Back to Joensuu - Vissza Joensuuba

From VV we flew to Moscow, where I've spent still some time, and now I'm back to Finland.
From Moscow to SPb I took a train where I had only sitting place (no normal platzkartny ticket left for good connections) - yeah, that happens when I buy ticket only the day I've arrived to Moscow :D At least it was really cheap and not as bad as I was afraid. Then Allegro and IC in Finland, so the usual, with only difference that I have ticket for the 1st class on Allegro. It was only a bit more expensive (actually half price than 2nd class for other trains) and free tea, coffee, and a lots of food :D

Summary of the trip?
I won't miss:

• ticks
• hot & rainy days
• traffic jams and that amount of car
• sand
• small personal space
• the language :)

Best parts (at least some of them)?

• I've never imagined that I can travel over 10.000 km by train (I should add the kms, but I think it was close to 12.000 all together...)
• tvorog, syrok and cheap beer :D
• the great UAZ rides (in Ekateringurg and on Olkhon-island)
• rock climbing in Stolby, Krasnoyarsk
• the hostel  in Ulan Ude
• parks in Moscow
• Vladivostok and swimming in the ocean
•  and all the nice CSers and travelers (backpackers and cyclists) we've met on the way

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Hazafelé még Moszkvában eltöltöttem egy kevés időt (2 napot), de már úton vagyok Joensuuba. Moszkva és Szentpétervár között csak ülőhelyem volt a vonaton, mivel csak VV reptérről vettünk jegyet :)) De azért nem volt olyan rossz, ráadásul feleannyi mint a platzkartny! SPv-ről Allegro első osztály (teával, kávéval, ennivalóval, és fele annyiba került, mint a többi vonaton a másodosztály. :)

Összefoglalva az elmúlt majdnem két hónapot, vannak dolgok amik nem fognak hiányozni:

• a kullancsok
• a forró és esős napok
• dugók és az autók
• homok
• az emberek túlzott közelsége
• a nyelv :)

A legjobb részek (a teljesség igénye nélkül):

• sosem gondoltam volna, hogy valaha ennyit fogok vonatozni. Még pontosab össze kell adnom a km-eket, de azt hiszem közel leszek a 12 ezerhez :))
• túró, túrórudiféleség és az olcsó sör, haha :)
• UAZ fuvarok (Jekatyerinburg, Olkhon)
• sziklamászás (Stolby, Krasnoyarsk)
• a hostel Ulan Ude-ben
• a moszkvai parkok
• Vlagyivosztok és az óceánban fürdés
• a többi hátizsákos (vagy biciklis) turista és CSer, akikkel az utunk során találkoztunk

Vladivostok

 Leaving from Ulan Ude

 As you've seen on the pictures, we had some 'smaller' train accident, derailing, and (un)luckily we were in the car which was totally broken off from the train after it derailed on a bridge, run through the rocks and finally stopped about 6-700 meters behind the train... But except small cuts and bruises I'm fine, Karol also only hit his head, and of course everything was broken and landed on me in the compartment, like the lady (from the opposite seat)'s ceramic soup bowl (luckily not with hot soup any more) and a just open beer, and basically all the food and stuffs were stored on the table.

I had kind of shock with the lady, and trying to get out from the train car, but Karol was already shooting pictures down. After that we had like the next night sitting in a platzkartny car with a huge amount of people, and by next morning we got new cars (of course not any more air conditioned :) )

  

The last stop Vladivostok!

This is (the end of) our last day in Vladivostok, it was great! I think the best city we've visited during the trip. It has amazingly great harbors! Huge Ganz (and other) cranes, train cargo transport to sea, ships, Pacific fleet, etc. I wonder if there is any harbor tycoon... :) The only big problem of the city (except traffic jams and too many people) is the fog, which is too common in summer month, as our host said it. But I still managed to swim a bit in the ocean :))

The rest you can see from the pictures :)

Time to fly back to Moscow - hoping a 'smooth' flight!

