The 2005 trip
This web-page is about the WhyNot Summer 2005 trip where Andrei and Patrick went on a grand trip to various places in the The Second world. Andrei and Patrick met up in Kraków just after the trip began, and went their separate ways in the last few weeks of the trip. Patrick had originally planned a much longer trip and Andrei had decided from the start he wasn't going on the entire journey – hence the separation. In fact, Andrei was not sure for most of the trip how far he'd travel with Patrick before heading back.
This is one of those trips where a full report should not be written – there are some things in life that are just not meant to be reported about (however, one quote that sums up at least three reoccurring threads of conversation throughout the trip that was said on Andrei and Patrick's last night together was "Next time, don't forget to take off your underpants"). Instead, you'll have to make do with the descriptions, photos and reports on (or linked to from) this page, although there is a remix of the events of the trip.
Although we had a rough outline of the trip and some ideas of where to go, we made up most of the journey as we went along. Read on and follow us to find out where we ended up...
Urban/village parts are described in dark-blue, nature parts in dark-green, transportation parts in dark-red, and additional commentary in (although you won't notice this if your web-browser does not display colours).
Part 0a – In the beginning...
Night train – East-Berlin to Kraków
For Andrei, this is where the trip really began. When travelling to East-Berlin, his train to Berlin Ostbahnhof station was running late, and he had to make a dash to Berlin Lichtenberg station in order to catch the night-train to Kraków. He did not have a ticket for the Metro, and was wondering how he could buy a metro-ticket and get to Berlin Lichtenberg on time. Fortunately, the metro-station platform had a ticket machine. It was a good thing Andrei bought the ticket, as there were ticket-inspectors on that particular metro. Andrei made it to the night-train in time where he shared his couchette-compartment with a fellow backpacker who he had an interesting discussion with – presumably much to the chagrin of the other two passengers in the compartment. This instantly threw him into the spirit of the trip.
At some point in the night, the train stopped at a station where there was constantly some announcement or other being blurted out over the tannoy while the train was being shunted backwards and forwards. This could have been in either Pozńan or Wrocław. It felt like being in a communist country, and it could be imagined the announcement in Polish was someone boasting about increased industrial production and a tribute to the Chairman.
When we got to Kraków, Andrei and the other backpacker went to two different youth-hostels – the Strawberry Hostel and Nathan's Villa respectively.
Patrick was not due into Kraków until the evening, so Andrei spent the day wandering round the city.
Part 0p – In the beginning...
Getting to Kraków
Patrick got a plane to the airport at Katowice, and from there, got a bus to Kraków train-station. By then, it was the evening. As Andrei had arrived first, Patrick called him to ask for further instructions for getting to the Strawberry Hostel. The hostel was arranging a free minibus service from the station for anyone wanting to stay at the hostel. Andrei was told by the staff at the hostel that someone would be there to pick him up in the station underpass, but Patrick could not find anyone. At this point, the credit on Patrick's mobile ran out. This meant that even receiving calls on his mobile was no longer possible. Andrei sent Patrick a text-message with the address of the hostel, and it was only using that address that Patrick managed to make it. It turned out that the station had a second underpass and Patrick was looking in the wrong one. The staff at the hostel failed to mention this. From that point on, Patrick started thinking that people from countries behind the Iron Curtain had become so used to not revealing information that the habit persisted. This would have explained why no mention was made of there being two underpasses.
Part 1 – Poland – The land of the Polish
Poland
The Poles love their freedom. There is a noticeable spirit of independence that you can feel. For centuries, Poland has been dominated, sandwiched, carved up, chewed around, spat out and spread around between several great powers. It is unsure if this spirit of independence is a result of the oppression or if it's just natural for them, but I have a gut instinct that it's natural.
The whole country looks like it has undergone a complete renovation. There are newly-built buildings nearly everywhere. Poland certainly has come a long way since the collapse of communism.
Kraków – First visit
Kraków is a historical city that gives you a magical spirit-lifting buzz just from walking through it. Full of old buildings and street entertainers. A real gem. It is possible to see webcam-images of Kraków. As well as seeing the city, we also got to see the nearby Wieliczka Salt Mine.
