Contrasts on the road east
So I left Moscow and headed to Kazan, which was a night's journey away and my first stop on the trans-siberian. The train was #2 and I recall reading that the trains with the lowest numbers tend to be the best. This did in prove turn out to be true. Although #2 is also the number of the train going all the way to Vladivostok, the #2 I was on was called the "Tatarstan", so called because Kazan is the capital of Tartarstan, although unlike other 'stans' this one is still well and truly part of the Russian Commonwealth. The curtains throughout the train all marked the 1000th anniversary of Kazan, which was celebrated in 2005 and it wouldn't surprise me if the train was of a similarly recent vintage given that the inside of each carriage featured digital displays noting the time, temperature (of something or other, possible of the carriage interior although I couldn't quite work out what) and the availability of the toilets which in addition to the Russian had a handy green or red dot that even daft tourists can understand. There were also packs of food given to us shortly after departure. Life was grand!
It turned out I was sharing my compartment with 3 Russian businessmen who I think were from Kazan, although as none of them spoke a word of English conversation was a bit thin on the ground, although they did seem to have some heated debates between themselves during the evening, possibly about politics and such things as far as I could gather.
The journey was just overnight and the next morning at 7.22 we arrived punctually into Kazan to some rousing patriotic music, which seems to accompany the arrival of all 'named' long-distance trains at their destinations as far as I can tell! From there I got a taxi straight to the hotel (as the trans-siberian was booked for me through an agency it's all hotels). I spent the next couple of days exploring the reasonably compact city centre. Despite its population of little over a million the streets are largely quiet, although there's still a few congested streets here and there. What impressed me most of the layout was the pedestrianised main shopping street. Quite a luxary! The main reason for coming to Kazan though is to see the Kremlin. Kremlin incidentally refers to an old type of fort, and both the Kremlin in Moscow and here have developed from these humble beginnings into what they are today. The Kazan Kremlin was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in 2000. Combined with the 1000th anniversary of the city you can tell that some money has been spent on it. There's a new mosque within the Kremlin to replace that demolished by Ivan the terrible, and generally speaking the place looking nicely finished off, especially by Russian standards, as did some of the main roads. The Kremlin also serves as seat to the Tatarstan President and much of the region's administration seems to be based there.
I was able to visit a gallery of the region's art in the Kremlin which provided some background culturally and ethnically as to the Tartars are, although I didn't find out if they invented Tartare sauce or tartar (the stuff you get on your teeth if you don't brush them.) I also visited the interior of the Mosque in the Kremlin and saw but didn't visit a museum near the Kremlin entrance. Otherwise though I got the impression that the city didn't offer a great deal, although it was pretty pleasant to wander around given how quiet it seemed to be, which was most welcome after the crowds of Moscow. The hotel was pretty good; built in 1997 and refurbed in 2006 everything looked nice and new, and there was BBC World on the TV to help me keep in touch a bit and it was located just across a bridge from the Kremlin and the city which provided good exercise while I was there!
The train from Kazan departed around 8pm in the evening, due in Ekaterinburg from where I'm typing this now at 3pm the following day, so it was a longer journey. This time it was train 378, a much higher number and indeed a much older train. The facilities weren't much different; everything was in largely the same place, but everything was a lot older, more basic (certainly no digital displays) and it seemed to be a case of bring your own loo-roll in the toilets (and no, there are definitely no retention tanks on Russian trains, but a trap door to the track below!) I think on all the trains the samovar is heated by a coal fire which the prodvonitsa dutifully stokes (you see other trains and can see which have the most diligent carriage attendants by the amount of smoke being expelled by the carriage's mini-chimney. There was a near constant smell of coal smoke in the compartment (due to the door not being able to be opened from the inside, meaning it always had to be left slightly open) but at least this aided to quell the other train smells which waft around!
This time I shared the compartment with 2 Russians and a Ukrainian. Only one Russian spoke any English, and bless him he did try and with the help of my hopelessly inadequate phrase book we managed to make each other understood here and there. I told them I was going to Vladivostok then Japan. I didn't really want to go into any further detail, as you never know how people respond, especially as the Victor, the guy I was struggling to converse with was complaining at never having any time or money to take holidays. There was a younger guy, Alex, and a Ukrainian, also called Victor, but whom I wasn't too keen on, as he'd start chattering away to me. I think in hindsight he might have wanted me to switch compartments with his son who I later discovered he seemed to be travelling with, however being still new to the Russian rail experience I stuck to my guns, which wasn't hard as he didn't really make much of an effort to be understood and I stayed where I was.
