I think it is a restaurant but the chef looks like he is a mechanic....

After visiting the Forbidden City we went to Jingshan park and then we decided to get some lunch. Here is the bowl of noodles we had, looks nice doesn't it? Looks like it came from a restaurant.

Noodles for lunch

Once we left the park there were lots of restaurants where the staff were out on the street trying to get us to go in. We decided to avoid these as the prices were high because they restaurants were targeting tourists. So we kept walking and eventually ended up in a non tourist area.

Not for Tourists Street

Eventually we came across something that might be a restaurant but we were not sure. There were a few people inside eating and the chef came out to us. Well we think he was the chef but he could have been a mechanic based on the dirt of his white overalls. Anyhow he gestured that we could come in if we wanted.

Not for tourists restaurant

The interior was quite basic, there were tables and stools and chopsticks and that was about it. They did not have menus or did not speak English but that didn't matter as they only served one dish - noodles. Through hand gestures we communicated that we would have some. I sat and waited for my food while Martin took some photos of the place and the locals laughed at us.

Laughing at the locals laughing at me

Martin took some photos of the kitchen and then the chef guy signaled that he could take more photos and should take some from the outside too.

This is where they prepared the noodles

View of the kitchen from the seating area

At this stage the chef guy pointed to Martin and indicated he could take some more pictures of the kitchen if he wanted. Well we think that is what he was trying to communicate to us.

Cooking Noodles

 More Cooking

The food was great, it cost approximately 80 cent and everyone was friendly. Makes a big change from Russia. Here is the finished dish again...

Train ticket prices for the trans-siberian railway

When I was planning and researching the trans-siberian railway trip I found it difficult to find out how much the tickets would cost. There was a big variation in prices mentioned in guidebooks, versus those I read about on the internet versus what tour companies were offering. There are many reasons for these variations such as the train type, the compartment type, the time of year and so on.

As I was I traveling in the low season I decided I would buy my tickets at the stations as I traveled. As expected this turned out to be considerably cheaper than buying them via a travel agency. I kept note of how much I paid for each of my tickets and have published the prices below. I booked Ulaan Baator to Beijing via the hostel and paid them a commission of $14 for the ticket. The rest of the tickets I booked at the train station. I do not speak Russian and generally the train station staff do not speak English but with the help of a guidebook and some friendly hostel staff I wrote very specific details of the ticket that I wanted in Russian.

St Petersburg - Moscow (3rd Class Carriage) 720rb (€16)

Moscow - Irkutsk (2nd Class) 11,200rb (€255)

Irkutsk - Ulaan Baator (2nd Class) 4,070rb (€93)

*Ulaan Baator - Beijing (2nd Class) $110 (€77)

*I booked this ticket through the hostel and as a result paid them a commission of $14.

Ulan Bator and the blackmarket

For the train journey from Irkutsk to Ulan Bator we were sharing with two Mongolians, a business man and a student. We spend most of our time talking, listening to music and reading. They were very interested in our trip and what we had planned. They were also very helpful with advice on Ulan Bator and what we should and shouldn't do. They were very worried that we were arriving in UB and that we didn't know anyone there and didn't have any accommodation booked. The guy said he would take us to the guest house that we were planning on staying at and he also offered to meet us the following day to bring us to the black market to buy warm clothes. They were very worried that we were not well prepared for the cold!


It was -37 when we arrived in Ulan Bator and the coldest temperature I had experienced so far on the trip.  Luckily the owner of the hostel we were planning on staying at was on the platform waiting to see if there were any tourists on the train so she took us directly to the hostel by car.


Soon after we arrived at the hostel we were joined by 4 swedish guys (Oskar, Dr. Albin, Robin, Jakob) and a dutch girl (Kim).

New friends in Ulan Bator

We decided to walk to a monastery that was nearby, but by the time we got there we were all freezing even though we were well dressed.

Early morning outside the monestary

We went back to the hostel pretty quickly and put on all of our clothes and headed for the black market to buy some warm clothes. We were planning on camping for 2 nights in a ger tent in the national park so we would need warm clothes for that.


The hostel owner suggested we take a taxi to and from the black Market. He wrote two notes for us explained where we wanted to go and how much we were willing to pay to get there and said to get driver to agree before we got into the car. The price was 2,500 Tugrigs which is €1.25. We couldn't see any taxis on the street or in traffic but eventually a car stopped for us. Turns out they don't really have taxis as we know them instead random people will stop and you pay them as you would a real taxi. There were 5 of us but that didn't seem to bother him so he took us to the market.

Entrance to the blackmarket

At the black market we bought some fur hats and gloves. They sold everything you could think of at the market from camels to puma runners to socks.

The BlackMarket in Ulan Bator

We were looking for boots also and eventually we found some things that looked like outer socks. Lots of people are the market stalls were wearing them so we decided to buy them. The stall owner was very excited and happy when we were buying them and tried his best to speak to us with his limited English.

