Russia Part I: Arrival, Culture Shock

I spent the last week in Russia, taking the overnight train from Helsinki to Moscow on Sunday, spending 3 days there and then moving onto St Petersburg for another 3 days before heading back. This was a student trip and there were about 35 of us, and one guide. To be honest the whole experience of going to Russia was a bit overwhelming. It is by far the strangest, most different place I have ever visited, and I have been all over Europe. It was a place of massive contrasts, both in its people and the cities themselves.

The group meets at the station

A lot of us were actually quite nervous about going to Russia. Just look at some of the travel guides on the internet and you'll see why - racist and xenophobic attacks are on the rise, corruption has invaded every level of society, especially the police who are not to be trusted and have been known to extort money from foreigners and on the news you'll see things like Russia being ranked almost bottom in the world for press freedom. Right before we left a leading critic of the government was murdered in Moscow.

Don't let their smiles fool you. Unfortunately, nearly every uniformed Russian we met treated us with contempt.

Anyway, with all these worries pushed to the backs of our minds, we met at the station and I have to say I was becoming extremely excited. All I had read about Russia, how it seemed to be so different and far away and unwelcoming somehow made me even more interested in going. The visa alone was quite a hassle - you had to specify exactly where and when you are staying. There's no such thing as a standard tourist visa in Russia!

Nothing in Russia, even on the international trains, is in English.

I was going with seven others from my university and another five friends from Helsinki, so I knew quite a sizeable amount of the group already. After meeting our guide, Jukka, we boarded the 18.30 train. This was our first shock. Compared with Finnish trains it was very dated and quite obviously ex-Soviet. The Russian staff on bored spoke no English at all - the first indication that our time in Moscow was going to be quite difficult.

Relaxing in our cabin

We had a 14 hour overnight journey ahead of us. Although we had beds, most of us had no intention of sleeping at least until the early morning. I spent much of the time drinking beer and playing cards with the others. My first trip to the restaurant car was another major shock - the staff seemed to completely ignore my presence and it took 15 minutes to get served. The waiter kept walking into me as if I wasn't even there and didn't once utter 'sorry' or 'excuse me'. I would later begin to realise that this is quite normal behaviour for Russians.

A typical view from the train

The next shock came at the border. After the rather terrifying Russian border patrols had boarded the train, searched our cabin and taken our passports, we finally moved over into Russia itself. Apparently the Finland-Russia border is one of the most starkly contrasting in the world. Finland has the world's lowest corruption rating and one of the very highest standards of living. Russia, as you might have guessed, is the opposite. Even though it was dark, we could still see the enormous difference immediately after entering Russia. It was like night and day. Clean, respectable houses gave way to enormous, filthy factories belching smoke from massive towers. There were less street lights, the cars looked like they were decades old and the ride got a lot bumpier as we left Finnish tracks.

Our view immediately after leaving the station

We were awoken in the morning by a very loud Russian lady banging on our door and urging us to get up, despite being over 40 minutes from arrival. When we eventually did get there, tired, slightly hungover and confused, we headed out through the crowded station into the city. This was one of the most uncomfortable moments I've experienced. Everybody appeared to be wearing black. Everyone was wearing fur hats. Everyone was staring at us. We looked completely different and really stood out as foreigners. The Russians all had glazed looks on their faces. It was an incredibly depressing sight, combined with the grey bland look of the station square and compounded by the typically-dull Moscow weather. But things were about to get more interesting as we headed onto the metro...

Inside the Moscow metro for the first time

Our guide told us one thing before entering the metro - 'Be aggressive'. He was right. The Moscow metro is regarded as being one of the few ex-Soviet institutions still running as well as it ever did. It really is quite impressive - the stations are large and ornately designed, they are attractions in themselves. They also tend to be quite deep below ground, with many being designed for dual-use as nuclear shelters. It's fast and efficient and I must say that coming from London I was quite impressed with the sheer frequency of the trains - you rarely have to wait more than a minute. The problem is that it is very very crowded, sometimes with queues to get into the stations and then queues for the escalators and you really have to force your way onto trains as others don't seem to care if they get in your way.

