in full black ops uniform armed with a baton and a torch. The females turned out to be students on Summer vacation work experience while studying Tourism at university. The male was the sole security guard to this camp and he spent most of his time in his turret which overlooked the camp. These were not the only factors that made the camp seem less then traditional. Although our tents looked the part they were permanent structures unlike their real counterparts, their entrances faced in the wrong direction and they contained sinks with running water. This was not an entirely bad thing as I previously mentioned we were all missing regular access to basic amenities.

The two days I spent at the Ger camp were really enjoyable and I highly recommend it. Mongolia averages 256 days of blue skies a year. These blue skies combined with the green rolling planes and the silence of the great open created very relaxing atmosphere. While there I spent most of my time relaxing and enjoying the tranquillity but this was also interrupted by various activities. We tried out Mongolian bow and arrow, went horse riding, visited a more traditional ger tent were we tried the delicious delicacy fermented mares milk. I also found time to scale the peak of the highest nearest hill were I thrice circled the pile of rocks at top to ward away evil spirits and spied in the distance in the middle of nowhere a massive gleaming statue of Genghis Khan on his horse apparently built to ward away any further attempts to invade Mongolia.

The last thing worth mentioning about the ger camp is how goats are very integral part of the traditional Mongolian way of life. They spend their days herding them. They use their dung as fuel for their fires keeping them warm and cooking their food. Every meal features goat and goats milk in various forms. Furthermore we were introduced to traditional in door games which used the spine bones of the goat as pieces.

We then returned to Ulaanbatar for one more night in a hotel before catching the train to Beijing. In the evening our guide took us to a show. I'm struggling to find an accurate title for it. It was essentially a fashion show which showcased modernised versions of traditional Mongolian clothes but this was interspersed with various performance including a mime, contortionists, dancers, solo and group musical performances featuring throat singing and the horse head lyre. Wonderful. The last day was mostly spent blogging and booking my hostel in Beijing but I did find time to visit the Mongolian history museum where I was given some beautiful Mongolian calligraphy.

written by

redherobluevillain7 on August 22, 2009 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

from the travel blog: Stories from the middle of the middle kingdom.

Send a Compliment

comment on this...

Stories from the middle of the middle kingdom.

a travel blog by redherobluevillain7

Mockba aka metroland

Moscow, Russia

The Primark Train

Irkutsk, Russia

Ulaanbaatar

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia