art : design
: web : culture : ideas : inspiration : community : lifestyle : environment
|
t r a v e l b l o g traveller:
Keith McInnes |
|
|
Time certainly does fly as it seems almost a distant memory, the trip of a lifetime that we endured on our way back from London (September 2002), via the Trans Siberian Railway from St Petersburg to finally end up in Tokyo. Leaving London after 6 years Leaving from Gatwick (south of London) I didn't feel sad about leaving London, which had been my home for 6 years. I was ready to go before I started to hate the place. The sun was shining as we flew out heading to Russia which was just over 4hrs flying time away to land in St.Pete's which was cold and wet. Nice!! I thought we were leaving that behind in the UK. Arriving in St Petersburg, Russia We were picked up from the airport (which is very basic) by our driver who could hardly speak any English (just like the extensive amount of Russian we knew) to travel through the streets (and traffic) for 2-3hrs to arrive at our family stay in the 'burbs of the city. They don't seem to have a great grasp of the road rules in these parts of the world, as we seem to break about all of them, and it is a little bit of a white knuckle ride wherever you go in this country with transport. We were feeling a little uneasy to say the least when we started to head into the boonies and the mass collection of ex-Soviet monolithic apartment blocks where the roads have just a few potholes and the locals were eyeing us off. (spot the Westerners!!). I am sure the car we were in was used in the Second World War. The driver stopped, signalling that we were to get out here, behind the building with a welded steel door to get through. He took out his radio (worth more than the car) - must be a good area!! We wanted to move here straight away. It turned out that we were staying in one of the more 'desirable' areas in the city as this is where the 'new' Russians lived at the end of the metro line, which was only 15mins, or three stops, away from the downtown. New Russians are the ones that tend to have about 99% of the country's wealth whilst the poor struggle to find smoke butts to get a cheap thrill on, from the streets. They are educated and have newer cars (not the ones with dents all over them which most drive), some BMW's, Mercedes, etc, and dress quite well considering the dire economic situation the rest are in, the clothes are very Eastern Europe. The Women have 'real' fur coats (not many have red paint stains on) as well as loads of make-up. The men wear suits and the younger ones wear jeans and whatever the latest T-shirt trend from the West is. You see some funny text on these shirts sometimes!! They are very quick on the uptake of the latest things from the West as they have all the latest music (pirate copies in the shops) as well as the looks of the kids in the rest of Europe. All their 'brand' stuff is dodgy but good replicas all the same (less than a 10th of the price too). If you wanted to kit yourself out for cheap (& very fashionable for the modern Russian) you could turn up here with an empty bag & do it for way less than the rest of the world!! (not quite 5th Ave N.Y.C. but who cares in Siberia hey??). Staying with the locals The family that we stayed with consisted of 3 generations in one 3 bedroom flat and it seemed that we were more of a business transaction than 'western' visitors to their country. It was a little uncomfortable but they turned out to be fine people. They knew enough English to get by with. The food was basic but good, especially compared to what we had in the hotels (mystery meat). There was plenty of it as they filled up our hungry bellies after walking in the cold for a couple of days, I think we saw the whole Russian family menu in 2 nights there!! We ate by ourselves in their small kitchen, which felt kind of strange, and wasn't what we had expected. The table was from 1950 along with the rest of the items. The Russian radio was broadcasting a talkback session (something about how Boris couldn't get his new cart this week & had already waited for 10 years). Still it was OK as we were both a little tired after the busy time we had leading up to this trip and I don't think we would have been the greatest ambassadors of Australia for the time we were there (those Australian people are weird as they seem to sleep a lot and not enjoy the cold!!). The decor is what you would imagine (and what you may have seen in spy movies) as it is very basic but over the top with stripes on all walls, rugs on the floors (probably the remains of the bear population) & the electronics what your grandparents had back in the 50's, yes this is an antique collector's heaven..... must be worth loads now in the West (Antiques Road Show where are you???). The room was cosy as we had a view out onto the street where the Metro exited, which is way below the ground (you wouldn't believe how deep they go) & we could watch the average Russians coming & going to work each day. They have very small shops (like the size of ATMs) scattered around the Metro station (and the city) that sells all sorts of food, flowers, smokes, booze, etc. They seem to smoke a lot in Russia too, maybe that little flame at the end of the stick keeps them warm in the freeze of winter. They smoke whenever or wherever they like, there's no way to complain. The average Russian seems to work bloody hard & long hours too. The really sad thing is that they have next to nothing to show for it as the country is falling apart. Russia (or USSR) must have been something to marvel at in the 1940's and onwards, as everything must have looked brand new. Unfortunately it hasn't had much spent on it since and the 'real' people are the ones that have to live through this and work all hours of the day to stop it getting worse. If you want a reality check in your life, and to realise how lucky you really are, just take a small plane trip to the former 'Super Power' to realise that where you are reading this from is paradise!! Then you can fly home. The next day was cold (we didn't have enough clothes for this as we had donated most of our winter stuff to the charity shop in the UK) and a little damp as we had a guide to take us around the city and tell us some of the history, which really is extraordinary!! 'Pet' Bears There were some people with 'pet' Bears that you could have your photo taken with. That was quite cruel. They had muzzles on the animals so they couldn't bite (more worried about the 10cm long claws). I think the animal liberationists have missed Russia (along with Greece) as they still have animal circus acts too. Looking around St Petersburg We had 2 full days here in St.Pete's and seeing as we spent the first day keeping warm and dry (adjusting to the shock that we had 40 days to travel to get home), we spent the second of those walking the streets and looking this time in the Sunshine of this truly beautiful city. I had been here before in 1999 and thought back then, that it would be a wonderful place if they just spent some money on it, which they are now doing as it is the city's 300th birthday in 2003. Peter the Great founded this place to rival the great cities in Europe. Big celebrations are planned for the summer. St Petersburg will become one of 'the' places that people will visit in the future, which is great, as it can only get better and will slowly improve the quality of life for the locals. Wouldn't like to be here in the winter as it was almost freezing in late Sep. Russia has improved greatly since 1999 and it is all for the better as I felt much safer here this time. I think they are getting used to having visitors in their place as the police presence has increased too. There aren't as many dodgy things happening here now, as you can now deal in Rubbles whereas before, everything was in $US. You can still can get loads of pirate CD's & DVD's though!! Then onto an
overnight train to Moscow… |
|
About CG | Editor: Kirsten Lowe | PO Box 559, Broadway 2007, Sydney, Australia
Ph: 0410 310 238 | Fax: + 61 2 9816 3320 | Email: info (at) chaosgeneration (dot) com