Sights like this in a metro station remind you of where you are

We arrived at our stop, Ismailovsky Park, where our hotel was situated. If anything the area looked even more depressing than the earlier scene in central Moscow. Huge, bland concrete monstrosities stretched into the sky. It turned out one of those was our hotel. Originally built as the athletes village for the Moscow Olympics in the 1980s, the tower blocks had now been turned into a series of enormous hotels. We stopped to change our money into roubles, coming out with big piles of cash. Of course we were always worried about pick-pockets, so it was worrying to be carrying so much. We also had to carry our passports at all times (as police have a habit of checking) so it was quite a test to keep it safe, sticking out of my pocket in a crowded city for a week!

One of these was our hotel

We checked into the hotel and I was given a room on the 23rd floor. The hotel itself was quite pleasant on the inside and it was nice to have a TV in my room for a change. I had a look at BBC World for the first time in months and the main story was the dying Russian ex-KGB agent, a critic of the government, who had been poisoned in London. Nice!

The view from my hotel room.

After a quick rest it was time to head into the city for some sightseeing, which I'll write about later. I must say that while I have been very negative in this post, I think it was down to a mixture of paranoia and the shock of entering a very strange place. Things got a whole lot better, and while my first hour in Moscow is one of the most unnerving experiences I've had, by the end of the first day we had grown used to the 'charms' of Russia and were having a great time.

I'm heading to Lapland tonight and won't be back until next week, so stay tuned for more on my trip to Russia. It'll be much more upbeat, I promise!

More Ice Hockey

A couple of weeks ago I went to see some more ice hockey. This time it was two games on the final day of the Karjala Tournament. If you're wondering why I chose to sit through two ice hockey games in a row, it's because the tickets were sold together as a package and I'm always one to get my money's worth.

No alcoholics allowed apparently

The tournament is played between four of the leading ice hockey nations - Russia, Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden. My tickets were for Russia v Czech Rep. and the mother of all battles...Finland v Sweden. There is a massive rivalry between Finland and Sweden and I never thought I would get to see them playing each other live so I was quite excited.

The English...supporting Finland

The first game, Russia v Czech Rep. was very exciting and closely fought right up until the end. The game finishes 2-2 and thus went to penalties, which I've never seen before in ice hockey so it was quite interesting. Russia ended up winning, although we were cheering on the Czechs as this now meant that Russia had won the tournament and Finland would have no chance.

The Finns and Swedes line up against each other

The Finland v Sweden game was still very exciting. The stadium was full of Finnish fans, I could only see a handful of Swedes surrounded by a sea of blue and white. It was again closely fought but the Swedes started to gain the upper hand by the end and won 1-0.

The final score

It was great fun again to see some ice hockey and I'm becoming quite a fan now. It's a shame that when I leave Finland I won't be able to see anything like it, even TV coverage of the sport is very limited at home. Still, it was nice to see the national team of Finland playing in Helsinki against the hated-Swedes and I hope they win sometime in future!

Stockholm Part II - The City

As I mentioned in the last post, we drifted off the boat in a daze, hungover and tired. But there was work to be done! We had just 6 hours to look around a city several times the size of Helsinki.

The old town

We originally intended to get the metro into the city centre, as the port is right on the outskirts but we couldn't find the station and ended up walking, which took about 30 minutes. It had the side effect of allowing us to see some of the non-tourist parts of the city.

The architecture is much nicer than Helsinki

After a much-needed breakfast consisting of a hotdog and coffee, we began walking around the city centre. As I said, Stockholm is much larger than Helsinki and more spread out. It's built across multiple islands linked by bridges, with canals adding to the confusion and it's also quite hilly in contrast with Finland's relatively flat capital.

