Category: Travel

First thing on Friday, we made our way to Camp Kim, the United Service Organisation’s (USO) meeting point for tours of the 4km wide Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea. We arrived even earlier than the 7:45am meeting time, so, having signed-in and met our guide, Dana, we headed out for some breakfast.

Coffee consumed, we boarded the coach for the hour long journey to the DMZ. Dana provided us with some Korean history, and explained the itinerary for the day. Upon arrival at the DMZ, Dana took the sign-in sheet to a military official, as the nationality of all visitors needs to be checked before entrance is permitted. Formalities complete, we made our way to Dora Observatory. As the propaganda of both North and South played out across the DMZ, a South Korean soldier described what we could see in front of us as we looked towards North Korea. The village of Kijong-dong was definitely the most intriguing. Having heard many times on TV about the luxurious buildings that, upon closer scrutiny, have no inhabitants, windows or lifts, it felt surreal to stare at them through binoculars.

Four infiltration tunnels have been found close to the DMZ, and it is believed that there are many more. The museum at the site of the third infiltration tunnel explains that they were dug by North Korea as passages via which soldiers could attack Seoul. Fortunately for South Korea, none of the discovered tunnels reached anywhere near the capital. The only tunnel open to the public is number three. After the short bus journey from the Dora Observatory, we put on hard hats and followed a steep ramp down into the tunnel. There’s not a lot to see in the tunnel, but it was a good opportunity to reflect on what we had been told about the history of this divided country.

Our penultimate stop was Dorasan Station, a railway station which once connected North and South Korea. As it was restored in recent years, it looks just like a modern train station. The only difference is the lack of trains. There’s a map there showing the railway line across Europe. It was disappointing, and probably selfish, to think about how easily we could have reached Seoul from Vladivostok if trains were running from North to South Korea. Our final stop was the Peace Park. Seeing the Memorial Altar and Bridge of Freedom made me remember that despite the DMZ having become a tourist attraction, many Korean lives have been lost, and the divide between North and South has had terrible consequences for a lot of Korean families.

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We have split Seoul into a couple of posts, because there’s just so much to talk about. From the moment we landed we were greeted by cheerful salutations and lots of bowing and smiling. I was in love already. We have had an amazing experience travelling through Europe and Russia, but having never travelled to an Asian country, this leg of the journey was something extra special. We hopped on the train to Seoul Station and found our way to ‘K Seoul Guesthouse’. All of the reviews talked about the owner Mrs. Kim being so kind and wonderful and she met us at the door with a great big smile. She and her son were fantastic hosts and our fried eggs and toast with homemade jam every morning was a welcome addition! She even brought us two huge red apples as a gift on our last night, as she was leaving to see her daughter in Japan. If anyone reading this is going to Seoul, you want to stay with Mrs. Kim! 

Okay, my topics are food and hiking, let’s start with food 🙂 I didn’t know too much about Korean cuisine before arriving, but I had heard that Kimchi is served with most meals. Kimchi is fermented cabbage in a spicy sauce, which sounds disgusting, but is really tasty and refreshing! And it really is served with every meal. We ate at Gwandemun market, which was bustling with stalls selling anything you want and then in one section, food stalls. We had some crispy chicken with nuts as a little starter as we wandered around and then sat at a small stall and ordered Bibimbap and tofu noodle soup. All of the produce is in containers in front of you and just scooped into your bowl, ready in seconds! Apart from the man sitting next to me who was determined to mix Graham’s Bibimbap for him, it was wonderful! Bibimbap is a popular dish here, made from rice, veggies and a red pepper paste that you mix together, sometimes with an egg. 