In Ekaterinburg the hotel was fortunately just opposite the station, and while this made it a walk from the city centre it was ideal for my arrival the departure, the latter especially as I'm off tonight at 4.47 in the morning!!! This was the one train that the agency couldn't get a good time for, so it should be interested landing in a compartment in the middle of the night to see what I find. As far as I can tell I should again be in a bottom bunk, so assume no-one's decided to take it for themselves I'll dump my bags in the container underneath the bunk and it'll be straight to sleep for me.
First Ekaterinburg though. I arrived yesterday in the rain. There was no problem locating the hotel, but it contrast to the Safar Hotel in Kazan the Sverdlovsk was a real relic of the Soviet era. (Incidentally if I'd found internet there my post was going to be called 'Safar so good' but alas it was not to be.) First off the reception staff understood next to no English whereas in Kazan they did quite well. I had a produce the 'voucher' from the travel agency for them to understand that I had a room booked and paid for. On the floor there's a lady who actually oversees the floor. This was standard in Soviet hotels but again wasn't featured in Kazan which was more modern and presumably reckoned on people being able to find their own room from the foyer and being able to call or go to the main reception should they need anything. Hardly unreasonable! In any case I got to my room which was definitely in some need of renovation. I had read in my Lonely Planet that there are both renovated and unrenovated ones, so it wasn't a great surprise. The room is tatty but certainly better than some room photos I'd seen of the hotel online! There's a TV but no English channels although I did catch the repeat of the Eurovision on Russian TV last night for my sins! (What a shocking display, and thank god that Finland's Lord of the Rings meets Kiss won the day!) There's also a great big fridge in the room, albeit empty, and I'm not entirely sure why. The Safar could at least muster a mini-bar and it wasn't ever too badly priced.
I first went to look around Ekaterinburg yesterday and in the rain, wind and cold it did not endear itself to me in any way shape or form. Today the sun is out so it's looking better but it's still not particularly high in the excitement or interest stakes. I suppose at the end of the day it's a stop-off as a junction on the trans-sib and because it was near here that the Tsars saw their end at the hands of the Bolcheviks. This unfortunately doesn't guarantee a hip and happening town. It's ok though, and I wandered around what there seems to be to see, and at least there's a decent internet cafe for me to use to catch up with everything.
I'm sorry it's not been the most interesting post to date, but really it hasn't been that interesting. There's a lot of journeying being done, with even more to do. The cities along the way make for much welcome stop-offs but few are 'must-sees' in most people's books. Still, it helps give a little more insight into Russia, its workings and how it changes as you cross its width. The Tatars have something of a Turkic influence I think, whereas in Ekaterinburg it's back to largely the paler looks of further West. Yet Ekaterinburg is just past the marker that denotes where Europe ends and Asia begins. That's right, for the first time I am in Asia! It doesn't really feel like it at the moment but I have a feeling this will change as I advance Eastwards.
Next stop Tomsk at 8.25am on 24th May. Almost 28 hours on the train this time, I'd better get stocked up on provisions this evening!
It turned out I was sharing my compartment with 3 Russian businessmen who I think were from Kazan, although as none of them spoke a word of English conversation was a bit thin on the ground, although they did seem to have some heated debates between themselves during the evening, possibly about politics and such things as far as I could gather.
The journey was just overnight and the next morning at 7.22 we arrived punctually into Kazan to some rousing patriotic music, which seems to accompany the arrival of all 'named' long-distance trains at their destinations as far as I can tell! From there I got a taxi straight to the hotel (as the trans-siberian was booked for me through an agency it's all hotels). I spent the next couple of days exploring the reasonably compact city centre. Despite its population of little over a million the streets are largely quiet, although there's still a few congested streets here and there. What impressed me most of the layout was the pedestrianised main shopping street. Quite a luxary! The main reason for coming to Kazan though is to see the Kremlin. Kremlin incidentally refers to an old type of fort, and both the Kremlin in Moscow and here have developed from these humble beginnings into what they are today. The Kazan Kremlin was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in 2000. Combined with the 1000th anniversary of the city you can tell that some money has been spent on it. There's a new mosque within the Kremlin to replace that demolished by Ivan the terrible, and generally speaking the place looking nicely finished off, especially by Russian standards, as did some of the main roads. The Kremlin also serves as seat to the Tatarstan President and much of the region's administration seems to be based there.
I was able to visit a gallery of the region's art in the Kremlin which provided some background culturally and ethnically as to the Tartars are, although I didn't find out if they invented Tartare sauce or tartar (the stuff you get on your teeth if you don't brush them.) I also visited the interior of the Mosque in the Kremlin and saw but didn't visit a museum near the Kremlin entrance. Otherwise though I got the impression that the city didn't offer a great deal, although it was pretty pleasant to wander around given how quiet it seemed to be, which was most welcome after the crowds of Moscow. The hotel was pretty good; built in 1997 and refurbed in 2006 everything looked nice and new, and there was BBC World on the TV to help me keep in touch a bit and it was located just across a bridge from the Kremlin and the city which provided good exercise while I was there!
