St. Petersburg

The first thing you think when you come to this city is: “there is to much to see and we have to little time". The whole city is like a big museum with cathedral’s, palace’s, parks, bridges and much much more. No modern skyscrapers in sight….
The first railway in Russia, a 17 miles long track, was built between St. Petersburg and Starskoe Selo under Tsar Nicholas I in 1837 and by the end of his reign, Russia had 650 miles of railways.

We where picked up by a really nice taxi driver, he also spoke good English. Our hotel is called Northern lights, the smallest hotel we have ever stayed in with only 5 room. It is on the third floor of an old brick building and as we walked up the big, old and dark staircase, we where wondering if this was  really the right place??? But inside the hotel doors it was nice and cozy, we had a big nice room with chandlers hanging from the ceiling.

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We had lunch just across the street, a cozy restaurant with a big playroom for kids. And the food was really good, if we could only take it with us……..
On our short stay here we saw St. Isaac’s Cathedral and the Hermitage Museum. Both very impressive. But Tiril and Lars was not of the same opinion so we had to find a toy store as a reward after. On the last evening we went to our cozy restaurant across the street, and had a good meal and a great time. The next day we left with the 7:17 am train for Helsinki and the boat to Stockholm.

Moscow

After the cold weather in Perm we where looking forward to some less cold days in Moscow. But unfortunately the freezing temperature followed us. The first day was not to bad but the second was – 20 and windy.

One our first day we went to the red square, there we rented ice skates and both Tiril and Lars had their first try at ice skating. They both loved it! In the evening we had tickets for Nikulin Circus, one of Russia’s oldest circus and named after the famous clown Nikulin. This was a great show with lots of acrobatics, clowns and animals. Lars had one of his greatest moments when he got to pet a tiger cub, his favorite animal.

The next day we took the Metro to Kremlin and walked around, but because of the cold weather it was not very pleasant and Tiril and Lars was eager to get inside. We had lunch at Gum shopping center next to Red Square.

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Our train, Red arrow,  for St. Petersburg left at 11:55 pm. This is the absolute best train we have had on our trip, very clean and spacious. To bad this trip was only 8 hours!!

Perm

In Perm we stayed at Ural Hotel for tree nights. Here we had a round – 15 to – 20 degrees C, so very cold. We have done some shopping, both Tiril and Lars got new shoes and we also got some souvenirs. Other than that we have had a relaxing time, trying not to spend to much time outside.  Tiril and Lars liked the big bear statue outside the hotel and we also found a playground which was popular.

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Our next stop is Moscow and the train takes about 21 hours. We heard that the higher the number on the train the older, and this was true. Now we took train number 109 and it was old and smelly, but since it was a short ride it was ok.

56

After having some trouble finding the right platform in Irkutsk we got on the train for our longest ride, 56 hours, crossing 3 time zones and 3749 km. Train number 9 also called Baikal going between Irkutsk and Moscow, we are getting of at Perm. This  is the nicest train we have taken so fare.

On the first evening we tried the restaurant, but again the menu is only in Russian, no pictures and the staff just go on and on in Russian, like we will understand in the end if they just keep talking. But it is a really nice restaurant and we got some very good Solyanka soup. Every carriage have a coal fired Samovar, so we get hot water for noodles and drinks. 

The next morning we woke up in winter wonder land and frost on the inside of our window. Threes where heavy with snow and small villages almost buried  under snow.In our compartment it is warm and cozy with Christmas carols in the background, despite the freezing cold Siberian winter outside. When the train stopped at Novosibirsk there was – 25 C. Ove got of to have a look at the biggest station in Siberia, a beautiful building that took 12 years to complete. There is a lot of nice scenery along the track to keep Ove and I occupied.

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Tiril and Lars use every part of the compartment for play and climbing. They now have a small collection of Kinder Eggs and some other toys they have bought along the way. But they will use everything from shoes to dress hangers to keep them busy.

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Irkutsk

This city with almost 600 000 people is one of the most popular stops long the Trans Siberian Railroad. Angara River run through the city and it is 70 km from the shores of Lake Baikal. The city has beautiful architecture and a cozy city center, and we can see why this is a popular stop. 