Ulan Ude

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We visited the Buddhist monastery: Дацан in Ivolga and a smaller one in the city, where we had a great view to a construction site and to the industrial part of the city :) Oh, and to the ski jumping hill too!!! (by Karol)

The hostel where we stay is pretty cool. Basically for backpackers, lot of young guys with nice travels. And a French cyclist who is in his 60s (!!!) and has more muscles than the rest of the people together! He was cycling through Mongolia and several other countries! :-o

Tomorrow taking a train to Vladivostok, the ride will take 68 hours! 3 nights! I hope it'll be great as all the rides so far. We just need to buy some beer, in case we get bored and don't wanna buy for 3 times more in the buffet car. :)

Then 3 days in VV and then flying back to Moscow where I'll still spend some shorter time before going back to Finland to the strawberries :)

Baikal II. - Port Baikal, Slyudyanka, Ulan Ude

 

Finally we managed to take 'matanya' local train from Slyudyanka to Port Baikal. There are only 4 train pairs per week, and 2 tourist trains (where the excursion price is around 3000 ruble). We took the local train. It was around 140 and counting all the transportation costs to Irkutsk would be still less than half price of the tourist train. (Even though we are not going back to Irkutsk any more, I hope :))

The train ride took about 5 hours, the distance is 89 km. So high speed :)) But as it goes next to the lake, we had plenty of time to wonder on the mountains, rain, rainbow, etc. Today it was quite hot day (i.e. 23 degree), but still many times was rainy. During the first 3-4 hours the train was full with locals, who just did their weekly (monthly?!) shopping in the town and were heading back home. It was interesting to see that quite many people live in that area which is accessible only by railway and water transportation.

One thing I wanted to mention earlier, that I can understand more and more why many Russian drink heavily. Taking these extra long rides, or living in the middle of nowhere, it can't be easy most of the time.

The other thing, I'm not sure if I mentioned, but the Russian railway operates in Moscow time. It means that the stations show Moscow time, not the local time. And I'm still unused to it! So interesting but logical! M laptop and our phones are also stayed in Moscow time, so it took a long while for me to adapt in each city to the local time :))

Now we have to wait till 2am in Port Baikal to take the train back to Slyudyanka and go for a shorter hike to a close 2000m high peak. Let's hope the weather won't be worse than today. After that time to go to Ulan Ude.

What else have happened?

• In Port Baikal two other tourist were waiting for the train – guess which nationality! Hungarians! :D
• The security guard offered (and did) wake us up before our train – it was nice, even though I barely could sleep because of her talking and people walking in and out – but at least Karol had 5 hours of sleep
• In Slyudyanka we left our big backpacks and went hiking finally!
• raining in the beginning – was enough to soak – ticks when it finally got sunny
• found a nice lazurite mineral mine! (the quarry wasn't special just huge!)
• 4 Russian hiker ladies who could and wanted to speak in English :)
• Drying on the sunshine
• the only day at Baikal when we had drunk no beer! :-o
• waiting for the night train at Slyudyanka to Ulan Ude – TV and sofas are at the railway station!!
• Ulan Ude: finally shower after 2 showerless night :)
• More right side steering wheel than left side!
• Extra amount of stray dogs!!
• the city looks more Russian than I expected, almost no wooden buildings– and definitely hotter! :D
  
  

  

   Port Baikal

Olkon island

We came to the island on Friday. The bus route was about 5.5 hours, with many stops. From the first view the island looked boring, bit like Mediterranean (mean almost no trees, just not limestone). The bus ride turned into challenging, when the road when to dirt road, even before the ferry. My impression of the village (?) was that I'm in the wild Wild West...it is almost Far East, isn't it? :D

After that I started to feel better. I got used to the dirt roads, wooden houses and some people wandering around the streets. Luckily this time (so far) I haven't seen any guns :))

I liked when our house lady was complaining that she can't start a Toyota with automatic gear, cause she always drove UAZ :D

There is many shamanic (religious place), wooden poles with flags, etc. It seems we are out of the peak of the tourist season, which I really don't mind. We still have seen like 4-6 tourist buses (haha, UAZ!!!) taking visitors to the national park by car, making stops and giving some lunch (boiled fish in water with potatoes....). Anyway, the ride is unforgettable! Not only that I survived without puking, but going on roadless roads, through forest and fields, it was amazing! Even though I wouldn't repeat it often :D

After this excursion, we don't really feel a need to stay too much longer on the island.

The plan is back to Irkutsk and from there to Slyudyanka to take finally the train (Circum Baikal, local version) , or hike, if the rain won't pour like hell.

