Russian Revolution

Time to update again; this time from Russia, went with Carl, Yoko, Kellie and 23 other fellow member of our tour group. Our guide from St Petersburg to Vladimir and finally Moscow was Ang, a well travelled local girl. Initially the concerns was getting the visa, and then making sure our bags arrived via the new Heathrow Terminal 5, but in the end it all went without a hitch. Our first stop was in the outskirts of St Petersburg in some kind of business hotel which dispensed god-awful brown stinky hot water everyday that we were there. The first night was spent in the hotel where we started a competition of 500 and samples of Russian vodka and Baltika (numbered 1-9 all different local beers) which was to last the entire trip.

First day in St Petersburg was on a sort of hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the city. On this day we managed to see the Smolny Cathedral, Sheremetetyev and Marble Palaces, among heaps of other beautiful buildings around the city. I think we decided that most of the buildings in St Petersburg were painted yellow with the rest other bright shades of lime, orange and blue. We also made a stop by the Church of the Spilt Blood which was a preview to the famous twin Cathedral of St Basil’s in Moscow. The afternoon was spent wondering around the halls of the Hermitage museum, an experience not dissimilar to visiting the Louve in Paris. The evening was spent on a canal cruise, which was unfortunately in Russian but at least we got to see the city from a different vantage point. The second day was spent visiting the St Isaac Cathedral inside Peter and Paul’s Fortress where a number of Tsars were laid to rest. After a lunch of beef stroganoff and more vodka, we headed out of the city to the Pavlovsk Palace which we toured, and the grounds of Catherine’s Palace, both of which were summer palaces of the Tsars. The evening show was provided by traditional Cossack dancers and singers followed by yet more vodka and caviar canapés.

The next day was a free day where we roamed the city fairly aimlessly but really getting the last view of St Petersburg before we bundled onto an overnight train to Vladimir, the ancient capital of Russia. The ride was pleasant except where we got caught by the train guard drinking spirits…vodka’s banned but beer isn’t, go figure. Anyway, some sweet talking from Kellie got us out of trouble, before our group got told to shut up and go to sleep by local teenagers at the other end of the carriage.

Arriving into Vladimir early the next morning, we spent no time dumping our gear in our little village “resort” before heading out to Suzdal for some sightseeing. On the trip we learnt that Suzdal was famous across Russia for two things…it’s a retirement town of 20,000 which boasts some 30 churches/cathedrals and the best cucumbers around. We even got tips of how to grow the best cucumbers, a secret that I’m not going to tell, you’re going to have to go there and find out yourself. At mid-day we all headed to a bunya, which is essentially a sauna…I’m sure everyone’s seen the image of these people running out into the snow and beating themselves with branches…yup this is pretty much what it was, less the snow. I pretty surprised just refreshing it was really, our thermometer read close to 120 deg Celsius of dry heat. That evening we remained in the “resort” entertaining each other with drinking games and probably getting funny looks from the wedding reception in the adjacent room.

Our trip into Moscow was a lot easier than we all thought, avoiding all traffic. Ang managed to organise a night tour of the city for us which was fantastic, getting our first glimpses of the Russian capital under lights. The next was a walking tour of the Red Square, where we once again saw the Kremlin and St Basil’s Cathedral. This was followed by a photo trip around the Moscow Metro circle line, where we jumped on and off at each stating marvelling at the marble statues, mosaics and frescos mostly depicting soviet themes. This first evening we ended up having dinner in a pub behind the former KGB HQ where there was a cool live band and spirited dance floor.

The second day was spent in the Kremlin, walking around inside the grounds. Luckily we managed to get into the Armoury where treasures such as Faberge eggs, State jewels, crowns and carriages were kept. It was amazing to see these items given that we had been getting an education about the Russian Tsars such as Alexander and Catherine the Great, Ivan the Terrible and many others. That night Carl had arranged for tickets for Swan Lake at the world famous Bolshoi Theatre. Thank goodness for the programme at the intermission because I was getting pretty lost in the plot. In our final couple of days in Moscow we spent some time in Gorky Park, shopping for souvenirs and a half day in the ridiculously lavish Soviet Exhibition Park, VDNKh.

In summary, my glimpse into Russia was awesome, expensive but I’d gladly do it all again and look forward to a return trip to see another part of the largest country in the world.