 

We are in the middle of the city center at Baikaler Hostel, with a very friendly staff. The temperature is around – 10 C and partly snowy. There is no wind so the threes are white with snow.

 

After only Russian food at Baikal we went for The London Pub. Here we got pizza and lasagna while watching Ole Einar Bjørndalen win the Biathlon sprint on TV….. the evening was perfect. Next day we walked around town and looked at the nice ice sculptures that they where making in the park. In the evening we went to a Sushi restaurant for the first time since Singapore, Tiril and Lars eat their favorite, Salmon maki!!!

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Tomorrow we will go back on the train for Perm.

Baikalsk

This small town at the south end of Lake Baikalsk have a round 16 000 people and a ski resort, and knowing Ove he did every effort to get a few days on skis. We stayed at a small hotel only 500 m. from the slopes. I think we where the only foreign tourist there, only one person at the hotel could speak English (and she worked in the office). And at the restaurant the menu was only in Russian and no pictures, so Natalie had to come with us to the restaurant every time to help us with the ordering….. Think the waiters where a pit scared of us, because they ran to get Natalie every time we entered.

 Renting skis was another big challenge, luckily there was another customer  that could speak English and translate for us.   Tiril had her first ski lesson with Ludmila, a Russian ski instructor how know a little bit English. But they most have communicated somehow because Tiril learned to go down by herself and also how to turn. Lars also tried but his skis lived a life of their own and just would not go where they where suppose to. In the end he could go down hill….he just didn’t know how to stop.  Both Tiril and Lars loved the snow tubing, and probably could have done that all day.    

 

After skiing all day, we had a nice relaxing time in the hotel’s private sauna. 

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Life with the nomads

After the car dropped us of at Terelj, two hour drive out of UB, we where picked up by Mr. Bolt on his ox cart and taken to his farm. As we where taken away from Terelj we left the modern world behind and entered into the world of the nomads of Mongolia. Except for a few mobile phones and some TVs people here still live the old way. Living of the land and their animals, they move their Ger and animals three times a year.

At Mr. bolts place we got to try ice bowling, horseback riding and archery. For the First time we got to try salted milk tea, which is used daily. The tea was much better than expected, and we started to enjoy it in the end.

After a long night of keeping the fire going, we where taken to the next Ger, Bogy and Amra’s place. This family have two kids, daughter 5 and son 1 years old. Their neighbor also had kids so here we got to play a lot. They play games with ankle bones, which was really fun, especially for Tiril. We played both horse race and some other games.

 

The last night we stayed at a bigger farm with lots of goats, sheep and cows. Here Tiril and Lars helped by picking up cow dung , which is burned to keep the Ger warm.

Their food is mostly meat and rice, onions and carrots are the most common vegetable they use. For breakfast they have a type of  bread, and of course salted milk tea….. to every meal. We had around –15 to –20 degrees Celsius so it was really cold, especially the ox cart riding. But we had a great time and very interesting. Must say that our simple guest house in UB felt like a palace when we got back. Going to a proper toilet felt nice after doing it behind a tree in minus 15 degrees. 

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Ger to Ger

Just got back from a very cold, but interesting trip visiting the nomads and sleeping in ger, kind of a tent used by the nomadic people. We are now rushing to get a shower before the train ride to Irkutsk, Russia. Will get back with more from the trip when we get to Irkutsk.

Beijing to Mongolia

November 24th and one month left till Christmas, and we are driving through the Gobi dessert and listening to Christmas carols. We left Beijing at 7:40 am this morning, now the sun is setting outside and we still have more than 18 hours to go.

The train ride on the Mongolian plains and rolling hills has been one of the most beautiful train rides so far. With the white snow, blue sky and horses, yaks and camels roaming the hills.  

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Ulaan Baator

We are now in the Capitol of Mongolia. Here we stay at a guest house, very simple, just a room in a apartment, but perfectly fine. Cashmere is the thing to buy here and the city is full of cashmere stores, so there has been some shopping…… Ove has ordered a Mongolian bow so we got some nice souvenirs!!!  Even though the city have more than 1 million people it still feels like a small town, with lots of cozy, local cafes and restaurants. Chains like Mc Donald’s and Starbucks have not reached this part of the world yet.  Everywhere you can see that this was ones a part of USSR, old ugly blocks and state buildings.

