Four days aboard the Trans-Siberian Express.

Hi! Now that we have the internet we are finally able to get stuff on here.

After sweltering in the heat of Moscow's hottest ever recorded day we were happy to be heading off to Yaroslavlsky Station to catch our train to Irkutsk. We had stocked up on noodles, coffee, biscuits and the requisite bottle of vodka (which cost roughly three pound fifty). We were in second class soft sleeper or Kupe. This meant four bunks in each compartment with a small table and room to stow your stuff. We met our first train companion Anya, who's mother introduced her as an 19 year old student going back off to uni. We bonded over a love of celebrity magazines (in particular Russian Heat! Magazine) and Brad Pitt in Fight Club and credit to Anya's English skills managed to chat away for hours with a shared understanding of about 50 words. We also met Kate and her mother and cute little brother Daniel who were from Irkutsk and spoke good English and better German than us.

After we waved Anya off at Tyumen we had a day of lounging in the carriage by ourselves which gave us a good oppurtunity to try out our 'Train Yoga' programme (We'd been on the train for over 48hrs and were a bit restless). Later that night we were woken up by a family from Kyrgystan occupying various beds up and down the carriage. I peeked out of my sheets to see a woman sat on the end of my bed breastfeeding a small baby, and a girl (who we think was the baby's aunty) moving into our spare bunk. Between the family they had two babies, two toddlers, various adults and grandad who had a full set of extremely striking gold teeth. And they were all lovely, the babies slept through the night without so much as a peep (except when Rich waved at one and made it cry) and in the day the girls sat with us and let us admire the babies, which we did for a considerable amount of time as they were ridiculously cute. And with our new improving Russian skills managed to convey our names, ages, jobs and of course the requisite showing of family pictures.

To our surprise we were given food, which after we tried to give it back as we assumed we'd be charged for it, was delicious beef goulash, a rock cake and some horrible vinegary bread. We got a food parcel every day, which was lucky as we'd only got noodles and soup to last us. At the end of each carriage there was a big water heater from which you could get absolutely scalding water from - frightning when the train is bouncing over the tracks at 50mph. Saying that, at every stop hawkers on the platforms were selling loads of things like bread, cakes, beer, ice creams, cups of berries and whole dried fish if you wanted, so we never would have starved.

The views from the windows were very similar for the first couple of days, which was dense forest right up to the tracks. This was broken up only by random things, one being an Obelisk marking the Europe-Asia border which was much lauded in the book but after we squashed our faces up the window for half an hour looking for it it turned out just to be basically just a 6ft white post with 'Europe' and 'Asia' written on it. After that the scenery opened up a fair bit and there were meadows of cows and hills covered in small wooden houses, all painted in a slightly schizophrenic combination of colours.

The next morning we arrived at Irkutsk very early and were given the perfect excuse to finally stretch our legs properly as we couldn't find our hostel and we ended up on an unscheduled tour of Irkutsk's streets full of old wooden buildings. This would have been more pleasurable if we weren't wearing our 15kg packs at the time. We finally accidentally stumbled on a hostel of which the name was never revealed to us, however Gorina the owner made us very welcome and amused us greatly with her red dressing gown, hearing aid which she kept removing and her continual shouting of 'kleine problem!' at our Swiss-German roomates. We booked the bus to Olkhon island for the next day as to get out of the town and enjoyed our first shower in four days, which is quite possibly the most I have ever enjoyed washing in my entire life!.

With Kate in our cabin.

A small part of our family from Kyrgystan. Initially unsure of the photo-taking etiquette, we knew we were okay to take pictures when they started snapping us on their camera phones.

Our first train beer.

The strange and sometimes delicious food.

Our train.

Irkutsk - 'The Paris of Siberia' (apparently)

Priviyet! Since we last posted we have been exclusively on the train. We took the Trans-Siberian Express part of the way down Russia to Irkutsk (where we are now) which took four nights, three days and covered over 5000 kilometers. We had a 2nd class cabin on the train which was roughly 6 foot square with four bunks and a small table. The four bunks meant we usually had someone in with us which included Anya (who is in the photo above) and a family from Kyrgystan who had the cutest train babies ever! Which we spent a good amount of time tickling.