Fur hats, gloves and boots.

We were the only tourists at the market but once we started wearing the boots we became very popular. As we walked around people were smiling at us and saying hello and telling their friends to look at us. Anyone who had English spoke to us and most asked about the boots. Eventually we realised that we were doing some funny by wearing these boots but we didn't understand what. We left the market after about 3 hours and walked for about 10 minutes before getting a "taxi". The hostel owner had advised us to do this as he said the taxis around the market would try to rip us off.

The smiling and staring continued as we walked down the street. At one point some guy stopped in traffic let his window down and said "they are not for walking boots", started laughing and drove away.

Stupid tourists and their not for walking boots

When we got back to the hostel the staff there thought our boots were very funny and confirmed that they are not meant for walking, instead you wear them if you are going to be standing in one place for a long period of time, such as if you were manning a stall at a market.....

Buying more Russian train tickets...

The first leg of the trans-siberian trip was from Moscow to Irkutsk. Martin and I decided to travel together for this part of the trip so we went to the station to buy our train tickets the day before we wanted to leave. This time around we know the train number that we wanted and the time it was leaving so using the guide book I wrote instructions in Russian. Things were a little more serious this time around as the train ticket was going to cost around €250 as we were buying a 2nd class ticket for  a 4 day day train trip. We couldn't afford any mistakes.


We queued for about 20 minutes at the station and eventually got served. As expected the lady at the ticket desk did not have any English. She understood my Russian note and took our passports and then showed us the amount we had to pay on a calculator. The people in the queue behind us were very interested in what we were doing and were looking over my shoulder most of the time. We found this a bit frustrating when we were counting our money to pay. Everything appeared to go well with the ticket purchase and she returned out passports and was stapling out tickets together. At this point Martin commented on how he was relieved that it had went so well. About 10 seconds later the ticket lady started talking to us in Russian and making hand gestures that looked like she was sleeping. We said that we didn't understand but she just repeated it again and again. The the person next in the queue started trying talking to us in Russian, she was trying to explain it to use as well but in a more friendly tone. Then the next person in the queue started too and eventually there were 5 people talking in Russian to us and the ticket lady shouting at us. This went on for about 30 seconds although he seemed like much longer, eventually some lady who was in another queue shouted over at us that they were telling us that they had included the price of our bed linen in our ticket so we would not have to pay for it on the train. We said OK and the ticket lady gave us our tickets. We checked them using the guidebook ticket reference and everything was in order.


Our train was at 11pm so we had a look around the station and the tracks so we'd know where we had to go the following day. We found the marker that indicates the start of the trans-siberian railway.

The start of the Trans Siberian Railway

Red Square and St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow

I was not expecting so many Christmas decorations and Christmas lights in Moscow. Here are some pictures of St Basils Cathedral and Red Square in Moscow.

St Basil's Cathedral

Red Square

Ice Rink on Red Square

Red Square with St Basil's Cathedral in the background.

Buying a Russian train ticket when no one speaks English and you don't speak Russian

Originally my intention was to travel by 2nd class train but after talking to other people in the hostel I decided to buy a third class ticket for the overnight trip from St Petersburg to Moscow. I went to the station and bought the ticket myself which is quite difficult to do in Russia as none of the staff at the ticket counters speak English and they are not exactly friendly or helpful.


With the help of a guide book and the hostel staff I was able to write in Russian the type of ticket that I wanted. I went to the station, queued, said in russian that I didn't understand Russian and handed in the page. It all worked fine, she wrote down the amount so I knew how much it and once I agreed and I gave my passport and that was it.

Ordering a Russian train ticket

The guidebook explained how to read a Russian train ticket so I was able to confirm that everything was correct with the ticket. Take a look at the ticket below and you'll see why you needed a guide to read the ticket.

My Russian train ticket

Moscow to Irkutsk

We were the only tourists on the 4 day train journey from Moscow to Irkutsk, not only that but we soon discovered that we were the only English speaking passengers on the train also. Our train was one of the more modern ones so our compartment was quite comfortable.

2nd class compartment

The restaurant carriage on the train was bad, so bad that we never ate there. But we were expecting this so we were prepared with noodles, bread, soup, biscuits and coke. Every carriage has a samovar so you have constant access to hot water.

Samovar on our carriage

About 1 hour into the train journey we noticed ice was starting to form on the carriage window. Our compartment was warm but the window itself was freezing. It meant if we wanted to keep something cool we could leave it by the window, it was like having our own mini fridge.

Ice forming on the inside of the window

At the end of the carriage where the entrance door was it was pretty cold, you could even say it was freezing....

Its cold!

