"My first day in Russia"

9.00am Good morning Russia!!! I was woken up rather loudly by one of the cooks from what I assumed to be the dining car who, in my unwoken state sold me a piece of chicken. Not exactly what I had in mind for breakfast but I had not had a proper meal since leaving the U.K. so I thought that it might fill the gap and satisfy the hunger that I was starting to feel. I had been very surprised that British Rail had not told me there were no dining facilities on the train, lucky for me I had some food, Hildegard had given me loads of bits and pieces when we had met, cheeses, biscuits, mini chocolate bars and I had bought coffee, so I would not starve to death just yet.

As it was the last night that I would spend on this train, I made the bed and put away my sleeping bag and generally tidied up a bit, then sat down to breakfast and the succulent chicken that I had purchased. YUK!! It was disgusting! I don’t think it was cooked very well at all, and there was no meat on the carcass! I just could not believe that someone could try to sell something as bad as that, and then it slowly dawned on me that I was now in Russia and things were different here, what might be disgusting to a Westerner may be a tasty meal to a Russian. What had I let myself in for?

As the day went on and we slowly travelled on towards Moscow, I could not help but notice how nice the weather was outside, everyday so far had been beautiful clear blue skies and bright sunlight from dawn to dusk, something that we just do not get in the winter in England. It was obvious that it was cold outside as the snow was getting deeper and deeper the further East that I travelled.

My travelling companions got off at 5.30am when the train arrived at Minsk. To my surprise they had left me their address, (and to think that I was worried that they might steal my back-pack shame on me). As I was alone during the rest of the day, it gave me the opportunity to read some more about Moscow and sights that I should not miss during my visit. The books that I had with me were Bradeaker’s guide to Moscow and also the Trans-Siberian Handbook by Bryn Thomas, which I can highly recommend to anyone thinking of going on the same journey. The Bradeaker’s guide has a very detailed map of Moscow city centre and the location of all the main places to visit, Red Square and St.Basil’s cathedral to name a couple. I had no idea where I was going to sleep when I arrived at Moscow as the information I had, stated that a room would cost between £50-£100 per night, and quite honestly it was money I could do without spending. I had provisionally booked a room at the Hotel Belgrade 2, but as I would arrive into Moscow in the late afternoon I had considered sleeping in the railway station for the first night, then go to a hotel early the next morning. By now I had not had a shower for three days and the temperature in the carriage was always boiling, so I need not put into words that a shower was overdue!

As I travelled along, it was interesting to see how the signalling system worked for the train network, it was certainly very labour intensive. As we passed a signal box, (and there were many) a person usually an older woman was standing outside with a flag, I could only assume that she was telling the engine driver it was OK to keep going. Compared to the West it was very primitive although I wondered if they ever had train crashes with nothing electrical to go wrong?

By 4.00pm I had the feeling that we were getting close to Moscow and judging by the fact people at the station were jumping up and down to keep warm, it looked bloody cold outside. It was starting to get dark, which was a pity as I had hoped to get some early views of Moscow city as the train went through. At 4.15pm we had arrived at Moscow station, and it was time to decide whether to remain in an unshowered condition until the next morning and sleep in the waiting room, or part with my hard earned money and go to the Hotel Belgrade. After a quick initial look around the station, I decided almost immediately that it did not look as if it would be a very safe place to sleep, rather like sleeping with the homeless at Kings Cross in London only ten times worse! It would not have been so bad if there was other Westerners around but as far as I could see I was the only one so there was no alternative but to head for a taxi. I looked outside and spotted a taxi a short walk away, the ground was very icy and it was difficult to walk carrying the back-pack, my day sack and Hildegards large carrier bag full of goodies. Getting to the taxi was the easy part, trying to communicate with the driver was a little more trying! I could not understand if he did not want to take me or he did not understand me, probably the latter. He first wanted to see what type of money I had, I assumed that if I had Russian Rubles he would not have taken me, but as soon as he saw U.S. Dollars the door was open and with my back-pack in the trunk we were off! After about 10 minutes I was in the Hotel Belgrade lobby and in the queue for the check-in desk. Every one was speaking Russian (as one would expect) but it made the task at hand all the more difficult. Finally it was my turn and I tried to tell the receptionist that I had reserved a room for two nights, Nyet! came the answer, (which I knew meant no) so I tried to ask again, this time showing her my conformation slip, once again the answer was....Nyet! I began to get rather frustrated as she certainly was being very rude and most unhelpful. I then attempted to get help from the telephone receptionist, at least she took pity on me and she spoke good English I was able to tell her my problem, she shouted in Russian to the reception clerk who then checked on the computer for my reservation. What took place then was something out of a comedy sketch, the telephonist and the receptionist began shouting to each other across the crowded foyer and things started to really heat up. It was obvious the receptionist was not very happy! The telephonist told me she was being deliberately difficult and was doing her utmost not to help me, and with that set off to ’sort things out’. Slowly but surely more and more people became involved and as I said, it was something out of a movie with everyone shouting at everyone else. All I wanted was a room so I could have a shower!!!

As the shouting continued I looked around the foyer and spotted a young and pretty Asian girl sitting on her own trying to refrain from laughing whilst hiding behind the book she was reading. I shrugged my shoulders and asked her if she spoke any English, and in a broad New Zealand accent she replied that she did. I went and sat next to her whilst the telephonist kept periodically coming over to tell me the latest on the Check in saga. The Asian girls name was Bindu and she had been in Moscow for a few days on holiday as part of an epic round the world jaunt that the Aussies and the Kiwi’s embark upon every so often. The problem at the reservation desk transpired to be one of red tape, something that the Russian’s appear to have a lot of! With it being a Communist state, they do not like independent travellers that arrive on one train then head off across country on another. What the authorities had done was to link all the independent travellers together as a group and make them all stop at the same hotel, not the one that I was at. However all this had by now taken almost two hours to interpret from Russian to English via the telephonist (who I am convinced was Super Woman in disguise as she was very sympathetic and helpful towards me). Eventually they agreed to let me stay there for one night only and first thing the next day I had to go to the Hotel Cosmos to meet my group. All a bit strange, but at least I could now get my shower. I left Bindu in the foyer and we agreed to meet at 9.00pm for a drink and a chat in the bar, she appeared genuinely friendly, so I figured I’d have fun with her.

Read Neils complete adventure here.