Ulan Ude to Ulan Bator
Trip Start
Aug 24, 2007
1
7
43
Trip End
Feb 26, 2008
Ulan-Ude,
Russia
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Ulan-ude is the border town between Russia and Mongolia. The Lonely Planet recommends a stopover, but I have to say there is not much to do there although there is a compulsory statue of Lenin but this time it is just his head - although it is the largest statue of Lenin's head in the world. One might think that to complete the Trans-Siberian Railway you need to go by rail the whole way, but this is easier said than done, and of course getting tickets is hard (even harder if you don't speak Russian) so we decided to get a bus (12 hours on a bus as opposed to 24 on a train).
Ulan-Ude is a town where loads of Buryats live (originally from Mongolia), who I found so much friendlier than the other Russians we had met previously. We stayed with a buryat lady, Olga, in her home who spoke French and Russian but no English - Dickie spoke some French which was helpful otherwise my communication involved acting out scenes to explain things...
There is not much to do there but we had 2 days to kill while we waited for our bus to UlaanBaator. We were recommended to go to the Ethnographic museum (basically a bunch of houses showing how different cultural groups lived) and some examples of burial sites. The captions described how the rocks looked like a tortoise; but we couldn't quite see this. It also had a terrible little zoo with Siberian animals shoved into tiny cages.
That night was the World Cup semi-final between South Africa and Argentina and after missing most of the games we were determined not to miss this one. We walked everywhere to try and find a restaurant, sports bar or hotel to watch it in. After one restaurant from the Lonely planet was closed, another wouldn't let us in because of our sloppy attire, we headed to the hotel which very handily had a 24 hour bar with cheap beer. We then had to negotiate with Olga to get a key for her place so we could leave at 4am and get back into her house...this proved to be incredibly difficult but amazingly enough she happened to have a spare TV, and believe it or not, was showing the rugby (and we won which was a bonus).
.
It was agreed that if SA won we would have vodka shots (even Mark agreed to this). For dinner we went to a Chinese restaurant, which seemed nice and simple although when we walked in I did notice a mirror ball and DJ. The other patrons were all tucking into their bottles of vodka (of course). As the evening went on so the other patrons drank steadily and the next thing we knew, the lights dimmed and the restaurant became a serious disco. Now I am not sure what dance-school Russians go to, but not the same one as us. We were about to leave when the dancing started but this was entertainment that couldn't be missed. We hung around to view the fiasco. It appears the Russians connect themselves to the electrical mains, then head out to the dance floor and flick the switch. After that they spasm out for as long as they can take the pain!
Our Russia experiences were really good. I found that generally the people were not too friendly, and queuing definitely means rushing and pushing; walking over people and scrumming are allowed. It is expensive to travel around and doesn't really cater for budget travelers - in the hostels the staff pretend not to speak English (even if they do) and there is generally no internet or assistance with booking train tickets etc. Drinking there is a real issue - I don't think I have ever seen quite so many drunk people especially in the morning clutching onto their vodka bottles. Russians could also not believe that we couldn't speak their language. They would talk to you even if you told them you couldn't speak Russian (in Russian) and didn't understand them which they generally found hilarious.
That said we had a great time traveling through Russia; the train rides were amazing, beautiful scenery and really relaxing. The country with it's history is fascinating, and the building and sites are amazing. I have never been to so many museums in my life, and am hoping to lessen the cultural experiences in the next couple of months of traveling.
Anyway, off to Mongolia - I am excited as my longing to be in the countryside is calling.