Lars woke up this morning and looked out the window and said with excitement: “Something is dropping from the sky!!” It is not everyday he see snow. Today its been a little bit snow and around -15 C. We have one more night here in UB and then we will go on a three night trip on the plains, living in ger with the locals.

Beijing

Hi everyone, we have not been able to post anything on our blog lately because Blogspot and also facebook is banned by the Chinese government.

Here in Beijing we rented a room at a Hutong Guest house, a typical old Chinese house with a court yard in the middle and small houses around.  The Guest house had only 6 rooms and Tiril and Lars played in the yard with the house cat. There was only a little bit snow left but it was enough for Tiril and Lars to have a great time.  They are not spoiled with to much snow!!!!!

Here we stocked up on more winter clothes and also we got our 15 kg box, that was send from Singapore to a former college of Ove who now lives in Beijing.  After all the different markets we have been to Tiril and Lars are now getting good at barging, when they play we hear: “ 1 for 3 dollar, 2 for 5 dollar, what color you want…. we have many things …any thing you want…what you want….”

One day we took a tour and saw the great wall and Ming's tomb.   The great wall was a cold experience, but very impressive. We are not so impressed by the taxi drivers here in Beijing, most of the time they don’t want to pick us up or the take us to the wrong place. We have also seen a acrobatic show, very good……..

The last night in Beijing we where treated to Pizza by some friends of Ove that he worked with in Singapore. I nice ending to a interesting time in Beijing.

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Ha Long Bay

After a four hour long car drive from Hanoi we came to Ha Long City and our boat, a 23 meter long Junk, Du Tieu Chuan. The boat has two cabins, a dining room, a big sundeck and a crew of five + guide,  we have it all to ourselves.  The weather is now a lot colder, a round 15 degreed C and windy.

Ha Long Bay has 1969 small pinnacle islands, and in between them the local people live on floating houses. About 2500 people live out here in 7 small villages, the biggest one with 150 families. We visited one of the villages, here we got to see their local floating school. People out here live a very hard life, and most of them have never gone to school. A family make their living from fishing and tourism, and can make up to 100 usd a month.

We have also been kayaking and swimming, the sea is still warm even if the weather has gotten cooler. Since we have our one chef on board the food is amazing, I think we counted 7 different dishes for dinner.  Ha Long Bay is on the world heritage list and it is understandable……very beautiful. 

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Hanoi

We are now in Hanoi and getting ready for a long train trip to Beijing. Here we stay in the middle of the old quarter, a very busy part of the city.After two days in Hanoi traffic we are starting to get the hang of crossing the streets here, running zigzag in between a million motorbikes and cars. Traffic goes everywhere even on the sidewalk. People in Hanoi seems to live on the street, chatting, cooking, playing games and drinking their coffee. Last night we saw the famous water puppet show, the kids loved it!!!!!

Saigon to Hanoi

The train left Saigon at 11 pm. The train will take about 30 hours to get to Hanoi, the capitol of Vietnam. We will arrive around 6am.

Life on the train

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We had a cabin with 4 beds and a small table. The beds where very narrow and hard, but Tiril and Lars where very tired and fell a sleep right a way. The next morning we woke up at 6:30 am to sunshine and a  very talkative  group of  60 years old Australians. Outside we could start to see mountains, the train tracks run along the coast line, and at one point we where driving on the side of a mountain and had the ocean below us, spectacular view of the sunset!!!   
The train made a few longer stops along the way so we have time to run out and buy food and snacks. Here Ove and Lars is out shopping for French baguettes(which is sold every where here in Viet, after the French colonial time) and some drinks. The small shops is almost on the train tracks. Tiril and Lars spend the time playing Nintendo, Uno and looking out the window at all the water buffaloes, ducks and people working on the rice fields.

The lunch cart was very interesting and a bit scary, but we still tried some.  Rice and chicken!!! 

On the last night Lars fell out of bed twice, good thing we where able to convince him to sleep in the lower berth. 