We had a leaflet with the names of the stations that the train would stop at, the times and the duration for each stop. All times for Russian railways are in Moscow time even when local time will be different as you are crossing between time zones. Before the train arrives at the station the carriage attendant, known as a provodnitsa (female) or provodnik (male), locks the toilets. Once the train stops the carriage attendant then knocks the ice from under the carriage.

Ice under the carriage

The provodnitsa on our carriage did not speak English and was no particularly friendly. Any contact we had with her mainly consisted of her shouting at us in Russian and us saying that we didn't understand. We avoided her as best we could for the duration of the journey but this one not always possible. At one point I went to the samovar to get some hot water for some noodles and she came running our of her compartment and shouted at me. She took me noodles, made a gesture that indicated that I should stay where I was, she arrived back 2 minutes later with my noodles full of boiling water. We soon realised that her shouting was not necessarily a bad thing that just seemed to be how she spoke.

Noodles, noodles and more noodles.

Whenever there was a stop for 15 minutes or more we got off to get some fresh air or in Martin's case to have a cigarette. We normally only stayed outside of 2 or 3 minutes as it was always freezing and most of the long stops were in the middle of the night so it was always around -20 or worse. Here is a photo from one of the early morning stops.

Early morning stop

Riga to St Petersburg

My original plan was to take a train from Riga to St Petersburg but various people that I spoke to in the hostel recommended that I took a Eurolines bus instead as it was much cheaper and more comfortable. I paid a little extra so I'd have a more comfortable seat and a table so I could make use of the wifi on the bus.

The journey to Tallinn was comfortable but after that it got a little messy. I had to wait for one hour at 12am in the bus station for a connecting bus. I couldn't use the bathroom facilities as I didn't have any currency for Estonia and they would not accept Lat or Rubles. The bus from Tallinn to St Petersburg was not a eurolines bus, it was some type of old Russian bus and was not very comfortable.


I had to hand over my passport when leaving Latvia and again when leaving Estonia and then at 4am we got to the Russian border. I was the only person who spoke English on the bus so it was difficult to find out what was going on. At 4am everyone got off the bus and took all their luggage with them. It was pretty cold out, snowing and very dark. There were lots of guys with military uniforms and weapons walking around. It was a bit unnerving going through customs and passport control when they did not speak English and I did not speak Russian. There was some problem with my documentation but I didn't know what or why and she couldn't explain, eventually she was happy and let me through. So back on the bus and in about 4 hours we got to St Petersburg.


It was a bit of a shock when I got off the bus in St Petersburg, firstly it was very very cold, I had no idea where I was when I got off the bus, no one spoke english and there were no signs in english. I found the metro pretty quickly but I couldn't buy a ticket.  They would not take any large notes. I found a shop, bought some chewing gum and got some change. The lady in the shop wasn't happy but she gave me change anyhow.


It was rush hour so it was very busy and I had a rucksack and a hand luggage bag also. It took me over an hour to find the hostel even though it was less than a 5 minute walk from the metro station.  The metro stations are impressive and are very far under ground.

Escalator to the underground

Impressive underground corridors

They do not have any sign for the hostel except for a small sticker on the apartment door and anyone that I asked either could not speak english or else they did not know where the hostel was.


I finally found it by asking in a clothes shop. The girl who worked there put on her jacket and walked out with me to show me the street that it was on. She didn't know the hostel but said that was the street that I was looking for. This was the same street that I'd found myself about a half hour ago. Luckily one of the hostel staff was on her way to the hostel and spotted me and showed me the entrance. Speaking to the other guests in the hostel I realised I wasn't the only person who had trouble finding it.

Moscow

I left St Petersburg at 1am and got to Moscow at 9am. Third class was fine for a short journey but it is a bit cramped. There is no privacy either as the carriage does not have any compartments, just bunks everywhere. I couldn't take a photo as I was late getting there so the carriage was fully by the time I arrived. No one around me spoke English and as it was 1am most people were just went to sleep. 


Once I arrived in Moscow I went to the Metro station. This time around I made sure I knew what metro stop I needed to get to and also had directions to get to the hostel. Once again it was rush hour when I arrived. I had to change metros and accidently took the wrong escalator which meant I was forced to leave the metro station. It was all one-way so I couldn't go back down and had to by another ticket.

The Metro in Moscow

At the hostel I met Martin from Sweden who I was leaving St Petersburg the day that I arrived there. I walked with him to red square where I had arranged to meet Kseniya, a Russian student that I met at the hostel in St Petersburg. Moscow was much colder than St Petersburg and soon after arriving at red square it started snowing and continued to do so for the rest of the day.

Snow in Moscow

I had heard that Moscow was very expensive and it is always ranked as one of the most expensive cities in the world. A coffee in a one of the Russian coffee shops costs at least €5 and a coffee in Starbucks or similar is even more expensive.


Moscow can be difficult enough to get around especially as signs and street names are in cyrillic. Even the locals get lost...

We're lost...