Zakopane
A cute but touristy town (but not too touristy) at the foothills of the Tatra Mountains. Very clean. Looks like everything in Zakopane was built in the past 15 years. Possibly the cleanest town in all of Poland. Hint: Do not buy the 'bread' – it's actually cheese.
Tatra Mountains
The Tatras are wild and rugged mountains. However, there was a lack of spiritual energy about them. In the mountain-hotels and on the monuments, there is lots of graffiti – is this a sign of lack of spiritualness, or did the graffiti reduce the spiritualness? Or is the lack of spiritualness due to 45 years of godless communism? When we went there, the snow-line was pretty low (sometimes, as low as 1400m on shady slopes) and the paths were covered, but we still found our way.
Night train – Zakopane to Warsaw
This train did not have couchettes, but we managed to find a compartment to ourselves. The two benches in the compartment, which were supposed to seat 4 people each, were long enough for us to lie down on – providing nobody else came in. Hint: Choosing a compartment in the centre of the carriage decreases the likelihood of somebody else finding it. This worked but we had our tickets inspected 3 times during the night.
Warsaw – first visit
A concrete monstrosity. Apart from the old town, which can be seen in an hour, there is very little worth seeing in Warsaw. This is a time best spent ignoring the scenery, resting or bonding with a friend.
Gdańsk
Gdańsk is an interesting North-European harbour town. Full of recent history – there were many reminders of the Solidarity movement which originated there. One could imagine that this place would have been completely different before the Winds of Change blew. Absorbing the ambience helped give you the appreciation of what the Poles have been through.
Eco-building course
We went on an Eco-building course organised by Earth Hands & Houses near the town of Płońsk. We stayed on a campsite in the eco-village for nearly two weeks. The other people on this course helped create a fantastic atmosphere (we signle-handedly gave the place a local buzz), and the house built out of straw gave us a feeling of what was possible (provided no big bad wolves come along). The nearby hamlet itself was quaint, and full of old wooden houses.
There was a village nearby. When living in the eco-village, it seems like the big city. Nothing much apart from a few pubs and some shops. There is a nearby lake or two where we often went to swim in.
See also:
Warsaw – second visit
Still a concrete monstrosity. However, there are a few hidden gems there. If you know someone there, they can show you some hidden good places that are discretely nestled amongst the pile of concrete.
Białystok
We stayed in Białystok a night until we could get into Białowieża. We got the impression that this was a bit of an outpost, but this may have been more to do with the abundance of concrete buildings near the station. But if you go to the town centre, it feels more like a town.
Białowieża
We used the village of Białowieża as a base of exploration of Białowieża Forest. Dangerously close to Belarus, there is an Orthodox church there.
Białowieża Forest / National Park
Białowieża Forest is a small patch of 10000-year-old virgin forest that has been left to nature, but looked like any other forest. There were supposed to be Bison roaming the forest, but did not see any except for when we were in the enclosure. We went cycling through the forest, and some of the roads were in a terrible state.
Part 2 – The journey East
Lithuania
After having spent a month in Poland, going to Lithuania was like taking an overdose of anaesthetics. It seemed to have the Scandinavian influence, and lack of buzz of any sort.
Vilnius – first visit
A historical city with lots of old buildings. The buildings of Vilnius are nice to look at. However, this is one of those cities where photos are sufficient to do it justice.
Trakai
An old town built around an old castle. Overlooks an old scenic lake.
Latvia
Latvia is pretty much the same as Lithuania really.
Riga
Riga – A city with a big-city feel. Lacked the charm of Vilnius, but that didn't stop us from having a good night out. We also got to see the Occupation Museum of Latvia.
Russia
These guys seem to think they're stuck in the cold war. The bureaucracy in Russia is way over the top, and just to legally get in the country involves jumping through lots of hoops. In fact, even staying there requires that you register your visa every so often. Not recommended for the flexible traveller. We only managed to get our visas because we discovered a visa-service in Vilnius.
If stuck amongst staff that don't speak any English, expect little or no help. They don't make much effort to communicate, but then again, we did not learn Russian. Hint: Even if you don't want to learn the Russian language, it does help if you learn the Cyrillic alphabet.