Most likely I'll post it from Irkutsk. :)

ps.: The beer taste nice on high cliffs on the lake! :)

ps2.: my throat is still not okay. I hope I get better soon...

Tesóim majd lefordítják magyarra :)) Nemsokára megy a vonatunk...

Irkutsk, Baikal, etc.

We've spent the last days in (and next to) Irkutsk. We took some walk in the city, it has much more pretty colorful but decaying wooden houses than the previous cities, industrial parts and tram lines too! And they have some really weird old trams, I've never seen similar! Hope someone knows what they are :)

When we arrived we had few hours of hot and sunshine, finally time for shorts, but that weather lasted only that day, since that it is again colder (around 13) and raining. And I started to feel sick as well. Of course not getting sick when visiting ice cave for 1.5 hours in sandals, but this rainy weather makes me sick...

Btw, here, as in Krasnoyarsk too, many cars are imported from Japan and have steering wheel on right side. According to my non-representative systematize random sampling, 30% :)

Today we took a train to Slyudyanka, next to lake Baikal. It looked cool but rainy, even more than here in Irkutsk. So we didn't hike just look around the city and walk on lakeside when it was raining less.

Tomorrow going to Olkhon island by bus, and spending there or around about a week, then going somehow (bus and train, or ferry and something) to Ulan Ude. We should be there around 19-20. No idea if we'll have internet meanwhile :)

Az elmúlt napokban Irkutskban és környékén jártunk. A városban rengetes színes és omladozó faházacska van. Sokkal jobban néz ki, mint a korábbi városok faházai, amikről a festék már vagy lekopott, vagy sosem voltak befestve. De azért itt sem minden épület tökéletes :) És öreg, érdekes villamosok róják az utcákat, ilyeneket nem láttam sehol, úgyhogy ha valaki tudja mik, szívesen fogadom az infót! :)

Az időjárás az érkezésünkkor végre jó volt, napsütés, huszon-sok fok, rövidnadrág. Azóta persze megint esik és 13 fok körül van, maximum. Kissé meg is fáztam, a jégbarlangot hiába nyomtam végig szandálban, attól semmi bajom nem lett...

Ahogy Krasznoyarskban, úgy itt is rengeteg a jobb kormányos autó. Japánból. A helyiek szerint jobban bírják a telet. A nem reprezentatív mintavételezésem alapján 30%.

Ma Slyudyankában jártunk, a Bajkál-tó partján. Természetesen szakadt az eső, így nem másztunk hegyet, csak egy kicsit a tóparton mászkáltunk, amikor épp nem esett annyira.

Holnap irány Olkhon szigete, a tavon. Busszal 5-6-8 valahány órára innen. A következő hetet ott ill. a környékén töltjük, majd utána busszal majd vonattal, vagy komppal és valahogy eljutunk Ulan Udébe 19-20-a környékén. És nem tudom, hogy lesz-e netünk addig, szóval ne aggódjatok :))

 Irkutsk

 Slyudyanka

Krasznoyarszk és Irkutszk

Krasnoyarsk

It was the best part of our way! Now we are in Irkutsk already, just we didn't have internet connection during the previous days. Our host was really cool guy (one of the best I've ever met), he took us right after our arrival to Stolby, we did some hiking and we climbed rock!!! And somehow I survived! It was really scary, but where else in not that time to try it. Next day we were hiking in the other part of the national park, and in the afternoon he took us to the nearby water dam on Yenisey. So we've seen everything we wanted, even more. :)

I still like trains, even platzkartny (in the end we took it, the high class train left in wrong time)! Karol hates it. If I would like the trains since my childhood, I could say that my childhood dream come true. But as I just fell in love with trains maybe 6 years ago, I only can say one unknown dream came true! It was so amazing watching the locomotives, trains, and everything through the window and smile, yeah, I'm here! :) I'm so happy for my friends (especially to Tomi) who planted the seeds of this :)) I hope once you can also do this trip :)

Irkutsk

We just arrived to Irkutsk, staying in hostel and probably tmrw see the Baikal lake, and spending later on some days on the shore and on Olkhon Island, and after more than a week going to Ulan Ude.