A typical street in the old town

The city is very historic, with many old buildings and even an entire 'old town' on its own island. This was definitely the most attractive part of the city with its narrow winding alleys and cobbled streets. Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit any of the museums or major attractions, including the royal palace which really is a must when visiting Stockholm.

Old meets new

We climbed a couple of hills to get some rather impressive views of the city and walked around a few of the many districts, each with their own individual character.

Outside the royal palace

It was also quite interesting to get used to Swedish currency, the Kronor, with its confusing variety of coin sizes and unclear labelling of values. Luckily we didn't spend too much money in the shops during our short time there, although it was nice to see my first Burger King since leaving the UK!

Looking toward the old town

Despite feeling rather ill after the night before, we had a great time looking around the city. It's a shame that we didn't have more time, as really at least a few days are needed. I suppose I'll have to go back some time!

Me. In front of a statue. With a large group of Spaniards in the background.

We headed back to the port by metro and boarded the ship even more tired and exhausted than when we had left, ready for another relaxing evening of...insane partying!

You can view more of my photos from Stockholm in this gallery on my Flickr site. As for now...I'm going to Russia this evening! Expect more updates when (and if) I return in a week...

Stockholm Part I - The Cruise

A couple of weeks ago I went to Stockholm. Well...I say I went to Stockholm but to be honest I don't remember much of it. It was definitely one of the craziest and most intense experiences I've ever had. The events in this blog post are reconstructed from my hazy memories, the accounts of others and the mysterious photos I found on my camera and have no recollection of ever taking.

Our ship, the Silja Symphony

The trip was a two-night cruise to Stockholm, travelling there overnight on Sunday, giving us a day in Stockholm and returning on Monday night. The Helsinki-Stockholm cruise has a reputation for heavy alcohol consumption and all kinds of debauchery (the ship is nicknamed the 'love boat'), but this trip was actually even more special. Called the Porauslautta, it's held annually and is known amongst students as the biggest party of the year. There were over 1000 students on the ship with a duty free shop...not a good mix!

Inside the main lobby

We arrived at the ship 1 hour before sailing time and found the way to our cabin. The room was small but we didn't intend to spend much time in there. The boat itself was huge and had shops, restaurants, bars, a nightclub and a sauna (obviously).

Me on the deck in the freezing cold before leaving Helsinki

By the time the boat left I had already started drinking and my memories of the outward trip become vague shortly after the duty free shop opened. I vaguely remember being in the nightclub and then I apparently fell asleep in my bathroom after being led to my room. I know that the latter happened because my friend, ever the one to help, removed the camera from my pocket and took photos of me sprawled on the floor.

Looks like we're in the water...this is what happens when you get the cheapest cabins

I had met with the other exchange students and spent time wandering around the ship. Walking through the corridors where the cabins were was quite an experience, most of the doors were open and you couldn't get to the end without being pulled into a party.

Some of the exchange students (and one Finnish tutor)

There were all kinds of crazy things going on in the ship. People racing around with shopping trolleys, spontaneous parties being staged in the corridors and when heading to my room I was even narrowly missed by a stereo thrown out of a cabin which shattered into pieces on the floor. Apparently somebody didn't like the music!

Sitting in the smoking area, which seemed to become our home for much of the evening

All the cabins had a free telephone for communication between rooms so we had much fun prank calling each other and used this to arrange parties. I spent much of the night drifting between the different exchange students' cabins across various decks.

One of the cheerful decorations in the typically-Finnish tutors' cabin

I am reliably informed that the rest of the trip there was good fun and I am inclined to believe them, judging by the shape of everybody in the morning. We arrived in Stockholm at 9am and I awoke in my room with no recollection of how I got there, still feeling very tired and with a terrible hangover. But nothing was going to make me miss out on visiting the city!

The nightclub

Some people never made it off the ship and simply slept in their cabins for the 7 or so hours we had in the city. Mostly the Finns to be honest - they seem to have quite an apathy toward Sweden. None of the exchange students had been there before and were determined to look around so we headed out into Stockholm.

