The sun doesn’t go down in Siberia at this time of year until about 11pm. So getting to sleep takes a fair bit of effort for my Australian body clock. It means that I sleep in and wake up at about 9am (unusual for me). Which works out not-so-bad because things here open at 10-11am in the morning. First port of call was the Geological Museum. The first thing that greets you is a boulder of asbestos-containing rock. It props the door open. The asbestos fibres are so alluring – they’re pretty colours and they are like nothing you’ve ever seen. They’re kind of like those Bega Stringy cheese things you can get, only the fibres are already pulled off. God only knows how many children have looked at the rock and gone ‘way cool! Let’s play with these!!!’.
I held by breath as we entered in case those fibres were floating around (FYI: inhaling asbestos is bad) and then proceeded to spend a good hour or so checking out the rocks and playing with some coal core they had.
It’s bloody hot here at the moment.The weather man says it’s 32 degrees but it feels a buttload hotter than that. Due to heat and an imminent sickness (I think my travels are finally catching up to me) I walked back to my hotel room and read a book. The beauty of a Kindle is the ease of reading. The not-so-good part is that I can read a book in a day. Way to chew through the money, Sally. I find myself just skimming through the paragraphs to get to the good bits which means I know what’s going on but the details are hazy and I’ve just wasted the book because if I re-read it, I know the ending anyway! Below: a street in Ulan Ude
I finally coaxed myself out of the room and went for a walk up the mall again and down to a big church. It looked like a big church so I walked back up the mall and sat with an ice cream that melted very quickly. An Armenian guy promptly sat next to me and tried to chat me up for 20mins. His lack of english (none) and my lack of Armenian, Russian or German (none) meant our conversation was limited. He was a 50yo bloke with his shirt half unbuttoned, white polished shoes, a tight floral shirt, gold necklace and slacks ironed with a vertical pleat. He was very friendly and wanted to walk me back to my hotel (no thanks), buy me a ‘soke’ (coca-cola) and god only knows what else. Eventually he had to leave to go shopping so we shook hands and parted ways.
It was really, super hot today so I sat by the water fountain to get a spray of cool-ness. A Russian guy (part Mongolian) probably in his early 20’s came over and whispered something in my ear with this cute look on his face. I felt terrible telling him I don’t speak english and had no idea what he said. He got a bit flustered and said some things in english to me and then walked away. In comes this crazy looking older Russian guy who does some weird yoga pose and then sits on the ground in front of me (as I was up on the fountain steps) and mimes the way I was sitting. Then he starts to rant in Russian and I got a bad vibe… which turned in to a good vibe and he was very friendly. Post rant, he stood up, introduced himself as Alexander, kissed me on the hand and walked away.
I, myself was a little flustered by this stage so began my walk home – only to be accosted my Russian/Mongolia guy. He was super friendly and had calmed himself a little. We chatted, he would say a sentence and then say something else in Russian, hoping I understood his Russian. Of course I didn’t, but he understood I didn’t understand and so kept trying very hard to make conversation in english. And then he finally got it out – what he was trying to tell me initially was: ‘you are very beautiful’. Once he got that out he was happy and we walked towards my hotel. I said my goodbyes, as did he. 10m later he called out my name and wanted to know my phone number. My Mongolian phone number doesn’t work in Russia which meant I wasn’t lying when I told him I didn’t have one. Then he wanted to know my room number which I also managed to get out of. But he was genuinely nice and was genuinely devastated when he realised we were permanently parting ways. He had the most adorable, but heartbroken look on his face. He said some nice things and we left each other.
What a beautiful guy! I was trying to think why on earth he was that interested. I mean, I’m no sexy beast at the moment, that’s for sure. I had my polka dot hat, yellow thongs, hairy legs (it’s been a month since I’ve been at home Nikki, give me a break), those ugly zip-off North Face pants, a sports bra and a very old yellow sports t-shit on. Hardly the work of a supermodel. Not only that, but I am clearly a tourist (I stick out like a sore thumb even though I’m white). I still have no idea. He seemed genuinely nice, but then, you never know and I always err on the side of super-caution. He also needed a trip to the dental hygienist. Below: the world’s biggest statue of Lenin’s head (in Ulan Ude)
Meeting all those random men happened in the space of one hour……
Tomorrow we’re catching the train to Irkutsk which is a 7 hour journey. We have a bed on the train as I think it’s something to do with the trans-siberian. Interesting. We’re in Irkutsk for one night and then straight on to the CircumBaikal and then staying in Listvyianka for three days in a home stay (which means no internet and I’m not sure what else).
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