Саинт Петерсбург (Saint Petersburg)

If Tom Cruise ever taught me anything, it’s that “sometimes you just gotta say ‘what the fuck’”.

My time in Estonia had given me a brief look into the eastern European culture and in particular the times of Soviet reign. This, coupled with meeting Ben, had swayed my decision about Russia and even though my tour was cancelled I decided to head there anyway – I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity that I might never have again. So upon leaving Estonia, I headed back to Helsinki for a few more days to rest up, sort out some visa issues, and most importantly board the train to St. Petersburg.

My train from Helsinki was at 7:30am and I was staying half an hour from the main train station so I decided to take the 6:05am bus in. Unfortunately it was some sort of public holiday and all the timetables were different, the bus never came, I started mildly stressing, but luckily a woman who was late to work helped me navigate several busses which deposited me at the central train station with about ten minutes to spare. Then off I was.

The change was not so subtle. Looking out the window, I noticed that all the signs surrounding the train line had changed from the latin to cyrillic alphabet. Next, a message came over the intercom system saying that the train was now entering the ‘border control zone’. I wasn’t too sure what that meant would happen untill about 10 guards jumped on the train and removed everyone’s passports from them. This worried me slightly as I didn’t want to lose my passport while staying in Russia on a visa which was gained from an invitation which was no longer valid. I didn’t even know the last name of the girl I was staying with so wrote the defunct tour’s name on the immigration forms and hoped for the best.

Half an hour passed with nothing, and then finally… I WAS IN! I had legally arrived in Russia!

The train arrived at Finland Station in St. Petersburg at two o’clock. I wasn’t to meet my CouchSurfing host, Ira, until seven, so after figuring out how the metro system worked in a place with very little English writing and speakers, I dumped my bags in the locker room at Vosstaniya Station (where I would meet Ira later on) and went for a wander. I headed down the main street, Nevskiy Prospekt, and what I saw was wonder. The buildings were amazing; colourful, magestic and grand. The writing everywhere was different, the cars were different, the people were different, it was all very much more different from anything I had ever seen, even Tallinn. I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the central city area, checking out the amazing buildings, churches, the seaside, oh and it was freezing!

At around seven I met Ira and we headed back to her apartment. This is when I began to understand what people mean when they say that the binary of wealth distribution in this country is expansive. Everything about the innercity was beautiful, and almost everything about the outskirts was the opposite. Ira was living about half an hour out of the central city by metro, the area was bland, dirty, the people seemed like they were barely making it through the day and the soviet architected apartment blocks stretched out as far as the eye could see in every direction. In this country you either have money or you don’t, there is no middle ground. The poor people can’t afford the good stuff, but they can afford to indulge. In one supermarket I saw half a litre of vodka for $6.50NZD and a pack of cigarettes for around $1.10.

Ira had, that night, invited a bunch of her friends around to her flat for some drinks. So I spent the night drinking with Ira, Vlad, Pascha, Sascha, Stas, Nadya and a few more people who’s names I can’t rememeber. It was cool, their english wasn’t the best, but they were heaps of fun to party with and so it happened, the more they drank, the better their English got. My Russian on the other hand failed to improve in anyway.

Russian Beer

The next three days (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday) were Russian public holidays so Ira had some time to spend showing me around the sights. I had told Ira that I was interested in searching out some old Soviet Lomo cameras as I heard the authentic products could be picked up very cheap if you knew where to go. So off we went to a local flea market. This place was very intense. It sold everything that most people don’t need. Old computer parts, hats, badges, cell phones, memory cards, power tools, rusty bolts, old clothes, and happily, the camera. I was able to pick one up from a more ‘reputable’ camera dealer for 100 rubles which is around $6.5NZD. Pretty good find I must say. We spent a little while rummaging around the markets and then headed into town to meet up with Ira’s friends again. We ended up at a ludicriously expensive shisha bar where for some reason they gave us a pipe with no water. It was horrible! After this was pretty late so we all decided to call it a night, but not after I was invited to a poker night the following evening.

On the Monday Ira decided that she might show me some of the sights of the city. So after eating a breakfast of blini (russian stuffed pancakes), we set out into the centre of town. First stop was the local huge cathedral, St. Isaac’s. This building was huge, so big in fact that you had to cross a road and half a small park to even include the entire building in a photo.

St. Isaacs Cathedral

Next we headed over to the famous statue of the Bronze Horseman.

The Bronze Horseman

Afterwards we walked over to Spit of Vasilyevskiy Island to have a look around. Here we saw a russian wedding with the bride and groom throwing glasses of champagne over their shoulders into the sea, only both missed, one smashing on the ground, the other hitting a statue behind the groom’s head, projecting broken glass towards the bride! She fell to the ground covered in blood as a huge shared severed her jugular. To be honest, she was fine. Next we walked back towards the Winter Palace or Hermitage.

Winter Palace on the Sea

Past the Winter Palace was the Palace Square.

Palace Square

And just through the arches was a man with a monkey!

Monkey!

