The longest railway in the world. The legend of legends.
I guess Trans-Siberian is on every true travellers list.
In this post I'll break down.
- General information
- Practical information
- Trip report 1
- Trip report 2
This post is massive so I hope you take your time to read it.
If you're not interested about the practical things about travelling with Russian trains, then scroll down to the trip reports.
The first one is like a first careful trip by an inexperienced traveller.
The second one insane when I come back as a fearless more experienced adventurer.
I have done this trip twice in different ways. Both times very different.
I never travelled the regular route, I did my own longer customised trips.
I threw in some trips with buses, cars and stopped at many less known cities.
This is the brief version, I might have forgotten some details or stuff that happened.
As usual, excuse me for my English, I'm not a native speaker.
Here we go!
General information.
Trans Siberian Railway is very well known, but it shouldn't be mixed up with the Trans Mongolian Railway. The latter one is more popular. Here is why.
Trans Siberian route is the longest railway in the world. It start from Moscow, goes through the Urals, Siberia and all the way to Vladivostok at the Russian pacific coast in the far east. It's 9289km. This route take 8 days, ( if you are not getting off the train)
Trans Mongolian start from Moscow and follows the same route until Lake Baikal and Ulan Ude from where it turns down into Mongolia and then into China where it finishes up in Beijing. This route is shorter. 7326km.
Practical Information.
Try to learn some Russian before your trip, it makes everything so much easier. Do the Pimsluer program. Expect nobody to speak English. Learn the numbers, then you can buy stuff everywhere without a problem. It's of course doable without any Russian skills, it's just more hassle and more boring.
Russian is fun!
- Visas. You need three visas. Get your visas in order before your trip. Keep in mind that it's not possible to get a Russian tourist visa in Beijing so get it at your home embassy or somewhere else. Many peoples dream about this trip stranded in Beijing when they were lazy to read about how to organise visas.
I got all visas in Helsinki.
Second time I was in Thailand, but the most secure and cheapest way for me to get a Russian visa was to send my passport to a agency in Helsinki. I waited 16 days in the north of Thailand before I got my passport back. It cost me 20€ more to use an agency instead of going to the embassy and do the work myself.
HOT TIP, use an agency and save yourself from the hassle of getting an invitation!
Totally worth it. 90 days business visa, double entry.
Now we got Visas, check! Let's buy tickets!
- Train tickets.
First of all. Don't be a fool! Don't ever use a travel agency to book train tickets!
It's robbery and just a hassle, you will only loose money! And keep in mind that your are travelling with Russian trains, so don't expect Swiss comfort,quality and service.
Unless it's not any special holiday, you don't need to book train tickets long in advance. There is usually room. The most desirable seats may be occupied,so if you are cranky about what seat you want you better book some week in advance.
Personally I'm always flexible when I'm travelling so I have never cared to book a train more than 5 days in advance, usually the day before I'm leaving. I have always gotten on board. If train is full or have only shitty seats left I choose another day.
This is how you should book a ticket.
Decide what class you want.
First class. No experience, but I guess you have you own room, shower etc.
Second class. This a coupé with four beds. You need to book all beds if you want privacy or whoever can book the other beds in your coupe. I used this on my first trip. Comfortable and silent, but would never do it again. I'll explain below.
Third class. (Platzkarte). This is the place to be. It's cheap and no privacy, you have your own bed and you share table with someone else. It's one shared toilet in every wagon and you have access to hot water (tea) all the time. You basically live together with a wagon of Russians. This is the best way of experience real Russian culture and see how normal Russian are living their lives. It's also perfect for training your Russian skills. People are curious and they will most likely speak to you. When they notice you're a foreigner they will 99% of times invite you over and share their food and drinks with you. Usually guys get so excited so they wanna get drunk with you. They run out to buy some beers or some vodka to share with you, and the party don't stop until you drop. It's considered rude to deny anything they're offering. I've several times been taken to the restaurant wag on for drinks.
How to buy a ticket?
1. If you speak some Russian, just go to the train station and buy the ticket.
Easy as a easy thing. I highly recommend to buy a ticket at least one day before your departure because you never know how much time you need to spend waiting in line. I usually go and buy one day before my departure so I don't need to stress with that when I'm about to leave.
2. If you don't speak Russian. Find someone who speak English and tell them to write down on a piece of paper when and where you want to go, and what class and what seat you want. Go to the station and hand over the paper to the babushka in the ticket office. Easy as a easy thing.
Alternative, bring a girl you met and let her buy the ticket for you.
3. If you can read Russian. Go to http://www.rzd.ru and book a ticket online.
There you can see all trains and which seats that are available.
Book ticket, print or take a photo of the details and go to the train station.
Find the ticket machine, fill in your information and print out the ticket.
This is my favourite. I don't need to stand in the ticket line and I can print out my ticket right before my departure.
And, REMEMBER your passport! You can't buy a ticket without it.
Not at the station and not online!
