Moscow - day 3
Although the hostel here (called Traveler's Guesthouse) is really overpriced -- its on the 10th floor of a run down hotel outside the city center -- it does have a good hostel feel with some interesting travelers; lots of 'Trans-Sibbers'. So I guess it could be worse.
On Thursday (10 August) I got a later start than the previous two days. I needed to book my train ticket this morning and was debating between trying to work it out myself, or just having the hostel/travel agency book it for a $20 fee. I decided to do it myself so I had one of the girls working at the hostel write me a note in Russian for the train ticket I wanted. Then I walked down to the train station and handed my note to one of the stern looking women (Russian speaking only, of course) behind the ticket counter as well as speaking a few practiced Russian phrases. I managed to secure my ticket speaking no english but with the help of my guidebook of course. So I was quite happy to have successfully booked my ticket almost entirely by myself. I leave tomorrow (Friday, 11 August) night at 11 pm from Moscow and arrive in Novosibirsk, Russia (western Siberia) on Monday (14 August) morning at 5 am. That is 3 straight nights and 2 full days on the train and 3343 km. The 3rd class beds were booked up so I had to opt for the more expensive, and less 'Russian', 2nd class. This ticket for 3 nights 'accomodation' and several thousand kilometers of rail travel in 2nd class cost $175. Not too bad! And I booked the day before I wanted to leave and during high season.
From Novosibirsk I'm going to the small(er) Russian university town of Tomsk for the night, probably by bus. Then the next day (or night) I will head further east by train to Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. That is assuming I can successfully book my onward ticket for the next day once in Novosibirsk. There is a great travelers guesthouse on Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal called Nikita's Guesthouse, so I'm quite looking forward to spending 5 or so days hanging out on this island hiking around and relaxing.
After the train station I went back to the outdoor photo exhibit that I found on my first day in Moscow. While I was there I ran into a French girl from the hostel, Kimmie, and we walked around for a while. Now I think I'm going to walk around a bit more around the Kremlin and Red Square. I'm quite excited to be starting my train journey tomorrow.
On Thursday (10 August) I got a later start than the previous two days. I needed to book my train ticket this morning and was debating between trying to work it out myself, or just having the hostel/travel agency book it for a $20 fee. I decided to do it myself so I had one of the girls working at the hostel write me a note in Russian for the train ticket I wanted. Then I walked down to the train station and handed my note to one of the stern looking women (Russian speaking only, of course) behind the ticket counter as well as speaking a few practiced Russian phrases. I managed to secure my ticket speaking no english but with the help of my guidebook of course. So I was quite happy to have successfully booked my ticket almost entirely by myself. I leave tomorrow (Friday, 11 August) night at 11 pm from Moscow and arrive in Novosibirsk, Russia (western Siberia) on Monday (14 August) morning at 5 am. That is 3 straight nights and 2 full days on the train and 3343 km. The 3rd class beds were booked up so I had to opt for the more expensive, and less 'Russian', 2nd class. This ticket for 3 nights 'accomodation' and several thousand kilometers of rail travel in 2nd class cost $175. Not too bad! And I booked the day before I wanted to leave and during high season.
From Novosibirsk I'm going to the small(er) Russian university town of Tomsk for the night, probably by bus. Then the next day (or night) I will head further east by train to Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. That is assuming I can successfully book my onward ticket for the next day once in Novosibirsk. There is a great travelers guesthouse on Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal called Nikita's Guesthouse, so I'm quite looking forward to spending 5 or so days hanging out on this island hiking around and relaxing.
After the train station I went back to the outdoor photo exhibit that I found on my first day in Moscow. While I was there I ran into a French girl from the hostel, Kimmie, and we walked around for a while. Now I think I'm going to walk around a bit more around the Kremlin and Red Square. I'm quite excited to be starting my train journey tomorrow.
posted by Dustin at 3:15 AM
1 Comments:
oh! ... Kimmie is very nice... Even if it is not exactly my name !
Nice to meet you.
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