Moscow
Moscow – the capital of not just Russia and the Soviet Union, but also of the entire Second-World. This manifested itself in a very large city, with communist-style concrete blocks of flats that went on forever. One of the few places in Russia that is helpful to foreigners, but for the capital city of such a big country, it was lacking in certain areas (e.g. they switched off the tap-water unexpectedly).
Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Irkutsk
A four-day train-journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway took us through some of the most monotonous and boring scenery. Can't there be some variation from the endless plains with beech trees and pine trees? The land was mostly flat – with the exception of the Ural Mountains – one of the most pathetic mountain ranges ever – they were more like hills than mountains. The staff were beyond unhelpful – in fact, they tried to deliberately make life as hard as possible. Ordering a meal turned out to be a serious challenge. One of the dinner ladies kept leaving as we were about to ask to pay for our meals (apparently, she was the only one we was allowed to pay). Just before we left Novosibirsk, the person who closed the toilets made a joke that they were going to be opened at least half an hour after they were actually reopened.
The train always kept to Moscow Time – no matter what time zone it was in. This proved to be very disorienting – especially later on in the journey. We seemed to be running on two different times simultaneously, and only had 23-hour days, which was a bit hard when you have a vodka-party. By the time we got to Irkutsk, we were 5 hours ahead of Moscow.
However, there was a good side as well. There were several international travellers on the train and it created a community of backpackers, which was frequently frequented by the locals. We drunk vodka and had fun (but not necessarily in that order). In fact, just meeting the other people and the spirit of community more than made up for the bad service.
Irkutsk – first visit
There's something very disorienting about Irkutsk. Maybe it's because of the time zone change when leaving the train. Perhaps it's because we had been travelling so long that we were now really far away from previous place (Moscow) – that combined with the fact there's not much cultural/scenery change. Is it because it's the Russian 'New World' (the city was founded at the same time as the Americas were being colonised by the Europeans)? Is it because it's very far inland but doesn't feel too different, yet there's still a hint of Asian (Buryat) influence? Is it because of the quaint wooden houses right in the centre of the city?
The distance from Moscow does give it a feeling of being detached from the more civilised west of the country. The drivers drive dangerously and they're not good at doing so. Road accidents are frequent, and cars with damaged chasses can often be seen.
The climate was very hot when we got there. There wasn't much humidity, but the heat really wore us down. For some reason, people are seen sitting on the tops of benches with their feet on the seat instead of sitting on the seat.
The city is frequented by traders from parts of Central Asia. We even met a group of very generous Kyrgyz who paid for our drinks one night. Despite the language barrier, we got on like a house on fire with them.
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is supposed to have the purest water of any large lake, but we were too reluctant to drink the water. We did swim in it however. Walking along the shores of the lake, it is possible to feel like you are somewhere remote even after only walking 1 day on the shores of the lake. The water is cold, but after a day of intense walking, it really helps you cool down.
Irkutsk – second visit
Irkutsk has surprisingly little to do, but it takes three days to find this out. We got back from the lake too early (we blame this on a minibus – it was only much later that Andrei realised the importance of minibuses in the Second-World).
Part 3 – Beijing or Bust
Russia/Mongolia
Trans-Mongolian railway – 1st leg from Irkutsk to Ulaanbaatar
The Trans-Mongolian Railway is a bit like the Trans-Siberian railway, but with somewhat friendlier staff (except for the border control people). Also, all the foreigners were put in the same coach so were easier to find. However, the lack of a dining car meant that we were awkwardly standing in the corridors when meeting people instead of being sat in a dining-car.
Mongolia
At last, a change in the scenery. The forests of beech and pine trees had been replaced by grassy steppes – a landscape that makes up most of Mongolia.
The Mongolians have traditionally been a nomadic and barbaric civilisation. This is still evident today. You just need to see a Mongolian trying to tame a horse to see that. They are not coping well with sedentary lifestyles and urbanisation at all. It was obvious that the Chinese built their great big wall just to keep these guys out. Nevertheless, the people are warm and friendly and really great to be around. The Mongolians drive even more dangerously than the inhabitants of Irkutsk, but as they are better at it – they drive dangerously more safely than the Irkutskians, and with fewer accidents. There's a saying when driving in Mongolia – if the road is closed, just make a new road. Also, don't rely on any transport coming to pick you up – things break down often. The traditional lifestyle is still alive. However, you must stock up enough food for the winter or else you will die – that's what Mongolia is like.
