Was it worth it?
Absolutely! It was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I would definitely recommend it. I learned so much about the culture and norms in different places, which is a completely invaluable lesson in empathy and understanding. I saw places that weren’t just major cities, walked through the countryside, and I think that’s also a really important part of this trip. When traveling, it’s so easy to just go to the main cities and never explore an entire country. It’s so rare to get the chance to see this much of a single country.
Why travel alone?
It’s partially an exercise in exploring my personal endurance, and learning how to deal with being constantly out of my comfort zone, and completely overwhelmed with input all the time. It was a great experience for me to push my boundaries, remind myself that I can do whatever I set out to do, observe myself in uncomfortable situations, and figure out how to handle them and even appreciate and enjoy them. One of the guides, the one from the acrobat show and Din Tai Fung, she actually asked in the car: How does it feel traveling alone? Does it make you feel lonely? And I responded that it makes me feel strong. It makes me feel like I am capable and I can do anything. We get so comfortable in our daily lives, and dependent on our partners to care for us in the areas where we are weak and caring for them in areas where they are weak. It’s good to get out there and remember that I can take care of myself, when necessary, and makes me more appreciative of having someone do nice things like charge my phone when I forget and make sure I take all my things with me. 🙂
Would you do it again?
I would definitely travel to some of the places again, but I can’t really say I would take the train. I have been relieved of my romantic ideas of the train. The services on the train are designed to keep you in the cabin, not wandering about. So meals are served in your cabin/bedroom. And a lady walks around offering snacks and ice cream all day. There’s really no reason to go to the dining car. But I went anyway, hoping to experience the same camaraderie I had experienced on the first couple of trains, but the dining car was almost always empty, as no one else had any reason t go there either. So it becomes a slog of sitting and watching snow after snow after snow pass by the window and not this romantic notion of bohemian writers and artists and scholars and world travelers sharing their tales. So it became more of an endurance test. How long can I entertain myself with no physical activity? And no shower. And terrible food. It’s just generally kind of boring, but maybe this part would be improved by traveling with companions.
Was it cold?
The coldest part of the trip was the 2 days in Mongolia. It was -28 to -30 Celsius (-18 to -22 F) on the day I had the free time to walk around town. I spent about 3 hours alone walking around outdoors without going inside. I explored an outdoor market. I just walked the streets. The cold wasn’t terrible, as I was well prepared. I wore both of the thermal underlayers, with snow pants on top and a heavy sweater and down puffer-coat. I actually pulled out my neck gaiter, the only day I wore that, and I found it particularly helpful in keeping my face warm. It was cold enough that, as my warm steamy breath was directed upwards toward my eyes by the neck gaiter, the steam froze on my eyelashes. But it wasn’t cold enough to actually prompt me to wear my gloves. I just kept my hands in my pockets mostly, but got so tired of taking the gloves off every time I wanted to take a photo that I just left them off. It wasn’t unbearably cold, but I don’t live there and didn’t experience it every day. The hassle of having to maintain that many layers constantly would be so exhausting. It took like an hour to get dressed in the mornings.
What was your favorite part?
Definitely Moscow. It was so festive and fun and everyone was just so cheerful, especially when I went back for the New Years Eve celebrations. There’s the backdrop of Moscow’s architecture: beautiful, iconic buildings, dusted with snow. Then there’s the decorations. Every street was totally bedazzled in lights and decorated trees and 2018 signs. And then the intangible celebratory vibe. Ice slides and little snowboarding hills and just winter celebration everywhere. It was my favorite part because it was celebratory and because I have never really experienced a real winter with snow and skiiing and ice sculptures. I know it’s kind of biased to pick a city when it’s at its best, most celebratory. But I have also visited Budapest during their holidays and I have to say…. go to festivals and go to celebrations. Seeing a city is one thing, but truly celebrating with the locals is freaking magical. I don’t know what Moscow is like the rest of the year…and maybe I don’t need to, because I had the best time watching hundreds of dancers in the streets and enjoying mulled wine on every corner.
What was your favorite meal?
So it’s strangely, or maybe not so strange, difficult to find old-wold traditional Russian food. It’s a thing that people make at home, but not a thing that is celebrated as cultural heritage. So there are hundreds of sushi restaurants and Georgian and Ukranian restaurants, but finding a good Russian restaurant would be like finding a good comfort food restaurant here. They just aren’t that common. That said, by far the best meal I had on the trip was in Listvyanka at the Proshli Vek restaurant. I walked for an hour in driving snow to find it and it totally paid off. The meal was thinly sliced steak, layered with cheese and tomatoes. Throughout Russia, vegetables were a bit of a rarity, and everything was served with potatoes, usually French fries. And I had a tomato garlic dip as an appetizer that was delicious. And a great beer. The restaurant itself was like a wooden cottage, cozy and homey. I sat in the corner, enjoying my meal and watching people come and go, shaking the snow from their luxurious fur coats, playing a round at the pool table. It was the perfect level of delicious food combined with a welcoming, homey environment.
