Russia travel info
16 days, dec 2003-
jan 2004
For
more about Russia (San Petersburg) visit also my San
Petersburg 05 travel
INTRO
Kind
of travel:
A wholly independent travel
When:
heart of the 2003 winter
How
I moved:
mainly by train, sometimes by bus
Where
I slept:
on the train and in old soviet style hotels; (there's nothing
cheaper)
How
much:
travelling in Russian is NOT cheap at all, mainly for the accomodations.
Consider at least a budget of 45euro/day; being two people
help to share the expenses since most of the time there are not
single rooms
Baking
or freezing?
freezing
obviously (-20 +4)
Dangers:
drunk people and loosing the patience dealing with the people
What
I liked:
the charming atmosphere on the train, the frozen Volga and
the unexpected safety, it turned out a very off-of-the-beaten-track
travel
What
I disliked:
the rough attitude of the people
What
you do need:
warm clothes (see below), to be able at least to read cyrillic
and PATIENCE dealing with Russians!! And you cannot miss to read:
'In Siberia' by Colin Thubron
THE TRAVEL
WHY
RUSSIA?
For
me Russia has always been a kind of mystery every time I looked
at the globe: almost 150 millions of people living in17 millions
of square meters, an huge area rarely named, as something non-existent.
In addition the idea of this land covered by ice and snow during
the winter really charmed me.
I wanted to travel in Russia, to come back with an idea of
its immensity; that's why I skipped S. Petersburg and I had a
quick view to Moscow, preferring moving inland towards east till
entering in Asia.
LANGUAGE
Lonely
Planet says:" In Russia your fun will be proportional to
your skill in reading and speaking the language". In September
I started studying Russian for more than 3 months. It has been
quite tough, but I liked it (I still like since I'm carrying it
on) anyway at the end I can say LP statement turned out to be
true! It's very important at least to be able to read cyrillic.
OUTFIT
TO FACE THE RUSSIAN WINTER
Another
important point was to decide about the clothes. Looking the average
winter temperature in Russia is quite scaring and thinking to
backpack there even more. My outfit was: a pair of trekking shoes
with thick socks, loetard under the pants, very expensive thermal
shirts under a sweater that in turn was under a warm swedish jacket,
a cap (often double), a scarf (sometimes I wore the mask to shelter
the chin and the mouth) and two pairs of gloves. I've never frozen
up apart from the hands every time I needed to take off the gloves,
namely to take a picture or to show the passport that happened
very often. But frankly I've been lucky since in such period the
temperatures stayed over the average (between -5 C and -12 C,
apart -18 C in Moscow the last day) so I've never faced the real
coldness (luckily!). Anyway, as I presumed, the hands and the
feet were the most critical parts (here
for more tips).
I also carried my ice skates from Italy hoping to skate over
the frozen Volga, but I left them in Moscow since my backbag was
too heavy. At the end it turned out a wise idea in fact in 16
days I've never seen a "skateble area"
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HOW
TO GET THE RUSSIAN VISA
Visa
are always a pain in the ass, and the russian one
particularly!!!You need patience and money, but nowadays
it's possible to get a visa to travel freely in the
country without being obliged to book in advance the
accommodation.
Here are the steps:
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in
www.getrussian.com
you find the forms to get the invitation ($30 (11/03)). In
the form you've to indicate the itinerary. I wrote one completely
different than the one I did, but in the visa it's not specified
so it seems what you write doesn't make a difference. I wondering
what's the purpose.
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When
you've got the invitation and the voucher by email bring them
to the nearest russian embassy or consulate. Don't forget
to bring all the other documents they request: passport, photos,
sanitary insurance, flight tickets. Pay an amount of money
depending on the days you can wait for the visa (in Milan
for 1 day $ 250, for 8 days $30 (11/03)) than you can go and
get it.
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Do
you really think is over?? Nooooooo, you must register your
presence once you are in Russia by 72 hours. You can do in
a hotel or, like me, waste one morning doing it in an agency
in Moscow, which address you must request to the agency who
sent you the visa. Of course it costs!! $20 for two registration,
but at least it took few minutes.
Total
cost of the 30 days visa: $80, but I was free as a bird!!!!!!!!
ITINERARY
I
arrived in Moscow was for one day I have been guest of a russian
friend of her. I had to get the visa registrated, to leave the
not-essential stuffs of my too heavy backbags, to learn how to
read the complex train schedule and how to buy a train ticket,
then I was ready to head toward the Urals!!!
I remember clearly the night I left: the long train waiting
on the side of the snowed and frozen platform, where the "pravadnitsa"
(the women who look after for each carriage on the train) were
standing to check carefully the ticket and the passport of any
passenger. I was looking forward to get on the warm train while
I had to took off one of the two pairs of gloves to hand my document
to this serious tough woman and finally she let us on: this was
the beginning of the travel. After 8 hours in a snowy and cold
morning I got off the train in Nizhny Novgorod. It was wonderful
to walk still in the darkness through the town while huge snowflakes
were covering everything, frozen Volga included. I walked few
hours before finding a cheap hotel (1300 rubl =45 $ for a double
(12/2003)) where I could warm up my frozen bodies.
