I'm back

andymackem · 24 Jul 2005, 16:12

Probably not a bad plan. Petersburg is lovely.

If you're flying into Moscow, fly BA. It's a bit more expensive but you arrive in Domodedovo airport where the immigration control is almost friendly. The alternative, Sheremtyevo, is a nightmare.

lazarus corporation · 24 Jul 2005, 16:16

andymackem wrote:Probably not a bad plan. Petersburg is lovely.

If you're flying into Moscow, fly BA. It's a bit more expensive but you arrive in Domodedovo airport where the immigration control is almost friendly. The alternative, Sheremtyevo, is a nightmare.

we were thinking of flying to St Petersburg, doing a week there, then getting a train to Moscow for a week there. Good idea? Bad idea?

andymackem · 24 Jul 2005, 16:29

Last time I flew to Petersburg it was still called Leningrad! At that time the local airport didn't have automated baggage carousels.

I'd assume that's been changed, but I couldn't say for sure.

Don't get conned into booking your travel between Petersburg and Moscow before you leave. You'll get hopelessly overcharged if you go through a Western travel agent and there's no shortage of seats.

Last year I went on that route in high season and picked up my tickets on the morning before travelling in the evening. Had no trouble at all.

andymackem · 27 Jul 2005, 22:07

On an unrelated note, pictures from my trip will start to appear at http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/andymackem2000/my_photos.

So far there's only the ones from Lake Baikal that are worth looking at, and they tend towards the arty and pretentious. I don't really do people, and I certainly don't appear in pictures myself, on the perfectly reasonable grounds that I know what I look like already

Brideoffrankenstein · 27 Jul 2005, 22:12

andymackem wrote:http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/andymackem2000/my_photos.

It doesn't work

lazarus corporation · 27 Jul 2005, 22:19

Brideoffrankenstein wrote:
andymackem wrote:http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/andymackem2000/my_photos.
It doesn't work

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/andymackem2000/my_photos

(leave off the final ".")

Brideoffrankenstein · 27 Jul 2005, 22:24

great photos andy

andymackem · 27 Jul 2005, 22:51

lazarus corporation wrote:
Brideoffrankenstein wrote:
andymackem wrote:http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/andymackem2000/my_photos.
It doesn't work
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/andymackem2000/my_photos

(leave off the final ".")

How annoying. If I punctuate my sentence correctly no-one can access the link.

Doesn't that just say everything about computers?

lazarus corporation · 27 Jul 2005, 23:02

On an unrelated note, pictures from my trip will start to appear here.

<< smart arse

boudicca · 27 Jul 2005, 23:41

I'm jealous as hell...

I've always wanted to go to Mongolia, do the Trans-Siberian Express, mosey round Moscow and St. Petersburg... and of course the STANS...

andymackem · 28 Jul 2005, 09:50

It's a good trip (though I've not been any closer to the Stans than Omsk - you can just about see Kazakhstan from there).

On the other hand, I did spend something like Â£2k in total so it's not all that cheap. But, for a month's travel including flights and three visas, it's not all that expensive either.

It's really not an express either

Of the places I saw, I'd definitely like to go back to Mongolia. Ulan Batur isn't a bad city (and hotels are very cheap - I had a deluxe suite in one of the more modern hotels for US$60/night) but I would have wanted to see more of the countryside. Trundling through the Gobi on the train was hypnotic, but I'm assuming it's rough travel to really explore it. 40C and a lot of sand and dust doesn't make for easy trekking. I did get as far as Manzhir Khiid (photos to follow), which was impressive. Climbing a rather steeper rock face than I expected was somewhat reckless though.

Also it's the easiest visa to get and the people, by and large, are lovely. It's odd to be in a country where there's not much cash but also not much visible poverty. I'm quite encouraged by this.

I'll probably go see more of China as well, but not at this time of year. Beijing was far too humid - I can't see it being any fun for the sportsmen in 2008. But just when I was getting pissed off with it all I'd stumble upon something which excited me again. The Summer Palace (photos on the way) was probably my single best trip, partly for the beautiful park (which really did look like authentic China) and partly for the great company on the day. The Great Wall was predictably good as well. It's not so much the wall itself as the ridiculously mountainous route they chose: very scenic, but a stupid place to build a wall.

Russia remains Russia. Mad, nightmarishly bureaucratic, far too big yet amazingly friendly and plenty of great places to stop off and visit. Aside from the obvious ones, you get little things like a fabulous museum of space flight in a ratty little nowhere town like Kirov or an impromptu riverside bar/disco in Krasnoyarsk.

Look out for the pictures from Ganina Yama as well - a real fairytale monastery complex out in the birch forests near Yekaterinburg. A totally unexpected find.

boudicca · 28 Jul 2005, 11:55

You're really not helping the jealousy...

andymackem · 28 Jul 2005, 12:04

Holidays did improve when I stopped travelling with my parents. Pity my bank balance didn't

Maybe you can stow into Libby and Laz's cases when they go to Russia next year?

Obviousman · 28 Jul 2005, 17:42

Great pics and taste in travelling

I'll just go and sit among the other jealous ones

Delilah · 28 Jul 2005, 17:45

great photos! Welcome home Andy!

boudicca · 28 Jul 2005, 17:49

andymackem wrote:Holidays did improve when I stopped travelling with my parents.

Hey, I'll cadge Alpine breaks off my dear old mamma and pappa as long as I possibly can!

I do really love that part of the world, so I'd be an idiot not to.

Doesn't help much with the bank balance though, I had to pay my share of it...

BAH!