Boat trip on Mekong River

At 9 am our guide came to pick us up. First we took a small boat through a floating village and then to a Cham village. Cham people is a minority group in Vietnam, originally from India. Centuries ago they had a big kingdom in central Vietnam, only a small group live in the south and they are Muslims.

After we went to the river boat for a two day cruise  down the Mekong River. The boat had a crew of five, including chef and guide, so we where well taken care of. (this was a private boat only for us). Ove got sick, high fever and runny nose, so he didn’t get to enjoy the trip. But the rest of us had a nice time.

We have now had one night in Saigon, and are getting ready for the train to Hanoi.

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Phnom Penh to Chau Doc

Last night Ove woke up and found Lars sound a sleep with his feet on the pillow, stomach on the bedside table and his head hanging half way outside.  

After breakfast we went to the royal palace and a quick trip to the national museum. Lars and Tiril was tired and bored with all the sightseeing so we didn’t spend to much time,  before heading to the harbor for the boat to Chau Doc in Vietnam.  A very small boat with only room for 12 passengers took us down Mekong River.  At the Cambodian border we stopped along the river at the smallest immigration office we have ever been to. Then we passed  through the Vietnam border without any trouble. After the border passing the boat took us to a floating cafe, where a new guide picked us up and took us to the hotel.

Siem Reap to Phnom Penh

The boat trip

This morning our guide came to our hotel at 6:30 am and took us to the boat jetty, for the boat leaving for Phnom Penh at 7:30 am. We are now getting closer to the capitol of Cambodia crossing the Tonle Sap Lake. This is the largest lake in Asia and it varies from 6000 in dry season up to 15000 square km in wet season.
Right  now floating villages are passing by. A long the way we see people busy with their daily chores making a living on the lake. So there is a lot for us to look at on the way.

In Phnom Penh

When we arrived in Phnom Penh a new guide waited for us. We took a tour in the main prison used during the Khmer Rouge regime, approximately 25 000 people where killed in this prison alone,  today it is a museum.

Later we stopped by a dancing school for children, mainly orphans,  here they learned traditional Cambodian dance. 

Ankor Wat and Siem Reap

Today we started our organized tour through Cambodia. On the program for day one are the many temples in Siem Reap. Our guide picked us up just after breakfast and we went to the temple of Bayon and Ankor Thom first.    These amazing  buildings are built between the 10th to 15th century. After lunch we went to see the famous Ankor Wat, a big beautiful temple built as a tomb for the king.

Every time we go back to our car all the local people come running trying to sell handmade crafts, books, postcards and more.

Most of them small children not older than 5 or 6.  It is a bit hard to see all the poverty and how some of the people live here in Cambodia. 

In the evening we had a walk through the market and got some christmas presents and Tiril got a dress. At the restaurant Lars didn`t behave so I had to take him back to the hotel…..no dinner for Larsy!!!!

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Bangkok to Siem Reap

This morning Ove and I  got up at 4 am, Lars woke up 10 min later and said : “I need food!”.  At 4: 45 am we left for the train station, when we got there we where offered taxi to the border for 2000 bath but we bought train tickets for 144 bath.

We all had breakfast at platform number 6 while we waited for the train to come. Around us people where sleeping on benches and on the ground, it was a strange feeling standing there at 5 am in the dark waiting for the train. The train to the Cambodian border only has 3 class seats, so we had to sit on wooden benches for more then 5 hours, you can say we felt a bit sore after the trip. A very new experience for us!!!!

At the station we rented a tuk-tuk to take us to the border, and we paid a guy to help us cross over to Cambodia. He probably over charged us but he made the hole border crossing easier for us. We didn`t need to stand in line at the Cambodian immigration and he also helped us with a taxi from the border to Siem Reap, a 3 hour long drive. Finally we arrived at our hotel, an old french style building, very nice right in the middle of the old town.

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Life in Bangkok

Finally the taxi driver found our hotel,  Unico Leela Hotel, a really nice small hotel.  And to Tiril and Lars great surprise there is a swimming pool, so after lunch we had to go down for a swim.  Later in the evening we went out for a Thai meal and then to the night market. Here we got some souvenirs, Lars got football uniform and Tiril got her nails done. We also got some cheap DVDs and some nice statues.