Now we got visas and tickets. Check!
- How to get on the train?
Look the train number on your ticket, take a look on the big screen at the train station and look on what track it's departing from.
Look wag on number and head to your wagon. Show your ticket and passport to the woman (conductor?) who is standing outside the wagon.
They will check everything so it's impossible for you to be let into the wrong train or wrong wagon. No need to worry.
What to bring?
Depending on how long your trip
Blankets sheets and towel can be bought for a low price. It's usually is included in the ticket so the Conductor will hand it out, if not. Show her that you want it.
Bring food and drinks! And plenty! You may want to share with your new friends in the wagon. If you didn't buy enough, don't worry,
The train stops every now and then, sometimes for 45min sometimes for 2 minutes.
There is a timetable printed on the wall inside the wagon where you can look how long it will stop. Outside there is usually people or small shops from where you can buy food and drinks, sometimes you have to walk a few minutes to find them. Follow other people.
And don't be late! Russian trains shows no mercy!
Other stuff to prepare for.
- Charging your devices.
If you're not in one of the modern wagons, expect to only have access to one or two power outlets in the whole wagon. Sometimes there is none. And if there is, they are most likely occupied.
Switch off you phone or use it very rarely. Save power for later, you will need your phone to text the girl who is going to pick you up in the new city you're arriving to.
- Clothes.
No matter if you are travelling in summer or in winter, prepare that it will be HOT inside! There is no air condition. When I went on the train in early April, -10 Celsius outside. I went into the train with black jeans, pea coat and a some warm shirt.
BIG mistake. It was + 28 Celsius inside the train and all Russians were dressed down like they were heading to the beach. Yeah even a lot of guys are walking in only shorts and sandals.
Third class in Russian trains is a place where almost all people dress down. They dress like they would do in their own home.
When I was walking in shiny black shoes and a button up shirt people gave me looks like I'm a fucking fool.
In summer it's also smoking hot. Russian summers can reach up to + 40celsius.
Prepare for this and the ride will be more smoother.
Extra.
If you arriving to a city in nighttime, don't be afraid to sleep and miss your train.
The conductor have things under control and she will wake up 30 min before your arriving. Sleep on!
I guess this is all I can think about the practical stuff.
I have spent more than 400 hours in Russian trains.
Ask me if anything remains unclear.
*******
Trip reports.
Like i said I've done this trip twice. The first time was on a rush and did it in 3 weeks. The second trip lasted 3 months. Very different trips.
Let's go.
Trip #1. Trans- Mongolian Railway. Helsinki - Beijing. July 2011.
Duration: 3 weeks.
After a short visit to St. Petersburg in winter, I fell in love with Russia and decided to go again in summer and hit the legendary Trans- Mongolian.
At this point Russia was a huge mystery to me and I had no idea how things are deep inside Russia. I was hungry for an adventure and went for it.
I was excited to say the least.
First I took a train from my home to Helsinki. I arrived in the afternoon and from there I boarded the night train to Moscow. I had a few beers, crossed the border passed the old Finnish/ Swedish city of Vyborg. It's sad to see in how bad shape it's these days. We passed the Karelian isthmus where my grandfather fought the Soviets for four years during WW2. I have a huge interest for WW2 so I would like to explore those fighting grounds at some point.
However, I fell a sleep and at 8am and I arrived to the mighty city of Moscow.
I checked into the Napoleon hostel and I ran out immediately to the Red Square.
To set your foot on the Red Square for the first is a goddamn mighty feeling. I had seen so many videos from this place, so much history has taken place there.
The weather was nice so I just walked around and gazed on Russian chicks and also visited the Lenin mausoleum. Impressive stuff.
At night I decided to check out the nightlife, but at this point I was unaware of RVF and had very little idea of where to go. I tried to find some place with good reviews but the info was outdated and most of my time was spent on walking. Next day I checked out the USSR museum. Cool stuff. At night it was time to go out again.
I was better prepared, but at one street I walked straight into some fresh concrete!!
The were repairing the pedestrian street and there were no warning signs!
This destroyed my shoes and my pants. I got pissed off and called it a night.
Damn Moscow.
Next day I wanted to go and buy a ticket to Yekaterinburg, but right outside the hostel I bumped into a cool guy from Faroe Islands. ( for those who slept in school, use google). He was doing a roadtrip from London to Kazakhstan with a oldschool Nissan Patrol and he asked me if I'm interested to join in until we came to Yekaterinburg. I didn't hesitate a second. A 2000km roadtrip though the Russian countryside. Hell yeah! We decided to leave the next day.
I told him that we need to go and buy some stuff to bribe the police with. He was shocked and asked me why we need bribes? This guy was completely unaware about how corrupted Russian cops are and thought we don't need to prepare for that. Well, I went alone to the shop and bought 4 bottles of vodka and 4 cartoons of some cigarettes. I've heard about the Russian police so I thought it's best to be prepared.