After checking out these main sights, Ira wanted to show me an interesting apartment block which contained a huge amount of crazy mosaics everywhere. Almost all of the walls were covered and the public sitting areas were made completely of mosaiced concrete.

Mosaic Apartments

Soon it was dark and time to head to Nadya’s place for the poker game which I didn’t do very well in at all. A nice Russian pork dinner was cooked by Nadya and then it was time to head home for sleep.

The following day, Pascha, Ira and I went to Pushkin which is a huge park south of the city. Inside this park is an enormous palace which was built for Catherine the Great. Unfortunately it was off-season so we could not go inside and none of the fountains were working, but it was still amazing to see.

Catherine the Great's Palace

In the summer this park splits into two parts. The part which the palace is inside becomes a tolled park, so you have to pay to hang out in there. The other part is free and increasingly more desheveled. Even though it was winter you could easily tell the difference between the two parts, the free part muddy and dirty and unkempt while the paid part was tidy and manicured.

Inside the free part we also found some interesting ruins.

Ruins at Pushkin

That night we decided to haev a quiet one and Ira and I watched an interesting Terry Gilliam film starring Robin Williams as a crazy homeless man.

The next day was Wednesday, my last day and time to head back to work for Ira. I decided to check out the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Peter and Paul Fortress

This place is an island in the middle of the harbour which is shaped in a star-like manner. It was built in the 18thC and up until the 1917 was used as a political prison. Even Dostoyevsky was housed here. The fortess even contains a beach were some crazy guy was swimming in Speedos. The water can’t have been more than 1 or 2 degrees! Inside the fortress was the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Peter and Paul Cathedral

From the fortress I walked past some sort of military weapons museum full of tanks and rocket launchers and more, and towards a frigate which I was advised to look at. On the way I walked past a pretty cool pirate-type ship as well. I walked on and on, the mission to get to another bridge to pass back onto the main land. Evening slowly fell with a beautiful sunset, my last day was almost over.

Saint Petersburg Sunset

That night it was time to leave. I was on the 1:20am night train to Moscow which I boarded after a few language barriers about passports and the like. The cabin was small and old, the train wobbled around a lot, but soon I fell asleep and woke up in Moscow.

P.S: Some how I forgot to mention the Saviour on the Blood church, but this place was amazing! We saw this after the monkey.

Saviour on the Blood

London Sights

I haven’t written in a couple of days and I probably shouldn’t be now as it’s close to 1am. But never mind, I want to get a few things up.

Yesterday was again, for me, another “hottest day of the year”. This time in London. It is definitely not as hot as Hong Kong but it is still sweat producing if you are wandering around in the sun all day. Nevertheless, I managed to get around a number of the tourist attractions which the city has to offer.

Adam was showing me around, our first stop was the London Eye. This is essentially a huge ferris wheel with enclosed capsules which takes you high above London’s skyline. It was deathly expensive so I didn’t take a trip on it. I also didn’t really manage to get a decent photo of it as there were so many people in the way and  i didn’t want to cross a busy road just for that. You can see it in the corner of one of my photos of the Guard’s House.

We then crossed the Thames towards the central city, only to find everyone’s favourite pie manufacturer, Big Ben. That is one majestic clock.  And boy was I excited to see it (cheers, Brook)!

OMG it's bBig Ben!

Big Ben does not stand alone, and has attached itself to the side of the Houses of Parliment, the place where I gather many big decisions are made by Brown men, but not so many black ones. Racialist jokes! But really, it is another awesome building with incredible attention to detail.

Houses of Parliment & Big Ben

Over the road from the Houses of Parliment was Wesminster Abbey, which again I have no photos of. It just didn’t feeel like something deserved of all the fuss it seems to accumulate! Another church in a city on oh so many.

Next we took a walk down to Tower Bridge, that’s the famous one which always gets confused with London Bridge. It’s around 700 years old and there are so many tourists that it is out of control. But nevertheless, it’s a pretty amazing sight to see. As with many of the other architectural wonders in London, it is beautifully detailed and would have taken a number of craftsmen a long  time to put it all together.

Tower Bridge

We walked on from Tower Bridge towards St. James’ Park. If anything was essentially English, it had to be  this place: cultivated gardens, a false lake, plenty of pathways, and people picnicing everywhere. And more squirrels (and a pelican or two!) :) Sitting neatly behind St. James’ Park is that place which you have all seen before – Buckingham Palace. So now it was about time to visit aunty Elizibeth (although she dosen’t actaully live here). To be honest, it really doesn’t seem to be as majecstic as is protrayed on television and it definitely not easy to photograph. But never mind, it was cool enough to see the Beefeater Guards in their finest comatose-like poses. There was also a number of statues spotted around a larger statue in the front of the palace which a notes saying they were donated by New Zealand, and seriously, these statues were better than anything I’ve even seen back home – crazy!

St James' Park

NZ Dontated Statue at Buckingham Palace

Beefeater at Buckingham Palace

We had now been walking for hours and both my feet and back were sore and I was pretty tired, so off home it was for what was a pretty early night on current standards.

