Writing
Across Russia by Rail:
My Journey on the Transiberian
I remember when you lived in Petersburg, you traveled a lot in Russia and not only. For example, your hitchhiking to Kazan, also you visited Belarus ... What cities did you visit? What do you think about the experience of traveling in our country? Was it easy for you or not?
My interest in Russia started in high school. My teachers had grown up during the Cold War so when they spoke of the former USSR, it felt like something mysterious and forbidden. Then with some genealogy research, I found out my paternal great grandparents' immigration papers listed "Russia" as their home country (I later found out they were from Raguva, now located in Lithuania). I was aching to go abroad for graduate school, so I chose a university in Russia's artistic heart-- St. Petersburg. In August 2013 I arrived knowing only half the Cyrillic alphabet, "привет" , and "как дела?". Also I had never traveled alone abroad before. It was hard, especially the first few weeks getting told off in the grocery store when I didn't understand "вы хочет пакет?", figuring out how to buy metro tokens, and missing my friends. My first trip to the продукты across the street took me an hour, google translating packages, trying to figure out what everything was and if I could and would want to eat it. But it got better; I started to understand more, appreciate Russians' ironic humor, befriend other students, and fall in love with the city. Despite our countries' historic political differences, I felt welcomed by the friends I made. Полина gave me my first pair of тапочки, when she saw I had none (Americans often wear their shoes or just socks inside, house slippers are not common).
I didn't travel outside St. Petersburg until winter break. I couldn’t afford and didn't want to go home, so I bought a cheap ticket to Amsterdam. Then I took an epic 23 hour discount bus trip from the Netherlands to Northern England and Scotland to spend the holidays with a friend and my great aunt before returning to Russia in early January.
It was a fun trip and helped me build up my confidence as a traveler. It ended abruptly, though, when upon returning, I found out there was a problem with my new apartment. I was essentially homeless for a few days. In the coldest of seasons, I met Russia's inner warmth. I was never left to freeze, a girl in my old apartment рита offered her bed while she visited her mom in Novosibirsk and I looked for a new place.
At the new apartment I met Margarita, who changed my outlook about traveling. She was petite but full of determination, had little money, and yet traveled whenever she wanted just by hitchhiking and Couchsurfing. I began to understand the reasons people don’t travel as mostly excuses, instead of solid roadblocks, so I started to travel a lot more too. With other students in my department, we went to Vyborg and Veliky Novgorod. In March, I finally got to reconnect with my long distance girlfriend. We met in Helsinki, Finland and traveled by ferry to Stokholm, Sweden and Tallinn, Estonia. During the 2014 International Hockey Championships, I took advantage of the visa suspension and visited Minsk, Belarus by train. Shortly after, I got funding to do a small research project in my ancestor’s village, so explored rural Lithuania. My midMay some of my friends had gone to Kazan. I wanted to see them and a new city, but I was low on funds. Margarita offered to introduce me to hitchhiking. We packed our backpacks, put on some reflective gear and went out to the highway entrance road. We got picked-up first by a sports car with loud techno music for 40km or so. Then a truck full of tea carried us to the outskirts of Moscow by the morning. From there she continued South to her hometown Tula and I caught a train east. I definitely wouldn’t have been brave enough to go alone, but I enjoyed it (since then I’ve hitchhiked in the USA, Bulgaria, Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh, Georgia, and Vietnam). Otherall in Russia and her neighbors, I was surprised how cheap trains, ferries and buses are compared to those in America. My only “don’t” is taking the un-air conditioned, unpadded seats on a long train in May- August; it’s worth the roubles to upgrade or at least hangout in the dining car. My best tip is taking Lux Express buses; I’ve been to over 35 countries now and can say they are the best in the world.
Details about traveling in Russia this year:
- How did you decide to travel in this direction? How did you plan it? How did you choose the route and these cities? What were the difficulties?
I was certain I wanted to see Lake Baikal and return to my beloved St. Petersburg so the route was simple-- connect the two by train. Originally I hoped to start from Vladivostok, but it would take a lot more time with few cities in between. I ended up visiting Vladivostok on a separate trip from South Korea (where I was living). I missed Ulan Ude, but otherwise was happy with our route. Originally traveling from East to West was purely a simplicity decision-- we were coming from Southeast Asia so it was the cheapest, shortest, and easiest. Ultimately traveling Westbound on the Transiberian had a few other benefits as well. First is that we (my fiancee and I) are American, but had been living and traveling in Asia for a year. Going from East to West helped us slowly reassimilate to Western culture. Also by starting in smaller places, we appreciated them more and got excited as we built up to the bigger, more expensive, and fast-paced cities. Lastly starting in the East meant there were very few other foriegn tourists around us, I felt like we got a true Russian experience.
