Moscow Metro

I've just recently got back from a lovely holiday in Russia and was completely overwhelmed with just how beautiful a country it was. I think there will need to be many posts to show off the gorgeous photos!

Firstly, the Moscow Metro. I'd been told before that the Moscow Metro was very ornate, but wow! I was not prepared for just how beautiful some of the stations were!!

Here are some of the best:

Arbatskaya

Ploshchad Revolyutsii

Park Pobedy

Kiyevskaya

Kiyevskaya

Krasnopresnenskaya

Belorusskaya

Mayakovskaya

Mayakovskaya

Elektrozavodskaya

Elektrozavodskaya

Buttons Having Adventures

I found this amazing video today on facebook, which my friend had sent me in 2010 and I forgot how much I love it!

It is a video made from all of the buttons which have been lost on the Russian Underground and it makes me laugh how happy the buttons seem and people like they are....watch it and see!

Unfortunately, as it's on Russian Youtube, I can't add the video directly here, but here is the link, please watch it: http://rutube.ru/video/a4435d4295e2ec93f96793bf33f5db30/

A Mini Adventure to Paris

Last weekend, I took a mini break to Paris with a few of my friends. It was something we'd been talking about since January when the Eurostar was on sale, but by the time we actually organised it, it was £150 so annoyingly we had to fly instead. Although I was lucky enough to have enough British Airways airmiles to be able to fly for almost free and in style so I didn't mind flying too much.

We had a rare day of really hot March sunshine, and so spent the Friday with bare arms and feet which was lovely, and I'd forgotten how much I love Paris!

It was amazing to discover that you can get in free to almost everything if you're European and under 26 so we made the most of this and went to St Chapelle, which was stunning with the sun coming through the windows, and to see the Degas exhibition at the Musee D'Orsay, and to the Pompidou centre - very cultured.

We also found a fantastic food market really near our hotel, which was full of locals and had some delicious offerings (I smuggled lots back in my suitcase) and a huge vintage market north of the city. Here I could have spent hours wandering around through all the little lanes, with shops crammed full of all sorts of exciting curiosities.

I of course bought some buttons - there were millions to choose from and I very conservatively bought 5 (I had to limit myself or I'd never have stopped with the buttons), and also an apple core necklace (which my house mate thought was real, and disgusting!)

I spoke a lot of French while I was there and really didn't want to come back - but as it's so close to London, I'm sure I'll be back very soon!

What A Strange Country - Oh Wait, It's Malaysia!

Malaysia! Such a beautiful, underrated holiday destination, but also a rather strange place! We crammed a lot into our 3 weeks, and hopped all over the country, visiting the capital, an island, the jungle, another island, with Sharon's house on the mainland, some tea plantations in the mountains, another island, a historical city, then a short stop in Singapore, before the overnight train back to KL.

On Pulau Tioman we saw loads of fish, quite a lots of monkeys, and I got sprayed by a cat whilst at dinner one night!

We had the most amazing Satay one night, as well as some scrumptious Singapore noodles and far too many cocktails.

After a short stay in the jungle where we encountered far too many leeches than is necessary (only about 5 but that's 5 more than I' comfortable with) we headed to Penang for a stay with Sharon! She was an amazing tour guide and took us to all the best places and made us eat all the local delicacies. Including Cendol. Do not eat cendol - it's weird! Who puts noodles and beans into their pudding??

Onto another island, and we headed to Pulau Pangkor which was very calm and quiet compared to Tioman, but we did manage to persuade one of the local barmen to bring us mojitos on the beach at sunset every day. And there was an inflatable obstacle course in the sea. And a temple with a Mickey Mouse and a mushroom. What more could you want?

From Pangkor we headed to Melaka (my Greek housemate says this means 'arsehole' in Greek so finds it pretty funny every time I mention this!) which was a beautiful old city. It was baking hot but we still managed to fit in lots of wandering and a visit to one of the local night clubs.

Then we headed South to Singapore (followed by a Frenchman who we were very rude to) and spent a classy day and a bit in a posh hotel with a rooftop pool, a cocktail at the Raffles Hotel and then a good explore.

