Red Corner: Jumping off the Trans-Siberian

by Neil Woodburn on

Although we’ve posted a couple of times before on the Trans-Siberian, I couldn’t resist directing you to an article printed in last Sunday’s Independent that covers this epic train journey far better than most accounts I’ve read before.

The theme of this particular article is not about the 6-day, Moscow to China train journey itself, but rather the stops in between. Get off the train, and get off of it often is what journalist Simon Calder recommends.

Calder suggests a few choice stops that help to break up the long journey. Travelers should think about jumping off the train in Ekaterinburg (where the Czar’s family was shot), Novosibirsk (the Chicago of Siberia and home to the mighty Ob River), Irkutsk (site of the Decembrists uprising), and of course, majestic Lake Baikal, the largest freshwater lake in the world.

Calder’s in-depth article also recommends some guidebooks and travel agencies to help with the journey. And please don’t think that this is a bad time of year to be traveling through Siberia. The train is nicely heated and the snow-covered Siberian steppe is said to be extraordinarily beautiful in the winter.

Given the option, however, summer just seems like a much better time to go.

Red Corner: Cheap Moscow Digs Disappearing

by Neil Woodburn on

The chance to sleep in one of Moscow’s most famous buildings may soon go the way of the Hammer and Sickle.

The Ukraina Hotel is one of Moscow’s famous Seven Sisters-seven skyscrapers Joseph Stalin built in the 1950s to anchor his Albert Speerian attempt to rebuild Moscow as the modern throne of communism. All seven buildings share the same wedding-cake style of layered architecture that continues to cast an eerie, Gothic sense of oppression over Moscow long after the death of communism.

The Ukraina Hotel offers cheap accommodations for less than $100 a night-a good bargain in a very expensive hotel market. When I stayed there, I found it a decent, functional place that was worth more than $100 for the historical buzz, but worth less than a kopek for the foul bathroom which accompanied my room.

This may all change, however.

The Russian government, who owned the hotel, has just sold it to a private company for $274 million. There is no word yet on future plans for the hotel, but based upon the current state of accommodations in Moscow, my guess is that the Hotel Ukraina will be upscaled and placed far out of reach of proletariats such as myself.

But that’s not all. There is other bad news for affordable accommodations in Moscow. The decision was just made to knock down Europe’s largest hotel – the 3,000 room Rossiya Hotel on the edge of Red Square. Although this was another source of cheap accommodations in the Russian capital, the hotel was despised and few will shed tears over the loss of this monstrous, rat infested dive.

Red Corner: The Problem of getting to Russia

by Neil Woodburn on

For a country as large and diverse as Russia, the number of tourists who actually pop in to visit is alarmingly anemic. While this dearth of tourists (and tourist traps) is certainly part of what I find appealing about the country, it still shocks me that a destination so incredibly rich in tourist sites is so utterly lacking in tourists.

Journalists Kevin O’Flynn and Anna Nemtsova address this very issue and come to some obvious conclusions-well, obvious at least to anyone who has ever visited Russia: For the most part, they blame a tourist bureau that has little money to promote tourism, expensive hotels in Moscow, and a pricey and burdensome visa process (e.g. the visa process hasn’t changed since Soviet times).

Simply put, Russia is not an easy place to visit.

But don’t be put off by all this. That which is most rewarding in life, is often that which requires the most challenges to overcome. Go to Russia now and enjoy its empty ski slopes, majestic nature, top-notch museums, and fine architecture before the busloads of camera-toting Kiwanis descend like ravenous locusts.

Red Corner: Baikal Exchange

by Neil Woodburn on

We’ve blogged a few times already about the majestic Lake Baikal in the heart of Siberia. This sister lake to Lake Tahoe is one of the most unique in the world, and is literally overflowing with superlatives: oldest, clearest, most bio-diverse, and largest supply of fresh water in the world. It is truly one of the most unique places I’ve ever visited on this planet. And now you can go as well.

Students and recent grads interested in environmental issues can forgo the prerequisite one-month Eurail tour of Europe and instead spend their vacation attending the Summer Environmental Exchange sponsored by the Tahoe-Baikal Institute (Motto: preserving mountain lakes one person at a time). The Institute will select 18 students from America and Russia to participate in a ten week exchange program (focusing on “watershed conservation and sustainable development”) in both Lake Tahoe and Lake Baikal. For applications, visit their website.

Red Corner: More Fun with Moscow Ice

by Neil Woodburn on

On a related note, immediately after finishing yesterday’s post about the dangers of too much wintertime ice in Moscow, I came across the following article in the LA Times discussing an apparently positive attribute of such bitterly cold winters: the Russian passion for ice swimming.

Despite a cold wave currently sweeping the country that is bad for even Russia, the crazies are still digging holes through the Moscow River ice and plunging in for some heart-stopping R & R. Although the article focuses on the ancient Epiphany holiday which draws the religious to the frigid waters, the author is quick to point out that countless Russians engage in this strange sport throughout the winter.

As a tourist, I’m sure you can join in as well. Just stay away from the vodka to warm you up afterwards. Every year, countless drunks pass out in snow banks throughout Moscow and aren’t found again until spring. Don’t be one of them.