Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia
The distances have been vast, and the traveling long since I left European Russia. I now stand on a train heading for Irkutsk, and I will share with you tales of the cities and trains on the Trans Sibeian Railroad.
Yekaterinburg was a pretty chill hang - I was staying at a small hostel which was really an apartment flat; one room was converted into an 8 person dorm, another into a private room, and the kitchen was for hanging. The girl at the front desk spoke English and was also friendly, so I hung out in the kitchen a lot with her and another Russian guy who worked in the hostel administration, who didn't speak English. He did however like drinking all the time - the first Russian young guy who I have hung with who liked to drink. In Russia it is almost hipster to not drink, and many young people really are over drinking a lot. So we would play card games late at night and chat.
There isn't a whole lot to do in Yekaterinburg, so I wandered around the city seeing the greyish buildings there. One day was Paratroopers' day apparently, and so some people flew paratrooper flags out of their cars while yelling, and some bands of drunk, nationalistic clowns were parading and being rowdy.
I found a central asian resturaunt there, and the food was awesome! Lamb stew with some things called manti - really similar to the hambows from China actually. I have gotten a little fed up with Russian food. The meat all tastes the same, with tasteless vegetables and maybe potatoes too. The quality of fruits and vegetables here is just awful. The apples are maybe 1/4 the size of our apples, and I think they are meant to be red apples, though I can't be sure since they green halfway over. Now with the new Russian food embargo against western imports I don't imagine Russian food getting any better soon.
The time I would spend on the train from Yekaterinburg to Krasnoyarsk was 1 day, 2 nights. On the way to the station at Yekaterinburg, I was talking in English with a Mexican from the hostel, who was also leaving on the train. Speaking foriegn languages in public places in Russia always attracts a lot of attention. Sometimes ut makes me nervous because people stare at you with bland, unreadable faces, and I have no idea whether they are plotting something or not. Anyways, a guy says a few words to us in English on the bus, but doesn't really speak English, and we talk back with him a little. After we got off the bus, he and his friend offered to walk us to the train station, and even led us directly to the platforms where we needed to be. I had some time left, so I ended up trying to talk to them some. They were both army guys, and one was even a Spetsnaz who had fought in Dagestan for 3 years. So they were tough but really nice, and the Spetsnaz guy gave me a bro hug before I boarded.
I was in Platzkart again. Half my car buddies were young army guys, a quarter were family with lots of rambunctious kids, and the other quarter were old guys. The kids were running all over, and getting along really well with the army guys, who would play with them. I talked a little bit with the father of the family near me and the army guy above me, and they were nice, but had no patience when I didn't understand words and quit talking after a while. Russians mostly tend to be really bad at saying things in a way that is understood easier and making hand gestures. When I say I don't understand, they mostly say something else just as complicated, just as fast. Seems Russian is not a language meant to be spoken slowly.
The two nights on the train dragged on, with yelling kids and cramped leg room in my bunk. All I had to eat was a stick of kielbasa and a loaf of bread, but I was saved when we made a stop at Barabinsk station. Babushkas swarmed the platform selling all kinds of food to us as we stood outside the train, so I happily bought some piroshky and dumplings, and was stocked for the rest of the trip.
I finally arrived at Krasnoyarsk on the second morning. I was so glad to be leaving, and felt really sorry for the people who were stuck there for 4 nights going all the way from Moscow to Irkutsk. Getting out of the station, I had no idea where I was and how to find a hostel except for a hand drawn map that included maybe 4 streets and not the train station. But suddenly, I came upon a group of people speaking English, and asked them if they were travellers. They turned out to be Aseic interns from various countries; Aseic is an organization that is dedcated to fostering international awareness. They had also just arrived, and a Russian girl was taking them to a hostel. So that was perfect, I got to know them, and went to the hostel with them. It was a pretty sketchy hostel, but whatever, it was cheap.