Next evening we went. It was hot as hell +39 Celsius. It took us forever to get out of Moscow, the traffic jams were unreal. We were stuck for a long time. However we made it late at night to the city of Vladimir. It was almost midnight. We were tired so we just had some food and went to bed.
After a night of decent sleep we hit the road again. Today it was + 40 and the car had no air condition. Solution = plenty of water, dress down to boxers and just accept you will sweat like no tomorrow. We drove through small villages and smaller towns. Sometimes the road was a new decent highway and sometimes a big mudhole. Nissan Patrol was a good choice for Russian roads.
It was a very interesting ride, bigass Russian oilfields, mighty forests, sleepy villages where time had stopped 60 years ago. And cities like concrete hellholes made in Soviet times. At evening when we were about to cross the border to Tatarstan the border guards called us over. They checked absolutely everything, but the Faroe guy had all papers in order. There were so many wasps attacking the border police so finally they gave up and let us enter. The car had Faroe Islandic plates so this was very confusing to the police.
Late at night we arrived to the mighty Kazan. The city were sleeping but we had time to check out the Kazan kremlin. This is probably the most impressive place in Russia. It looks fantastic, much more impressive than the Moscow kremlin.
Very cool. Later we wanted to grab some beers, but some guys had us convinced that Kazan is a sleepy city with Muslim majority. It was late again---> off to sleep.
Next day we aimed to reach Perm. This was another hot day. We cruised through all kinds of hellholes and saw the most insane things at the road. It was going good until the Police stopped us....
Imagine this. Two Russian countryside police officers who probably never seen a foreigner before sees two tall dudes driving in a Nissan Patrol with some mysterious number plates. We got out of the car all sweaty dressed in only boxer shorts. The police didn't know what to believe.
However, they checked all papers and tried to find something wrong. But they couldn't. Then they started to search the car..
The officer made a grin and said... "Whisky....?"
I said " uminya niet whisky, prosta vodku jist"
He found my plastic bag with vodka and cigarettes and showed me to throw it in the ditch and then he let us go. He would of course pick the bag up later.
Foolish of me to not split the risk, one guy took all my bribes.
This is how Russian road police work. If they can't find anything to give you fine for, they will come up with something to give you a fine for. Unless you don't bribe them. Lesson learned.
That day we drove 800km in hot weather, when we arrived to Perm we were exhausted. We had food and a few beers and then to sleep.
Next day, Perm- Yekaterinburg. Another long hot day on the road.
I don't really remember anything from this so I guess nothing cool happened.
In Yekaterinburg I decided to chill out a few days. I visited the Mafia cemetery, the city had a full scale mafia war in the 90's. Their tombstones are impressive and they have fresh flowers every day. At night. I decided to check out the nightlife again. I went to some top floor building which had a night club. I went in and was blown away! The club was full of girls and almost no males at all. I sat down and had a beer and tried to embrace the situation. This was too good to be true and I thought something isn't right, but I couldn't figure out what. But that was my gut instinct.
After a while I heard a roar and in comes the male cavalry! I guess it were their guys and they had been outside somewhere. I approached some girls, but my Russian sucked and the girls gave me the feeling that they didn't want to be seen with a foreigner. Anyway they had some show on stage and all together it was a good night. No biggies.
After hanging out in Yekaterinburg it was time to board the train to Irkutsk.
The trip was about 40 hours so I loaded up with some booze. But it wasn't necessary since I shared a cabin with three Russian military officers! They almost exploaded of excitement when they found they are going to have a foreigner in their cabin! These guys started to pour me shots of vodka from the first minute meanwhile they kept my glass of beer full. Jesus christ I got wasted. I had to nap every now and then and every time I woke up they served me a glass of fresh beer and a shot of vodka. And the party went on and on. I don't know how many bottles we finished but it might very well be the Russian record. It was funny, but in the end the guys started to get annoying and I was glad when we were about to arrive to Irkutsk.
Irkutsk is a nice Siberian city. Full of oldschool tree houses and a lot of pretty girls. The marines had just finished their duty and they were drinking and jumping in the fountain in the city centre. The whole city was partying. In Irkutsk in witnessed a Russian wedding. Oh mama the girls were dressed to kill, they arrived in expensive hummers and everybody had champagne glasses. It would be cool to be invited to a wedding in Russia. The party is grand.
However. No visit to Irkutsk is complete without a visit to Lake Baikal. The biggest freshwater lake in the world. It was +35 Celsius but when we came to the lake it was unreal chilly. It was mighty. I bought some hot smoked fresh Omul, it's a must try. Delicious. Later when I came back to Irkutsk city I wanted to buy some food before the trip to Mongolia. When I went inside the grocery store I noticed that a gang of youngsters were following me. After a while a girl had the balls to approach me and asked "Excuse me, but are you a football hooligan?" I twisted my head in surprise and laughed and said no. I was wearing a black and white shirt and they thought I was supporting the local team. Then the girl said " Our local team lost the game and now we are pissed off and we wanted to ask you if you want to get drunk with us?" It sounded cool, but I had to get up at 5am so I declined...
