Local Transport

I didn't really think this would be for real, but yes they do still have the old 1970s style Ladas driving around the place. They even put car alarms in them! Heh, I wouldn't stoop to stealing one of these things. Even a thief has some pride.

A few of them are doer-uppers...

The Ballet

We couldn't resist a night out in the fantastic Novosibirsk Theatre to watch the ballet.



Men in purple tights? Happy days.





The plot (abridged) - Two men fall in love with a girl. Bad things happen. She goes mental and dies. Both men dance with her in the afterlife. The end.

Eat your greens

My mother always said that I should eat my greens. Well now a restaurant is finally selling it proper...

Novosibirsk

A cool version of Lenin.


The big theatre (bigger than the Bolshoy apparently)...


This is Nic trying to close her pack. Four toilet bags are still essential I am told. Donkey here will simply have to rise to the challenge or face a beating from an unrelenting mistress...

Life aboard the Trans-Mongolian

Life of the train chugs by with a slow clickety-clack. The occasional stops give us time to stretch our legs and bargain for random parcels of food.









Always a surprise with the food; these doughnuts were full of cabbage. Yum yum.

Yekateringburg

Yekaterinburg, home of the Russian Bleak. I think old soviet style rubbishness was invented here.

They took a badly made building, multiplied it by a thousand or so, left them to fester without maintenance for a few hundred years, trapped a million smoking monkeys inside for a time, then gave the styling job to a blind communist on acid.

This is the remainder of old russia in Yekaterinburg. On the plus side for Russia; however, is that they have moved into the modern era and now expect eighty quid a night to stay in rooms that London crack-whores would pass on.







All of this rubs next to shopping malls with Gucci and prada touting their wares to anyone connected to the oil here.

We visited a train museum. I was hoping for great steam locomotives from the golden trans-sibererian days. Instead we were treated to exhibits that inlcluded some bricks from a building near the railway. No joke, they exhibited four bricks from a nearby train station. I think they need to fire their curator.



Nicci fell down a hole today. Was funny, but was lucky she didn't hurt herself.

We found this little chap in our hotel. Was the probably the best thing about it...


Needless to say Yekateringburg isn't a highlight of the 'trans' so far. Strangely, it is all much better than I expected though. Some good things here...

I would like to buy a vowel please...

I don't know how they play Russian Wheel of Fortune...

Kazan

Kazan, home of a white Kremlin and one of the prettiest mosques we've ever seen. They even let us take a look inside which is nice...





Donkey...

First train ride

All very exciting. We played with all the toys inside. The train was absolutely lovely.





'Provodnitsa' - translation: grumpy train lady that bursts into the cabin without knocking, looks at your naked bottom, and then asks if you would like a coffee. - This was first class; I would hate to see the service in third! (turns out she was an exception, and besides I can't blame her for trying to catch a glimpse of my bottom)

Juiced

We found this amusing...



Apparently it is the Russian word for 'juice' but we thought it was hilarious. Far too many jokes to put here. A prize goes to the person to put the best Russian Juice tagline as a comment on this blog entry.

Remaining icons of the old Russia

Even though Russia is a modern power-house with the blandness you see in the west i.e Topshop, Zara, McDons etc, there are still a few icons of the old Russia still left lying around. Check out these neat statues we found...









This one isn't old Russia, but it was so cool, I had to add it...

Moscow

Moscow rocks. It is terribly expensive, gaudily fashioned, but beautifully made.

We walked around the Kremlin, St Basil's and "that other church". Red square is cool - and red for that matter - well, not the square, but the surroundings.

Leaving for Moscow

Started the trip rather well. Nic's wonderful friends Charlotte and Nick lent us their house to stay in the night before we went to Heathrow. So there we were in a four bedroom mansion with a bottle of champagne in the fridge for us. Happy days! (thanks guys!)

Woke up at four in the morning, flew to Stockholm then connected to Moscow. It was all rather easy. Finding the hostel in moscow wasn't quite as easy, especially when Nic got sore feet and Donkey here had to carry two packs. With a happy 'ee-orr' we finally found it.

Preparing for roughing it

I really don't know quite how to explain this. We are about to travel through Asia for five months and need to travel light and be ready for roughing it. Nic has taken this to heart so sat me down and explained that is why she only packed four toilet bags.

"Four toilet bags!?" I said, "What could you possibly need four toilet bags for?"
Apparently it is all essential. I should know better than to ask.

Mark and Nic's leaving do

We had a wonderful leaving do at the queens head in Hammersmith. It turns out we have more than two mates to rub together. Was very nice. Thank you to everyone that came and we hope to see you on the other side in kiwiton soon.