Tomsk, Russia
Early that afternoon (Monday, 14 August), Rita, Kostia, and I took the bus from the Tomsk bus station to their house and Rita insisted on paying the bus fare. When we arrived at their house, she showed me to the room where I would sleep. I also met their 14 year old son, Daniel, at this point. He spoke english too of course. Rita and Kostia also have a 20 year old daughter, who was away on vacation and not coming back for a couple more days. Then Rita feed me lunch before she had Daniel take me on a little tour of Tomsk. It was a beautiful day and a great little city (~500,000 isn't exactly little, but it felt small). Eventualy Daniel ran off to meet some friends. I'm sure he would have rather done anything other than be a tour guide for some stranger his mom just brought in off the street! But he did a great job and spoke more english once outside the house. After Daniel left I continued to walk around the city that afternoon, enjoying the weather before returning to their home that evening. I got cleaned up and then they feed me dinner. All the meals were excellent. I felt a little akward about all this hospitatily from strangers; warm meals, tours, a comfortable, quiet, and friendly place to sleep. Wow! They are such nice people, including Rita's mom who lives with them who doesn't speak a word of English but still tries to communicate with me.
The next morning (Tuesday, 15 August) it was cloudy with the occasional sprinkle. Rita was my tour guide this morning. She showed me more of Tomsk, including Tomsk's famous wooden architecture; numerous wooden houses with intricate wooden craved details. Then she helped me buy my train ticket to Irkutsk for the next evening. Then, again, she feed me a delicious lunch.
After lunch she took me to her Dacha, or Russian Summer house, located just outside the city. I had read that Dachas were an important part of the Russian culture so I was quited interested to see it. We took a bus part of the way there and then walked another 30 minutes along a path through the forest. Once we arrived at their Dacha and I was completely surprised by her garden. It was huge. In the front were all kinds of flowers and berry bushes and trees. In the back, was the vegatable garden with every kind of vegatable and herb imaginable. I helped her pick huge cucumbers, huge squash, carrots, onions, spring onions, garlic, dill, parsely and I'm sure I left stuff out. She had numerous other vegatables there that we didn't pick. Basically every kind vegatable you can buy in a store here she grows in her garden! Then she picked a bouquet of flowers from her garden for her mom. Then we picked a cup full of raspberries for her mom as well. We snacked on raspberries as well as several other kinds of berries I'd never heard of before that Rita introduced me to. We loaded up my backpack and a large plastic bags with the treasures from Rita's garden before catching the bus back to her house in the city. Again, that evening they feed me well and we snacked on the spoils from Rita's hard work.
The next morning (Wednesday, 16 August) I discovered that I had left my passport at the travel agent where Rita helped me book my train ticket. I was nervous about this blunder but not overly so, and certainly not as worried as I was about losing my credit card in St. Petersburg (even though losing my passport would be a much bigger deal!). After the delicious breakfast Rita made using the vegetables from her garden, we went down to the travel agent - again Rita insisted on paying the bus fare since I was her guest - and found my awaiting passport. Whew!
I leave tonight (Wednesday, 16 August) at 7 pm for Irkutsk, Russia. I arrive in Irkutsk at 7 am two days from now, a 35-hour, 2-night, 1-day train ride. Again there were no 3rd class seats but I have an upper bunk in a 2nd class compartment. I hope my cabin mates are less rowdy than the last...
Once in Irkutsk I will immediately take the 7-hour bus ride to Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal where I will spend 4 to 6 nights. There is a traveler's hang out on Olkhon Island called Nikita's guest house that I want to spend some time at. As Olkhon Island just got power last year, I'm not expecting to find an internet connection there so it will be a while before I can blog again. After Lake Baikal, I will return to Irkutsk where I will catch the train to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The next morning (Tuesday, 15 August) it was cloudy with the occasional sprinkle. Rita was my tour guide this morning. She showed me more of Tomsk, including Tomsk's famous wooden architecture; numerous wooden houses with intricate wooden craved details. Then she helped me buy my train ticket to Irkutsk for the next evening. Then, again, she feed me a delicious lunch.
After lunch she took me to her Dacha, or Russian Summer house, located just outside the city. I had read that Dachas were an important part of the Russian culture so I was quited interested to see it. We took a bus part of the way there and then walked another 30 minutes along a path through the forest. Once we arrived at their Dacha and I was completely surprised by her garden. It was huge. In the front were all kinds of flowers and berry bushes and trees. In the back, was the vegatable garden with every kind of vegatable and herb imaginable. I helped her pick huge cucumbers, huge squash, carrots, onions, spring onions, garlic, dill, parsely and I'm sure I left stuff out. She had numerous other vegatables there that we didn't pick. Basically every kind vegatable you can buy in a store here she grows in her garden! Then she picked a bouquet of flowers from her garden for her mom. Then we picked a cup full of raspberries for her mom as well. We snacked on raspberries as well as several other kinds of berries I'd never heard of before that Rita introduced me to. We loaded up my backpack and a large plastic bags with the treasures from Rita's garden before catching the bus back to her house in the city. Again, that evening they feed me well and we snacked on the spoils from Rita's hard work.
The next morning (Wednesday, 16 August) I discovered that I had left my passport at the travel agent where Rita helped me book my train ticket. I was nervous about this blunder but not overly so, and certainly not as worried as I was about losing my credit card in St. Petersburg (even though losing my passport would be a much bigger deal!). After the delicious breakfast Rita made using the vegetables from her garden, we went down to the travel agent - again Rita insisted on paying the bus fare since I was her guest - and found my awaiting passport. Whew!
I leave tonight (Wednesday, 16 August) at 7 pm for Irkutsk, Russia. I arrive in Irkutsk at 7 am two days from now, a 35-hour, 2-night, 1-day train ride. Again there were no 3rd class seats but I have an upper bunk in a 2nd class compartment. I hope my cabin mates are less rowdy than the last...
Once in Irkutsk I will immediately take the 7-hour bus ride to Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal where I will spend 4 to 6 nights. There is a traveler's hang out on Olkhon Island called Nikita's guest house that I want to spend some time at. As Olkhon Island just got power last year, I'm not expecting to find an internet connection there so it will be a while before I can blog again. After Lake Baikal, I will return to Irkutsk where I will catch the train to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
posted by Dustin at 12:08 AM
1 Comments:
Please give me call when you reach Ulaanbaatar, I haven't seen any Seattleites in a long time....
Luke
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