The hostel in Ulaanbaatar
The One Way Hostel (AKA Oneway Guesthouse) is a youth-hostel situated on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. It consists of a small number of Gers enclosed by a fence. It is run by a German expatriate.
Ulaanbaatar – first visit
Rule #1 of town planning: Don't ever let a combination of nomads and communists plan a town. Ulaanbaatar (AKA 'Ulan Bator' AKA 'UB') consists of an assortment of buildings that look like they've been plonked down randomly. Often, there are large spaces separating the buildings, and – even in the city-centre – some of the buildings are nothing more than Gers (portable houses that can be dismantled and carried by a horse or automobile), while others are soul-less concrete blocks of flats. The city is full of gaping holes and puddles, so watch your step. The city likes to boast about its industrial prowess. They build their power plants prominently in the city and label them in English ("Power plant #3", etc.). They of course have no concept of environmentalism, but then again, in their traditional lifestyles, they have such a low impact that environmentalism would have been irrelevant had they not modernised.
The city was further south than Irkutsk, but at a much higher altitude so it was cooler and fresher (but not very fresh in the city as it was polluted). If we were in the shade, the temperature was bearable.
We got there in the middle of the monsoon season. While the day was dry, the sky suddenly emptied in the evening. The streets had turned into rivers. We sought refuge in the nearest pub/restaurant we could find. Even though the roof was leaking, it was the place to be if you wanted to escape from the rain. In fact, two Danish backpackers who we met on the Trans-Siberian earlier unexpectedly turned up half an hour later. In fact, the only reason all of us were there was to escape the rain.
The steppes of Mongolia
In the steppes of Mongolia, when climbing to the top of a hill, it is like a frozen seascape with grassy land instead of water. It is possible to see for miles around without seeing any sign of human intervention (if standing on the right hill). The ground is liberally sprinkled with a variety of animal-turds from all sizes of animal, so when walking, watch your steppe. There are plenty of places to go to the toilet, but none of them are toilets. Due to the very open and tree-less nature of the steppes, privacy can be an issue (not to mention the coldness that must be felt during the winter). To overcome these problems, a useful piece of attire called a toilet-coat can be worn. It's a coat that stretches all the way to the ground (if you squat) and is spacious on the inside when in the squatting position. Rainstorms are swift and sudden, and sometimes if you look in the distance, the rain is so heavy that it looks like the cloud has tipped over sideways and fallen down.
The Naadam festival at the steppes of Mongolia
This was a regional small-scale Naadam festival. An opening ceremony consisted of some live music and a contortionist. Afterwards, we got to witness the 'three manly sports' – Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery. We rode there and back by horse.
The wrestling that took place after the Naadam festival at the steppes of Mongolia
Inspired by what we saw at the Naadam Festival, we decided to organise our own Mongolian wrestling federation. Of course, we were no match for the locals.
Ulaanbaatar – second visit
Just a quickie. Stayed the night in the One Way Hostel (AKA Oneway Guesthouse) and got some money out the bank the next day.
A forested hilly area in Mongolia
This was an area of Mongolia that consisted of a few hills covered by a forest. We spent three days and two nights out camping in the wilderness. On the first day, we did not make much progress. After having crossed a series of streams, we came to the last one, which proved impossible to cross, so we headed back. In the afternoon of the third day, we went horse riding and saw first hand how the Mongolians treat their uncooperative horses.
Mongolia/China
Trans-Mongolian railway – 2nd leg from Ulaanbaatar to Erlian
Like the journey from Irkutsk to Ulaanbaatar but with fewer foreigners. This journey only lasted one night and a few hours. By the next day, the steppes had transformed into a desert.
China
Even though we had crossed the Iron Curtain on day 1, we finally made it to a country that was still a communist country – a country where the Winds of Change had yet to blow (although we did not get that impression when we got there). China is a combination of the worst of capitalism and the worst of communism. Why bother having a totalitarian regime if the economy is free-market? Or vice-versa? It's a totalitarian communist country, but there are hardly any signs of it being either totalitarian or communist ... unless you look for them.
- The Internet is censored (even my e-mail account could not be accessed, but amazingly, Wikipedia could be read).