Probably our best meal was at a small local restaurant down a back alley in Hanok traditional village, where we also sampled some banana wine. I wasn’t a fan, but Graham was rather taken with it!! I had Bibimbap this time and Graham had beef Bulgogi, another local favourite, that is beef strips marinated in soy, sesame, garlic, ginger and sugar. There were so many side dishes of kimchi, pickled ginger and seaweed, we hardly had space on the table, which is a recurring theme here in Seoul! We started to get the hang of the restaurant etiquette by day two, water is usually self serve, with a water fountain somewhere in the restaurant, some places have a vat of kimchi where you can have a second helping if you like and chopsticks can be found in a wooden box at the end of the table. We’re total pro’s now, although still have moments where we’re not entirely sure what we’re eating, not that it matters, as it’s all delicious!! 

After all that eating, we had to do some hiking to make sure we don’t pile on the pounds! Well lucky for us, hiking is the favourite pastime of Koreans. Weekends see the hiking trails that surround the city full of Koreans of all ages, from 20 to 90, they’re all decked out in their really nice gear to get some exercise. Seoul has four mountains that surround the city and an ancient city wall and huge gates that was built for defence in 1396. You can hike the entire city wall, which is 18 km in total and brings you to the summit of the surrounding mountains. We started on Baegak trail, which interestingly is a military zone and has soldiers patrolling as you hike. You must show your passport at the first gate to gain entry and are also forbidden from taking pictures in certain directions, as it is the closest part of city wall to the DMZ and North Korea. As I have had a horrible cold and cough, I skipped the Naksan and Heunginjimun trails, but continued onto the Namsan trail which brings you to the iconic N Seoul tower. The views over Seoul were spectacular and Graham got a beautiful picture of the sunset. 

Next up: Palaces and the DMZ 
-F xx

After nine previous Trans-Siberian train journeys, we were pleased that Monday night’s journey from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok would be our last. Having spent the day in the freezing wind, we arrived at the station early, and awaited our train. Once onboard, we made ourselves as comfortable as possible, and hoped that time would pass quickly. Sadly, a woman who walked about a lot, repeatedly invited train staff into our compartment and insisted on the door being left ajar during the night joined us. Once asleep, she roared like a wounded beast. We didn’t sleep much. Time didn’t pass quickly.

Tuesday morning was wet. The rain in Vladivostok was heavy and water streamed down the streets. We changed into our waterproof gear in the station and went in search of breakfast. Check-in at the hostel wasn’t until midday, but we’re now experts at making coffee last a ridiculously long time. The lack of train sleep meant we were happy to sit in the hostel until the rain stopped. Once it did stop, it was time for a walk.

As it’s the largest Russian port on the Pacific Ocean, walking in most directions in Vladivostok leads to water. Our afternoon walk took us to the beach and Dynamo Stadium, home to the local football team, FC Luch-Energiya Vladivostok. As the afternoon sun went down, we walked further inland and watched some of the crazy rush-hour drivers somehow manage to avoid colliding with each other. We ate at a really good noodle restaurant, and made our way back to the hostel for an early night.

I started Wednesday with a morning run around some of the city’s sights, most of which we visited later in the day, while a lot less out of breath. After waking Fionnuala up, we ate bacon crepes at a nearby food court, and then walked to the S56 submarine and the eternal flame, a tribute to those who lost their lives during World War Two. We didn’t realise that a canon would be fired at 12 o’clock beside a warship at the port. That came as a rather loud surprise, particularly to Fionnuala, who practically ‘stop, drop and rolled’ to escape the gunfire! 

Having browsed an array of military weapons and vehicles on our way, we took the funicular railway to a lookout point with spectacular views of Golden Horn Bridge. A statue of Saints Cyril and Methodius, inventors of the Cyrillic alphabet, stood at the lookout point. I think we’ve seen their statue in every Russian city we’ve visited, so it seemed fitting that they should join us on our final full day in Russia.

We celebrated our final evening in Russia with a burger and a beer – things we’re good at ordering, particularly when there’s an English menu! Also, as someone had put an irresistible patisserie opposite our hostel…

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Khabarovsk was a gloriously welcome stop after 50 hours on a train. Our train companions were quite pleasant on the whole and we actually had the ‘kupe’ to ourselves for nearly a whole day! We read quite a lot, and ate more instant noodles than I will ever be proud to admit. 

