A Trans-Siberian Christmas Part II

If you're just joining us, this is the second installment of A Trans-Siberian Christmas. The first can be  found here. Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Irkustk.

When we first arrived in Irkustk we drove straight out to Listvyanka where we spent two nights.

Листвя́нка

pronounced LISTVYANKA

Population approx. 1,834

70 km from Irkustk

The view across the valley from our hotel room. The lake is to the right.

Our hotel in Listvyanka was located above the valley. A beautiful big log cabin that smelled of wood and was extremely warm inside. They also had a Russian "banya" where we spent a couple hours sweating in the sauna and then plunging ourselves into a pool full of cold water fresh from the lake. We also had a go at whipping ourselves with the traditional birch leaves... um, I have fairly sensitive skin and so did not love this part. In fact, I don't really love sauna/steam rooms in general... but Derrald does. So when I was done, I got to sit and relax in on one of the benches around the plunge pool and watch Derrald continuing on with the ritual. HOT!! COLD!! HOT!! WHACK!!! COLD!! HOT!! WHACK!! COLD!! And so on and so forth.

Icicles hanging from our hotel window.

Listvyanka was more "village-y" than the other cities we visited. It was quiet and quaint. If New Zealand was the holiday of befriending cats, Russia was the holiday for dogs. We kept seeing them everywhere and made particular friends with these ones when they followed us through the town:

On the shores of Listvyanka-Lake Baikal with my new friend

Thankfully, I did NOT let Derrald convince me to go skinny dipping in these ice cold waters... beautiful as they are

There were a few scattered "modern" buildings (read: concrete) that consisted of multiple stories, otherwise, the buildings were mostly wooden and looked like these:

A typical building to be found in Listvyanka

Shutters Shutters Shutters

I think some of my favorite views of Lake Baikal were from the train. The train ride journeys around the lake for several good hours. It's a highlight for passengers.

This picture was taken from the shore of Listvyanka. I loved the low hanging fog.

We left Listvyanka in a minivan jammed full of Russians. One of those vans where you pull down the seat to fill in the aisle, so you are literally shoulder to shoulder from one side of the vehicle to the other. We sat in the very back row, which is fine because we were going to the last stop anyways. We couldn't help giggling to ourselves when the van stopped en route to pick up a young mother and her two children and one of the babushka started complaining that they were taking too long to get in! The whole van turned on the grumpy old woman and thus ensued an exchange of words that I only wish I could have understood fully. Statements like "Baaaaah-bushka, calm yourself" (from the driver) and "I'm not even a babushka yet!" (from the babushka). We spent an hour and a half with those people.

We return to the train for the second leg of our journey. Shorter than the first, it would take us 50 hours to get to Ekaterinburg.

This time our roommates were of the slightly more boisterous variety (read: DRUNK RUSSIANS). We boarded the train at 10:30pm and they had already consumed two bottles of vodka and a bottle of cognac between them. 

Left to Right: Derrald aka "Captain America", Nikolai, Slava, Andre (the second)

This made for some very boisterous conversations, including a debate over politics (how's your Russian holding up now D-spot?), Slava continually asking us if we were spies and refusing to believe we lived in HK because our skin was not tanned enough. He actually dropped his pants about two inches from my face to show us his white legs and prove to us we were as white as he was. Then it was Andre's turn to convince us that beer would make us feminine and that we should never ever ever drink beer. Vodka is fine. Cognac is fine. Wine is fine. Spirits are great. Just don't drink beer. It had been made clear from the moment we entered the room that we didn't drink any kind of alcohol, yes, that includes vodka. And we patiently refused offer after offer of the sauce and only failed to keep them out of our cups when Slava decided to poor half a bottle of apple juice on top of our already brewed chamomile tea. Um, yuck. We drank it anyways. Dancing around etiquette and the need not to offend our spirited friends, it was becoming too much. 