Hong Kong – Day One

I arrive in Hong Kong’s new airport (which I have just heard is sinking!) after an 11 hour flight from Auckland only to discover that at 10pm, the temperature is still a balmy 29 degrees. If I thought I was going to have to wait until I got to Scandinavia to experience a sauna, then I was wrong. On top of the torrid heat, the humidity must have been the closest to 100 that I had ever experienced… and this was only the beginning.

I was picked up at the airport by Dad’s friend George’s younger sister named Vanessa (and some man who I can only assume was her boyfriend or husband). After an interesting drive along the brightly lit Hong Kong motorway we finally reached Kowloon Peninsula and the neighbourhood of Tsim Sha Tsui where I was to be dropped at the Ramada Hotel. It was nice enough, and the cool air was incredibly refreshing after being outside – I think this is why everyone in Hong Kong is constantly shopping, to keep indoors and stay out of the heat! By the time I got to sleep it was almost 4a.m. NZ time and I was exhausted.

Hotel room view

I woke early to discover that the view from the hotel room was not the prettiest. But that was cool, I wasn’t there to stare out the windows naked. The first thing I did was to explore the local area. I was amazed at the sheer number of both neon signs and indian men chasing me down the street, trying to measure me up for a suit which I ‘could not travel without’.

The day was hot, in fact it was the hottest day that Hong Kong has recorded so far this year. Not only did two people die from heat exhaustion, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why it seemed to feel like it was raining. Then I discovered the source. Water all over the ground was puddling up as a result of the constant dripping of apartment air conditioners which were attached high upon the sides of buildings.

I decided it was time to get out of the heat, and after a short walk I found myself at the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

 

Hong Kong Museum of Art

I had found my refuge from the inferno outside and was glad to have a seat as well. All that walking (in jandals by the way) was beginning to put a strain on my precious feet. Along side an international exhibition there were galleries showing the history of Chinese calligraphy and also of the importance and evolution of the figure of the horse in Chinese art and culture. Unfortunately I did not not spend much more than 2 hours here as there was much more to be seen and I only had two days.

 

Hong Kong Island

 

My next stop was Hong Kong Island, and to get there I decided to ride the famous Star Ferry across from Kowloon.  After a ten minute sea voyage to rival only Fullers, we were docked at Hong Kong Island Central, Hong Kong’s playground for the rich shopoholic. Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton were all in direct eye view, along with hundred of other shops selling items which I could neither afford nor wanted. None the less, I decided to explore the area and was pleasantly surprised that these super-shops disappeared after a short walk up the hill. Behind this expensive shopping area was the complete opposite, an area full of rich-smelling restaurants and colourful street vendors selling everything from fruit and toys to key cutting and boot polishing services.

 

Street Vendors on Hong Kong Island

Following this hike amoungst the back hills of Hong Kong Central, I decided that I would venture into the subway. I was sweating like something that shouldn’t sweat, so lucky for me the subway stations were air conditioned. With quick decision on the mind, I bought a ticket to Wan Chai, a suburb only a few minutes down the line. May I say here that the Hong Kong subway is the most efficient and easiest public transport system I have ever used (not that I have used many). The main reason for this trip was to visit Golden Buahinia Square and after a short trip and a lot of walking by the means of following signs that did not exist, I was lost. Luckily for me, a woman who worked in property services for a large building was able to direct me in the right direction and in fifteen minutes I had found the square which was built to commemorate the handing over of Hong Kong from the British to the People’s Republic of China. There in the centre stood the Golden Buahinia, and behind it; two red flags, none of which I really took notice of. I think the heat was starting to get to me.

 

Golden Buahinia Square

I had killed enough time now, and it was about time for me to do what I had come to Hong Kong Island for in the first place – to ascend The Peak. The Peak sits high up in the hills behind the bustling city of Hong Kong Island. Home to a small number of serious mountain climbing enthusiasts, The Peak first gained public access in 1888 when some Scottsman by the name of which I can remember decided to run a tramline up to the, well, peak. I decided that there was no better way to experience life as it was than take this tram. The visitor information says that the incline is 27 degrees; it felt to be much more, reminding me of the initial climb of a roller coaster before it launches into madness. Unfortunately for the speed demon inside me, once the tram met the peak, it stopped and everyone got off.

 

The Peak Tram

The next step was to climb to the top of the observation deck. From here you could see what felt like the entirety of Hong Kong city. The view was amazing, and as night fell and I ate an expensive and poorly made Thai red curry, that amazing turned into spectatular – even if I had to purchase a second observation deck ticket.

 

Hong Kong from The Peak

 

Hong Kong from The Peak at Night

I had seen what I had set out for. Hong Kong from above both at day and at night. It was time to call it bedtime for me, and after a short walk to the Central station, followed by a swift subway ride, I was back in Tsim Sha Tsui. Then I was lost. Again. Nevertheless, after almost walking back to the ferry terminal I found my hotel. I was sunburnt, my jandals were as thin as paper and were killing my feet and I was tired as a sloth. The slumber calls.

P.S. If anyone is actually going to read this, don’t expect everything to be that long. I’ve just been killing a day relaxing after being awake an uncountable number of hours. In future I might just pull out the exciting stuff!