Khabarovsk isn’t a typical spot for Trans Siberian travellers to stop at, as most people will travel directly between Ulan Ude and Vladivostok. It is the coldest city in the world with a population of more than 500,000, and let me tell you, it was teeth-chatteringly freezing!!! The skies were bright blue and there wasn’t any snow, but the real feel temperature was about -12 degrees Celsius . As usual we arrived early in the morning and popped to a great cafe that served eggs and bacon. The girl serving us even wrote her questions down so that we could ‘Google translate’ them on our phones. Although we’re getting the hang of recognising written words and phrases, the spoken word is still so hard to pick up! 

Having completed the usual ritual of finding the hostel, dropping bags, showering and then layering back up to start exploring, we made our way to the waterside. The Amur river, which attracts many tourists in summer with river cruises looked rather cold and uninviting! It is the world’s 10th longest river and forms part of the border between Russia and China. The riverside is being regenerated and the path brings you from the “Square of Fame” to the Khabarovsk Regional Museum. The square houses the Transfiguration Cathedral and the war memorial with a beautiful eternal flame. I didn’t realise quite how many Russian lives were lost in World War 2, but our guide in Moscow told us that approximately 26 million people died, military and civilian. This huge memorial had lists of thousands of names from the region and is a nice tranquil place for reflection. 

Our trip to the Regional Museum led us through floors of stuffed animal displays and also Soviet history through the decades. We were able to translate some things, but on the whole it was mainly looking at the nice displays and being warm 🙂 

We spent much of the next morning in the hostel planning the next leg of our trip, which included booking hostels in South Korea 🇰🇷, Japan 🇯🇵 and booking our flight to Hong Kong 🇭🇰 to see my friend Anna! Then it was time to prepare for our final Russian train to Vladivostok. We still can’t believe this is the final one and we will have travelled all the way across Russia. Four weeks well spent, I say!! 
-F xx

Upon arrival into Ulan Ude on Tuesday, we quickly orientated ourselves and headed for the hostel. We found the address, but there was no obvious entrance, and no sign outside. A local tried to help us, but he couldn’t figure it out, either. After two unanswered phone calls, we headed to a nearby hostel Fionnuala had spotted, called Husky Hostel. It was warm inside, and they had a twin room available. Having checked in, I reviewed my original booking, and realised it was for November, not October. Although I still have no idea where the original hostel’s entrance is, our stay in Ulan Ude was excellent, and I’ll take greater care with dates in future!

Once unpacked, we went out to explore, and couldn’t resist going to see the world’s largest Lenin head, located in the main city square. The head is 7.7m tall and weighs 42 tons (http://wikitravel.org/en/Ulan_Ude). It’s an impressive sight, and was a welcome change from the many formal statues we’ve seen during our trip. After a walk around the nearby streets, the -9c temperature, and the icy pavements, told us it was time for dinner, followed soon after by our first cups of tea in a while.

This morning, after more tea, we went to the Khangalov Museum of Buryat History. The ground floor was dedicated to the Shamanist history of the Buryats, including traditional tools, weapons and costume. After seeing several sacred Shamanist sites on our trip to Olkhon Island, it was great gain some background information. The first floor showed a little of the history of Ulan Ude, but our inability to understand Russian made it difficult to learn much from the text and videos displayed. We entertained ourselves for twenty minutes with a children’s jigsaw instead, much to the amusement of a museum employee! The top floor of the museum explained the Buddhist history of the Buryat people, including several impressive papier-mâché sculptures of deities.

This afternoon, in order to enjoy the unexpected sunshine, we walked to Rinpoche Bagsha Datsun, the modern Buddhist  in the north of the city. The views of the city from the top are certainly worth the walk. The grounds of the temple are filled with coloured ribbons, a large bell and human-size figurines representing the Chinese signs of the zodiac. The large Buddha inside the temple itself is impressive, and the walk down the hill back into the city was far easier than the walk up!