Unexpected Things
People
While it seemed a bit gruff at first, my interactions with the people were really what made the trip so fun. Strangers walking down the street talked to me, like all the time. I never talk to strangers at home. But people always seemed to be coming up and talking to me, asking me questions. Usually they asked in Russian, seemed like they were asking directions or .. I dunno, but they were just a chatty lot. When they found I couldn’t speak enough Russian to answer them, no one was upset. People were either apologetic that they had bothered me or just warm. One lady asked me a question and when I couldn’t answer, she said “Moscow welcomes you”. Another lady asked me where the restrooms were in a mall. I didn’t know, but pointed to a sign that might help her and she said “Sorry, sorry” when she realized I didn’t speak much Russian… then walked about 10 feet before turning around and coming back and saying “Merry Christmas” in English… on December 25. Like she cared enough to both realize I was English speaking and that much of the rest of the world celebrates Christmas on the 25th, not January 7. It just seemed so profoundly thoughtful and made me really consider my own interactions with tourists in SF. The little girls who chatted me up in Listvyanka and tried to teach me more Russian words and the people at my table at the NYE party who announced that I was their guest for the evening, everyone was just so unimaginably welcoming and caring and thoughtful.
The cold:
I packed so many things that I never ended up using. Having many of my colleagues suggest that I was going to literally die in the Siberian forest, I packed as if I were going on an Antarctica expedition. And so I was prepared for anything, anything except an unseasonably warm Siberian winter. It was only -10 C (14 C) when I arrived in Siberia, and it warmed to -2C (about 30F) by the time I left. So my crampons never made it out of my suitcase. And my ski gloves were carried around Mongolia but not worn. The neck gaiter was worn once, but the boot gaiters also stayed packed up. And I only wore the ski pants once, also in Mongolia. All-in-all, I really enjoyed the snow and the cold was really invigorating and energizing. It certainly makes walks through the town brisk and refreshing. It never got cold enough to be uncomfortable in my gear, and I really enjoyed the winter sports and watching kids do curling and seeing ice slides and ice skating rinks.
Mongolia:
Mongolia was one of the more frustrating parts of the trip, as I never felt like I got to experience it. Though the tour itinerary before I left indicated that all of the day tours would end at 3 p.m. and I would be free to explore the town in the evening on my own, the guide insisted on going to dinner with me, which is awkward and also he ordered the food every time, without me ever seeing the menu, which is infuriating. So I felt like I was managed and babysat and not allowed to explore. And for me, the most alluring part of traveling is to explore. I generally say that the point of traveling is to experience awe. I love walking through a new city, no map, no plans, and just looking up, not reading the guidebook. Having tour guides was nice in that it increased the number of things I saw in each city. But it was frustrating in that, only when I was on my own could I just look up at a random building or statue or church and just feel… ‘wow’. Like holy cow that’s so cool, I wonder what it is, maybe I’ll look it up later. Instead, I was pretty constantly having things pointed out to me, and then anything that I turned my attention to, the guide would proactively explain to me. So he’s pointing at something on the right, I look at something cool on the left. He then proceeds to tell me ‘that tower is 180 feet tall and that’s important because 180 is the number of…. ‘ Ugh. Over and over, any feeling of just “wow” was pretty quickly extinguished by the guides. So for me, I much prefer traveling alone. Actually alone.
Theater:
One of the amazing cultural things that was totally unexpected was the theaters. Every city had multiple theaters for different types of performances and they were happening all the time. And every performance I saw was just super high quality. The street dancers for the New Years celebration were obviously pretty casual. But the theater performances I bought tickets to were all super top notch. Costumes, choreography, acting. You really got the sense that normal people go to the theater regularly. Unlike here where only the wealthy can afford ballet or opera or musical tickets and even then, it’s terrible seats unless you really fork it over. It’s almost like there is a whole separate society of people who attend theater/arts functions, and it’s super rare to know anyone who goes. But every city in Russia had performances. And this has to be so good for the artistic community. The circus had a live orchestra. How many musicians are employed in Moscow alone? The circus, the musical theater and the ballet(s) and the opera. It felt like Moscow alone had more theater performances than the entirety of the US.
Banya:
The 3 things I try to schedule whenever I travel are: a cooking class, a dance performance, and a spa visit. Usually I do so much walking that the spa treatment is very much needed. And I have had a lot of amazing spa treatments, from the Hawaiian cocoon treatment to the Hungarian public baths and the French singing massage. But I have never experienced anything like the banya. It was explained to me in the Taltsy museum outside Irkutsk, that the banya originated in Siberia, when the original Russian settlers were there. With some pride, he explained that the people in this area used the banya, usually once a week, to clean their bodies, which is much more frequently than the ‘European’ people bathed. The hot sauna makes you sweat, emptying your pores. Then the brooms are used to knock off all of the dirt and grime from the week. Then a soapy scrub-down followed by a rinse. I had read about the banya before I left, but I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. How hard do they hit you with the brooms? Does it hurt or is it relaxing? While the first banya experience I had was a little more dramatic, with the guy hitting the walls and making a lot of noise with the brooms, trying to scare me, neither experience was painful. It was pretty mild and in the end, very relaxing. Being able to suddenly walk through the icy Siberian town with just a light jacket as my internal body temp is high enough to melt all the snow within a foot of me. It’s like a winter superpower.
The End
If you made it this far, thanks!! It has been so great to have the opportunity to travel and to have the ability to share it with all of my friends and colleagues. I am definitely happy with this trip and will take a nice break from traveling for a bit. Joe and I have a trip to Europe planned for April. Then, maybe in a year or so I’ll start looking into Machu Picchu …. or continue my exploration of all of Eastern Europe.