We overnight trained it back to Kuala Lumpur and did a final bit of sightseeing and finished off our bargainous shopping, before partying in style at the Reggae Mansion - the best hostel in the world!

I loved Malaysia (so much more than Thailand!) and would definitely recommend it as a holiday destination!!

Train Travel & Other Adventures ~ No.5

So the last part of my recent foreign train adventures were in the south of Argentina, in Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego. This was the most expensive train of the trip and it doesn't really go anywhere, it's just a tourist attraction because it's called El Tren Del Fin Del Mundo (translated as the Train at the end of the World).

After eagerly scanning my Lonely Planet (of the whole of South America - that is one beasty book!) and realising my plan to travel the continent by train was not going to happen, as there aren't really any, this was added to my list of 'trains that don't really go anywhere but I want to go on anyway!'

Patagonia was one of the top places to travel when I made my vague list of where I wanted to travel to and it certainly was stunning. Although Ushuaia is miles away from anywhere, and really inconvenient to get to, I really wanted to go as it is pretty much the furthest south you can get without being in the sea or going to the South Pole. As I didn't have much room left in my passport for visa stamps (it would have been 1. exit Argentina, 2. Arrive Chile, 3. Leave Chile, 4. Arrive Argentina - repeat on the way back) and 12 hours by dodgy road, I found flights from Rio Gallegos for not much more than the bus ticket, and it was only an hour and a half flight.

Ushuaia was equally stunning and had the most snow I'd ever seen! As we travelled south, I kept getting really excited that there was loads of snow, and then in the next place there would be more...and then in Ushuaia MASSES!!!

As there was so much snow, we went Husky dog sledging in one of the ski resorts and as it was so quiet there, I got to drive the sledge! So exciting! But back to trains...So we caught the Tren del Fin del Mundo which used to be the prison train and take the prisoners out to cut firewood in the forests to the train journey was a bit of a tour like that. When we got to the Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) national park, most people caught the train straight back again, or headed to one of the lodges for a leisurely lunch. But me and Livia had other ideas and so we went hiking...in deep snow...with more falling...

I have to say that it was not the best idea we've ever had, as we couldn't see the path, so kept getting lost and disorientated, and we got soaking wet as the snow was so thick and deep, but it was beautiful, and very peaceful. We saw seals playing in a frozen lake, and then had a picnic - very appropriate for this time of year!

So that completes my recent train travelling adventures. Although I am off to Malaysia in a few weeks time so may have more adventures to come.

Train Travel & Other Exciting Adventures ~ No.4

South America!! Which was surprisingly much easier to travel around than I'd thought it would be. And the Cama buses. Oh how I wish National Express would introduce them for journeys here, it really is the way to travel!!

But I still didn't neglect my trains, and so the first journey was an overnight train from Villazon, in Bolivia, just over the border from Argentina to Oruru, about 4 hours from La Paz. The first challenge was making it to the train station on time. My 16 hour bus to take me to the Argentine border, La Quiaca was only 2 hours late, but then it took 4 hours to queue to get through immigration. By this time, everyone was telling me that the tickets would have sold out, but when i arrived at the ticket office with about half an hour to spare, there were plenty of 2nd Class tickets available, which entitled me to a little bit reclining seat, plenty of legroom and a heater! Perfect!!

The journey was quite terrifying, as there were sections where the earth had entirely eroded away, on some of the cliff edges, and the rails were literally hanging over nothing, but I am not sure that the roads would have been any better! I had 2 seats to myself so had plenty of room and a man arrived first thing in the morning with a steaming pot of tea.

We then thought the easy bit was getting the bus from Oruru to La Paz, as it was only a few hours, and the bus touts wait at the station to herd you all onto their buses so they can leave straight away. Unfortunately, about an hour into our journey, the driver pulled off the road, and drove into the middle of nowhere, and then stopped the bus and demanded more money from everyone before he would continue. I would have understood more if the bus was full of tourists, as they would be an easy target, but there was only me and 2 Belgian guys on the bus who weren't Bolivians.