- An English teacher we met told us that when he tries to talk about politics, the people he's talking to quickly try to change the subject.
- When leaving the country, you must declare that you are not carrying literature etc. that portrays China in a negative light.
- No foreign press is available – even when on the flight out of the country. I was offered an English-language Chinese newspaper on the plane, but they don't offer real newspapers.
But despite all this, the impression we got was that the heat was more oppressive than the regime.
Unlike most other Second-World countries, there are no ugly concrete buildings – just some not-so-ugly concrete buildings and even some nice ones. China has many tourist-attractions, but the more famous ones can be very touristy and commercialised (apparently, before 1990, this wasn't the case).
The Chinese people are small. This is evidenced by the small space in some forms of public transport. If you are large, things can get a bit awkward.
The Chinese win the award for the worse toilets ever. Not only are they extremely un-clean, but their public toilets consist of un-partitioned squat-toilets – not good when suffering from a dire-rear (yes, this is not the correct spelling but this spelling describes the condition perfectly). However, the toilets in certain public buildings are sometimes a lot better, but don't forget to bring your own toilet paper.
One thing that's good in China is the food. Chinese food is like Italian food in that you have to eat it in it's home country to appreciate how good it can get. It took a while to get used to the chopsticks, and at one time, Andrei even ended up carving a pointy bit on one of his wooden chopsticks, but he mastered the art of chopstickery in the end.
Due to the linear nature of the Trans-Mongolian Railway, many people who travel this route who met early on and got separated end up meeting each other again much later completely unexpectedly. This happened to us and several of the people we met a couple of times.
Erlian
A Chinese frontier-town in the middle of the Gobi desert. Erlian seems to be an overgrown trading post. It felt more like Mongolia than China. In fact, it's really Mongolia, but this part of Mongolia did not become independent of China. That's why the Chinese call it Inner Mongolia (to them, it's inside China), and the country of Mongolia is called Outer Mongolia. Needless to say, we did not stay long here.
Trans-Mongolian railway (by bus) – 3rd leg from Erlian to Beijing
China is known for concocting torture devices. We experienced one such contraption – a bus.
When we saw a picture of the bus in Ulaanbaatar, we thought we were lucky getting ourselves an overnight bus with beds. What we failed to realise was that the beds were designed for people of a smaller stature – the Chinese. This meant that the beds were too small for the Westerners amongst us, but fortunately, they let Andrei have the biggest bed on the bus. That was large enough for him, but they insisted on placing someone in the aisle right next to him, so we were all squashed together like a tin of sardines. As he was suffering from a dire-rear at the time, he could only lie on his back without feeling very uncomfortable. As there was someone lying right next to him, he could only lie on his side without squashing the other person. He had no choice but to squash the other person.
Beijing – first visit
When we were in Beijing, the climate was hot and very humid. The city was permanently surrounded by a fog. Thankfully, air-conditioning was abundant in most buildings. In fact, some shops even had so much air-conditioning that parts of some of the streets felt air-conditioned as well. Going outside was like stepping into a sauna. Also, there is no no-smoking culture whatsoever – people were seen smoking everywhere, but thanks to the air conditioning, it becomes less noticeable in buildings.
Beijing is full of life. All over the centre, there are lots of people selling things everywhere. The ambience of the place really hits you – everyone is going about their daily business – especially in the small side streets. However, some people are too keen to sell you things and after a while, it can get downright annoying. Also, there are plenty of beggars showing off their deformities in the hope that they will gain mercy from passers by.
Shanhaiguan
Shanhaiguan is supposed to be the start of the Great Wall of China – where it juts out into the sea (the Dragon's Head). The temperature is cooler than Beijing, but still hot, and very humid and foggy. There is a nice restaurant in the centre, but avoid restaurants near the Dragon Head as they overcharge. The place has been extensively restored in the 80s. You only get the feel of the majesty of the wall once you go to some nearby hills and see the wall snake it's way over the hills. However, due to the fog, not much could be seen.
Beijing – second visit
Overcome by the heat – we resorted to mostly eating, going on the Internet, watching DVDs at the youth-hostel, and visiting a park.
Part 4a – Don't worry, be Ukrainian
Ukraine
Undiscovered, untamed, and on the edge. Oh yeah!!!
