Travelblag

Author: Ollie

  • Day 11: Ulaanbaatar

    We arrived at Ulaanbaatar after a smooth ride on the train. The train was fairly empty, so no cabin buddies on this leg. Except for Dima maybe, who got bored having a whole cabin for himself, so he came over for a couple of beers on the first night. Dima is a young fella from Irkutsk, studying international Management in UB.

    The border stop between Russia and Mongolia took forever, but at least we met Yan and Joy from Hong Kong, “French couple” and some Germans (zey are everywhere, it’s a plague) in the process.

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    Arrived very early at UB after a rough wakeup call by the mongolian provodnitza. Now we are at the UB guesthouse trying to decide what to do in Mongo.

  • Early morning wisdom

    “Heat kills everything. Mostly.”
    — Pablo

  • Day 9: Off to Mongolia

    Leaving Nikitas Ho’estead after two very lazy relaxing days off, heading back to Irkutsk by minibus and then by train on to Ulan Bator.

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    Hoping there’s Internet in Mongolia so we can update our status from there.

  • Shaman holy rock

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  • Siberian tiger

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    Rare sighting of the Siberian tiger (endangered species)

  • Day 7: Khuzhir / Olkhon / Baikal Lake

    Three days on a train in a small compartment, crossing three more timezones, can be a long time, but not with Telman from Azerbaijan, who is a professional wrestler. Not the fake American kind or the Mexican variant with funny masks. Classic wrestling where anything goes as long as it stays below the waist. Telman or short Timur or Mr. T as we called him is a huge fella.
    Then there was Pavel “call me Pasha” who coined the line “I don’t need beer, it’s the beer that needs me”.  A Russian engineer.  Go figure…
    The ride from Irkutsk to the Island was one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed. A minibus “marshrutka” with loose axles, just hammering down on dirt roads with the needle in the red zone… But we’re here. In one piece.

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  • Day 2: Yekaterinburg

    Just arrived after spending 28 hours on the train. Great experience so far, one word: Ivan. More on that later, if we finally manage to get mobile Internet set up on the next train. And if Sputnik doesn’t wobble again, other story, relates to Ivan.
    Quick photo of a sign on the train though:

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    My Russian still sucks, but from the picture I was guessing that if there’s a fire in your cabin, your Waggon gets disconnected and you are left to burn to death.
    Bottom line: Do NOT start a fire in your cabin!

  • Day zero

    Just arrived at the Godzilla Hostel after having a couple of beers with Alex and Katja. Free wifi at the hostel so a quick update via mobile phone, trying not to wake up the guy from Istanbul we’re sharing the room with.
    First leg of the train coming up tomorrow after visiting red square and the Kremlin (or Gremlin as everyone says after vodka number five)

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