Six weeks of rest Time to hit the road for Siberia, Mongolia, and China

 

When last I shared my travels, I was heading home after wandering aimlessly through Eastern Europe and Central Asia for eight weeks.  Since that epic trip I spent two weeks on the Continental Divide in Colorado hiking hard and dieting then a month back in Florida in the gym pumping iron and aggressively working on my cardio getting ready for my next big misadventure.  I’m feeling stronger and more fit, but alas just as fat (but hell two out of three aint bad!).

Getting ready for the most complicated trip I’ve ever taken with the shortest window of lead time presented

some major challenges and epic headaches but in spite of it all I’m on the road again!  Just one example of how close I cut things I didn’t receive my passport back with my visas to Russia, China, and Uzbekistan until less than 24 hours before my flight to Stockholm.  And just to make things more interesting I applied for my Chinese and Russia Visas through the Houston Consulates. And yes the same Houston pounded and flooded by the devil hurricane in late August.

Fortunately my passport was on a plane out of Houston and on its way to the Uzbekistan Embassy in Washington DC just a few short hours before everything on the Texas coast went to hell in a hand basket.  Long story short – I got my passports and Visas on Thursday afternoon and boarded my first flight Friday morning.

And after 36 hours of flying, waiting in airports for connections and worrying if by bag was going to make the tight connections or if it would be following a day behind me for the next 70 days I arrived in Riga, Latvia with all my possessions and wits.  Note to self – accept that I’m not as young as I once was and if my body is indeed a temple, it is one as old and as much in decay as those in Greece!

Thirty six hours on the move with no sleep, dragging bags across the length and breadth of the Charlotte, New York Kennedy, and Stockholm Airports with short connections and delayed flights is a young man’s game – lesson I’m sure I will have forgotten by the time I begin planning my next death march.

I arrived in Riga at 6pm dead tired and desperately in need of a shower and shave knowing I needed to be at my favorite Old Riga bar, Moonshine’s to have dinner with my two favorite Latvians – The Moonshine Girls by 7:30.  So with a quick shower and shave at the Garden Palace Hotel and a sprint to Moonshine’s I made it with minutes to spare.

I was too tired to stay long but stayed long enough to enjoy a great steak and shrimp dinner, listen to Iver and his band do great covers of Johnie Cash and Elvis and enjoy some quality time with good friends from my May visit.

Next morning I was back in the airport for my short flight to St. Petersburg.  And again, I over scheduled myself shoehorning visits to the Hermitage, Russian Museum, Karzan Cathedral, The Holy Savior in Blood Cathedral, the Summer Garden, a canal boat tour, one traditional Russian meal, two Georgian meals, and over 18 miles of walking from site to site in just an afternoon and full day before my sleeper train left for Moscow at 23:55.

The Red Arrow Express which leaves St. Petersburg at 12:55 at night and arrives in Moscow at 7:50am is an experience not to be missed,  The Red Arrow is a throw back to the Old Soviet Union of the 1940s and 50s.  Without a doubt traveling in a first class sleeper car is worth the extra rubles.  First off each first class sleeper coach has its own matronly Russian attendant standing at the door to sternly study your paperwork and passport/visa.  She is immaculately dressed in a dark blue suit with white gloves and red pill hat and is well practiced at making you feel guilty of something and in doubt as to whether you will get on the train or be drug off by the KGB for questioning.

When she finally lets you pass you are both relieved and grateful to be considered worthy.  Once on the

train and in your cabin you are

greeted with bottled water, orange juice, snacks, chocolate, slippers, toiletries, and crisp white sheets and pillows.  The kicker is as the Diesel engine is spinning up to take the train out of the station – the old Soviet National Anthem is blaring from the station’s loud speakers and you hear the anthem ending and the volume dropping away as the train picks up speed.

Next thing you know you have fallen asleep and are being awakened to an omelette, meats, rolls and juice in your cabin before the train pulls into Moscow station ready for another day of over scheduled racing from one place to another trying not to miss a thing.  My son Ryan and I  took the same route from Riga to St. Petersburg to Moscow in 2015 and I visited many of the same sites enjoying them all over again.  The only thing I missed was having Ryan, my travel buddy and expert navigator by my side.

The only negative thing I would say about Russia is that you can count on every taxi driver to cheat you.  They are all crooks hell bent on stealing as much money as they can from every tourist they encounter.  A word of warning – if you travel to Russia always use the green taxis in St Petersburg and the yellow taxis in Moscow.  Even better, never hail a taxi off the street.  Call your hotel and ask them to call for you.  The hotel can tell you the make and car number of your cab and more important tell you the amount to pay before you ever get into the car.  The difference between the legit taxi and a pirate taxi  is 200 rubles verses 1,600 rubles for the exact same distance.  If you are not careful you can end up spending more for pirate taxis than you do for a nice dinner in a four star restaurant or a night in an upscale hotel.

While in Russia just assume that any taxi driver that tells you he can take you for a ride – really means just that.  He will take you for a ride!

In spite of the taxi issue I recommend St. Petersburg for anyone’s bucket list.  The Hermitage is jaw dropping and you could spend weeks in the Russian Museum and the Hermitage and never see everything.  Russian history, culture, and cuisine rich and fascinating.

I will now spend today and tomorrow thru 11:45pm in Moscow visiting the Kremlin, and Red Square.  I will then board a train for a three day and night trip thru Siberia to the city of Irkutsk and Lake Baikal, then after three days of exploring this little outpost in the vast Siberia I will reboard the train to travel on to Ulaan-Baator in Mongolia, then on to Beijing where I will follow the old Silk Route west stopping at a half dozen historic cities that were the major Chinese trading hubs on the fabled Silk Road.  Once I have worn out my welcome in China I will move on to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.  Again, I will be focused on following the Old Silk Routes followed by Marco Polo and walking in the footsteps of countless anonymous traders and adventurers through out the ages.

After I have seen all there is to see east of the Caspian Sea I will travel back to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia to further explore the parts of these countries I didn’t see in June.  Finally, I hope to end my trip visiting eastern Turkey.  Future blogs will recount my travels as time and internet connections permit.

I have not had time or the dry weather to take many photos as of yet but am posting a few.

The next blog will recount my time in Moscow.