Since I had already traveled in Russia before, it wasn’t very difficult. The hardest parts were getting my fiancee’s visa prepared while we were living in South Korea and when we had the occasional bad neighbor on the train.
- What cities did you visit for this trip and what do you think about them? Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Kazan and others. For example, some people have opinion that Russian cities are similar to each other, except for Moscow and St. Petersburg. What is your opinion? If you can, write shortly your impressions of each city.
We visited Irkutsk with Listvyanka and Lake Baikal, Novosibersk, Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. Most of these cities have an art museum, eternal flame, and many many churches, but I still felt they were each unique in other ways. Irkutsk and Listvyanka were quaint and have beautiful wooden architecture with decorative shutters; plus you can feel the closeness to Mongolia, enjoy hiking the Great Baikal Trail, and marvel at the beauty of the world’s deepest lake. In Novosibirsk, I enjoyed participating in a midnight bike ride across the city’s bridges, as well as Russia’s biggest zoo. Even if you don’t care about Romanov history, Yekaterinburg has cool street art around the Iset River and hip shops and galleries in the Yeltsin Center. Kazan is totally different with many mosques instead of churches, colorful historic Tatar homes, and unique foods. Nizhny Novgorod was a little different from the other cities we visited because it is smaller and on a hillside cascading down to the Volga river. There were excellent walking streets and riverside prominades, as well as views from the Kremlin and cable car over the river. Moscow has everything; I love the museums, Red Square, and different neighborhoods, but my heart always favors it’s younger cousin St. Petersburg. It’s grand European-inspired architecture, many spires, canals, sculptural bridges, and unique churches make even a simple task like walking to the grocery store become a thing of beauty.
What do you think about the Russian railway? What do you think about плацкарт? What do you think about the toilets in the train? What was a surprise for you on the road?
Considering the vast distances you can go in Russia, it’s amazing how affordable, frequent, and clean the trains are kept. The toilets are fine. They are about just as good as the ones on New Jersey Transit (my local train line in America), but a little smaller and they are 1000% cleaner than the New York City Metro bathrooms, lol. I wish there was a shower onboard but, maybe it will be in the future.
плацкарт is definitely the way to go; especially as a foreigner if you want to truly experience the culture. That said, every time we boarded the train, I always hoped for good neighbors. We had all kinds of neighbors-- families, snorers, a very drunk beer and food sloshing man on Victory Day, quiet young women our age, an older lady who recited her family’s whole history, you name it! The cast of characters is always a surprise, but I guess that keeps it interesting.
A surprising thing happened before we boarded our first train in Irkutsk. As soon as we left our hostel for the train station, we noticed a burning smell and thick fog in the air. After some searching online, we discovered it was smoke. There were huge wildfires near by and in the direction of our journey. We though it could delay the trip, but luckily nothing stops the train! We rode through the night and watched in shock and awe at occasional glowing fires burning quite near the tracks.
- You were on the part of the legendary Trans-Siberian Railway - the largest railway in the world. What did you do on the train? For example, we like to eat on the train, drink tea from cupholders, play cards, look out the window and talk about life with strangers))) Do you have a desire to drive all the way from Vladivostok to Moscow?
Absolutely! Before starting the trip I was excited, but a little apprehensive that the hours on the train would get boring and lose their novelty after the first day. Luckily that didn’t happen. Our longest ride was Irkustsk to Novosibersk-- 2 nights on the train. I loved it though, the endless tea drinking, snacking, staring out the window, lazily reading books, playing cards, watching Russian documentaries I had downloaded from Netflix, and catching up on my sleep. In the real world I might feel guilty about spending a day like that, but on the train, you are always moving forward. Even if you do nothing, you are being productive because you are getting closer to your destination. Riding the Trans-Siberian is an excuse to just relax and enjoy the ride.
- How have your ideas about Russia changed after this trip? What do you plan to see in the next trip to Russia?
My ideas about Russia haven’t changed much on this trip since it was my fifth time visiting the country. However, it was my fiancee’s first time in Russia. She said the trip did change her perception. Before, she thought it would be hard to get around, but there are actually many friendly people willing to help. The trains are also more modern than she expected. She wasn’t very familiar with Russian food before we arrived, but really enjoyed it (especially pelmeni and sour cream). The dishes are more diverse in spices and flavors than she expected.
We have two years left on our visas, so we will definitely return soon. Next time, I’d love to take the circum-Baikal Railway and visit Ulan Ude. I’m also interested in Kamchatka, southern Russia and the Caucuses, and of coarse…. I am forever longing to return to St. Petersburg.
Keri Gould
Traveler, Teacher, & Photographer (instagram@keridiana)
Read the parallel Russian article by Polina Delia on MK Travel Club's website http://mktravelclub.ru/blogs/s-vostoka-na-zapad-kak-dve-amerikanki-proekhali-po-transsibu/