I spent two days hanging out in the town, visiting the Kremlin,
the Volga riverbank, downtown and of course drinking the typical
russian cafe with milk (cafè c malakò). But my best memories are
the trips on the funny trams, where, at random you could get on
the cold vagon, so cold that the windows were frozen inside, or
the warm ones, so hot that I felt to be in an overheated oven!!
While concerning the outdoor temperature it wasn't so bad since
in Nizhny Novgorod it has never dropped below -11 C.
Time was flying and I had to leave again towards Kazan,
the capital of the Tatarstan region. Definitely being the most
caratheristic town, Kazan has been my preferite one of the whole
trip. The colorful trams seeming like sliding on the snow, the
big outdoor market where you can find everything you need (if
you dare to take off your gloves and remove the ice layer that
covers the displayed goods). But the best was the white endless
frozen Volga where I walked for hours reaching the
fishermen who fished in the small holes through the ice.
It has been a long travel by
train (15 hours, 800 rubl= 26$) the one who took us to Yekaterinburg,
where I arrived in the middle of a windy night.
Yekaterinburg is a big industrial town, one of the ones closed
to the stranger till the 1991, being centers of the military and
nuclear research during the cold war. Frankly after Kazan it appeared
us being a kind of unexpressive town where it is difficult to
focus a downtown or some typical features. Anyway 50 km north
of Yekarinburg I visited a nice typical rural small town called
Revda,
whose images of the kids dragging
sledges loaded with water tanks, or of the colourful smoking
wooden houses plunged in the snow are still my best memory of
the russian countryside.
Time was flying and the 2003 was about to be over. I spent
the new
years eve in one of the main square of Yekaterinburg, in a
kind of entertainment
park built by ice, where you can slide down several meters
high
ice slides and surely experience the fun of smashing against
somebody drunk crawling on your way.
My last leg before coming back Moscow was Samara a town 25
hours far from Yekaterinburg heading south-west. Although it is
definitely not a touristic highlight and no agency would suggest
it (frankly no agency would suggest you the whole trip) I liked
it. I felt really off-of-the-beaten-track, in a place
where you can enjoy the russian style of life: walking on the
Volga riverside and crossing it on foot, seeing all the kids sliding
down the slopes in the parks, eating some strange fried stuff
at the funfair, poking around in the indoor market buying caviar,
salami, smoked fish, in one word: travelling.
IMPRESSIONS
ABOUT THE RUSSIANS
Get
out from the airport I had a positive impression about Russia:
nobody bothered me to take a taxi or any kind of other service,
further on the minibus I met a funny man with who I tested my
first words in russian and, probably surprised by my efforts,
took me to the metro paying us the ticket.
The continuation of the travel confirmed my initial impression
that Russians don't seemed surprised or became curious seeing
a stranger, so you don't feel peered walking in place such as
stations or outskirts. While this "indifference"
towards me, walking with a huge backbag and speaking an unknown
language, let me to feel at ease almost everywhere, on the opposite
unfortunately I found almost everybody I dealt with quite rude
and unpatienced. I did every effort to try to communicate in their
language, but from their own almost nobody strove a bit to understand,
but started shouting roughly, as very upset by the difficulty
of the communication. This happened to me so many times in so
different situations: buying the ticket (a big effort!!), on the
train with the "pravadnitsa" (the sleeping car chief),
asking to somebody an information on the road or at the bus station,
buying some food at the market, registering the visa, paying for
the room of the hotel, ordering at the restaurant, in the shops.
(read the
story) I noticed that this rudeness was normal even among
them; on the opposite dealing with me many times they seemed softer,
simply they stopped yelling before because I didn't answer, or
maybe they were sweetened by the fact I greeted and smiled before
starting to speak; sometimes they seemed surprised and a little
upset (or maybe embarrassed) by such kindness, like something
they were not used.
Definitely greeting is not the preferred habit in the russian
land. They should learn by Africans; in Mali it took about one
minute to exchange the greetings to the respective families with
everybody they meet walking. It was nice, but not a pleasure since
it happened while your brain was toasted under a 50 C sun; in
Russia maybe you would freeze up, but at least wouldn't fry! :-)
I think such rudeness is their way of communicate, I mean
their normal attitude, but for a stranger something so hard to
get used to. Anyway several times I found out behind this thick
bark an helpful person whose helpfulness didn't match with his
tone and expression. So I ended up with my personal explanation:
when you deal with a Russian, his not promising external attitude
could not be representative of his real intention!!!!!
The real exception I met was the family in Moscow where I
have been guest for a bunch of days. They turned out to be so
kind with us, despite stilll now, I think, they don't still figure
out what the hell there's of such interesting for an Italian in
getting to Yekaterinburg, Samara, Perm to see the russian people
in the winter time!!!!! :-)
(Thanks Miscia and Irina!!!!!)