Next day I went on the train to UlaanBataar, Mongolia. On the train I shared a cabin with a bunch of Argentinians and the party was on again. Blah blah. The scenery was amazing and you could see nomads every now and then.
In Ulaanbataar you need to watch the fuck out. The traffic is insane and nobody respects the green light. At night I decided to check out the nightlife. I went to a few bars and then to a club called Marco Polo if I remember right. First it looked very good, but it didn't take long to figure out the place was full of pro's. I did an honest attempt to shore but I failed. These Mongolian chicks have a special look, often a chubby face even if the body is slim. Anyway, I wanted to check out the Gobi desert but I hadn't time so I decided to head to the desert and spend a few days with a nomad family. First it looked very primitive, until I saw a big electric cable heading into their tent. I took a look and there was a big TV, playstation etc. Bullshit.
The nature was beautiful but I got bored fast. I did some hikes and in the evenings me and some French dudes bribed the nomad father to buy us beers. We sat all night at a bonfire and drinking beer and bullshitting.
It was a cool experience to spend the nights in the Mongolian desert, but I admit it was a bit boring if you are not into horse riding and similar stuff.
After a week in Mongolia it was time to head to the final destination, Beijing!
It looked like a chilly November morning but it was hot as never before. The thermometer showed +42 but the real feel index was + 48 Celsius.
I wanted to visit the Great Wall but it was just too damn hot.
Next day the sky cracked up and it was not so humid anymore so I could check out the city. I visited the bird's nest, forbidden city, Tiamen square and a bunch of museums and ate Beijing duck. Mindblowing city, a must see. At one night I remember I went to some upscale club called Babyface. The parking lot was full of expensive sport cars, so I had already lost all hope to get inside. But no problem.
The Chinese upper class are crazy. Music is playing loud but everybody is standing at their tables. Guy were sitting in sofas and showing off with 5 litres bottles of Johnny Walker whisky, I looked at the menu and one bottle of the cost 5,500€!
And these guys were driving!! They only did this to show off. Crazy Chinese dudes.
I was invited countless of times to their tables. Nothing spectacular happened, but I got drunk as hell.
Beijing is full of cool stuff to do. I spent many days there and could spend more.
This is the end of my first trip through Russia.
If I did it today again, I would of course do it differently.
.......
Trip report # 2.
Donghae, South Korea - Helsinki, Finland.
April, May and June. 2013.
End of March 2013.
I was sitting in Seoul, Korea and planning my upcoming Russian adventure. I had a tight budget and at this point I didn't want to use the train at all! My plan was to buy an motorbike in Korea and then drive all the way from Korea through Russia to Finland. But then it hit me that already a guy from my little home village had done this and I didn't want to do the same thing as him! So, I fruited things up to another level!
I wanted to cross Russia driving with an old Lada!
I found a guy in Vladivostok who found a car for me and he would help me with all the paperwork. We exchanged a lot of mails and stayed in touch, but when I finally arrived to Vladivostok, he flaked and I couldn't reach him. I was so fucking pissed off but what could I do. It was time to hit the vodka train again!
However, from Donghae in Korea I took a ferry to Vladivostok. It took one day and cost me about 250€. Great boat, met some other cool travellers with bikes and we had some beers and discussing this and that.
When I arrived to Vladivostok I was better prepared than last time. I had pipelined a girl who waited for me at the harbour. I was two hours late but she was waiting in her short dress and high heels. She invited me in to her flat and I stayed there for a few days. Later I found out she had a boyfriend so she didn't let me touch her.
However, she went out of her way to show me the city, she cooked for me,washed my clothes, she took me to some house parties and also to the countryside to some village to enjoy Russian banya. She and her friend suggested to take some naked pictures together so I could show off to my friends how life in Russia. We did it, funny girls. No bang, but It was a cool experience and I'm still in touch with the people over there. Vladivostok has by the way a lot of hot girls on the streets!
I didn't really realise it until later because I was still suffering from yellow fever after my months in South East Asia.
Next city was a smaller town in the Far East. One guy on CS invited me in and it looked cool. I stayed with one of his friends and oh man what a place. Everything was so worned out, it was like traveling 80 years back in time.
I partied with the local mobsters and got invited to a Azerbaijani birthday party. It was crazy, so much food and so much booze. All for free. For some reason only men were invited to sit at the table, they treated me like a brother.
Igor the guy I was living with had girls coming over every night. I slept in the room next door and I think he told his girls to moan as much as possible, just to provoke me. On my last day I was driving with Igor around town and he picked up a girl. We stopped at a "shooting range" where an old drunk guy rented weapons to us. We got some beers and we drank beer and shot with AK-47's and some other guns all afternoon. I flirted with the girl all day, and in the evening she came with us to his flat and she followed to my room. She was totally on but I only got a blowjob.