So the arguments started....and continued....through my basic Spanish I got that they were asking 5 Bolivianos more from everyone. Considering there was about 4.6 to £1 when I was there, that really isn't anything, but when you consider that we only paid 15 Bolivianos in the first place, it is quite an increase.

Eventually everyone realised that we didn't really have a choice so we all paid up and continued on our way to La Paz!

My next train journey was actually in Panama and was much more civilised, but also much more expensive. I took the tourist railway along the Panama canal from Panama City to Colon. Colon is pretty scary, but I managed to find the largest taxi driver I've ever seen in my life, who ended up pretty much proposing to me, but also showed me all around the Panama canal and it is really interesting watching all the ships being raised and lowered to get through.

Train Travel & Other Exciting Adventures ~ No.2

To continue on with my train adventures from my post before, on my Gap Year trip last year, I spent a lot of time travelling my train. The website http://www.seat61.com/ is incredibly helpful, as was my trusty Lonely Planet.

I always feel that train travel is safer than going by road, and also you can get up and wander around, and have a proper bed to sleep in. Even though it sometimes took longer to go by train, I always prefer it to road travel as I hate sitting still in a confined space for that long.

So we started off in Egypt with an overnight train from Cairo to Aswan, and then one back from Luxor to Cairo. The one on the way down had pretty comfy seats, and was full of backpackers, but on the way back up we were in a small compartment with 3 very upright seats and I appeared to be the only women on the train so we always had a crowd hanging around outside. Not a good nights sleep!

The next train we caught was in Tanzania. We were in Kampala, Uganda and wanted to get to Moshi, to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Everyone we spoke to suggested getting a 24 hour bus, which went back through Kenya, but #1. I didn't want to spend 24 hours on a bus, and #2. I didn't want to pay another $25 for a Kenyan visa when we'd just come from there.

So instead, I decided that we should sail across Lake Victoria, to Mwanza, then catch the train from Mwanza to Dodoma, and then the bus from there to Moshi. We went to the port in Kampala to try and see about getting a boat across to Mwanza, but were told that since the ferries had sunk in 2007, there was no passenger ferry, and the only way to get across was to hang around and wait for a cargo ship. Seeing as there was a couple who had been waiting for 4 days already, I decided to go for Plan B, which was to get a bus to just across the border, in Tanzania, and then catch a more reliable passenger ferry from there.

I had met some missionaries when rafting down the Nile in Uganda who said we couldn't possibly go to Mwanza, as it was a dirty town, full of drugs, sex and prostitutes. We then stayed with this English man on Banda Island in Lake Victoria, who said we simply must go to Mwanza, as it was full of drugs, sex and prostitutes.....

The bus to take us to the ferry port ran once a day, at 11am, and took 7 hours. Seeing as the ferry left at 9pm, I thought 3 hours was a very reasonable leeway. But I forgot, we were on African time. So at 4pm, after about 4 hours of me shouting at the bus driver, telling him we had ferry tickets and would be really angry if we missed it...the bus finally left. I'm sure the bus driver was trying his hardest to get us there on time, or maybe he just normally drove at the speed, but funnily enough, we didn't make it, and crossed the border into Tanzania at 8.30pm.

By this point, I think the bus driver felt pretty bad, and so arranged for a taxi, paid for by the bus company, to take us, and a Tanzanian guy and try and race to the ferry port before the boat left. Sadly, we didn't make it, but luckily the Tanzanian guy knew that the boat left Bukoba at 9pm, and then docked not far down the coast in Kemondo bay port, to load up with cargo, mainly bananas it seemed. We negotiated with the taxi driver to pay him a little bit extra, and then raced to the cargo port where thankfully the ferry was waiting.

Unfortunately, by this point, all of the cabins and first class seats had sold out, and so we had to travel in 2nd Class seating, where as everyone else had been on the boat for a couple of hours, and so was asleep, there were no seats left, so I spent the night in the luggage rack, watching rats and cockroaches run across the pipes worryingly close to my head.