Everyone else went to bed, but I went to town. Krasnoyarsk has a really chill atmosphere, and I liked the feeling. Less people crowded around everywhere, and it is surrounded by hills and forest. On the second day, I went to a national park near there called Stolby Park. A stolby is a rock formation, and there were many of these scattered through the hills and forests. Hiking through there was awesome, and I even climbed to the top of some of them to catch the view. That was true beauty. Forested rolling hills, green dotted with deep orange. Contrary to what some think, Siberia is not really cold in the summer. The temperatures stayed around 29C, sunny during the day. At night, there are powerful thunderstorms. In fact, I have heard thunder almost every night since Kazan.
At night, I went to a bar with an Egyptian British guy from Aesic, and we met a really cool bartender from Nigeria, who can speak both English and Russian (and more). So we discussed how he fit in in Russia, and he told us stories about how he visited the north of Russia in the winter, and saw frozen trees! After a few drinks, we walked the long trek back to our hostel, not seeing anything crazy happening on the Russian streets at night. However, we did stumble on a place that had an upside down McDonald's sign. Since we laughed real hard and it was the only place open, we went in to eat, seeing things like cheeseburger and chickenburger written in cyrillic. The only thing that was good turned out to be the fries.... Knockoff McDonald's fail.
So now I am in kupe, second class, on the train, upgrading from my usual platzkart after the last train ride. It is an interesting experience, the car is like 4 times better than platzkart. The cabins only have 4 people and have closing doors. The bunks are actually long enough. The bathrooms are less nasty. Theres a corridor with standing for window gazing, even with an electrical outlet. When I first got into my compartment, no one was there. I almost had a Borat moment and yelled king in the castle, king in the castle! So I was disappointed when a family arrived. These guys are less open than the guys in platzkart, they don't try to talk to me at all if I don't understand what I say. The dad asked me a few questions about myself, but wasn't really interested in talking. In general, people here look more stoic than in platzkart... But then again, Russians always look stoic.
The distances have been vast, and the traveling long since I left European Russia. I now stand on a train heading for Irkutsk, and I will share with you tales of the cities and trains on the Trans Sibeian Railroad.
Yekaterinburg was a pretty chill hang - I was staying at a small hostel which was really an apartment flat; one room was converted into an 8 person dorm, another into a private room, and the kitchen was for hanging. The girl at the front desk spoke English and was also friendly, so I hung out in the kitchen a lot with her and another Russian guy who worked in the hostel administration, who didn't speak English. He did however like drinking all the time - the first Russian young guy who I have hung with who liked to drink. In Russia it is almost hipster to not drink, and many young people really are over drinking a lot. So we would play card games late at night and chat.
There isn't a whole lot to do in Yekaterinburg, so I wandered around the city seeing the greyish buildings there. One day was Paratroopers' day apparently, and so some people flew paratrooper flags out of their cars while yelling, and some bands of drunk, nationalistic clowns were parading and being rowdy.
I found a central asian resturaunt there, and the food was awesome! Lamb stew with some things called manti - really similar to the hambows from China actually. I have gotten a little fed up with Russian food. The meat all tastes the same, with tasteless vegetables and maybe potatoes too. The quality of fruits and vegetables here is just awful. The apples are maybe 1/4 the size of our apples, and I think they are meant to be red apples, though I can't be sure since they green halfway over. Now with the new Russian food embargo against western imports I don't imagine Russian food getting any better soon.
The time I would spend on the train from Yekaterinburg to Krasnoyarsk was 1 day, 2 nights. On the way to the station at Yekaterinburg, I was talking in English with a Mexican from the hostel, who was also leaving on the train. Speaking foriegn languages in public places in Russia always attracts a lot of attention. Sometimes ut makes me nervous because people stare at you with bland, unreadable faces, and I have no idea whether they are plotting something or not. Anyways, a guy says a few words to us in English on the bus, but doesn't really speak English, and we talk back with him a little. After we got off the bus, he and his friend offered to walk us to the train station, and even led us directly to the platforms where we needed to be. I had some time left, so I ended up trying to talk to them some. They were both army guys, and one was even a Spetsnaz who had fought in Dagestan for 3 years. So they were tough but really nice, and the Spetsnaz guy gave me a bro hug before I boarded.