On the way back to the hostel we stocked up for the longest train journey of our trip. At 04:17, our 50+ hour journey to Khabarovsk begins.

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Having awoken to a beautiful sunrise, our 32 hour train journey ended in Irkutsk at 08:20 on Friday. Now we’ve visited several Russian cities, we expected Irkutsk to look similar. However, on walking out of the train station, we realised that Irkutsk looks far less like a European city than those further west. We took a taxi to our hostel, and we’re surprised by just how crazy the drivers of Irkutsk are during rush hour.

After walking around the city watching the market stalls set up for the day, a very helpful woman in the tourist information office pointed us in the direction of 130 Kvartal, an area of new wooden restaurants & bars plus a modern shopping mall. On the way there, we passed the bronze statue of a babr with a sable in its jaws, which, according to Lonely Planet, “features on the Irkutsk municipal coat of arms”. As none of the restaurants looked open, breakfast was found at the food court in the mall. We ordered ‘kasha’, which translates as porridge. My guess is that it was rice pudding with butter, and was rather good.

Kasha consumed, we took trolleybus 7 to the Angara icebreaker museum. The ship was on our list of things we definitely wanted to see while in Russia, as it was built by Sir V.G. Armstrong and Co. in Newcastle, where our journey began. Although the exhibition was entirely in Russian, we’re really pleased we visited. More info can be found about the Angara at http://www.irkutsk.org/fed/icebraker.html.

After lunch in an Irish-themed bar named Harat’s (Fionnuala didn’t even get a free Guinness!), we walked back to the hostel, passing several of Irkutsk’s sites, including the Lenin statue, the university and puppet theatre. Back at the hostel, we showered for the first time in a while, Skyped family back home and did some planning for our trip to South Korea. Having packed our bags for Lake Baikal, it was time for some train-free sleep.

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Here are somethings we learned about train travel on our 32 hour journey from Novosibirsk to Irkutsk. 

1. Knowing the words for chicken and meal came in handy, but the meal received may not have actually contained chicken! 
2. Telling people you don’t understand Russian doesn’t stop them speaking very fast Russian to you. 
3. People who have been in train carriages for days do not smell very nice. 
4. Graham doesn’t like hot, small, smelly places or large, smelly people that snore in tandem, which describes our journey rather well!

We did however do a lot of reading, consume copious amounts of coffee and see some interesting scenery along the journey, including a beautiful sunrise on our approach into Irkutsk. 

We’re going to explore Irkutsk and get ready for our 3 day trip to Lake Baikal which we’re very excited for! 
But first things first, shower time :S 
-F xx

The 22 hour train journey from Yekaterinburg to Novosibirsk passed without incident. Fionnuala read quite a lot, and I slept much of the afternoon and night away. When we woke up on Tuesday morning, the passing scenery was covered in snow; something we’re pleased to see in Siberia. Once the train had pulled into the station, we checked into our hotel and, after showering, ate lunch in the cafe next door.

Tuesday afternoon’s first activity was to supplement our wardrobe with scarves, so we headed to the SEC Gallery shopping centre, where I also supplemented my lunch with a McDonald’s. on the way there, we had a walk around the city, passing the Chapel of St Nicholas and Lenin Square.

Today, we visited the State Art Museum. Unlike in cities filled with tourists, it was possible to take in the paintings and sculptures, without thousands of selfie-enthusiasts interfering. The highlight was definitely the Himalaya mountainscapes by Nikolai Rerikh. After leaving the museum, we walked to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, but sadly it was closed.

We’re spending this evening waiting for the 23:39 train to Irkutsk.

G.

Winter is arriving, which we realised quickly having arrived in Yekaterinburg early on Sunday morning! Temperatures down in low single figures, the woolly hats and gloves were out! 

