Siberia
14 days,
Dec '09- Jan '10
INTRO SIBERIA
Kind of travel:
me and my girlfriend Elisa in an independent travel
When:
27th Dec09- 10th Jan10
Do
I need a visa?: yes, and it's the toughest part
since you need patience and time: here
is the procedure. Remember that most of the Russian consulates
(ie the one in Milan) does require the
booking by their site
How
I moved: beside flying with Aeroflot, the Trans-Siberian
railway has been the main mean, then minibuses, but we rode
also snow-mobiles and dog-sledges.
Freezing
or baking?: it has been a real Siberian winter with
temperatures ranging between -25C and -35C, may I call it freezing?
Where
I slept: Soviet style hotels usually completely empty.
An average price for a double room was around 40€, the
cheaper option is to travel overnight on the trains (1 berth
in 3rd class for a 3 days trip: 40€!). Moscow is outstandingly
expensive for everything: Youth Hostel is 50€ for a double.
What
I liked: the charm
of the Siberian landscape in wintertime is amazing, in particular
dog sledging and snow mobiling nearby Lake Baikal has been the
top
What I disliked:
out of almost 80 countries I've visited, the Siberian food is
the worst I've ever experienced. Russians smoke everywhere,
so if you don't put up with it, you'll freak out soon.
How much
daily: Russia is not cheap! We spent each an average
of 51€/day, lowered by the long train trip (1
berth in 3rd class for a 3 days trip: 40€!), but
increased by the staying in the expensive Moscow
Dangers/
hassles: drunk people, expecially in the evening on
the Trans-Siberian they can bother you to join them in the toastings
What
you do need:
don't venture on without at least being able to read cyrillic
and learn in advance how to read a Russian railway timetable
(don't underrate it or you'll regret!)
THE TRAVEL IN SIBERIA
Our entry point in Siberia has been the Buriatia region: the
main centre of the Russian Buddhism of the whole country. We
flew to its capital Ulan-Ude from Moscow (140€), spending
there a couple of days getting acclimatized (-35 C) and visiting
the nice town with its Ice Parks. We had also a day trip by
minibus to the centre of the Russian Buddhism called Ivolginsk
Datsan, located 70 km southward of the town, where we got acquainted
with a monk showing us his house.
Our first leg of Trans-Siberian has been a 9h overnight in 3rd
class to Irkutsk (ticket: 15€ each), where we jumped on
a minibus reaching in 2h the town of Lystvianka, set on the
bank of the Lake Baikal. Here we settled down in cozy wooden
made private house for 40€ night. The view of the freezing
Lake was jaw-dropping and Lystvianka is a convenient hub for
any activity around the lake, in fact the first day we rented
a snow mobile (40€ for 1h for two people) and we had a
ride through the snowed Siberian taiga.
The next day we tried the dog sledge (40€ for 15min): at
first there has been the interesting preparation of the sledge
with the barking dogs then they unexpectedly let us standing
and steering the sledge.
We spent the New Years eve in Irkustk walking in downtown while
enjoying both the Russian fireworks and the Russian coldness
(around -30C).
The 1st Jan we began our 3 days long Trans-Siberian journey
to Vladivostok staying in 3rd class (only 40€! each).
We were well prepared having our food, beverage and lots of
tea bags; on the train there's boiling water for free, so it's
possible to have tea and make soup easily. We spent the time
doing crosswords, reading Pushkin, practicing Russian and sipping
tea. Frankly the travel hasn't been that tiring, unless for
the smoke coming from smoking area at the end of the wagon making
the air quite stinky. On the toilet there's no shower but I
managed to wash my hairs in the sink, and there's a Restaurant
Wagon where once we had a dinner. (more
info on the Trans-Siberian).
Vladivostok, set on a bay overlooking the Ocean Pacific, is
known at first as of the last km of the Trans-Siberian (the
9.288th from Moscow), and then as the base of the Russian military
boat fleet.
In wintertime temperatures are milder than inland (around -16C/
-20C), but freezing wind makes hanging around even more painful.
We stayed in a very Soviet Hotel not listed in the Lonely planet,
called Hotel Equator for 35€ a double room; don't expect
much cheaper options in downtown!
The first 3 km of the Ocean were frozen and we had a stroll
over the ice around the fishermen with their tiny fishing rod
and the hole. Moreover we visited a military submarine, we took
the funicular to the top of the town and we reached the Russky
Island by an ice-breaking rusty ferry (2h). Once there we didn't
get off since it was too cold, thus we headed back.
The last evening we got invited for a dinner by Daniel and Anastasia,
a Russian couple, we got acquainted on the train. Although only
Russian speakers, it has been a so pleasant company, also showing
us some movies and explaining the traditions of the Russian
weddings.
SPACIBA DANIEL & ANASTACIA!!
The following day by a convenient (180€) flight with Aeroflot
we flew to Moscow; it's surprising to think that in the same
country there're towns 9.5h distant each others.
In the capital we got a train (4h) to one of the main 'Golden-Ring'
highlights: Vladimir. Here we hardly found a cheap (but veeeery
Soviet) accommodation (30€) in the outskirt of the town.