There is a festival here in Thailand now, Festival of light, so everywhere there where fireworks and people where placing flower ornaments with  candles on the water. 

This morning we went to the floating market.  An exiting experience but a bit to long drive to get there, good thing Tiril and Lars where tired and slept most of the way.   

Tonight we will have an early dinner and then go straight to bed, because we need to be at the train station at 5 am tomorrow for the train to the Cambodian border.

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Train to Bangkok II

Good morning!!

We had a pretty good night. The sun is shining and it is 9 am in the morning. Tiril climbed down to Ove in her sleep last night and woke up surprised: “why am I here?” then she climbed back up for some more sleep. Lars had a small,  wet  “accident” in bed , but other than that everything is fine. We just had breakfast, egg, ham and toast. Really nice to have breakfast while the Thai landscape is passing by outside the window .

We will arrived Bangkok around 11:30 am.

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Train to Bangkok

After a night at Pearl view Hotel in Butterworth, we went back on the train at 14:20 pm. The time is now 20pm and we have crossed the boarder over to Thailand.  We just had dinner and they have started making the seats into beds. The seats are specious,  we have 4 double seats that are made into 4 beds. So the seats are ok but the toilet is another story, guess we just have to get used to it.

Tiril and Lars are really busy climbing up and down the ladder to the upper bed. Hopefully they burn of some energy before bedtime.

When we entered the train in Malaysia there was only two carriages and they didn`t sell any ting onboard, so we got a bit worried that this would be worse then the train from Singapore. But this train is Thai so after we entered Thailand everything got better. First they came around taking our food order for dinner and breakfast, then they offered us beer and soft drinks……………so now………….life is good on the train to Bangkok!!!    

the time is now 21 pm and both Tiril and Lars are sleeping so the climbing worked. Outside it is raining and dark. We are getting ready for bed. Good night!!

Goodbye Singapore!!

We left Singapore this morning with the 7:40 am train to Butterworth (north Malaysia).  The time is now 6 pm and we still have almost 4 hours to go before we arrive. So fare so good…. We have 4 seats in 1st class carriage, pretty nice, but the rest of the train is old and shabby looking. Scary to walk from one carriage to another, you can see the train tracks under neat. The food on this train is not very mush to say hurray about, they have a menu here but they didn`t  start selling till after 3pm, so we where really hungry. Need to pack a bigger snack for the next train ride.

Lars ask about every 30 min where we are, and he is just as surprised every time we say Malaysia!!! “Still Malaysia!!!”  Tiril thinks the train ride is fun. Lars also says the train is fun. Lars has been working really hard on a plastic water bottle with a plastic knife, trying to get a hole in the side to drink out from. But the project was given up not to long ago…..   

Outside it is raining, the sky is grey and about 30 degrees C.  Outside we see palm trees, water buffalos and rice fields. 

The last visa ready!!

Got our passports back today from the Embassy of China. So this means we are all set to go, just need to pack our bags of course…..

The movers will be here on Tuesday and Wednesday next week, we will leave Singapore on Saturday 31st of Oct at 7:40 am. So not very much time left…..

Russian Visa

Today we got our Russian visa. After picking up the passports I went to the  Chinese  Embassy to apply for visa to China. That is the last visa we need for our trip. 

Mongolian Visa

Today we got our Mongolian visa.

The journey

About  one year ago we decided that it was time for us to move back home to Norway. So we started to plan our move. One evening we where watching a TV show about a  car race from Beijing to Paris, and Ove looked at me with a smile on his face saying: “We can drive home.” After laughing about the silly idea, we realized that the idea was not that bad. But instead of going by car we would go by train!!!

We both think this will be a great way to end our incredible 6 years abroad. So we started to plan the route for our trip, and after searching the Internet we decided on train from Singapore through Malaysia and up to Bangkok. From Bangkok we will go to Cambodia and on to Vietnam. Next stop will be  Beijing, there we will get on the Tran Siberian railway and go all the way to St. Petersburg. After that we will take the train to Helsinki, and boat to Stockholm. The last journey will be by train to Oslo, and finally bus over the mountains to our home town, Ølen. 

And home sweet home!!!!!!