We are now in Irkutsk stocking up on beers, crab crisps and misc foods we will discover the contents of later, or maybe not, its all part of the fun!

The train was an awesome experience which we will go into more detail later and post more photos when we have free internet and its a bit cooler in Mongolia. For now we catch a bus to Olkhon Island on Lake baikal tomorrow, where we will hopefully be for four days before catching our next train on saturday night. Missing you all lots, from Kaz, Sadie and Rich x

Goose-stepping guards and colossal canons...

So it's our last night in Moscow, it's flown past!

In a word, it's been HOT! When we decided to come here I had no idea what to expect and I've been pleasantly surprised at how nice and green Moscow is. It's got the usual crazy traffic and crazy people and yes, as the guide books said, it's a little unfriendly at times... But we've enjoyed quite a few little sit downs in pretty parks and gardens and had a good old people-watch. For fashion in Moscow it seems anything goes, women seem to either look like their stuck in the British 80s or prostitutes (Rich disagrees he thinks they look wonderful!). So far Kaz and I have been sad to note that the attractive genes seem to go entirely to the women, not so many pretty men... not really any... oh well! We'll stick to enjoying looking at their string vests and grandad trousers and mullets and man-bags. It's all good fun, especially if you're wearing sunglasses and can openly stare ;)

The above and below pictures are photos of St. Basil's Cathedral, which is in The Red Square.

We survived the midday heat yesterday and went for a look-see. It was beautiful from the outside, kind of like a make-believe princess castle, very bright colours and funky shapes. Inside it was just as colourful (maybe gaudy) but the style of teh paintings which covered every available surface was old and almost child-like. Whilst we were in there, we were treated to a little hymn from an acapella choir. The bass guys voice vibrated the whole room and the accoustics made the sound seriously loud. It was lovely!

After we'd been here we went 'sploring and using all our guidebook deciphering skills and some serious map work we trekked our way across Moscow to find a recommended bar, Art Garbage. It was quite well hidden from the main road and was made up of an indoor bar and dance-floor as well as a large courtyard filled with trees full of fairy lights and a fountain. We had a couple of large beers for about the same price as home, 0.5L for 120R about 2.50. There were icy cold and delivered with an almost smile! Needless to say they went down beautifully in the 35*C heat!

Goose-stepping, a fountain by a supermarket, a close up of some of St. Basil's...

In other news, Kaz got eaten by two different types of tube equipment. First the barrier tried to chomp her leg off... very scary. She hadn't swiped her card properly. As a result we're now terrified at the exit barriers where you don't swipe but the chompers are clearly visible! Sort of zoom through, flinching! The second time we had a moment of doubt as I stepped onto a tube train, Rich shouted 'no!' I stepped off and said 'yes!' we all went to get on and Kaz at the back lost a flip-flop, put it back on but was delayed enough to get chomped by the doors!! A helpful (but unattractive of course) Russian man had to help her! Poor Redmond, the Russian Metro is her nemesis!

Today we learnt our lesson about staying out in the midday heat and planned an early start with a siesta back at the hostel before hading out again. We got up early, put long shorts on (!) apparently Lenin's corpse does not approve of nekkid legs, and headed out to the Kremlin again, via the Lenin Library tube stop- complete with huge Lenin staue. We had to stow our bags etc. in a locker by the gatehouse for the reasonable sum of 40R about a pound, and queue for about half an hour, luckily this was in the shade, and again we were people watching, so not so bad! After passing through metal detectors with grim faced guards barking orders, we walked around Lenin's Mausoleum. On every corner were very young, very smart, very intimidating guards. All with stern faces and an intolerance for slow walking. Again we appreciated the air-con if not the spooky sight of a dead body. It was all very strange, cold dark marble walls and floors with sharp angles to match the guards sharp faces.