Hanging out by the staircase near our cabins

As I mentioned before, I awoke in Stockholm with little memory of the night before. But as the day went on, it started to dawn on me that I must have gone a bit over the top. Every fellow student I met over the course of the day (which was quite a few) seemed to greet me with something along the lines of either "Dave! You're alive!", or a rather amazed "You actually made it off the ship?!".

The state of our corridor during the first night

After an exhaustive day of sightseeing (which I'll write about later), we made it back to the ship. I was incredibly tired after only a couple of hours sleep the night before so I went to bed for a little while before the ship left.

I don't even want to think how much effort somebody made to do this

It took a couple of hours for the partying to start again as everybody was so tired and worn out from the last night and all the sightseeing. In fact I had proudly proclaimed "I will never drink again!" after arriving in Stockholm, but to be honest that was a rather short-lived promise. I decided to stick purely to beer for the journey home, which would give me a greater chance of staying concious than the insanely varied concoction of drinks the night before.

Yes, that is a man with a condom on his head which he inflated with his nose. This kind of thing happened more often than you might think.

My plan worked and I didn't pass out on the journey home, so I actually remember all of it and can safely say it was more enjoyable. I again spent time drifting from cabin to cabin, hanging out with the other students. I also had a rather lengthy discussion with a Finn about whiskey (he wrongly assumed I was an expert due to my Scottish roots), a debate about the death penalty, I learnt to swear in Spanish and I stole a hat from one of our tutors and was chased around the ship when I wouldn't give it back to her, amongst various other strange things that happened.

Departing from Stockholm in the evening

I actually stayed awake partying almost the entire night, only heading to bed after 8am and getting about an hour's sleep before the ship arrived in Helsinki! This gave me maybe 4 or so hours of sleep across the 3 days. Needless to say I was absolutely shattered when we got to Helsinki.

We managed to get sixteen people into one cabin meant for four

We walked in a daze all the way back from the harbour to the station with our heavy suitcases full of tax-free beer, not really noticing the heavy snow all over the city which hadn't been there before we left. Once I got home I jumped into my bed and slept for the rest of the day.

The ship docked in Helsinki

All in all, it was an amazing experience and probably the best party ever, if you can call it that. It was literally non-stop insanity over the two nights, with a rather cultured day of sightseeing sandwiched in between. It took me a couple of days to recover...but it was worth it!

Snow!

Before I post about the main event this week (the cruise to Stockholm), I want to talk about something important...snow!

Timpurinkuja...My home in Finland

One of the reasons I came to Finland was to see some real snow! It very rarely snows in London, and when it does it stays for a couple of days at most, so I was quite excited when it suddenly started snowing for the first time a couple of weeks ago.

Me in the snow

A few days after the heavy snow started I went exploring and discovered a tall hill very close to my apartment. I knew it was there but didn't know it was so high, so I climbed to the top which was quite difficult as there are no paths and it has some very rocky edges.

The view from the top of the hill

I was rewarded with a stunning view over the entire town, with the sun just setting in the distance. Nobody I asked knew about the hill even though it's practically next door to us! It's amazing that such a spot could remain so unknown.

Poor grass...drowning in snow

I was impressed with how prepared Finland is for snow. Even though this first snow of the year apparently came as a surprise, by the end of the first day all the major roads and paths across the town were gritted, with snow ploughs patrolling up and down clearing the way.

Tyre tracks in the snow

The snow seems to come in waves, snowing heavily then turning to ice as it melts away, then snowing again. The worst point is when it's icy as it's very slippery and makes it quite difficult to walk. No more running for the train at the last minute like in the summer, I'd end up flat on my face if I did that.

Icy rock face by the harbour in central Helsinki

Everywhere looks really different when covered in snow. Helsinki is like a completely different city compared with summer. It's nice to go out and look at familiar places again in this weather just to see how they've changed.

