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|  Finally, late in the evening we arrived in China. Well, maybe I should not write "finally" because the journey didn't seem to be too long and I could have continued the train trip still for some days. ( arrived in Beijing... ) | |
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|  Finally, we crossed the border and continued our trip. The landscape changed, less green and much much more sand... ( one day in Mongolia... ) | |
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| Early in the morning we arrived in the Lake Baikal area. The lake view opened after a tunnel and was something different. There are very few lakes along this railway.
 Fishermen trying to catch some fish. The lake was still frozen but close the beach there were open waters. ( Lake Baikal... ) | |
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|  In Moscow we hopped on a Chinese train that was going to be our "home" till Beijing. ( Train... ) | |
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| A herd of Russian souvenir dolls. Which one does not belong to the group?
 ( Moscow... ) | |
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| Day one. I started my trip from Tampere by a local train to Helsinki from where the adventure was truly going to begin. The map shows the route. The Russian train "Tolstoi" was waiting for us.  ( more... ) | |
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|  Everything is packed. Ivan and I are ready to go - Beijing, here we come! | |
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| I should start packing. Meanwhile, you can check this... (Sorry, Finnish subtitles but they speak Finglish so you may understand something) Warning! The video has some less nice parts... | |
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|  I have a plan. Next April, I have a chance to travel to China through Russia and via Mongolia - by train! I'm so excited. ( map... ) | |
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| An old photo on Aino's wall  | |
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|  When we arrived at Uhtua late in the evening the bus stopped in front of this house and my name was called to step out of the bus, I recognised the place. It was Aino's place! - Tags:russia
- Music:TATU, All the things she said
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| Greetings from Russia! After 2100 kilometres by bus and 400 by my own car I feel like my arse was beaten. Some roads were bumpy and the average speed could be less than 30 km/h. The journey was quite an experience but that was not a surprise. I got what I was looking for!  - Tags:russia
- Mood:tired
 - Music:Helmut Lotti, From Russia With Love
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|  On Wednesday, I'll return to the footsteps of our grandfathers to Karelia. Five years ago I had a chance to visit the place with a group of history enthusiasts. Somehow - I don't remember how - I found myself in a bus travelling to the places which were parts of Finland before the World War II, nowadays the area belongs to Russia. I had read biography about a soldier who died just in the same area and the story fascinated me because I could see the places myself. I was not interested in war history then but it's good to know what has happened and perhaps we can be wiser and avoid wars in the future. I still am not so interested in war history but I appreciate the efforts of our grandfathers. ( Aino, 74 years old... ) | |
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| Valokuvatorstain aiheeseen saaste löytyi helposti kaikkein saastaisin kokemus mitä eläessäni olen nähnyt. Paikka on Kuolan niemimaalla ja pikaisesti ohikiitävästä bussin ikkunasta määriteltynä ihan karsea paikka. Melkein kaikki kasvillisuus oli kuollut laajalta alueelta "kaupungin" ympäriltä, "pilvet" roikkuivat lähes maan pinnalla ja taivaalta satoi jotain vedensekaista mönjää. Tervetuloa Monsegorskiin!
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| Niin kohtaavat toisensa länsi ja itä,
niin kohtaavat ihmiset toisiaan.
Vain toinen muistelemaan jäi sitä,
ja toista jossakin kaivataan.
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I'm packing my backpack and leave tomorrow to a short tour,
but does anyone guess where I'm going?
NO, it is not Finland!
I attached pictures from my last visit to the same country.
But where can be so idyllic(!?) market squares?
YES, if you look very close these photos there is a hint.
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