For instance I remember the guy who, getting off the train
in the darkness in N. Novogorod, seemed quite upset to suggest
us a hotel. Then he grabbed one of my heavy backbag and started
walking fastly inside the station, where he stopped saying seriously
he wouldn't have got out if I hadn't worn the cap, since it was
cold (funny innit??). I thanked, but no way to get rid of him.
He proceed outside and without saying a word he walked for a quarter
of hour in a snowy cold night, while I was behind him wondering
where he was heading and if I was supposed to follow him. After
a while I ended up at a hotel outside which I seriously greeted
and disappeared.
One normal russian behaviour among the people is to push
like hell getting on and off the means of transport, especially
minibus and metro. I think you don't need to travel till the Urals
to experience it, since Moscow is enough to understand what means
to have no pity for anybody getting off the underground. The funny
thing is that it's considered so normal that nobody complains
or gets angry if you smash him against the others pushing from
the back. In Italy one time would be enough to end up in a brawl.
One positive characteristics I noticed was that people tend
to be very honest as concerns the money, in particular in the
prices and in the change. It has never happened they charged me
more being a foreign, even the poor and frozen women of the stalls
said my the standard price, that I knew since I listened speaking
to the other customers. And sometimes as happened when I forgot
getting the change, they joined me to give me it, obviously yelling.
ABOUT
THE RUSSIAN TRAIN
The
disappointment I got by the people was fully compensated by the
memory I still carry for the
russian trains. In Russia trains are the main mean of transport
and the huge distances turn in very long travel through the endless
russian land, hence trains become a kind of house for the Russians.
Before travelling here I expected to wait hours freezing
up at the stations for trains that nobody knows when they arrive,
or to buy tickets for placed already busy by somebody else. Nothing
of all these things. Trains are very punctual, even in very long
travels, and the ticket system is very efficient. What can be
quite difficult, especially for the first times, is to buy the
tickets, since the serious woman beyond the window of the ticket
office presumes you say her the number of your train, don't expect
she will find the train for your destination, for this you must
translate the schedule... good luck! (read
the funny story)
Even the condition of the train stations surprised me positively.
Also the ones of the big cities were clean and well organised,
and apart from the drunks I didn't find any bothering person.
Anyway stations still remain the main place in the towns from
where you must keep out as much as possible.
You can have overnight travels in first class (never experienced.sigh.I'm
too poor L ), second class (kupè) and third class (platzcart),
my preferred one!!! Third class means a sleeping car with 54 beds
without compartments. Maybe it could sound spooky, but I promise
you, I felt at ease. First of all russian trains are clean and
tidy since the woman in charge of controlling each sleeping car
(the pravadnitsa, (provodnitsa)) usually is very efficient.
It's right the pravadnitsa the character who you'll have to deal
with for everything you need while travelling on her sleeping
car. It's a russian woman so forget smiles, greetings and every
other sign that could show humanity, but, most of the time you
won't get disappointed by the way she keeps the sleeping car.
For example it was a morning I was travelling on the train from
Yekaterinburg to Samara when I experienced the cleaning time in
the sleeping car: a serious pravadnitsa entered, obviously without
asking, and pushed everybody out while hoovering and, dragging
her vacuum cleaner, moving everything she found on her way. Then,
after one minute she moved to another compartment leaving my
well cleaned.
The pravadnitsa is also the person who wakes you up and takes
you a cafe when you reach your destination, even if it's in the
middle of the night. The cafe, in particular the cafe with milk,
will soon became your best travel mate when you are on russian
trains. In fact in every sleeping car there's a Samovar,
a huge (1 meter high) cup containing boiling water heated by a
fire burning underneath it. If you have your own cup you can get
as much as you want hot water for free and using some very cheap
Nestlè powder, you can prepare your cafe.
One thing that I really didn't expected was the unbearable
hot temperature inside the trains. Many nights I slept so bad
for the hot and in particular for dry air that I was looking forward
to getting off for some fresh air. What I can suggest you is to
bring light cloth and some water.
I like travelling by train, and particularly on the russian
ones in the winter time. I remember once in the evening when the
train stopped in a small station and looking for some food for
my dinner I got off. It was cold, so I opened the heavy wooden
door to enter the station hall. The hall was high cold and almost
empty, apart from few drunks crouched on the chairs; it seemed
time stopped forty years ago there. Dominating everything there
was a huge map of the russian railway painted on the wall, as
to remember how small was such place compared to the immensity
of Russia: once again I felt a point on the map, and I wondered
how representative could be the small part of Russia I was travelling
in compared to the whole. I would have stopped there to peer every
corner of places such these discovering a reality different than
the one of the cities, but where to sleep and how to move in such
places with so tough weather conditions? A lot of time during
this travel I felt the temperature like a kind of constraint for
my curiosity of wandering everywhere, like a kind of big window
that let you to see but not to explore such places. However the
snow and the ice were the charming ingredient of the landscape
and I don't think it would have been the same without.
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