[the Thing]

Can't believe I haven't seen this before. It was a fantastic read. I personally would get so pissed over the blue balls and near misses that I'd just spend half the trip feeling salty as hell, or straight up just spend the entire trip chasing tail and miss on all the great experiences. ABSOLUTELY LEGENDARY travel experience and writing. Repped straight away.

Two questions off the top of my head:
1- What and how did you pack, exactly? I assume you'd need to travel light for something like this but you mentioned crisp shirt and shiny shoes so I wonder how you dressed up on a trip like this
2- Did you have a backup plan in case you got robbed or worse? eg. if you did get robbed when you were roofied what would you have done?

[RatInTheWoods]

+1 rep for these epic adventures and write up.

Uncle Rattie salutes you!

[timalemanha]

Well thanks for inspiring me once again to hit Russia in the next coming summer 2018. I have been all over the Urals by train about 12 years ago and it was wonderful with the girls. The Urals are still the poorest region in all of Russia with extremely eager girls.

Pacific islands... are also on my list in more depth since my successful trip to the Trobriands islands for one month living in a small local village. There are no hotels whatsoever. I was the only foreigner on the entire island and even in the far away villages people mysteriously knew there was one foreigner living on island and girls came from all over to meet and some were interested to make out, it was just amazing. Hitting up the rest of the Pacific Islanders is now firmly on my to do list for Winter 2018

(05-18-2014 10:08 AM)Chaos Wrote:  

^Yeah man! I'd love to hit up Papua New Guinea!!

"Easily make a living from my unique trips"
Dude,seriously PM me for further information please because I'm broke as a fucking church rat!

I can't really handle the cost of living here in the Nordics so right now I'm looking for a cheap place somewhere in SEA where I can keep my costs down. Flights are cheap now.

Africa and Central Asia and all the small islands in the Pacific are places I'd love to hit up if I had the money.

[edlefou]

(11-26-2017 07:03 PM)the Thing Wrote:  

1- What and how did you pack, exactly? I assume you'd need to travel light for something like this but you mentioned crisp shirt and shiny shoes so I wonder how you dressed up on a trip like this

I did my month on the transsiberian as part of an extended trip through Asia to Western Europe, so I had a carry-on bag and a small suitcase because that's what I travel with around the world. I had to have wintery clothes for Siberia and tropical stuff for SE Asia. I like to suit up, so I had suits and nice shoes. Russian lizards like a well-dressed man.

Travelling light is always a good idea because it's easier to move around, but you're not really limited by luggage on the transsiberian. Many locals are travelling between towns with several large makeshift bags and even in platzcart there's a good amount of room overhead and under the seats for storage.

[TripleG]

Anyone have experience renting an off-road vehicle in these far-away regions of Siberia? I would be especially interested in not necessarily doing the Trans-Siberian express but perhaps following one of the "maintenance roads" that runs alongside the tracks for thousands of Km's, highway of bones comes to mind.

Great thing about a trip like this is that you would not be a slave to the train schedule and mandated stops and could explore the country-side at your own pace (or risk as well) and spit game on the babushka's you see in the countryside (lol).

[Sidney Crosby]

^ I know that some westerners have done it by motorcycle. I guess most of the appeal is how rugged and difficult the "road" is. This may be the one they call BAM?

[Bateman]

Amazing datasheet, man! I was considering going to Russia this summer for the world cup and this read boosted my motivations a lot for visiting the more distant cities as well.

Seems like girls outside Moscow are more liberal when it comes to drinking. Make the escalation process a hell of a lot easier compared to girls who are sipping on their "chai" constantly.

[Traktor]

(12-02-2017 02:02 PM)Sidney Crosby Wrote:  

^ I know that some westerners have done it by motorcycle. I guess most of the appeal is how rugged and difficult the "road" is. This may be the one they call BAM?