It was almost too easy. Maybe it was a setup by Igor. I will never know.
Russian Far East is really this crazy.
After a long bustrip I finally reached Khabarovsk.
Khabarovsk is a nice city by Russian standards, it's expensive but cool.
This is the city where I saw most beautiful girls in all Russia.
I think I busted out a mini datasheet of this city.
However, here I stayed with a friend. He was working in a night club so I was exploring the city by myself in day time. I had a Korean girl in my pipeline and I met up with her. She went out of her way to show me around, we drove everywhere with her car. We agreed to meet again next day and then I went for the kiss. She did little resistance but finally she gave in. I kept meeting her during daytime but I couldn't escalate any further. At nighttime I checked out the nightlife.
You can read about it on my datasheet here. http://www.rooshvforum.network/thread-22944....Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk is one of my favourite Russian cities.
I had a good time.
Next city, Blagovechensk. It was a long exhausting trip to get there.
I had one Ukrainian and one Turkmenistani (!) girl in my pipeline.
And Jesus Christ. This city gave me the biggest rockstar moment in Russia.
When I stepped out of the train there were a TV camera team waiting for me. The Ukrainian worked for the local TV company and I made it in the local news advertised as the "longtime worldtraveler coming to Blagovechensk"
Next day I met up with the Turkmenistani girl, this flag is so rare so I was all excited. I think her looks was like an Arab woman without the hijab. She was very flirty and funny to be around with. She showed me the city and at a exhibition of the "Legenda 17" movie I made it in the local newspaper again. However I had high hopes with this girl but her father didn't allow her to be out after 9pm.
In the evening I met up with another girl, she had given me bad pictures and she was a cow. She invited me into a home party and I went to see if there were any other cool people there. I didn't feel welcomed and her friends sucked.
I called it night.
Next evening I went to the local steakhouse and there I befriended a male bartender. He was cool and I ended up chatting with him and his friends for some time. These guy were generous and they fixed me in to the nightclub upstairs for free. This was a really cool club, some Russian clubs are like mix of a show and a club. Always some entertainment going on. The bartender told me later that he has a surprise waiting for me at the top floor. I went up and got little bit disappointed because I was invited in to a table full of Russian guys. Well well, don't decline. They served me a lot of food and a copious amount of vodka shots. After this I became so drunk so I went for the dancefloor. There I got my hands on a petite 19 year old. I got a make out and a number and that's it. I was wasted after so much drinking.
Next day the Ukrainian had organised a meeting and invited people to come and meet the "world traveller" . I had a terrible hangover but I slapped myself in the face and went there. It was 1pm and I was groggy and looked like shit.
When I entered the building I dropped my jaw to the floor. There were about 15 people waiting for me, a few guys but mostly girls, a few was hot too.
I was sitting like Putin at a political question hour and answered their questions. I felt like a rockstar. Newspapers were there and snapping photos. And even outside there were a TV crew filming me when I went inside the taxi and left to the train station. The Turkmenistani girl came to the station to say goodbye.
Blagovechensk was crazy. Good times again!
Next city ! After a 48 hour train trip I arrived to Chita. I was hassled a long time in the train by a couple of drunks who couldn't just leave me be. Chita is in the middle of nowhere and the city is famous for a lot of crime. Nothing happened to me, but this is the only place in Russia where I saw a major street fight. These guys were beating the hell out of each other. Things got violent.
Anyhow, this time I had one girl waiting for at 4am for me at the station. She had been studying in America for a year so she spoke like somebody from LA. No Russian accent at all. I usually don't prefer these type of girls because their mindset is "too western"and somewhat Americanised. She organised a flat for me to stay in. I knew from the first minute I won't even try anything with her. But her friend was different. She was an English teacher and I hanged out with her a few times. She invited me in to a few of her English classes and the rockstar effect happened again. I sat like Putin on a political question hour and all these young girls kept asking questions. It was funny to troll them. After the classes I went to the teachers room and girls knocked on the door and wanted to take pictures with me.
Later I strolled over to a coffee shop and after some minutes I realised a bunch of schoolgirls were stalking me, I saw them standing outside and looking at me. I waved with my hand and they stormed in. These girls were about only 16 so a little bit too young for me. But they really wanted to hangout and ask questions and take pictures so I trolled them a little while and enjoyed the rockstar effect. People gave me a lot of looks what the hell is going on when I was is sitting with five schoolgirls around me and cracking jokes.
I had a Armenian smoking hot girl who invited me over for dinner. I was turned on from the first minute I saw her. She cooked delicious food but we had some communication problems. Nothing more happened.
I hanged out a few days in Chita and then I moved on.
Next city, Ulan- Ude! After a 12 hour train trip I arrived to Ulan-Ude in Buriyatia. Ulan Ude is famous for having the biggest Lenin head in the world. That city has a lot of Buryat people and they look like Mongols so Ulan Ude gives a different feeling of Russia. The city is small but nice. I had two Buryat girls in my pipeline. First one was hot but conservative. She was so excited because she was about to move to California, she really believed in the American dream. We hanged out a lot but nothing happened. The second one was a journalist and a salsa dancer. I can't believe she tricked me into joining a salsa competition show. It was unreal boring and mostly old people. I got a little bit sick in Ulan Ude so I had to rest for few days.