The table was covered with half eaten bread and smoked fish. The whole room smelled so smokey, from the fish, and, because Slava would light up his cigarettes IN the room before heading down to the smokers area. You are not allowed to smoke in your rooms but the train has designated smoking spots at the end of carriages for smokers. We knew if we waited long enough they would eventually drink themselves into a stupor and hopefully sleep... so, having done my duty and sitting mutely by on the bottom bunk with Derrald  for quite long enough, I scurried away to my top bunk and tried not to think about how hot it felt in that room and how the smokey smell was giving me a headache. Derrald (or "Stas", a version of "Stice" that he had called himself during his mission and used again on this trip to make his name easier for people to understand) decided to try the "pretending I'm already asleep" approach in order to let the conversation die out... he'd roll over on his bottom bunk and face the wall but Slava would call from his bunk on the other side of the table "Stas!! Wake up! You can sleep when we're gone tomorrow!" Eventually, this rotund, middle-aged Russian man played himself to sleep on his pan flute. NO JOKE. It is possibly one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. Seeing this full grown man blowing randomly into a pan flute, making the most awful, shrill recorder sounds that to him sounded like angels singing and eventually playing himself to sleep. He slept. I did not. He snored. And snored. Much louder than the pan flute. I don't know which was worse. Until Andre (the second) joined in on the snoring. A musical cacophony of snores in harmony. If the windows could open I may have thrown myself out. Instead, I peered wide-eyed over my bunk down into the wide-eyed expression of my husband and erupted into giggles. 

Slava continued to play the pan flute the next morning and happily gave a demonstration for my camera.

I have not mentioned Nikolai in all of this. He wasn't actually staying in our cabin. Derrald picked him up after a run to the bathroom at 4am, when he followed Derrald back to the room and proceeded to rouse Slava for another round of drinking. Un. Be. Lievable. Oh, and did I mention that Derrald introduced me as "Galia" to these people? Bah! The word "galina" in Italian means "chicken" and it is just much too similar for my liking. I got this name after spending three days with Andre (the first) and he sat down so pleased with himself because he had found a "russian equivalent" for Hayley. He proudly told me I would be a "Galia". Then he looked at Derrald and sadly shook his head. The name Derrald had defeated him. There is no Russian equivalent. So Derrald brought back "Stas" and started calling me "Galia". I insisted he re-introduce me with my actual name. Chicken, I am not.

Luckily, these guys were only with us for one night, the next night we had the cabin all to ourselves. A little "recovery" time.

On the platform in Krasnoyarsk

Crossing the tracks

Екатеринбу́рг

pronounced EKATERINBURG

(sometimes spelt Yekaterinburg)

Population approx. 1, 350, 000

1,778 km from Moscow

Our hotel in Ekaterinburg was only a couple miles from the train station so we decided to walk it. It felt good to be out and active after spending several days supine. We did lots of walking in every one of our stops. I think this helped combat the potato/bread/dumpling weight :)

Walking across the bridge to our hotel

 This is where we spent our New Year. Enjoying the ice-playgrounds in Lenin Square. We also watched the address by President Medvedev who wished us "interesting work" for the 2012. Indeed!

Another ice-carnival, this one at night on New Year's Eve

 Enjoying the lights

We didn't find much open the next day seeing as it was a public holiday but the streets were still filled with people out enjoying the new day... except for this one next to the river.

People enjoying the main street

Who doesn't love a little European graffiti?

Only in Russia

Getting into the feeling

This is the kind of building you expect to be associated with European Russia.

It was in Ekaterinburg that the Romanovs were held captive and murdered. There still remains the Ipatiev mansion where they were held hostage (but the basement, where they were murdered, was destroyed in the 1970's by Boris Yeltsin) and a small wooden chapel dedicated to the Tsar's sister (who was thrown down a well to die). The Church is dedicated to the memory of the Royal Family. We were able to go inside and have a look around. There are pictures of the family and shrines dedicated to each member. 

Church of the Blood

On the river

Literally, on the river

Checking out some discarded New Year's fireworks on the ice of the river

Look's like we are going to need a third installment! Still to come, Moscow, my favorite pictures from the train, fun street graffiti and Christmas trees...