Ps.: we've seen many traffic accidents, and in Yekaterinburg, with the Danish guy we spotted a guy with a gun in his car, so we walked faster :))

Krasznoyarszk és Irkutszk

Krasznoyarszk melletti nemzeti park (Stolby) szuper volt, másfél napot töltöttünk ott, és a gátat is megnéztük a Jenyiszejen. Ééés másztam sziklát! A szállásadónk vitt el, úgyhogy muszáj volt kipróbálni, egyébként az egyik legjobb arc akinél valaha is megszálltam! :)

A legjobb része eddig az utazásnak! Még mindig imádom a vonatokat! Főleg több éjszakán át ugyanazon a vonaton, ismerkedni másokkal, tapasztalatokat cserélni. Csodás! :)) Arról nem is beszélve, hogy az ablakból lesni a mozdonyokat, a vonatokat és tájat, és úgy érezni, mint ha gyerek lennél (még ha nem is volt gyermekkori álmom a vasút!) Szóval köszi Tomi :))

Karol nem élvezi ennyire, de örömére, és az én bánatomra, már csak kb 3 éjszakát töltünk vonaton, és most egyelőre irány a Bajkál-tó! :) És egy bő egy hét után pedig Ulan Ude. :)

ui.: rengeteg balesetet láttunk, és még Jekatyerinburgban a dán srác vett észre egy csávót egy pisztollyal ülni a kocsijában. Tiszta Oroszország! :)

Krasnoyarsk

Yekaterinburg – Krasnoyarsk

That was the best part of our journey so far! 37 hours on train, 2 nights on platzkartny, meeting with other travelers (many French, some Swedish, Dutch and the Danish guy), and seeing soooo many trains and locomotives during 2 days as I couldn't ever imagine! Passing by burned forests, small houses which were in pretty bad condition, and next to huge industrial cities (Tyumen, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, etc) – just most of them we passed during night, but we could still see something.

On the 1st day afternoon we got 2 local men as our travel mates downstairs, I don't know if they were drunk or what, but they could get that Karol is Polish, but I think they never heard about Hungary, and in the end they agrees that I must be from France :D And of course Karol was just observing the conversation from above.. :)

So far I traveled 1 night in kupe and 3 in platzkartny, and I would do the rest of it like this too. Even if they would cost the same, I would chose platzkartny, I do enjoy it much more. The last part of our trip will be in kupe (Ulan Ude Vladivostok) anyway, and probably the next part we'll try the highest class till Irkutsk, as it is Karol's dream.

Now we'll do some short sightseeing in Krasnoyarsk, trying to see the huge water dam and which is close by the city, and go to some nature reserve (Stolby). And find a couch or hostel for Irkutsk. :)

ps: Sorry for my English, it sucks, even more than before :)

Eddig messze ez volt a legjobb része az utazásnak! 37 óra vonaton, 2 éjszaka, találkozás más turistákkal, utazókkal, volt egy csomó francia, néhány svéd, holland és a dán srác, és annyi vonatot és mozdonyt láttam a két nap során, amennyire nem is gondoltam volna! Láttunk leégett erdőket, épületeket, romos, összedőlt házakat (a vidéket), és a hatalmas iparvárosokat (Tyumen, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, stb) .

Az első nap két helyi orosz aludt alattunk, és elég beszédesek voltak amíg álomba nem zuhantak. Azt még megértették, hogy Karol lengyel, de szerintem Magyarországról halvány lila gőzük sem volt, mivel a végén megegyeztek, hogy biztos, hogy francia vagyok :D És persze Karol csak felülről figyelte a beszélgetést :)

Összességében 3 éjszakát töltöttem platzkartny-ban (harmadosztályon, ahol a vagon belül nyitott) és egyek fülkében (kupé). Ha rajtam múlna, végig maradnék itt, egyszerűen jobb, arról nem is beszélve, hogy fele annyiba kerül. Mindenesetre Ulan Ude és Vladivosztok között fülkében leszünk, Krasznoyarszk és Irkutszk között pedig feltehetőleg kipróbáljuk a legmagasabb osztályt, mivel Karol minden lehetőséget ki akar próbálni.

Krasnoyarsk mellett a hatalmas vízierőművet akarjuk megnézni, illetve egy napot eltölteni egy nemzeti parkban (Stolby). És persze szállást találni Irkutszban :)

 Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg II.

