Leg 1: Moscow to Irkutsk

Hello everyone!

From sunny and hot Irkutsk, another story about my travels from Moscow to Irkutsk.

First some more about Moscow: let me quickly say that my first impression of Moscow may have been wrong. OK, most of the people are probably not the nicest in the world. OK, parts of it are a dump and/or a despicable show of Soviet uninventiveness. However, it has some fantastic spots, and we met a few very nice people.

My second full day in Moscow was mainly spent being guided around by Dasha, a girl Anne had met at a couchsurfing meeting. She was extremely nice and even left work early to tour us around ('There were no bosses' ). She took us to the VDNkH, which is a gigantic park (2 square miles) that used to be dedicated to showing off the might of the Soviet economy. It is now just an amazing park with beautiful buildings in different architectural styles, which is half historic and half extremely kitsch. It is like mixing Disneyland (the colourful trains taking you around the park, the popcorn, the loud music) with a beautiful outdoor museum.

Each building used to house an exposition dedicated to a certain Soviet state or part of the Soviet economy. There would be a pavillion dedicated to the Ukraine in Ukrainian style, and a pavillion dedicated to Russian spacecraft in a futuristic building. Unfortunately, these expositions have been removed and the building now just house little markets and random shops. That way you can buy a TV from a building of which the roof is lined with gold.

The park also has a 'natural' and somewhat derelict part. Large parts of it are forest, and there are pavillions dedicated to specific animals and hunting which seem not to have been visited in ages. It was beautiful to be guided around these parts of Moscow, which we would have never found without the help of Dasha.

To thank her, we took her out to dinner in a restaurant of her choosing, a very nice cocktail bar, which served very interesting, and inexpensive, cocktails. She insisted she pay us back for our dinner by buying us an enormous amount of authentically Russian sweets, which we ate on the train. At night, she took us to a secluded park in Moscow and we drank vodka. A perfect and to a great day.

The day after that, we had a look at Moscow's university, one of Stalin's great architectural feats, and an adjacent park. The park is situated on a hillside overlooking Moscow, and we had a beautiful view of the city. This park we found because our subway train stopped for no apparent reason. A Russian girl speaking English told us to get out. When we asked her why, she simply said 'It happens sometimes.' A rather mysterious type, you might think, but she actually turned out to be very nice (although we never got to know her name) and she told us she had studied at Moscow university and that we should visit this park. A random meeting turning into a great tip, travelling at its finest.

That Tuesday evening, Jet arrived in Moscow and we quickly took her to see the main sights in the city. It was time, however, to prepare us for the journey that lay ahead of us.

On Wednesday morning we took our last shower for some days to come, and prepared ourselves for our 88 hour journey on the Transsiberian express to Irkutsk.

About the journey itself I can't really say much. I wrote 12 pages about just the trip in my travel journal, yet nothing really happened. Perhaps the journey was best summed up by Erwin: 'This train is like a roller coaster. First you don't feel like having noodles, and then you do.'

That being said, I wasn't bored for a moment on the train, which I thought was quite extraordinary. I had expected to be bored out of my mind, but reading, playing games, and simply looking out of the window actually makes for a rather pleasant day. We woke up every day to 'Weet je wat we doen' by Conny Vandenbos (a song about doing nothing and staying in bed). Then there would be a stop in some random place that none of us had ever heard of and we would briefly leave the train to look around and see if any of the people on the platform were selling something worth eating. This way we found some nice treats; something that looked like a Dutch 'oliebol', but with meat and onions in it. A crunchy pancake with a caramel-like substance in it, and a roasted pine cone.

Tomorrow, though, it was time to leave the train, and head for Bolshie Koty, our next destination. It is a small village on the shore of Lake Baikal, containing about 40 permanent residents and a number of Russian weekend homes. It is completely cut off from the world: the only way to get there is to walk 20 miles from Listvyanka, or to take a boat. There is no road, except in the winter when Lake Baikal is frozen, and a road is created over the ice.

So we went to get a bus to the harbour where the boat would take us in two hours to this remote place. The bus system in Irkutsk is interesting, to say the least. I can't confirm this, but as far as I can tell, anyone can buy a van, stick a bus number on it, and charge you whatever the hell they want to take you wherever the hell they want. There is no bus schedule. Buses just come by very often, and are often very packed. The streets are filled with these buses; the (mini-)bus-to-car ratio is about 2:1. A 15-minute journey in one of these buses costs about 20 eurocents. As you might imagine, the bus drivers have great incentive to get as many people as possible in their van, and to take you to your destination as quickly as possible. This leads to buses where every square inch is crammed full with people, and where each driver is a complete lunatic. However, you do get everywhere fast, and I can see why the people in Irkutsk don't buy cars; you really don't need to with over a hundred bus lines reaching every possible spot in the city and beyond. Our bus journey to the harbour cost 10 rubles. The journey back cost 12. There is absolutely no explanation for this price difference. I'm pretty sure the driver just invents his price.

Now, you might be thinking, why did you take another bus back from the harbour? Surely, you took a boat and succesfully made the voyage to this remote place you speak of? Nothing could be farther from the truth.

When we arrived in the harbour and went to buy four tickets, we were simply told 'No tickets.' But you are a ferry service, surely there are tickets? 'No tickets.' Do we buy the tickets on the boat? 'No tickets.'

Optimistically, we figured that surely we must be able to buy tickets on the boat. Our Lonely Planet had mentioned nothing of reservations being necessary, and the hostel that we were going to hadn't warned us either.

Anne and Jet went around the harbour asking random passersby what exactly the deal was here. No-one knew. Then we met a German fellow, who told us that we could buy tickets. Obviously, we were very relieved. Surely everything would be alright now! So we enthusiastically walked up to the queue waiting to enter the boat, where we noticed that people seemed to be holding what could be described as ticket-like objects. What was this? We told the lady at the entrance that we wanted to buy four tickets to Bolshie Koty, please. 'No tickets.' But we could buy tickets on the boat, right? ' No tickets.' We asked Russian bystanders if they understood what was being done to us. They asked the lady in Russian. They told us, 'No tickets.'

Very disappointed, we had to leave the harbour. The boat had been full and our trip to Bolshie Koty ruined. However, we have now arranged to go there tomorrow, and to stay there for two nights, so our plans are luckily still on. Now, however, we found a hostel in Irkutsk and had some time to have a delightful shower. We bought some food and are cooking ourselves a nice meal tonight. Tomorrow will be another day.

P.S. I want to upload some photos, but this isn't really the time. I will post them here when I have them.