A Trans-Siberian Christmas Part I

*Hello Friends! (*pronounced: gutteral hawking sound - eh? - low) 

I need you to brace yourselves. This is potentially going to be one of the longest posts of all time. I have been through our photos a hundred thousand times at least (an activity I never tire of) and have been having trouble categorizing and selecting what to share with you. I want to share everything. Photos of snow and ice. Friends we made. The train. The cities. Details on windows. A million "from the window" shots. I want to put 500 photos on a slideshow and have you look at all of them. But don't worry, I'm not going to do that to you. I will be selective and I will try to share relevant stories in some kind of coherent structure but this trip is a biggie folks. When we went to NZ I decided to make posting easier by splitting it into two islands... the North Island here and the South Island... I still haven't posted. Fail. How am I going to get across Russia with you? One very very very very very very long post? I may have to split it again. Either way, brace yourselves. Here we go:

  Россия 

P-O-C-C-back to front N - back to front R

pronounced ROSSIYA

means RUSSIA

It was also the name of our train. The 001 - Rossiya from Vladivostok to Moscow. Our journey consisted of three train legs and all three of them we managed to do aboard the Rossiya. 

Derrald on the tracks somewhere between Vladivostok and Irkustk. Notice the name on the train ROSSIYA

It was chilly outside compared to the super warmth inside the trains

We started out with a lot of blue skies but it got gray-er as we moved Eastward.

Our Lady 

All carriages have an attendant who checks tickets, makes sure the boiler has enough hot water and vacuums everyday. They also get off at each stop and start hitting the train with an axe. There is a Russian name for these people, begins with P, can't pronounce it, can't remember it, so I simply call her "our lady". Here's our lady of carriage 5 scraping ice from beside the stairs. She also climbs underneath the train. Dear woman.

PECTOPAH = RESTAURANT

This is the Restaurant car. For some reason they never had any food available. It didn't really matter however because we bought most of our food off Babushkas on station platforms. 

бабушка

pronounced BABUSHKA

emphasis on the Baaaaaaah-bushka

means Granny or Old Lady

they tend to look a little something like this:

This Dear One was outside the platform in Vladimir, near Moscow. She was not selling food.

The ladies who did sell food on the platform would do so out of their purses. No joke. You would get off the train, stretch your legs...

Stretching

... and the Babushka would walk past you on the platform mumbling a bunch of unintelligible words (that, Derrald assured me, were words like "pelmeni and vereniki") and you would give them a look, find out what they had, perhaps they'd even give you a peak at the goods, you make your deal, pass over your money and then they would yank a bunch of pelmeni (Russian dumplings) or boiled potatoes in plastic baggies out of their handbag! You take your food, say thank you, jump back on the train and enjoy! The first time D got boiled potatoes I didn't know what to think. Who eats a bunch of boiled potatoes out of a plastic baggie from some random woman's purse? Um, WE DO! They were delicious. The wonderful woman had slipped some butter in the baggie. Add a touch of salt and we felt warm and happy.

Bundled, warm and happy.

Back inside the train, pretty much every carriage looked the same.

The hallway. 

It wasn't unusual to find people standing in the hallway watching the scenery pass by, of course,  you want to catch the views on both sides of the train!

Our "roomies" Ilia and Andre looking out the hallway window. I took this photo from my bunk inside our room. You can see, it's a very shall we say intimate space. Tight squeeze!

From the reverse angle, looking into the room. 

Remember I mentioned that "our lady" maintains the hot water boiler? Yup. This is the boiler. 

Derrald demonstrates turning the tap.

We made many a delicious meal here, including instant noodles, instant potatoes, oatmeal, tea and hot chocolate.

Breakfast 

This is what you look like after a night on the train...
*with a little maple syrup to add to the oatmeal, Mum you thought of everything!

Christmas Pudding - hot chocolate, chocolate and Christmas cake

There are three "classes" of carriage on the Rossiya. For simplicity sake I will call them third, second and first. We chose to travel second class. That meant we would share our room with two other travelers. Third class meant sharing an open carriage with a whole caboodle of other passengers, and we were nervous it wouldn't be as safe or as comfortable. First class meant a little room just for two but that's no fun! Sharing a room meant we got to make friends and Derrald got to practice his Russian!