The next day, 7th Jan, it was Christmas and we visited the touristy
but charming Suzdal (a former monastic centre), characterized
by many horse-sledges outnumbered only by the colorful onion-like
roofs.
Back in Moscow we found a tiny and unbearable hot double room
for 45€ in the Youth Hostel, but with a good backpacker
vibe.
In the capital we enjoyed the most famous Russian circus,
called the Nikulin, the Ice-Sculptures Museum and an Opera at
the Bolshoy Theatre. Useless to say we didn't miss the must-to-be-seen
Kremlin, the Red Square and the almost disturbing Lenin embalmed
corpse.
Alby
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Siberia
travel tip
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VISA
Patience
and time are the two keywords to get the
Russian visa. The steps are:
-
in
www.getrussian.com
you find the forms to get the invitation
($30 (nov2010)). 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. You'll recevied the invitation
and the voucher by email; print them.
-
Book
on line on the website of the consulate
(Russian
consulate in Milan) the appointment
for the visa paying 2.7€ by credit
card and inputting all your passport
data
-
Take
such documents to the nearest russian
embassy or consulate. Don't forget to
bring all the other documents they request:
passport, photos, sanitary insurance
(if you don't have you can buy at the
consulate for 2€ per day), 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) than you can go and
get it.
-
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.
MONEY
The currency
is the Russian Ruble (1€= 42 R).
You can change almost everywhere against
€ or $
GUIDE
BOOK
I used
Lonely Planet 'Russia Asiatica 2009 (translated
by the english version 'Russia 5th edition
March 09)'; in Vladivostok we stayed in
a low budget hotel (in the centre) not listed
in the guide, I guess the didn't such deep
researches, anyway it's still a helpfull
travelmate
OUTFIT
To
venure on a winter travel in Siberia outfit
is definitely the main point where to invest.
So we did.
-
Boots: Canadian Boots + thick socks
(sometimes also foot heat producers)
- Pants:
leotard + fleece pants + ski pants
- Body:
thermal shirt + wool shirt + sweater
+ warm jacket
- Head:
balaclava + nr 2 caps + nr 2 neck-covers
- Hands:
two pairs of gloves (sometimes also
hand heat producers)+ pre-gloves
I
know Western are not used, but fur is
definitely the most appropriate material
for the outfit. The problem is that if
you buy, you likely never ever wear in
your life
TRANS-SIBERIAN
TIPS
ABOUT
RUSSIAN TRAINS AND STATIONS:
- To
buy a train ticket can be quite time
consuming and irritating. Consider at
least 2 hours and go equipped with a
piece of paper and a pen. Remember you'll
be asked of your train number and you'll
have to show the passport. If you wanna
travel in third class (plazkart) you
must buy the ticket at least one day
in advance. Don't underrate it; read
the Lonely Planet session about the
train tickets and the schedule, if you
wanna halve the wasted time and your
frustration in such operation! Alternatively
if you can spend a bunch of dollars
more you can have the ticket issued
by any agency, I think often it's the
best choice (if they speak english)
- Watches
inside the station and even immediately
outside are set to the Moscow time wherever
you are in Russia
- It's
very important to be able at least to
read the cyrillic and memorise the main
word about the schedule (leaving, arriving,
moscow time, local time). Lonely Planet
is indispensable in it
- Train
stations have the old name of the cities,
I mean the name before the collapse
of URSS. Hence instead of Yekaterinburg
station there's Svierdlosk, and instead
of Nizhny Novogorod there's Gork'ij
- Pay
attention that in Russia train ticket
prices depends on the period; considering
the price of the first week of the year,
they vary according to a coefficient
from 0.90 to 1.3 (on the trains there're
tables indicating all the details).
August and the last week of December
are the most expensive periods. prices
depend on the period. The 31st
of December you can travel by train
paying just half of the price you'd
have paid the week before!!!!!! Below
are the prices I paid in december/january
2009/2010
|
Price |
Class |
hours |
| Ulan
Ude- Irkutsk |
650rubl
=15€ |
third
(platzkart) |
9 |
| Irkutsk-
Vladivostok |
1800rubl
=42€ |
third
(platzkart) |
71 |
- On
the train you'll get sheets, pillow
case, mattress case and towel. The pravadnitsa
will give you them and ask them back.
- Third
class (paltzkcart) is safe, don't hesitate
to travel in
- The
hotness and the drought inside the train
especially during the night sometimes
didn't let me to sleep. Be prepared
with light clothes ready in you rucksack
and a bottle of water
FOOD
ON TRANS-SIBERIAN
On
th train there'r no shops despite a Russian
shuttling along the train with a trolley
where you can buy: biscuits, beverages
(water, fanta, cola) pre-prepared soup
(just put boiling water). Anyway dont
count too much on it since choice is very
limited or none.
Hence counting on the samovar (typical
russian pot to heat the water for tea
and coffee) bring:
- A cup
- A plate with
fork
- A knife
- Tea
bags
- Pre-prepared
chinese soups (just pour boiling water)
- Fruit
- Chocolate/
biscuits/ snack
- Bread/
ham
- Water
Usually
the train has 20min stops around every
3-4h, so you can get off and buy stuffs,
but in many stations we didn't find anything
and getting off at -30C can be a pain.
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