Krasnoyarsk and the Pillars
Trip Start
May 02, 2007
1
39
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Krasnoyarsk,
Russia
Sunday, October 14, 2007
01.Carlo and Pavel
. Most of the apartment buildings in Russia we've seen are old and a bit dilapidated, so to find nice hardwood floors and a glistening bathroom with all new facilities was very welcome.Pavel plays guitar and loves classic rock, jazz and blues; his music collection ranges from the Rolling Stones to Bob Dylan, Steve Vai to Stevie Ray Vaughan, and BB King to Al Dimeola. He is a computer programmer with a degree in mathematics and his English is very good - his father speaks four languages so Pavel has learned since childhood. After a MUCH needed shower we hopped a bus to Pavel's girlfriend's apartment across town. Her name is Julia and she is twenty and also lives with her parents, but every weekend they head to their "dacha" (Russian get-away house in the mountains or country) so with them away, we would be spending our night at her flat. After all the introductions were made, we put our bags away, had a quick snack and took right off for one of the main tourist draws of the town: the pillars. These are huge rock formations that shoot up to the sky, littered throughout a forest. It began with a seven km hike up a winding road. Since it was a Saturday and the weather was beautiful (not a cloud in the sky) there were also a lot of people. But once we reached the first pillar and wandered off onto one of the many paths leading into the forest we quickly lost the crowds and it was very peaceful. An exciting thing, especially for Yvonne, was that there was snow on the ground
01a.Julia, Carlo and Yvonne
. We explored the forest, passing by several of these pillars and, when possible, clambering up them to get nice views over the treetops and towards Krasnoyarsk. The rocks were very slippery and some had snow and ice on them making the scrambling a little dodgy at times. Going up was one thing; coming down was a much different story. Other than Yvonne's little slip and a slightly scraped knee we managed to escape unscathed. The sun was going down so we decided to get out of the forest before we got lost. Even though it was almost pitch-black and below freezing temperatures, there were lots of young people with large backpacks heading into the forest. Pavel explained that it is common for people to camp on the pillars. At this point we were dead tired (especially having come off not much sleep) but we still had the seven km walk back. In all, we hiked about twenty km. If we knew this before we left for the pillars, we probably wouldn't have done it! But we were very glad we did. It was beautiful walking in the snow-covered forest and breathing in the cold, crisp air. A vast improvement over the polluted air of Moscow.Once we got back to Julia's we made dinner, had a beer, and Pavel and I traded classic rock cover songs on our guitars. It was great playing again! After three nights sleeping in the train it was a little strange going to bed in a still, dark and silent environment. I had to make choo-choo sounds and rock Yvonne around until she fell asleep.
02.Colorful Trees in Stolby
With our limited time in Krasnoyarsk we didn't get to see much of the city, other than the bus rides and Pavel's quick commentary of what was what. One thing is clear though in all the cities of Russia and Siberia: there is a LOT of industrial work going on! Everywhere we go we see tall smoke stacks spewing out black smoke and heavy machinery all over the streets. Cranes are scattered everywhere. One funny thing we did see in Krasnoyarsk was a tall concrete building with all but the windows and finishing touches completed and a crane beside it. Pavel told us that they ran out of money building it and no one has bothered to finish it. We asked him how long it's been there for. His answer? Twenty years!We are now sitting on a train bound for Irkutsk, only 17 hours and about 1100 km away. We have been surprised at the landscape we see from our window. We expected only tundra as far as the eye could see, but this is not the case. Leaving Krasnoyarsk we saw lots of hills, grass and trees. We are on the best Russian train (#2) and in kupe (in fact, the high-comfort trains like this one don't even have platzkartny wagons). It is a slice of heaven! There are nice little extra touches here and there. Our sheets have fancy patterns on them and the bottom bunk slides out from the wall for some extra room. We have little care packs with toothpaste/brush, a comb, moist towelette and even a shoe shine cloth. One thing we didn't expect was for the carriage attendant to come around with bottles of water, a small snackpack, and even a hot meal of beef, rice, peas and bread! Our Trans-Siberian handbook never made any mention of included meals in any of the trains so we were quite shocked. We feel like kings and don't want to get off the train!
