jb
--------------------------
La surprise du chef : Irkutsk. Tout fiers d avoir trouve l auberge que nous avions reserve par internet, nous entrons triomphants et Marion de declarer : "Zdrastvuiste. We've got a booking.". La reponse de la receptionniste fut suprenante, cinglante et surtout incomprehensible. Un long moment d agitation trouvera sa conclusion quand un client de l auberge (A-Hostel) nous tendra son smartphone : "We do not accept foreign nationals" ("On n'accepte pas les etrangers"). Une minute plus tard, nous etions partis, Un quart-d'heure plus tard, nous trouvions un accueil chaleureux au Baikaler Hostel, ou nous sommes finalement restes quelques jours.
La lecon de la semaine : Premiere frayeur du voyage a Omsk, ou notre train s arretait quatre heures. Resolus a se degourdir les jambes et prendre la temperature de cette ville d Asie Centrale, tres proche de la frontiere avec le Kazakhstan, nous prenons nos quelques affaires essentielles et, accompagnes de notre nouvel ami Tadjik, nous voici partis a la decouverte de Omsk, par -25 C. Apres une petite promenade, le retour sur le quai fut quelque peu deconcertant : plus de train. Oops. Se sentant aux responsabilites, notre ami Tadjik interroge le personnel de la gare sur le quai, court a droite, a gauche. Finalement revenus dans le hall central de la gare, une hotesse nous assure que le train est parti se stationner plus loin et reviendra a 18h15. Ca semble bien, malgre le fait que notre billet porte un autre numero de train que celui dont elle parle, que j ai note une autre heure de depart dans mon carnet et que nous nageons en pleine confusion entre heure locale et heure de Moscou (l heure officielle des trains grande distance en Russie). A l heure dite, retour sur le quai pour trouver notre train... sans notre wagon ! Quelques palabres supplementaires, un peu de footing dans un sens et dans l autre et nous voyons avec grand soulagement le visage de notre provodnik a travers la vitre givree de notre wagon venant se raccorder au reste du train. Nos affaires sont toujours la. Ouf ! Desormais, 5 minutes d arret ou 5 heures, on ne quittera plus le train des yeux !
Le highlight meteo : Plein Soleil sur la Siberie ! Parfois un peu de brume, un voile de nuages eleves agrementent un ciel le plus souvent bien bleu.
L expression de la semaine : Il s agit evidemment du titre de ce billet. Cherchant une librairie a Irkutsk, nous tombons par hasard sur l'office du tourisme. L'endroit est visiblement peu visite en cette saison. La charmante hotesse d accueil nous pose quelques questions, essaie tant bien que mal de nous aiguiller sur des choses a faire. "Aller a Listvianka ? Oh oui... qu est-ce qu'il y a comme attractions touristiques en cette saison ?" (elle fait defiler le diaporama interactif de ladite ville) "Mmhh.. il y a ... le telescope a vide" (silence accompagne d une moue interrogative, mi-"le quoi !??" mi-"comment est-ce que ca pourrait les interesser ?") " Ah oui, l aquarium bien sur...". Avec un tres grand naturel, elle se retourne alors vers nous et declare : "Mais... vous ne voulez pas venir en été ?“.