The train from Kazan departed around 8pm in the evening, due in Ekaterinburg from where I'm typing this now at 3pm the following day, so it was a longer journey. This time it was train 378, a much higher number and indeed a much older train. The facilities weren't much different; everything was in largely the same place, but everything was a lot older, more basic (certainly no digital displays) and it seemed to be a case of bring your own loo-roll in the toilets (and no, there are definitely no retention tanks on Russian trains, but a trap door to the track below!) I think on all the trains the samovar is heated by a coal fire which the prodvonitsa dutifully stokes (you see other trains and can see which have the most diligent carriage attendants by the amount of smoke being expelled by the carriage's mini-chimney. There was a near constant smell of coal smoke in the compartment (due to the door not being able to be opened from the inside, meaning it always had to be left slightly open) but at least this aided to quell the other train smells which waft around!
This time I shared the compartment with 2 Russians and a Ukrainian. Only one Russian spoke any English, and bless him he did try and with the help of my hopelessly inadequate phrase book we managed to make each other understood here and there. I told them I was going to Vladivostok then Japan. I didn't really want to go into any further detail, as you never know how people respond, especially as the Victor, the guy I was struggling to converse with was complaining at never having any time or money to take holidays. There was a younger guy, Alex, and a Ukrainian, also called Victor, but whom I wasn't too keen on, as he'd start chattering away to me. I think in hindsight he might have wanted me to switch compartments with his son who I later discovered he seemed to be travelling with, however being still new to the Russian rail experience I stuck to my guns, which wasn't hard as he didn't really make much of an effort to be understood and I stayed where I was.
In Ekaterinburg the hotel was fortunately just opposite the station, and while this made it a walk from the city centre it was ideal for my arrival the departure, the latter especially as I'm off tonight at 4.47 in the morning!!! This was the one train that the agency couldn't get a good time for, so it should be interested landing in a compartment in the middle of the night to see what I find. As far as I can tell I should again be in a bottom bunk, so assume no-one's decided to take it for themselves I'll dump my bags in the container underneath the bunk and it'll be straight to sleep for me.
First Ekaterinburg though. I arrived yesterday in the rain. There was no problem locating the hotel, but it contrast to the Safar Hotel in Kazan the Sverdlovsk was a real relic of the Soviet era. (Incidentally if I'd found internet there my post was going to be called 'Safar so good' but alas it was not to be.) First off the reception staff understood next to no English whereas in Kazan they did quite well. I had a produce the 'voucher' from the travel agency for them to understand that I had a room booked and paid for. On the floor there's a lady who actually oversees the floor. This was standard in Soviet hotels but again wasn't featured in Kazan which was more modern and presumably reckoned on people being able to find their own room from the foyer and being able to call or go to the main reception should they need anything. Hardly unreasonable! In any case I got to my room which was definitely in some need of renovation. I had read in my Lonely Planet that there are both renovated and unrenovated ones, so it wasn't a great surprise. The room is tatty but certainly better than some room photos I'd seen of the hotel online! There's a TV but no English channels although I did catch the repeat of the Eurovision on Russian TV last night for my sins! (What a shocking display, and thank god that Finland's Lord of the Rings meets Kiss won the day!) There's also a great big fridge in the room, albeit empty, and I'm not entirely sure why. The Safar could at least muster a mini-bar and it wasn't ever too badly priced.
I first went to look around Ekaterinburg yesterday and in the rain, wind and cold it did not endear itself to me in any way shape or form. Today the sun is out so it's looking better but it's still not particularly high in the excitement or interest stakes. I suppose at the end of the day it's a stop-off as a junction on the trans-sib and because it was near here that the Tsars saw their end at the hands of the Bolcheviks. This unfortunately doesn't guarantee a hip and happening town. It's ok though, and I wandered around what there seems to be to see, and at least there's a decent internet cafe for me to use to catch up with everything.
I'm sorry it's not been the most interesting post to date, but really it hasn't been that interesting. There's a lot of journeying being done, with even more to do. The cities along the way make for much welcome stop-offs but few are 'must-sees' in most people's books. Still, it helps give a little more insight into Russia, its workings and how it changes as you cross its width. The Tatars have something of a Turkic influence I think, whereas in Ekaterinburg it's back to largely the paler looks of further West. Yet Ekaterinburg is just past the marker that denotes where Europe ends and Asia begins. That's right, for the first time I am in Asia! It doesn't really feel like it at the moment but I have a feeling this will change as I advance Eastwards.
Next stop Tomsk at 8.25am on 24th May. Almost 28 hours on the train this time, I'd better get stocked up on provisions this evening!
posted by Daniel at 10:08 am
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