Our train journey had been pretty good, but not as plush as the one before. It was a much older train and no meals delivered to our compartment. It was, however, more what we expected our Trans Siberian journey to be like. We made some chicken sandwiches and coffee and felt like proper travellers. The hot water vats (samovar) at the top of each carriage are a God send!

Yekaterinburg was one of the cities I was quite excited for as it is well known as the place that the Russian Imperial Royal family, the Romanovs, were imprisoned and subsequently executed by the Bolshevik party. As a child, I was fascinated by the story of the Romanov princess Anastasia, who was said to have escaped the execution and was still alive. The story, of course, was made into a Disney movie (which I never actually saw!) and there are many books about the woman who claimed to be her in America in the 1940s. I always wanted the story to be true, as the body of the princess hadn’t been found with the rest of the family; how exciting and mysterious it would have been! Some members of the Imperial Russian family did support this woman’s claim, but others did not and after multiple court cases regarding her identity, a final verdict in the Supreme Court in the 60s decided that although they could not disprove her claims, there was no positive evidence (meaning DNA). However, in more recent years, DNA testing proved her claims to be false. Also, a body believed to be that of the princess was located in Russia. There is a large Orthodox church on the site of the executions, but I must say, I felt a little underwhelmed. Perhaps, having read so many stories as a child about the Romanovs and Rasputin, I expected to feel like I was being transported back to that time of intrigue and revolution. But there was just the church, and a wooden chapel with lots of weeds outside. 

Yekaterinburg is famed for being a crime capital back in the 80s and 90s, with Mafia gangsters running riot, but we didn’t see any blacked out Mercs with dodgy looking guys wearing fluffy black hats! The city now is a University city with a pretty relaxed feel. When the snow melts each spring a red line is painted on the pavement that links all the tourist attractions, making it quite easy to see all the sights of the city. Except when the line disappears and you begin to search around frantically for it again, as you have no clue where you are! 

Graham went for a short run in the evening, but not for too long as it was freezing! Things then reached a low point, we had Russian pot noodle for dinner in the hostel, ‘chicken spice’ flavour! It was surprisingly good! Up next is Novosibirsk, a 22 hour journey. On our way to the station, we had our first snow storm! Welcome to Siberia 🙂
-F xx

Our overnight train from Nihzny Novgorod to Kazan was relatively successful! Fortunately the guy in our compartment spoke some English and was able to help us with the train guards questions about chicken or vegetable meal options. Unfortunately, his feet smelled of cheese. You win some, you lose some! Our first experience of train food was a good one. 

We had chicken in a sauce with bulgar wheat and veg, a little bread roll and a small cake! We even got a little pack with a toothbrush and a shoe horn! 

Once we arrived in Kazan (very early), we dropped our bags off at the hotel. It was raining and the temperature had dropped considerably, but nevertheless we headed off to explore the city. Kazan is the capital of the Republic of Tartasan and its people are a mix of Bulgar and Kipchack (Turkic nomads) descent. There is a mixture of religions in the city, with Orthodox churches and Sunni Mosques side by side in the Kremlin. The sight of the bright blue domes and spires is quite beautiful as you climb up to the Kremlin walls. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 80s/90s, Kazan became the centre of Tatar culture and has been a thriving city since then. 

We headed back to our hotel after lunch and realised just how exhausted we are. We love travelling, and are trying to see as much of all these great cities as we pass through, but I think it finally caught up. After a mega nap, the only thing that we could think of doing was to eat pizza. So we found a pizzeria around the corner and with the help of Google Translate, we ordered two ginormous pizzas and a beer. Then Skype calls to family filled the rest of the evening. 

Our train to Yekaterinburg the next day wasn’t until the afternoon, so we headed out for a walk to the newly regenerated area by the river after breakfast. There were beautiful restaurants, French inspired architecture, grass sculptures, but not a lot of people. We did wonder if all of this regeneration is related to the World Cup 2018 event. The host cities appear to be having a face lift! 

Off we went to the train station for our 14 hour trip to Yekaterinburg. Praying for cheese-less foot companions this time 😷.

-F xx