Best Eastern Vizit Hotel Vladivostok

... man, who was out cold.

Sergei and I were drinking beers and talked as much as his limited English and my lack of Russian would take us. But in walked two more fellows, one was a tall, built man and the other was a big fellow with a beer keg for a belly. I had recognized both of them earlier that morning as they passed by my carriage with a bottle of vodka in hand. One of them said something to me in Russian, but ...

... on a train with a bunch of drunk soldiers? And don't you know the train is not very hygienic, and it also can be very dangerous. You should hide all your money and be very careful," she said.

Thanks Maria, up until then I was feeling great about trekking through the Trans-Sib. Now, I was a bit unsure. Oh well, what's done is done.

To be continued...

... that we are in the end of our continent ! The town was really foggy while we were there which gave it a mystic mood... There is no more snow here and it feels much warmer (even if nights are still pretty cold). We were once again hosted by a really nice couple who gave us many more interesting information about Russia and the area. We are taking a ferry boat tonight to reach Japan where new adventures are waiting for us. See you then later ;-)

... njeno notranjost. Podobno zanimiva kot podmornica se nama je zdela tudi cudovita zelezniska postaja, kjer se zacne transibirska zeleznica in kjer sva si kupila prvo zeleznisko karto na najini poti iz Rusije domov. Sedaj pospeseno vadiva ruscino, ki nama pri osnovnih stvareh gre ze kar dobro od rok (nisva lacna ter zejna, spiva pa v hotelu). Ze jutri odhajava v 3090km oddaljeno mesto Chita in tam bova verjetno znova napisala kak blog ter objavila kaj fotografij z vlaka.

... And it's hard to believe the knives will be tied together with a little tag and placed in a little 'confiscated' box. Suifenhe is pretty much at the end of the world, where people know a good utensil when they see one. The knives had travelled across the entire width of the country, passed about a dozen other police searches, and probably 20 x-ray machines. If any Chinese official would like to return them to me, in an act of Olympic generosity, the 'incident' occurred at 9am ...

Hello everyone Well me and Pete have spent the past few days treking around St Petersburg. After we last left you, we visted the other art museums belonged to the Russian Museum. We then went to the Fortress on the otherside of the River. It was pretty impressive but apparently never saw any military action (it was built to fend off the sweede's but they never came!). There was some interesting museums and a church inside the ...

... hotel, they said they wanted to practice their English with me, and perhaps we could go out for something to drink. We decided to go for tea, as I had never experienced a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. We were taken in to a private room, and a girl came in and proceeded with the ceremony - sterilizing the tea cups (which were a tiny bit bigger than a thimble), then pouring six different kinds of tea over the 30 - 45 minutes we were there. After we had all had enough to drink ...

... his body. The next day the weather is quite changeable so we resort to the normal poor weather option of museums. First up, the pleasingly small railway museum, with no captions in English and still not yet fully awake, looking at model trains is about my level at this point. With a mock up of an old trans-Siberian cabin also feels very apt for this journey. We had wanted to visit the siege museum (over a million Russians died here ...

... when you realize how little most people know about the history around us. And I say that not to be cocky or sound arrogant, because I know that I could stand to learn a little more history... but sometimes it just shocks me! The next stop was the Siege of Leningrad Memorial. Anna explained to us how St. Petersburg (know as Leningrad during the time of the World Wars) was under siege for 900 days during World War II and over a million people died. There ...

... ever seen. That night we went on a dinner mission, everything below ground in Russia is great value for money and 9 times out of 10 very, very cool(stylish that is). You just need to venture down the steps into the unknown and we landed 2 great places in one night. Dinner was traditional fare, I had a chicken kiev and Jon had a meat dish, downed with some local beer, btw beer here is not classified as alcohol, so its all ok (Janiexx).