Raju's Wanderings

June 12: Whenever I go to a distant place, I try and go to a still more distant place, because that is where you have the most beautiful landscapes. Like walking to a beach, and then taking the time and trouble to walk to yet another beach from there. You leave most tourists behind, and nature is at its most pristine. From Irkustk in far-off Siberia, very few tourists made it to Arshan Valley, another 220 km, and a four-hour bus journey away. Sayan Mountains in the distance My roommate Asia Pieczka, a very vibrant Polish Girl. I met her and Luminita Nitoi, a Romanian girl at Arshan, and we immediately became friends. Luna and Asia shared their meal (salad) with me, and the room. Luna was the most humourous woman I had met in a long time, and we spent a large part of the night chatting about Romania, Poland, Russia and I don't know what else.  I suppose you could call this a Dacha (country house) and it was a homestay. Our host gave out the rooms at INR 350 per nig...

The Trans-siberian Railway is the world's third longest railway, with a length of 9,289 kms and still growing. The longest (Moscow-Pyongang) and second longest (Kiev-Vladivostok) follow the Trans-Siberian route. Stretching from St. Petersburg close to Finland to Vladivostok, north of Japan, it is a stupendous journey by train that takes 8 days to complete non-stop, and crosses eight time zones!  Built in Tsarist times, this was a stupendous effort passing through mountains, across barren lands of Siberia, branches of it passing by Mongolia and going right up to Korea and China. That said, I just could not afford to spend 8 days non-stop in the Trans-Siberian! Instead, I chose a fast (6 hour) flight to Irkutsk from where I trekked along the old Trans-Siberian Railway tunnels. Rolling Stones hostel where I stayed in Irkutsk for INR 750 a night. “To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is ...