march

In the last week and a half, Pippa and I have gone from Novosibirsk to Omsk and now to here, are safe and sound in the lovely little town of Ekaterinburg (sometimes refered to as Yekaterinburg). Novosibirsk was a fun city (about 2 million people). There we checked out the opera, the local fast food and 3 types of accommodation.

The first was the Lyux room at the train station. Best bed we've slept on yet. So fluffy and soft, we didn't even notice that it was actually two single beds stuck together until the next morning. Next we went to the Hotel Novosibirsk. This was a rather pricey option, but did include a room with a view (depressing soviet-style flats and a water feature thing that looked a cross between a fountain and a sewage treatment plant), a "free" breakfast (where we stole several hard boiled eggs for 'ron) and the all important visa registration.

For the uninitiated, all visas must be registered within 3 working days of when you enter the country, otherwise the man gets pissy. All the guide books and the people we had spoken to that had been through Russia said this was one thing you didn't want to fudge, especially in the more touristy areas. But as Russian bureaucracy can sometimes be its own downfall, the operative words here are "working days". We arrived on a Saturday morning (may 6) meaning we then had to wait until monday (may 8), which turned out to be some pseudo holiday before the Victory Day celebrations on the tuesday (may 9). We went to lake baikal on Tuesday, which didn't have any places to register, so we planned to do it when we got back to Irkust. When we arrived at the hostel the next morning (the only hostel we have found in Russia so far), where the woman basically refused to register our visas because according to her it was a waste of time and money. We left for Omsk, but decided under the guidence of a 40 something Russian ladt\y named... you guessed it... Natasha, recommended we go to Novosibirsk instead. It was well worth the whim we used to jump off the train a day early.

More soon