But our first friend was a Japanese girl, Hiroe, who I noticed even before we had even left the station in Vladivostok. 

Владивосто́к

pronounced VLADIVOSTOK

Population approx. 592, 000

9,289km from Moscow

Our starting point for the trans-siberian railway (although usually considered the ending point)

I'm so glad we started in Vladivostok. There were plans for beginning in Beijing and skipping this city altogether but in the end it was easier to plan this more traditional route. Vladivostok was FREEZING. -16 degrees celsius when we arrived, but with the added wind chill factor, it felt MUCH colder. We bundled ourselves up and took a wander around the oceanside town. One of the most spectacular sights of the trip was the ocean all frozen in Vladivostok. 

One side of the peninsula - remnants of summer linger in the deserted carnival and lonely beach. The water is frozen.

The frozen water seen more clearly here - I don't think those boats will be going anywhere for a while!

Derrald wanders out on one of the docks

It seems like the ice goes on forever

That sneaky wind trying to get inside my clothes!

The ocean through the trees

He never gets cold...but he was feeling it this time!

They are building two big bridges, one of which is supposed to connect the mainland to Russky Island. This is one of the bridges. I'm not sure which one but it looked so awesome just suspended in mid air over the buildings like that.

"suspension" bridge

Our train left Vladivostok station around 10:30pm on Christmas Eve. We would spend the next 80 hours on the train for our first leg.

Back to Hiroe. She followed us all the way from Vladivostok to Ekaterinburg. We bumped into her on our "leg stretches" off the train and she even got off in Irkutsk and stayed two nights in Listvyanka, just like us!

Hiroe spoke english. We connected easily!

She was traveling alone and so she shared all-female rooms. We never had another female roommate. It was me and three men every time!!

Our first roommates were wonderful.

This is Iliya. He was going home to Tyumen for the first time in 4 years. He is in the Navy based out of Vladivostok. He reminded me of my brother. He was SUPER tidy and could lift himself onto his bunk like a monkey using only upper arm strength. We love Iliya.

Bunk-buddies. 

This is Andre. He is from Kaliningrad. He is a fisherman. Not only would he spend 7 days non-stop on the train from Vladivostok to Moscow, he would get on another train in Moscow to journey on to Kaliningrad!  He always worried about us and made sure we were on the train before it left a station, called us to see good photo opportunities and shared a delicious smoked fish with us.

Andre helped Derrald a lot with practicing his Russian. 

This is the smoked fish "omul" from Lake Baikal. A popular delicacy of the region, it was very tasty but very strong smelling. Check out the incredible knife - made by Andre's friend, it has a deer hoof for a handle!

Ирку́тск

pronounced IRKUSTK

Population approx. 587,000

5,153 km from Moscow

Our first stop on the trans-siberian. 

The sign says "Irkustk" but I don't know what the rest means.

Irkustk had a lot of old wooden houses in many colors with intricate window details and trimmings. Many were also falling apart and looked very old. The only time we spent in Irkustk was on our last day before heading to the train station so we carried our packs around with us.

Go green. 

All across Russia we found parks that had ice-carnivals or ice-festivals. Families and children would come out to play on slides made out of ice and to look at the sculptures.

Look at that dear old couple. Don't they look SO Russian?

Welcoming in 2012, Year of the Dragon

Mini slide plus child

Derrald debating whether to join the children in the ice maze

Big people slide... going up!

...going down!

The ice carnival in Irkustk also had reindeer!

Rudolph? And a camel! Do you see it? Behind the white pony bearing that militia looking man...

And Stalin.

Sharing a facial expression 

All the ice had little green leaves that looked like sea weed frozen inside it. Perhaps they made these ice monuments out of ocean water? Or maybe lake water? Either way, it was beautiful.

Alright friends, I think we'll need a second installment. The journey continues in A Trans-Siberian Christmas Part II.