Before Andrei got into Ukraine, he had the impression that it was a country where everything was dodgy and it was full of women called Lara who specialise in diseases of cows' udders. This was not to be the case (apart from the dodgyness, but to a lesser extent).
Ukraine is not Russia Jr. Ukraine is more like an un-tamed version of Poland. One thing Ukraine does have in common with Russia is the bad service and shortage of English-speakers, but that's nowhere near as bad as in Russia (It is suspected that this was inherited from Soviet times).
There are two levels to the Ukrainian society. The inherited Soviet bureaucracy and bad service, and underneath, the anarchic spirit of a warm and friendly people who just wanted to be free. The Ukrainians are like the Polish, but un-tamed. For those who have never been to the Ukraine, it is strongly recommended to visit Poland first.
Ukraine sometimes gets on one's nerves and becomes frustrating (buying a ticket can be a gruelling experience), but with persistence, communication is possible. The younger generation can speak English (or sometimes German) and are easier to communicate with.
Another thing you notice about Ukraine is the abundance of privately owned minibuses. The streets are full of them.
Overall, Ukraine has greatly surpassed my expectations of what I expected it to be, but I still think a lot of things are dodgy here.
Kyiv (Kiev) – first visit
An un-expected surprise! Kyiv is a lively city with a certain un-explained buzz that hits you when you walk through the central square in the evening. It helped me cure my jet-lag on the 1st night I was there!
One warning Andrei was given by the receptionist at the youth-hostel was to avoid a certain park after dark – not because of muggers and pick-pockets, but because of corrupt police who want to find any excuse they can think of to arrest anyone.
I also went to see the Pechersk Lavra – a complex of churches with an underground tunnel full of dead bishops (the Near Caves).
Yalta
Yalta is like a Mediterranean holiday-resort. That part of the Crimean peninsula is mountainous – one of the very few mountainous areas of Ukraine.
The area round Yalta is not really Ukraine – it has an Asiatic feel to it. It is inhabited by a mixture of Asiatic Tatars and some Russians, and a sprinkling of Ukrainians. The Soviets only bolted the Crimea onto the Ukraine after they had expelled the Tatars after the Second World War.
On the night-train back, Andrei decided to try a first-class compartment, but only because the second-class compartments had sold out, and the agency that sold him the ticket begged him not to go Plaskaty.
The top of the Ai-Petri Mountain near Yalta
Andrei got a cable-car to a 1200m high mountain called Ai-Petri. He got a cable-car up to the top and down to the bottom. On both sides, the queues were enormous and he waited about 1 hour in the queue. Andrei did not know the area well enough to attempt to walk down the mountain, and as he was some distance from Yalta, was unsure of how he'd get back once he got to the bottom (unless it was miraculously close to the cable-car station where the minibus stopped), and the thought did not occur to him at the time.
Kyiv (Kiev) – second visit
Lively as ever. Andrei came back here just so he could experience the city on a Saturday night. During the weekend, some of the streets in the centre are closed for festivities and entertainment.
Nearby, there is an open-air museum of folk architecture and rural life with replicas of buildings from across the country. In the centre of Kyiv, there is a winding street that goes downhill through some interesting monuments (Andrew's Descent).
Odesa (Odessa)
There was surprisingly little to do in Odesa. Andrei got bored and wanted to move on.
Odesa is a combination of a seaside and harbour town. It also has a Mediterranean feel to it (this is probably more artificial than Yalta's). However, the sea was polluted from all those boats and Soviet heavy industries.
The Ukrainians seem to love their minibuses. In all cities, there were additional minibuses to supplement the regular bus-service. This is especially the case in Odesa where the streets are full of them.
Night train from Odesa to Lviv
In the end, Andrei was so desperate to get out of Odesa that he decided to brave travelling on a night-train ... Plaskaty. His circumstances were a bit mixed. He got the place in the carriage not recommended by the Lonely Planet guide (#38 – next to the exit to the toilet and other carriages), but on the other hand, it was in a corner on the middle (top) bunk so he just put his luggage on the top bunk and did not have to worry about keeping guard of it at all times. The bed Andrei got was a bit short for him, but he was still able to manage. Even though the bed on the Chinese sleeper-bus was the right length, Andrei had a much better night's sleep on the Plaskaty bunk. However, his bunk was on the side with the bunks oriented along the length of the carriage (aisle). Perhaps he would have had a longer bed if he had had a place perpendicular to the aisle. So much for these Soviet wide train-tracks. He was able to get to sleep OK, but got woken up by people going past to the WC and other carriages etc. The two families on the other side were grateful that he shared his biscuits with them and seemed a friendly bunch. In fact, someone had even brought a cat in the carriage and let it roam freely.