It's a shame because Ulan Ude may have potential.
Next city! I boarded the train again and headed towards Krasnoyarsk!
We rounded the mighty ice covered Lake Baikal with the train and went North.
A girl was waiting for me at the train station and picked me up. This girl had a cool attitude and found a place for me to stay in. She took me all over Krasnoyarsk, she was so excited to show me around so it was exhausting.
At evening she invited me over to her flat for food, to my surprise she brought a friend! She was a smoking hot cat from Moscow living in Krasnoyarsk.
After dinner girl nr 1 went to bed because she had to work in the morning.
To my surprise the Muscovite asked me if we should go and buy a bottle of wine!
We went to the grocery store and we ended up buying a bottle of whisky and some coke. We sat all night in her kitchen and drinking and chatting, she was unreal sexy but she spoke no English so I had to speak in my weak Russian. This was one of the girls you would consider "above your level" . Before she left I managed to get a heavy makeout but when things was about to escalate she pulled back and smiled and said goodbye and we agreed to meet the next day. What a teaser.
I sat at a coffee shop and waiting for the Muscovite to show up, she was late but then she showed up and goddamn how good she was looking. Real killer legs and an ass from another planet. Tight pants and big black boots with super high heels.
She drove me around the city and we visited some places. We walked arms in arms on the streets of Krasnoyarsk and I felt like I had the Queen of Krasnoyarsk in my arms. Later girl nr1 called and she had made food again. Same thing happened like the previous night. Food and then whisky drinking. This night I could be more physical. She let me touch her and finger her and some heavy makeouts until a point she pulled back and she called it a night. I had some serious blue balls but the battle was already lost. I decided to leave the city before I developed some feelings for this girl because she was driving me crazy. I'm still in contact with this girl and I might meet up with her someday in Moscow.
It's not easy to get laid in Russia, but goddamn the women got class.
Next city,Novosibirsk! This time I had pipelined through CS and what a mistake. A girl met me at the train station and she was nuts. Long story short,but she was crazy and she wouldn't leave me be so after two days I decided to get the fuck out.
This was the 9th of May, the victory day. I watched the military parade in the center. Impressive stuff. I also went to the cinema and checked out "Legenda 17"
It's a very good Russian movie about Kharlamov and the famous Canada Cup in the 70's between Soviet Union and Canada. A must see for any hockey fan.
However, I didn't get a good experience of Novosibirsk and that city still remains unexplored.
Next city, Tomsk! I took a bus to Tomsk after the military parade in Novosibirsk. I had a blonde girl from Kazakhstan in my pipeline. She had never seen a foreigner before and she was excited. The first thing she told me was " let's go and buy some beer to loosen up". She was cool and we had a pleasant and drunk afternoon. She asked me what I wanted to do, and I told her that Finland and Russia is playing a icehockey game tonight and I would love to go to a sport bar and watch it.
She called some friends and we went to a sportbar and having beers. Against all odds Finland won the game and the Russian guys in the bar got upset. They got quite aggressive when they noticed I was from Finland and we had to bounce.
I almost got beaten up. We went to her flat and she made some tea and brought some cake. She had some weed so we started to smoke, I took two drags and it was finished. Oh' well I ain't gonna get a buzz from that I thought...
After some minutes I got stoned as hell, I discovered that this was SPICE, not weed.
We got totally fucked up. Rolling around on the floor and just laughing. We couldn't even drink tea. I hate to be so fucked up but what could I do.
Next evening I met up with her again with a few of her friends.
A good night but nothing happened. I said goodbye and it was time to move on.
Next city, Omsk!
After a long train ride I arrived to Omsk in the middle of the night. This time I used CS and a guy would offer his flat for me. Bad idea once again. The guy was a totally stupid and annoyed me from the first minute. He had this flat for me on the top floor and he was living downstairs together with his parents. He came up and we had some breakfast and he said he'll go down to this parents to get me the keys. He asked if I could wait 30min and I said sure. This guy locked the door and went to work and totally forgot that he left me inside the flat. I texted him several times but he was too greedy to answer. When he finally showed up in the evening I was so pissed off and called him out. What a asshole, having me locked inside a flat all day. I took my bags and jumped on the train.
Omsk city center looks very good and they have indeed awesome shawarmas.
Next city, Yekaterinburg! I didn't want to go to Yekaterinburg again, but I had a friend living there so I decided to stop by. What happened was that we started to drink immediately and it ended up as a three day party.
I met a amazing girl one night and she took me to her flat and finally I got the bang.
I raw dogged her and blasted inside her, I had to buy her some pills the next day.
This was one of my all time favourite girls, I stayed with her for several weeks.
