So my friend Chris and I decided to go on the Trans-Siberian railway a couple months ago and then proceeded to half-ass the entire planning of the trip. Two weeks before we were going to leave for Russia, we had neither plane tickets, train tickets, Russian or Chinese visas. I can safely say that I've lied to two different embassies in a span of a week and now I'm in Moscow. The plan is that I leave for Irkutsk on Tuesday and then for Beijing shortly after that. From Beijing we'll take a bus to Shanghai. Originally the idea was that we would take a ferry to Japan, but we decided that was too much money. So we'll go back to Beijing and then take a train directly back to Moscow. At first we were going to stop in Ulan Bator, but that just didn't work out, so instead we'll be on a train for over six days (without showers). I'll be back in Prague on August 13th.

Moscow's pretty cool. I had a shot of vodka last night and today I saw those palace looking things at the top of a Tetris game. Walked around the Kremlin, hit up Red Square, and then we stumbled upon a food court near Lenin's Mausoleum. At the food court, we spent about $30 for some really shitty food. I can honestly say I've never spent $20 in a food court until today. I took a picture of the Russian Sbarro's for you, Kelly, it's in Cyrillic so it looks pretty cool.

More updates next time I hit an internet cafe.

wow... i'm mad jealous

Hey,I stayed in the Hotel Rossya,just behind St Basils,but I think it burned down.
Ive never been to Russia in summer,lucky people.
Bet you die of boredom or lung cancer on the train.

i'm pretty sure you have spent more than $20 in a food court.

Wow, a Sbarro's in the Red Square. What a wonderful world....

You gotta send me those pics...

McDonalds is the cheapest place to eat in all of Moscow. I think this includes street vendors. I hate to be "that american" in Moscow, but I've eaten at McDonalds about 5 times since I've been here. An ice cream cone is only 6 rubles.

that just gave me a crazy flash back to zelda... but i think it was more than 6 rubies for ice cream in zelda, if they even had ice cream? how much do the heal potions cost? stock up on arrows, you'll need them for the 4th dungeon in Omsk.

Well, I'm in Irkustk now (see above map). Technically I'm in the middle of Siberia right now, which I can attest is the middle of nowhere. I've just had my first shower in four days, coincidentally, I've just been on a train for four days. I've read four of the five books that I brought with me, so it may be time to do some trading at the hostels. What can I say about long distance train travel? Reading, writing, listening to music, playing my gameboy, eating cups of noodles and drinking ridiculous amounts of tea, ovaltine, and beer. Also, you sleep a lot. The train was practically invented for me. Tomorrow we're going to check out Lake Baikal and the next day we head to Beijing. The Russians have been either really friendly or really shady, but they haven't found out how to combine this yet.

*sigh* - i miss travelling...

i really would like to see some pictures from this trip..

Well, I've been in Beijing for about two days and I've already bought 8 pirated DVD's, a pair of shoes, two gameboy games, and a watch with Mao waving to the crowd back and forth. Chris bought a suit completely tailored for him for about $100. Prices so far:

Pirated DVD, complete with cover art, etc. - $0.83
Pirated GBA game - $4.30
Offensive Mao watch - $2.25

On the tourist side, I've seen Tienamen Square, the Forbidden City (not worth the $6 to get in), taken a rickshaw, gone to Starbucks, eaten at KFC, eaten "authentic" Chinese food, or I suppose just food (tastes about the same as a Chinese place in L.A., but I am in Beijing). Working on getting some dog and seeing the Great Wall. I've got a bunch of handwritten pages about my trip, I'll try to compile them when I get back to Prague. No pictures till then either.

Hey ,capitalistpapertiger.
Got dellybelly yet ?
I hear it goes with the territory
Isnt there some park you can go to where they practice english on you and sing chorus'from the sound of music?Get some of those terracotta soldiers to leave on peoples doorsteps.

okay thats enuff.Wish I was somewhere different .Rabbits still alive too.

I just got thrown off the train at the border between China and Russia. Oh, and it gets better. I don't know if you've ever seen the movie, The Terminal, if you haven't, don't, it's fucking terrible, but anyways, let me explain a few things. First of all, if you're an American, you need a visa for Russia and you need a visa for China. These are two of the few places in the world you need a visa for. I acquired both of these before I left Prague and at the Russian embassy in the Czech Republic, I applied for a double-entry visa and when I got my passport back all seemed well but it was all written in Russian and I don't read Russian. So I took a train from Moscow to Beijing. When I landed in Moscow, they stamped an entry on my Russia visa, and when I hit the Chinese/Russian border, they stamped an exit on it and an entry on my Chinese visa. Get this, when I'm going back the other way, we first hit the Chinese border town, where they stamp an exit on my Chinese visa and then we get to the border and they inform me that my Russian visa isn't a double-entry visa, it's a single entry visa. Thus, they throw me off the train. I'm like, okay, okay, I'll just get a Russian tourist visa or even a transit visa and I'll get back on the train and take my flight from Moscow to Prague, all is cool. Well, get this, they don't issue visas at the border. So basically, I can't go to Russia because I don't have a visa, and I can't go back to China because they just stamped an exit stamp on my single-entry visa for China so I don't have a visa for China either! I can however, stay in this shitty border town that isn't actually in Russia or China and I'm not allowed to leave. Yay!

wow.. thats movie quality good.. just like the terminal, which i didn't see but read about...

at least you can access the internet somehow it appears. I can't wait to see how this will end up. Maybe you can mail your passport to someone to have them stamp it for you and mail it back?

You should have sold your passport in China and told the US embassy it got stolen or something. At least then you wouldn't be stuck in a border town, and you'd have some cash.

way To go Bert .
Are you all by yourself ?
mail the US consul ,you have been a taxpayer................




OR proceed on foot /yak.

Ever see the movie "Spys Like Us"?

that movie is rad.

That is RAD!!!!! Sorry to hear you are stuck, I got stuck in Berlin for a week with no cash and I had to sleep in a train station and solicit food donations because I ran out of cash and my card got eaten. Not fun. I thought I was going to starve to death, or die of detoxification. I didn't smell to hot either. Well although you may have to live in a Russo-Chinese border town for a while at least you got to have a decent meal at Sbarros beforehand....Oh, and a great story....

so where do I send the wedding invitation if you're lost in Siberia?

Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated, I've been meaning to compile the entire trip into a long story but I've been sidetracked many times. I'll try to work on it this weekend, don't mean to leave you guys hanging.

just give us a hint, are you still in the border town or not?