The BAM refers to the Baikal Amur Mainline, a rail line built by the Soviet authorities in the 1970s. The line stretches from the Pacific at Sovetskaya Gavan all the way to Taishet in the west where it intersects with the Trans Siberian which runs in parallel to the BAM further south. See map below.


The video above shows the Kolmya Highway, built in the 30s using Gulag labour. You can access this using the BAM by changing trains at Tynda joining the Amur-Yakutsk line which stops at Nizhny Bestyakh, opposite Yakutsk on the River Lena. From there you take the Kolyma Highway all the way to Magadan, a further 2,000km trek to the Pacific Coast.

It's a journey not for the faint hearted. In Summer, not only do you have to battle the hostile terrain but you also have to factor in the heat, mosquitoes, swarms of flies, bugs and bears. And did I mention the locals?

[Dulceácido]

Dang... Took me an hour to read, but that was hella-interesting! Kudos for writing all that, Guy.

[Dragan]

I have been on the fence the longest time about seeing Russia. Thanks for this man, it really seals the deal for me. Incredible write up.

[Chaos]

(11-26-2017 07:03 PM)the Thing Wrote:  

Can't believe I haven't seen this before. It was a fantastic read. I personally would get so pissed over the blue balls and near misses that I'd just spend half the trip feeling salty as hell, or straight up just spend the entire trip chasing tail and miss on all the great experiences. ABSOLUTELY LEGENDARY travel experience and writing. Repped straight away.

Two questions off the top of my head:
1- What and how did you pack, exactly? I assume you'd need to travel light for something like this but you mentioned crisp shirt and shiny shoes so I wonder how you dressed up on a trip like this
2- Did you have a backup plan in case you got robbed or worse? eg. if you did get robbed when you were roofied what would you have done?

Thank you sir. Glad you enjoyed it.

1. I had a regular bag on wheels and a small backpack for electronics. Few shirts, blazer, two pairs of shoes, underwear etc. Just the typical stuff.

2. I use to put some stash of cash here and there in my bag but not much other preparations. I got robbed or let's say stolen from in Abkhazia. Unbelievable story. I wrote about it here.

[DraperJ.hank]

Anyone had to deal with traveling through Russia in the winter? Ive grown up just benieth the artic cirkle in Scandinavia but Russia seems like a whole nother level

[Polniy_Sostav]

Let me tell you straight , this is an amazing post. I have read everything and I love it.
But one things really bothers me , and I hope you won't take it personally. Your entire trip seems to sum up the degenerate manners of westerners these days.
Mainly about alcohol and drugs. If we take away the sentences with alcohol and drugs and all the anecdotes linked to it , the topic could be 1 paragraph long.
I was excited about going to Baikal region but this report more or less killed it.

[Gopnik]

(12-27-2017 10:39 AM)Polniy_Sostav Wrote:  

Let me tell you straight , this is an amazing post. I have read everything and I love it.
But one things really bothers me , and I hope you won't take it personally. Your entire trip seems to sum up the degenerate manners of westerners these days.
Mainly about alcohol and drugs. If we take away the sentences with alcohol and drugs and all the anecdotes linked to it , the topic could be 1 paragraph long.
I was excited about going to Baikal region but this report more or less killed it.

Russians like to drink and get shitfaced everynow and then... who'd have thought!

As for the drugs, a while ago, I read a few chapters from Sergey Kovalev's biography (a russian boxer from Novosibirsk) where he described how normal it was for young teenagers to get high on glue during the 90s. Eventually many of them switched to heroin and there were huge HIV outbreaks in the country, specially in the provincial areas.

The point being that booze and drugs are not exclusive of the west and they have definitely been around in Russia for a while (not to mention the sheer amount of homeless alcoholics and drug addicts that roam the streets of all major russian cities).

While it's true that gender roles are more traditional in Russia, I wouldn't say the country is free from "degeneracy". The whole idea of Russia being a model for traditional values is at least somewhat flawed.