I've never been so respected by a women in my life before, I felt like a king.
My dick got sore from all the banging and she did everything to please me.
This is the most passionate relationship I've ever been in and it was very hard to tell her goodbye. I still think about her from time to time. Great memories!
We did a lot of stuff together in Yekaterinburg, still feels like my "home city" in Russia. A Honourable mention to the Russian guy at a camping place who drank my brandy and then passed out in our tent and urinated on everything.
Camping in Russia is an experience also.
Next city, Cheylabinsk!
After a really bumpy bus ride I came to this city. I had a few girls in my pipeline and they did a good job showing me around. It's a big student city so there is alot of youngsters there. Again I was fooled to be a guest at some English club.
There were only older people and they had no interest about travelling. Boring.
One night I met a incredible 21 year girl. She was a linguist and spoke 9 languages fluently,even Finnish and Swedish at a very good level. She impressed me.
However nothing else worth mentioning happened.
Next city, Magnitogorsk!
This is the most polluted and dirtiest Russian city I have been to. It's also on the border between Asia and Europe.
The ground is black and the city is covered in red smoke from the iron industry.
But I had a few girls in he pipeline so I decided to go.
I found a guy who offered his flat and he was OK with bringing some girls over.
I met up with 6 different girls but nothing really led to anything, they were mostly interested in practising their English.
One night the Russian guy organised a BBQ evening at a lake and that was probably the coolest evening there.
Three girls came to the busstation to tell me good bye.
Next city, Ufa! In Bashkortostan lives Bashkir people and their looks are somewhat similar to Turkish people. Here somebody slipped me a Mickey.
I had two girls in my pipeline. The first one showed up with her car and drove me around the city. She was a horrible driver and she almost had us killed. Later she drove right into a big hole in the road and that was it. She destroyed her car so she had to call a truck to pick it up and take it to a garage. This girl had a nasty mouth. She used bad words and but had a very sexual taste of humour, in fact she was the opposite of a Russian girl. I lost interest in her but I agreed to have a few pints at a Japanese restaurant. I told her goodbye as I had lined up a second date. She was from Indonesia and had moved to Ufa to study oil&gas. She was exotic but it ended up as a coffee date. I couldn't connect with this girl so I said fuck it and went to my place.
When I was walking home I all of a sudden started to crave for a beer. It was Saturday night after all. I found a bar and went inside. I had a pint and chatted up the bartender. I had another one and started to talk with a group of people, I had a third pint and then all went black....
I shit you not but the next thing I remember is when I wake up on a bus to Tolyatti with my laptop lying in the walkway and playing a movie.
What the hell happened?
I looked on my phone and I had missed calls and messages from the first girl I met in Ufa. She told me that at 5am some guys called her with my phone and told her if she knew this foreigner who have passed out in a park outside a nightclub.
She knew where I was living and she had the guys to put me in a taxi and send me back to my place. The guy who hosted me had to carry me inside and dropped me on my bed. My host later told me that he woke me up at 9am and putted me on a tram to the bus station. There I had alone bought a ticket and managed to get on the bus to Tolyatti.
I couldn't believe this story. Firstly, I didn't plan to go out and party. I had my wallet passport and even my ipad in my shoulderbag and I had everything with me!
Why the hell would someone put anything in my drink if they didn't want to rob me?
I guess I'll never know what really happened.
Russia is full of surprises.
Next city, Tolyatti! I was groggy as hell and dehydrated when I woke up in the bus. I felt like shit and it took a while to get on my feet again. Luckily I had pipelined a girl who agreed to meet me at the bus station. She let me stay in her brothers empty flat in the centre. Blah blah.
Later I met up with her and we later went to her friends place where a party was going on. I felt like shit, but beer made me feel better. At night we hanged out in a park smoking some weed and drinking beer. These people were cool and I had a great time. However I called it a night and went to bed to sleep off my "hangover" or whatever it was. Next morning the landlord woke me up and kicked me out of the flat. He said that no fucking foreigner stays here. I called the girl and asked if she know any place for me to stay. Her hot friend invited me, I immediately said yes because I felt a connection with her. This girl spoke only Russian so it made it even cooler. She went to her university during daytime and I just relaxed on her balcony all day. In the evening she took me out on a bicycle trip with her friends along the Volga river. She made a picknick and we had a bottle of vodka and a bottle of brandy. We sat at the Volga river and watching the sun go down and downing booze. All good.
After we came back to the city I thought we called it night, but hell no I was wrong.
Again there were some party going in a flat in the other side of town.
We had some beer and weed and I had a nice buzz, I managed to get a little make out with this girl and I had good hope to escalate further.
At some point I was on the balcony and someone passed me a joint. I took a few drags and went inside to sit next to my girl and then the whole room started to spin.
Fucking hell, again I realised I had smoked spice and not weed!