2008 Easter Morocco Trip

Thursday: Start in Marrakech

Easter time again and I’ve managed to find myself on another trip to see more amazing sites of

Europe, well North Africa this time. I shared my trip with a number of friends that I’ve met in London, similar to myself, they’re also aussie who are also working/living in London. I left London before the main group due to cheaper flights that I found. Arriving in Marrakech, I had to first find my way to my riad (traditional house) that I was supposed to spend the night. Little did I know that the streets were planned my some madman with a fetish for mazes, with a little lighting and street signs. Eventually with the help from a helpful teen I managed to find my hotel and check in without too much problems. Luckily the riad was close to the Djemaa-el-Fna (main square).

This square was amazing, there were numerous stands serving all sorts of food, unfortunately they were fairly repetitive after a while. The feel of the square was not dissimilar to the night markets in Taiwan, with the exception that all the vendors were very pushy in getting your attention to buy stuff. There were story tellers, musicians and other street performers as well, all surrounded by big groups of people. After trying some snail soup, chicken tajine washed down with some super sweet mint tea, I called it a day.

Friday: Explore Marrakech / Meet group / Skoura

Getting an early start on the second day, I headed towards the tall minaret that I saw the previous night, but not before I got a photo with some snake charmers on the main square. From the mosque I headed through the souks (markets) and managed through to ramble through it to find a couple of additional mosques towards the north of the medina. Meeting up with the group, and our driver Hussin, we headed through the Atlas mountains via Ouarzazate. Our lunch break, and first real Moroccan meal for the group, was in a roadside diner with during lamp carcasses hanging in the entrance. Back on the road, towards the peak (2650m or something), it started to snow all around us, it didn’t last long though was we wind down through the other side along the valley. I think we were all very surprised with just how lush the valley floors were. Sam managed to arrange a lovely accommodation for us in what appeared to be a small farmstead and the end of winding roads through the village.

Saturday: Through Dades Valley to Sahara

The next day we started driving through the Dades valley towards the Sahara Desert. The first stop was in a gorge, where we saw villagers still washing cloths in the stream shared with goat herders coming down from the hills to water their flock. Bryce and I found a small cave halfway up the cliff walls and decided to climb up and have a look. Little did we know that everyone else was waiting for us to get a move on. That slight delay and the extremely slow lunch service meant that we missed our sunset camel ride towards the campsite in the desert. Instead we rode out under moonlight on camels with names such as Barry White, Jimmy Hendrix and Heartbreak Hotel. I think after a whole day cramped inside the land cruiser, Sam was a little stiff and found the camel ride to be very uncomfortable. It probably didn’t help that the rest of us managed to find some kind of rhythm with the ride and ended up laughing Sam with his groans and moans at every bump.

For some reason our evening meal had rice, a tropical wet climate produce. The desert was incredibly cold, which wasn’t that unexpected I guess. The stars above were amazing, but due to the full moon that we had, we didn’t quite see as many as you might have away from city lights.

Sunday: Sahara through Draa Valley

Early this morning, Colin and I woke up just before the sunrise and climbed the biggest sand dune that we could see. Climbing up loose sand was incredibly hard, especially towards the top when you’re absolutely knackered and your boots sink into the sand. It was well worth it though; the colours and shadows cast by the nearby dunes were amazing. It didn’t take long for others to join us, but unfortunately the remainder of our group didn’t manage to make it to the summit before our camel drivers called us down for the return ride.

After breakfast, we packed back into our four wheel drive before heading back towards Marrakech via the Draa Valley. Unbelievably, we had to ask for couscous at lunch, an ingrediate that we thought was a staple in Morocco. That night we stayed in a Kasbah (desert palace) not far from the Ait Benhaddou.

Monday: Marrakech

The final drive back towards Marrakech was fairly uneventful, as most of us slept through most of it due to the late night card session back in the Kasbah. Those that did stay awake took photos of the valley at an incredible rate (Maria/Sam averaged 60 photos in an hour). There were a few opportunities to get out and stretch our legs, the first on a stretch of the path were it was easier for the land cruiser to go ahead with out us, the second in a historical Kasbah, which used to be the residence of a local pasha.

The limp back into the city was a big surprise to us all, who have now spent the past few days in the wilderness. The hustle and bustle of the city was overwhelming, many of commented that it resembled the busy streets of South East Asia. We spent the evening eating and shopping in the main square. My personal highlights being the stewed sheeps head, a gingsing tea and chocolate sweet and my jedi robes.

I’d like to thank Sam for organising this trip and the others in my group for such a fun time in an exotic location.