I was in Platzkart again. Half my car buddies were young army guys, a quarter were family with lots of rambunctious kids, and the other quarter were old guys. The kids were running all over, and getting along really well with the army guys, who would play with them. I talked a little bit with the father of the family near me and the army guy above me, and they were nice, but had no patience when I didn't understand words and quit talking after a while. Russians mostly tend to be really bad at saying things in a way that is understood easier and making hand gestures. When I say I don't understand, they mostly say something else just as complicated, just as fast. Seems Russian is not a language meant to be spoken slowly.
The two nights on the train dragged on, with yelling kids and cramped leg room in my bunk. All I had to eat was a stick of kielbasa and a loaf of bread, but I was saved when we made a stop at Barabinsk station. Babushkas swarmed the platform selling all kinds of food to us as we stood outside the train, so I happily bought some piroshky and dumplings, and was stocked for the rest of the trip.
I finally arrived at Krasnoyarsk on the second morning. I was so glad to be leaving, and felt really sorry for the people who were stuck there for 4 nights going all the way from Moscow to Irkutsk. Getting out of the station, I had no idea where I was and how to find a hostel except for a hand drawn map that included maybe 4 streets and not the train station. But suddenly, I came upon a group of people speaking English, and asked them if they were travellers. They turned out to be Aseic interns from various countries; Aseic is an organization that is dedcated to fostering international awareness. They had also just arrived, and a Russian girl was taking them to a hostel. So that was perfect, I got to know them, and went to the hostel with them. It was a pretty sketchy hostel, but whatever, it was cheap.
Everyone else went to bed, but I went to town. Krasnoyarsk has a really chill atmosphere, and I liked the feeling. Less people crowded around everywhere, and it is surrounded by hills and forest. On the second day, I went to a national park near there called Stolby Park. A stolby is a rock formation, and there were many of these scattered through the hills and forests. Hiking through there was awesome, and I even climbed to the top of some of them to catch the view. That was true beauty. Forested rolling hills, green dotted with deep orange. Contrary to what some think, Siberia is not really cold in the summer. The temperatures stayed around 29C, sunny during the day. At night, there are powerful thunderstorms. In fact, I have heard thunder almost every night since Kazan.
At night, I went to a bar with an Egyptian British guy from Aesic, and we met a really cool bartender from Nigeria, who can speak both English and Russian (and more). So we discussed how he fit in in Russia, and he told us stories about how he visited the north of Russia in the winter, and saw frozen trees! After a few drinks, we walked the long trek back to our hostel, not seeing anything crazy happening on the Russian streets at night. However, we did stumble on a place that had an upside down McDonald's sign. Since we laughed real hard and it was the only place open, we went in to eat, seeing things like cheeseburger and chickenburger written in cyrillic. The only thing that was good turned out to be the fries.... Knockoff McDonald's fail.
So now I am in kupe, second class, on the train, upgrading from my usual platzkart after the last train ride. It is an interesting experience, the car is like 4 times better than platzkart. The cabins only have 4 people and have closing doors. The bunks are actually long enough. The bathrooms are less nasty. Theres a corridor with standing for window gazing, even with an electrical outlet. When I first got into my compartment, no one was there. I almost had a Borat moment and yelled king in the castle, king in the castle! So I was disappointed when a family arrived. These guys are less open than the guys in platzkart, they don't try to talk to me at all if I don't understand what I say. The dad asked me a few questions about myself, but wasn't really interested in talking. In general, people here look more stoic than in platzkart... But then again, Russians always look stoic.
Trains Siberian train stop at Novosibersk
Chickenburger also available