The MV Bukoba, a previous ferry, sank in 1996, killing about 800 people, which showed the level of overcrowding, as the capacity was 430. As we were right in the belly of the boat it was so creaking and loud, and when I got woken up in the middle of the night, by the boat juddering to a halt, and went up on deck to go to the toilet and saw a little old lady standing on the railings wearing a white frilly nightie. Obviously I wasn't on the Titanic, but it was a proper deja vu moment, and I was absolutely convinced that the boat was going to sink, just probably not by hitting an iceberg!

We docked at 6am, and spent the day in the Swimming Pool at a local hotel, waiting until the 6pm train and the entire day passed without seeing any sex, or prostitutes, or being offered drugs. Maybe we went to the wrong Mwanza?

(note the shape of the pool?)

The train came spot on time, and we paid about TSH 5200 (£25)  for a 2 berth very comfy compartment, made up with freshly starched Linen. The only downside was the toilet, which was a worrying large hole in the ground that I was worried I might fall through and it was a little distracting watching the tracks whizz past whilst trying to squat!!

Although we left spot on time, we still managed to arrive late into Dodoma, which although this is technically the capital of Tanzania, it is tiny and only has a few paved roads. The next morning we got on a bus which we thought would take us to Moshi in about 5 hours...except the road was closed as it had turned into a swamp thanks to all the recent rain, and so we took a detour almost via Dar Es Salaam which took 10 hours instead!! But at least we made it to Moshi!!

Train Travel & Other Exciting Adventures

I love trains. I don't know why or where this love came from but I just love travelling by train. I'm not a train spotter or anything like that, I just would always prefer to travel by train where possible and would choose a train journey over a bus or car journey anyday.

When I was travelling, one of my identities was that I was the youngest ever female train driver for British Rail. This was a really good alias, until I spoke to an Aussie train geek who then asked me loads of technical questions to which I had absolutely no answer.

I rarely got the train when I was younger as my dad loves driving so much, and then squashing myself into the tiny 2 carriage Cardiff - Portsmouth Harbour train to get to and from uni was a nightmare...but train travel overseas, has been an entirely different and much more enjoyable experience.

I suppose actually, my first overseas train experience didn't start well. I was supposed to be catching the overnight train from Nairobi to Mombasa in Kenya, as the roads are far too dangerous to travel on at night. After waiting in the train station in Nairobi for about 4 hours, we were told that there was a blockage on the line, and so we needed to get a bus to where the train was waiting, and we could get on it there. So at 11pm, which is definitely-not-a-safe-time-to-be-on-the-road-o'clock, we sent off on a 4 hour very crowded bus journey along a bumpy road to get to where the train was.

Except it wasn't. We arrived into pitch blackness in seemingly the middle of the African Bush, and were dumped in a small station office next to the train track. With no water or food and no information, people were getting very angry! Luckily, the train turned up about about 5am, and we managed to stumble along the track and find our very comfortable carriage, which we shared with 2 other girls. It turned out that the train had actually managed to make it into the station in Nairobi, after we had left, so then had sat around for a bit, and then come on its way to find us. Then, about an hour into its journey to meet us, the driver got a call from someone saying a group of school kids who had missed the train initially had arrived at the station and would he go back and get them. So he did.....which is why we ended up getting on our train in the middle of nowhere at about 5am...only 10 hours later than our original 7pm departure time.

I wonder what would happen if a train was 10 hours late in the UK?

In Thailand, my summer after the first year of uni, we spent one night in Bangkok, and it was so hot, that at 5am we headed off the the train station to get out of the city and go somewhere cooler! We ended up getting on a train to Pattaya with the intention of then getting the train straight to Ko Samet. As soon as we pulled out of Bangkok, we then had the panic that all of the train station signs were written entirely in Thai script, so we had absolutely no idea when we were getting off or how we would know when to get off! Luckily a man saw our panic and when we got to a stop we'd say 'Pattaya?' and he'd say 'No!' and then eventually 'Yes!' and so we made it!!