We traveled with UAZ, seen a car turning upside down on the sidewalk, soaked again few times, and soon time for a 2-days long train trip to Krasnoyarsk! :) <3

Yekaterinburg

We arrived after few hours of train ride. We'll stay only until tmrw evening, because of bad weather we will skip the nature reserve and go with another CSer together to Krasnoyarsk. 2 nights on train, it'll be fun! :)

Szerencsésen megérkeztünk, és csak holnapig maradunk, mivel az eső elég sokat esik, igazából szinte abba sem hagyta tegnap este óta, hiába vagyunk 400km-rel arrébb. Holnap este irány Krasznoyarszk (egy másik CS társaságában, aki szintén itt alszik ma), 2 éjjel a vonaton! :) Jeee! :)

Perm

We spent the last 2 days in Perm. the ice cave had almost no ice :( The gulag museum seemed boring...Missing Moscow! At least the CSers (actually her flatmates) are really cool, just the best one doesn't speak English at all and you know my non existing Russian... :) Tmrw time to go to Ekaterinburg! Oh, and raining again, like in Moscow but cold as well...

Az elmúlt 2 napban Perm környékén jártunk. A jégbarlangban alig volt jég és a gulág muzeum számomra unalmas volt, de legalább a CSerek jó fejek. Csak az egyik srác, akivel a legtöbb időt "beszélgettük" nem tud angolul, én meg oroszul, úh érdekes volt :)
Holnap irány Jekatyerinburg! :)

Moscow sightseeing in nutshell - Moszkva dióhéjban

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Moscow sightseeing in nutshell:

• metro like at home just more lines and fancy stations
• traffic jams and everyone smoke everywhere
• nice art parks (?) and public parks where people are rollerskating and playing table tennis and free dancing places
• city center (Kremlin, etc.), Lenin's body (1h of waiting to see him for half a min...)
• Ostankino TV tower
• abandoned hospital
• free cruise on the river
• MGU (State University Building)
• 62nd floor of a skyscraper
• and the best Museum: Cosmonautics Museum

Moscow sightseeing in nutshell:

Many places I've visited with CSers, just to get to know some locals again, and have better time :)

In general, I prefer SP as a city (quite similar to Budapest), but Moscow is a 'bit' bigger (12-16 million? - no normal official statistics), wider streets and bigger and higher buildings (skyscrapers as well), dirtier, but having huuuge parks! :)

Moszkva dióhéjban –

• a metró olyan mint otthon, csak egy “kicsivel” több vonal és sok díszes állomás
• forgalmi dugók és mindenki dohányzik mindenhol
• hatalmas művészeti (építészetileg érdekes parkok és közparkok, utóbbiban rengetegen görkoriznak és ping-pongoznak. A köztáncterekről nem is beszélve
• városközpont, Kremlin és egyéb kötelező látnivalók – Leninre egy órát kellett várni, hogy féél percig láthassuk...
• Ostankino TV torony
• elhagyatott kórház
• ingyenes hajókázás
• Moszkvai Állami Egyetem
• 62. emelet egy felhőkarcolóban
• a legérdekesebb múzeum: Kozmonauta Múzeum

Több helyen CS-ekkel jártam, ahogy télen Szentpéterváron is feldobta az unalmas napokat. Szentpétervárt jobban szeretem, mint Moszkvát, de azért itt is rengeteg hasonlóságot láttam Budapesthez. Csak egy kicsit nagyobb (12-16 millió lakos, bár rendes hivatalos statisztika nem létezik), szélesebb utcák, nagyobb és magasabb épületek (felhőkarcolók szintúgy), koszos, szmogos, de a hatalmas parkokat nagyon élveztem! :)

Next stop: Perm

We took a train (this time in kupe) from Moscow in the late evening (about 24h), then the plan is to visit the ice cave in Kungur and see a Gulag Museum somewhere then go to Yekaterinburg. We have CS place in both cities and in Krasnoyarsk as well.

Következő megálló: Perm

Egy éjjeli (esti) vonattal (ezúttal a magasabb osztályt - fülkés vagon – igénybe véve) célba vettük Perm-et (kb 24 óra utazás), ahol a jégbarlangot és egy gulág múzeumot szeretnénk megnézni (azaz a Perm közelében). Ezután irány Jekatyerinburg, ahol szintén CS-elünk.