After we had a little sit-down with a ice-lol in the park we headed back towards teh Kremlin gatehouse, bought tickets and headed in. Inside the big red walls (which they actually paint!) are the government buildings as well as a small collection of huge, gold topped cathedrals and churches, all clustered together in a square adjacent to a garden area. As with St. Basil's they were stunning and physically impressive from the outside but dissapointing from within. After soaking up some religious calm we walked through the gardens and sat beside a fountain, where we lazily attempted to catch a dragonfly for a pet. We did not suceed, however we had rested up enough to march back through the heat to the hostel. Sweaty...

Here are a couple more photos to peruse. We're off on the train tomorrow so won't be quite so spoilt for internet access for a while. Although we're having a LOVELY time I'm glad to be leaving if only to escape some of the heat. Irkutsk should be a good 5-10*C cooler and theres always the icy lake to plunge into if needs be. Beautiful countryside here we come...

A map of a walk we took around the Kremlin and Red square grounds.

Kaz and me vogue-ing in The Red Sqaure, the reason it looks hazy is the smog caused by the peat-bog fires just outside Moscow, there was also a funny smell! (Not Kaz's armpits I promise!)

One of the beautiful Cathedrals inside the Kremlin.

See! It was freakin HOT!

Another golden topped tower. Used to contain the largest/heaviest bell in the world. Now outside of the Cathedral with a big crack in it.

Blog again soon guys, miss you all, wish you were here! xxx

'If you go on train you be very confused'

We were not confused!! Not one bit!We totally caught a sweaty bus and then a sweaty tube (with a minor Kaz bashing incident by a scary tube-gate-barrier thing) and now we are here! Just bought food from a teeny market and cooked in the hostel, off to bed in a bit... sight seeing tomorrow, if we don't melt in the predicted 40 degree heatwave! Love you all lots and miss you... Sadie, Kaz and Rich xxx

Less than 24 hours to go....

In the last six months I haven't been anywhere as busy as I have been in these last few days, even when I was working 80 hours a week (I use the term 'working' loosely, loitering in the cath labs may be a more accurate description). It is entirely possible that choosing to go on a drunken festival holiday to Spain a week before leaving may not have been the best idea, but it was one of the most legendary weeks i've ever spent so i'll forgive the nine legendary souls that dragged me there.

Leaving work (tears), and saying goodbye to my family and friends (even more tears) were the things that were most important to me so everything else i.e. selling my car, buying shoes that won't shred my feet, has been left to the last minute. I have literally just finnished packing and there's less than twelve hours to go before I leave. It hasn't really sunken in yet, however I have been nursing a stomach ache for the past four days which i'm guessing is nerves (Not alcohol withdrawal from Beni).

At the moment I'm mostly freaked about leaving all you guys at home. Contracting dysentry from a canine-based kebab or being blinded by dodgy vodka does not at the moment worry me as much as the thought of being away from all the people I love for so long. Not even the fact that I have no job and am not even registered to nurse in Australia yet. It dosen't bother me that I don't have a car or more than four pairs of pants to my name! However I can't think of two more capable hombres to travel the world with, and i'm excited as hell. I'm going to have a roast dinner sandwich before bed then it's hey ho lets go bastardos...

5 days to go!

Wheee! Last day of work until November! I can't say I'm sad to see the back of doing supply. It's been 'interesting' but once I'm back I'll be back searching for a more permanent job where I know where I'm going the next day and I don't have to teach scary year six! So now that work is over it's all starting to feel more real. Just a few final things to sort out, monies, packing, checking and re-checking EVERYTHING! Very exciting!

In other news whilst the others were away- sunnign themselves in Spain, Ben and I went away to spoil ourselves, then on Monday my Mummy sprung a spa-visit on me, complete with a body scrub and pedicure. Now I'm thoroughly ruined, it's almost as though people will miss me ;) Can't promise my feet will look as nice in 12 weeks time though! I definately won't feel as clean either.

Roll on Monday!

Farewell Aston Martin...

Friday was my last day at Aston Martin, and more importantly, my last day of work for at least the next year!

Cheers to everyone for a great send off.

Good times.