My heart started beating so fast so I thought I was going to die. Everything looked so unfamiliar to me. The Russian facial look, Russian furniture and the people who were snorting lines of coke on the living room table. I didn't know where the hell I was and everything seemed like a bad movie. I totally tripped away and later I passed out. At morning the girl took me to her flat and I slept away the next day.
It was time for a sober day. The girl came back from the university at evening, she said she need to write her final exam and she need to be awake all night and write.
She took a few lines of speed and started writing. I laughed like hell and went out for a long walk and reflected over how crazy Russia is. You just have to go there and things will stir up.
When I came back she was still writing, I hadn't power to start gaming her so I went to sleep. In the morning I woke up to a nice smell of bacon,eggs, and onions. She had been up all night and writing.
She was all dressed up and had made a big breakfast for me. She had to go her university and present her final work, but before she went she poured up a big mug of tea and snorted a few lines of speed before going to her university!
Hahaha, I laughed and said good luck and kissed her and went outside in the taxi which took me to the bus station. Goodbye Tolyatti.
Next city, Samara!
The main reason I went to Samara was that the biggest festival in Europe were taking place. Rock nad Volga.
Here I used CS, a guy close to the train station invited me in. He was a upperclass Russian and had a real luxurious flat but the guy was totally crazy. It was 8am and we had already finished three jugs of beer and a couple of joints. Then all of sudden he said he has to go to work! He rolled a cigarette and dripped some eyedrops to his eyes. I thought that I could rest, but 10 min later his friends shows up and all hell was loose. We were drinking and smoking all day, all afternoon, all evening, all night until morning when I had to go to the festival. I was wasted as hell but I bought a bag full of beers and went outside to find a marshrutka.
After some time I came to the festival and fucking hell. I have never seen so many people in my life before. The festival was free and Rammstein were headlining.
It were 680000 people in the audience. Crazy.
The weather was good and I felt quite okay even though I was drunk as a skunk.
Later things got blurry....
I remember meeting a girl and we were rolling around in the grass and making out. For some reason I decided to go and buy more beer and told her to wait.
It took me some time but I couldn't find her again. I was devastated and wasted and I think I passed out a few hours. When I woke up Rammstein were playing with full force. I had to take a leak and I strolled around for a while. I doomed myself to hell for letting things go out of hand and I had zero idea of how to get back to Samara.
Phones were not working.
But then like a lightning from the sky I bumped into the same girl I was making out with earlier! What the hell! How big is the chance to bump into her in a crowd of 680000 people!
She saved me. After the concert the place was a total chaos when 680000 people tried to get out on the same time. We had no idea how to get back to Samara and it was in the middle of the night and I was wasted as fuck. We walked and walked along the highway that was a big gigantic traffic jam. Like a revelation she managed to find a taxi that wasn't occupied. It took us some hours but still! How lucky can you be to find a taxi in a situation like that?!
We went to the train station and fell a sleep on a bench. We woke up after a few hours and she had to take a train home in the afternoon. She was from Cheylabinsk.
Cool girl. I'm still in contact with her.
What a crazy weekend in Samara!
I went to my host and he thought I had been killed.
I bought train tickets and went to sleep. They tried to pull me out and drink but I said hell no.
Next city, Volgograd!
After a 40 hour trip I arrived to Volgograd. My intention was to stay sober but of course I met someone who had other plans.
In the train I met some guys who were overexcited to meet a foreigner. They offered me all food they had and they asked me to join them to the restaurant wagon. I couldn't let these guys down and again I found myself downing shots of vodka like a champ. Jesus christ.
In Volgograd I used CS and had a guy hosting me. Cool guy. He had a car and drove me all over Volgograd and showed me all what the city had to offer.
The motherland statue is impressive. It felt strange to walk on the banks of the Volga river where some many people died in the battle of Stalingrad in WW2.
Interesting museum also but everything was in Russian or German.
But one thing drove me nuts in this city. Mosquitos!!!
It was impossible to be outside without a branch in my hand to protect mosquitos from attacking my eyes. EVERY single person outside had something in their hands to wave away the attacking mosquitos. It was terrible.
I've never seen so many mosquito's in my life before. The guy let me know it's only in June it's like this.
My host seemed to be a player also. Every night he had different young girls coming over and sleep with him. He wasn't even good looking. He had game.
After a few days I went to St.Petersburg and then home.
I had a rough but funny three months in Russia. It had all ingredients of a good adventure but it was indeed exhausting.
I spent a few hundred hours in trains and buses and travelled more than 10000km.
I may have forgot some details since it was a while ago.
I still haven't had enough of Russia.
When I came back to Finland I chilled a few days in Helsinki.
On the third day I went to the travel agency to get another 90 days visa.
I went home to say hi to my family and friends and four weeks later I was back in Russia again, but that's another story.
The more you travel the more you learn.
These two trips gave me tons of experience.
What I wanted was a real Russian experience and I think I got it.
My next trip to Russia, things will probably be prioriated differently.
I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
I'm getting all nostalgic.
Chaos.
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