It's been years that I have been thinking about the transsiberian railway, years that people around me talk about it as something they hope to do some day. For us, it became reality in the early morning on January 21st, in Nijni-Novgorod. We tried our best not to wake up anyone with our big backpacks as we crossed the narrow corridor of the 3rd class carriage. The looks of the inside of the sleepy train, thanks to the station lights, is somehow familiar : here we are! The train speed is moderate (35 mph), life onboard is quiet (tea and chinese noodles), the landscape is enormous, neverending series of birches, pine trees and snow. 108 hours of travel to Ulan Ude and 4 stops. During the first one in Tobolk, we put our special winter boots "Sorel" on. We really enjoyed this peaceful city, so close to this huge wilderness, all the more that Denis was a perfect host! In Novosibirsk, and then Tomsk, we progressively tested our resistance to cold: -25C, -27C, and finally -33C on Jan 26! We had to be very careful about any exposed part of our body! In Tomsk, we spent a night in a sketchy appartment/hostel and we spent the evening with students who were especially proud of their last finding: a Sega "Super Drive" (in fact, the Russian version of the well-known Mega Drive, released in... 1988). They spent the evening playing to Mario and Street Fighter. Tomsk is a very beautiful city, especially the upper part with its old wooden houses. We warmly recommend! On the contrary, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk are very big cities much less charming to us. Anyway, frozen Ob in Novosibirsk was quite a sight! With all these stops, we finally never really started being bored, or asking ourselves what we could do on board. Along the way, we spent a day with a Tadjik guy, who was curious about the least detail of our lives and craving to tell us about his life and his projects. Problem: we are not exactly fluent in Russian, and he does not speak English. Thanks to our mini-globe, to lots of gestures and drawings, we could swap a lot of information and spend a good time together, despite our little misadventure in Omsk (cf this week's lesson). Later, we also discussed a good deal with Alec who was on his way to a gas field in Northern Siberia. Our various discussions with the Russians we met showed us this fascinating Russian way of seeing things,a blend of fatalism and pride. The overall description of the Russian state that they made is bitter: corruption, clientelism, conflict of interests. As I am writing, we are approaching Ulan Ude, our last stop along the transsiberian railway, 5644km east of Moscow, where we left sixteen days ago. Believe it or not, it's been to quick! Our 1-month visa will expire in two days and we will head for Mongolia tomorrow morning. New landscape, new culture, new language. Another way of travelling too. This new adventure is likely to be as epic!
jb
--------------
Big surprise! : Irkutsk. So proud to have found the hostel we booked online, we got in and Marion said:"Zdrastvuiste. We've got a booking.". The answer from the receptionist was surprising, biting and incomprehensible. After a long moment of agitation, we understood what was going on when a guest of the hostel (A-Hostel) tended his smartphone to us:"We do not accept foreign nationals". A minute later, we were out. Fifteen minutes later, we were warmly welcomed at Baikaler Hostel, where we stayed a few days.
This week's lesson: Our first fright of the trip happened in Omsk, where our train stopped for four hours. Willing to stretch our legs and have a feel of this city of Central Asia, very close to the border with Kazakhstan, we took some essential stuff and, accompanied by our new Tadjik friend, we hit Omsk, by -25C. After a nice stroll, what a surprise when we got back to the platform: No train! Oops. Taking the leadership of our little group, our Tadjik friend started to ask the attendants on the platform, and to run here and there. Back to the main hall of the station, the hostess keeps telling us, in several languages, that the train is parked somewhere and that it will come back to the platform at 6.15pm. That sounds good, depuite the fact that our ticket has another train number on it, that I have another departure time on my notebook and that we are totally confused between local time and Moscow time (which is the official time for long-distance trains in Russia). At 6.15pm, we are back on the platform. Yes, the train is here, but not our carriage! Some more taking, a little bit of running up and down the platform and we finally spot, to our greatest relief, our provodnik's face behind the frozen window of our carriage, as the latter moves slowly to get connected to the rest of the train. Our bags are still there. Great! Next time, five minute-or five hour-stop, we will always keep an eye on our train!
Weather highlight: Full sunlight over Siberia! Sometimes, a bit of haze or some high clouds embellish a usually blue sky.
The catchphrase: Of course, it is the title of this post. As we were searching for a bookstore in Irkutsk, we found the tourist information center. The building seems to be very quiet in January. The charming hostess inquires about us and tries to find some things for us to do. " Visiting Listvianka? Oh yes.. well... what are the touristic attractions in winter?" (she reads the interactive slideshow about the city) "Mmmh... there's... the vacuum telescope" (she stops taking as her face expresses maybe "What ?!?" or "How the hell they could be interested by that?") "Oh yes, there's the aquarium of course...". And unselfconsciously, she turns to us and says:"But... why don't you come in summer?"