Lviv (Lvov / Lwow / Lemberg / Leopolis)
People-power seems to have firmly taken root – and this is particularly evident in Lviv. One of Andrei's first experiences was a tram-journey in which the ticket inspector was thrown out of the tram by angry passengers. To Andrei, this was his 'Ukrainian experience'.
The city still has the feel of once having belonged to central Europe instead of Eastern Europe. It has been left to decay by the Soviets, and feels like it's asleep – ready for the push to wake it up and come alive just like Kraków is.
The city is at the crossroads of civilisation. There is a mixture of influences – the dominant being Austro-Hungarian, but there is also plenty of Ukrainian and some Polish influence.
Part 5a – The home stretch
Poland (again)
After Andrei escaped from Ukraine, the journey entered a more relaxed phase. Most of the time was spent visiting people he had met earlier at the Eco-building course, but even the parts where he was by himself, he at last felt he was on familiar ground, and things were much easier and straightforward. Andrei got several chances to relax, recuperate and chill out. He also got to explore the southwest and west of the country.
By now, Andrei had been in Poland for so long that he could now guess which region someone came from just by looking at their facial features. It appears that there's not much internal migration within Poland.
Warsaw – third visit
Andrei spent most of the time in Warsaw indoors. Did not see much of the city this time, but there wasn't much to see anyway.
Kraków – second visit
Now with 80% more magic. Like the first time in Kraków, many of the bars were noticeably empty. This time, Andrei stayed in the Kraków Nathan's Villa youth-hostel.
Wrocław
Andrei was now in the part of Poland that used to be German until recently. The architecture of Wrocław was very German and the railway station had a Teutonic feel to it. There are three historical town squares. One of them contains an ugly modern building. The German tourists blame the communists for ruining the town square, but in fact, it was the Germans who built it.
Wrocław had become a student-town and was full of drunken escapades. To see the city, you really need to be shown round by a student (who if you're lucky will show you some 'unusual' etiquette for dealing with tram-tickets). The bars were packed and full of atmosphere.
While he was there, Andrei (sort-of) completed the traditional rite of passage (drinking two pints of Żywiec Porter), but it was awful.
Zielona Góra
Zielona Góra is a quaint little town surrounded by a mixture of communist monstrosities and modern buildings. In the centre, there is still a bit of evidence left that the town used to be German. There is also evidence that it used to be communist, but that has been hidden by some creative changes (there was a statue of Russian soldiers built who liberated the city, and in the '90's, they mysteriously became Polish – so re-writing and changing history is not limited to totalitarian regimes).
The city is renowned for it's wine-producing prowess. They boast about this by planting grapevines throughout the town. There was a wine-festival going on when I was there, but there was hardly any wine to be found – mostly beer. It appears that instead of celebrating the annual grape-harvest, it's just an excuse to get drunk. The local wine-company has been taken over by a large company and is about to be shut down. That's globalisation for you.
Świebodzin
Świebodzin is a bit like Zielona Góra but smaller, not as lively, and without the wine festival.
Poland/East-Germany
The border between Poland and East-Germany
This was on the Oder River. It looks wild compared to the surrounding scenery, and has a few little islands in the middle.
East-Germany
At last, Andrei was in East-Germany – somewhere where he could understand the language, but that did not help him out much, as most of what was being said was uninteresting.
East-Berlin
In order to keep with the theme of the trip and stay in the Second-World throughout the entire duration, Andrei tried to only stay in the part of Berlin that used to be East-Berlin. However, he threw all caution into the wind and went on a bar-crawl and got drunk. Andrei no longer kept track of which side of the Berlin Wall he was on, but if he had crossed the wall, it would have meant he would have walked a long way, so judging from the distance, he must have stayed in the East.