[Traveller]

I just spent 1.5 months travelling around Siberia alone. For a change I will be in Moscow and St. Petersburg from now until 20 September.

I got by without Russian but it can be exhausting.

Hard to get laid without Russian, though.

If you don't need warm weather, don't go to Siberia in the summer because it is rather quiet.

Never had any safety concerns or anything - day and night.

I met an Italian waiter who spoke Russian and did well with daygame according to him but he focused on girls around 30.

I saw really hot girls in every Siberian city I visited.
It was around 30 degrees Celsius in Krasnoyarsk which is a high temperature for locals who are used to cold climate most of the year. The summer can be very short in Siberia so if you go in let's say May it might be quite cold compared to Europe.

Flakes were a big issue. I think there was not enough comfort. 1 girl spoke great English but sometimes she used Google Translate for complicated stuff and I think she perceived it as a language barrier when there practically wasn't one.
I got attention and eyefucked mostly in the night when people were probably under influence of alcohol.
In Krasnoyarsk, I stood next to a hot young girl at the bus station. A car crashed in front of us and I commented on it. She was really surprised that I was a foreigner and we communicated with my few words of Russian and the Google Translate recorder. She made an effort to keep communicating in English through Google Translate for a few days but didn't want to meet.

There is not too much going on Tinder (mostly around age 30) and RussianCupid (I did not actively use the latter). On Badoo, most girls did not speak English so maybe that's why they did not match me and I did not try to message tons of girls.

The Trans-Siberian railway is overrated. At least I am speaking for the part in Siberia. I did 2 journeys. Not really different than an overnight train in a place like Ukraine or even China. You cannot see much of the landscape either.
However, it is interesting to experience the hospitality of fellow travellers. A shorter journey on the Transsib will be enough.

Blablacar works well (with Google Translate) and can be much faster (or cheaper if you care) than trains.

Apartments: If you book on Booking.com, message them after the booking and ask if it is available. They will often cancel due to a booking on another website.

Foursquare (better in the bigger cities) and TripAdvisor work well for restaurants and cafes.

Novosibirsk:
There is a student city with a large campus of university and research institutes called Akademgorodok 45 minutes from the center. It is too far so you either focus on there or on Novosibirsk.
Dorm is 20 USD per semester for students, guests cannot enter after 10pm and have to leave until 1am. The lake near there is nice.

Krasnoyarsk: Nightlife is very concentrated in Mira street in the center. However, even at the weekend, bars would not be crazy busy. Stolby is a must visit and a 1-day hike. Krasnoyarsk was one of the better cities for these 2 reasons. There are a few hipster cafes in the center which sometimes attracted hot girls.

Tomsk: Quite dead in the summer it seems because it is a student city. However, you can always see some hot girls in the parks and in the street. Some nice old buildings.
I would check it out but not during the summer.

Barnaul: Almost as quiet as Tomsk. Good place to start a trip to the Altai mountains, though.

Irkutsk: The city looks nice but was really quiet in summer. Around 6 hours to Olkhon island on Lake Baikal from there. There is no ATM on the island. Better to come to the island with a girl.

Ulan Ude: Many Asian Russians but usually not so hot. Some nice Buddhist temples.

Register for VKontakte (the Russian Facebook) and search for English Club and Traveller's Club for each city mentioned above. It is a good starting point but only expect mediocre girls there. In Novosibirsk, the one in Akademgorodok was much better there.
I did an organized 2-week tour throughout the Altai mountains with only Russian people which was amazing. However, it seems that such tours attract older people because younger Russians don't have much money. In the beginning, nobody spoke English but after 5 days almost everyone spoke a bit of English. They just did not feel comfortable speaking in English.

There seem to be tons of amazing places with spectacular nature in Siberia besides the places mentioned above. I would arrange the trip around these. Siberian cities are repetitive.
You can research Khakassia, Kemerovo, Ergaki mountains and Tuva (and take topless pictures while fishing and horse riding like Putin).