Full moon in the evening

The weather isn't actually too cold yet, and as I will probably be leaving in December I should miss the worst of it. But I will be visiting Lapland in a few weeks, so I will hopefully get a good taste of the Finnish winter.

Sunset over Leppavaara

Ok so that's enough about snow for now. Stay tuned to hear about the cruise to Stockholm and the greatest party of the year!

Another Mökki Weekend

Last Friday I went on a cottage weekend with about 30 exchange students and 10 tutors from Evtek.

Waiting at Evtek for the bus to arrive

We left on Friday evening by coach, the destination being a group of cottages deep in the forest near Porvoo, close to the sea. We arrived in complete darkness after a couple of hours drive, much of it down winding country roads.

The cottage I stayed in. The boats give away that it was by the sea.

After carrying through the forest all our bags packed with food and drink (mostly alcohol) to last the entire weekend, we chose our cottages. There were two close to each other, one big and one small and I ended up in the small one with 8 others. There was another several hundred meters through the forest and another beyond that which also contained the sauna, so the students were pretty spread out. Unlike the last cottage I stayed in, these ones didn't even have running water, so all water had to be fetched from the well!

The sauna cottage

We started drinking almost immediately, with most of us bringing stupidly large supplies of alcohol. I relied on beer while some others brought only vodka, which is a bit crazy but at least it's lighter to carry I guess.

Night time in the big cottage

After getting a bit drunk we headed to the sauna, which was of the proper wood-fired traditional kind. It was a strange experience as this was the first time I had been to a sauna whilst very drunk, but at least that prepared me for the next bit...swimming in the Baltic sea.

There are 5 nationalities in this picture!

It had actually been lightly snowing before we went swimming, so that gives an idea of just how cold it was. The worst part was actually getting to the sea, which required a naked run in total darkness, avoiding the rocks. We could only stand a few seconds in the water at a time, before running back into the sauna which is an incredibly satisfying experience. After sauna we went back to the big cottage for more drinking and went to bed some time in the early morning.

Me on a morning stroll

The next day I woke up in the afternoon and opened the curtains in my cottage to find myself staring at the sea, which was quite a surprise. We had arrived when it was completely black outside and hadn't noticed that our cottage was practically on the shore. I thought it was surrounded by trees!

Artistic shot of a mysterious figure. Only kidding, it's Rob shortly after waking with a hangover

After breakfast I went exploring with Gerard and we climbed a large rocky outcrop that gave a great view out into the sea. It took us a long time to climb it as the edges were very steep and slippery with parts covered in ice. Once on top we discovered the staircase almost next to us!

The view toward the sea from the hill

After getting back to the cottage we all had lunch and set out in a bigger group to climb a very tall hill we had spotted earlier. Finland is a very flat country so we get excited whenever we see anything tall! It was very steep on the sides but we found a way to the top and were rewarded with a great view.

...and the view in the other direction from the hill

It was possible to see for miles around from the top, although most of the distant landscape was just more forest. We climbed back down on the other side from where we came up and continued exploring. On the way we came across a strange sign...

No idea what this means

...but we kept going and wandered down toward the shoreline, following it back to the cottage. The rest of that day was spent the same as Friday - drinking , sauna and more drinking.

Getting the barbecue ready

We awoke sometime in the afternoon and were quite confused when somebody informed us that it was only 12.30 when all of our watches said 1.30. Turns out the clocks went back in the middle of the night and we completely forgot about it and being hungover it just really confused us at that point.

Sunset on the last day

I spent the rest of the day exploring more of the wilderness and climbing a couple more hills, before packing up and heading to the coach in the evening to take us back home.

It was a really good time with great company - there's something really nice about the whole staying-in-a-cottage-in-the-middle-of-nowhere thing. I've done it twice now and look forward to doing again sometime soon. As for now, I'm heading to Stockholm on a 3-day trip so expect some updates toward the end of the week.

As usual there are more pics here on my photo site.