The places the bar-crawl visited seemed more full of life than Andrei had expected to see from Berlin (West or East – as was the case in 2002). Andrei also noticed that there were significantly more Goths in East Berlin than anywhere else he had been to on the trip.
Andrei went to the legendary Ostzone bar. This is supposed to be a bar decorated with memorabilia from the communist era to make people who were nostalgic for those times feel at home. To Andrei, it felt more kitsch than communist.
The next day, he headed back West...
Part 4p – The heart of China
China
The Terracotta Army at Xian
Xi'an is another massive Chinese city of around 6-10 million people. It has a nice historic centre but the rest is quite bland. Patrick took a day tour to Terracotta Army and some other similar sites located around Xi'an. The Terracotta Army was quite impressive although extremely touristy.
Huashan (Mount Hua)
Huashan was very nice although quite misty. Not touristy at all. In fact, the communication problems were quite severe.
Luoyang
Luoyang is another massive Chinese city of around 6-10 million people. But this time, there was no historic city – just lots of people.
Shanghai
Shanghai is another massive Chinese city but even bigger (10-20 million people). Quite cool place, lots going on. Amazingly in such a large city Patrick bumped into the Danish backpackers who we had previously met in the Trans-Siberian and again in Ulaanbaatar. Patrick then took the high-speed monorail to the Airport and flew back to Europe.
Overall impressions
Andrei's overall impression
When I look back at the trip, I look back most fondly at Poland (especially the Eco-building course and Kraków) and to a slightly lesser extent, Ukraine. The rest (except for Lithuania and Latvia) was very interesting, but did not leave much fondness. If I could do the trip again, I'd just stick to Poland and the Ukraine. However, I'd still like to visit Lake Baikal and the Mongolian steppes, but to do them as separate trips and not part of one huge trip.
The trip felt more like several trips than a single large trip. I did not feel homesick at all (nearly two-thirds of the trip was in an area I consider 'home'), but there was plenty of discontinuity. By the time of the last full day of the Trans-Siberian, I was feeling like I had had an overload of experiences and I needed a break before I could experience any more experiences, but this feeling was short lived.
It was nice meeting the locals, but if I cannot understand the language, communication will prove to be tricky, but it is still possible to have a good time. One disadvantage of being unable to speak the language is that we cannot overhear other conversations, and therefore have no idea about what is being talked about and how it is being discussed.
If there was one thing I was reminded of, it is that we take a lot of things for granted and that we should be aware of the teamwork (or accidental teamwork) of our ancestors that helped give us all the comforts of modern civilisation.
Travelling with Patrick (as opposed to travelling by myself) made the experience somewhat different. As well as exploring the surroundings, I had someone who had known me for ages to relate my experiences with. Also, this meant that we could discuss alternate conversation-paths of some of the conversations we had with people that we met (the less said about that, the better). While I was with Patrick, less emphasis was spent on meeting other people and more was spent just being with ourselves (with the exception of the Eco-building course), but this changed as we got past Poland. As well as that, we got to reminisce and explore each other.
If there was one reoccurring theme of the trip, it was bad toilets. They got progressively worse as we got to China. At first, I thought the outdoor toilet with a hole in the ground in Poland was bad, but at least there, I had a place to sit down on. Also, beech trees and pine trees seemed to keep cropping up.
I've picked up a dislike for visas. They're a pain to get hold of and limit the flexibility of travel. I've decided that I should try to avoid countries that make you jump through flaming hoops to get a visa. Flexible travel is my style.
The ideal trip would involve perpetually going backwards and forwards from Poland to the Ukraine. I'd go to the Ukraine if I'm feeling too restless, and go to Poland when I'm too exhausted, frustrated or just plain stressed out. If Ukraine joined the Inter-rail zone, that would be utterly zajebiście.
Patrick's overall impression
It was a great trip.
See also
Leave us some feedback or get in touch
Website by Andrei. Photos were mostly by Andrei and Patrick. Additional photos contributed by Ian Saunders, Maria Hyttel (AKA 'Maria 3'), Jaromir Gąsiorek (AKA 'Jarek') and the Chinese restaurant owner in Shanhaiguan.
Back to the WhyNot travelling page.
Back to Andrei's travelling page.
