Jason Goes To Russia

Skype

2009-11-19T11:56:00.002+11:00

After yesterday’s post, I received an ingenious tip from a friendly poster over at the Lonely Planet Forums. Having a 3rd Generation iPod Touch means that I’m gifted with a microphone unlike the previous models. This gives me the ability to use Skype to place unbelievably cheap calls whenever I’m in a WiFi hotspot. Added bonus? The app itself is free, meaning all I pay for is the credit I load up into my account. If you have a Skype account, then I can talk to you for free provided you’re online. If not, it’s cheap enough anyway. Refer to the rates linked to above. To call Australia, it’s a 5.9 cent connection fee, and then 26.4 cents per minute to mobiles, and 2.7 cents per minute to landlines, and those rates apply no matter which country on the planet I’m calling from. Only catch is I need to be in a WiFi hotspot. A combination of this and the TravelSim seem to make the ideal combination for any traveller looking to get the most bang for their buck when it comes to making calls. But not just calls – SMS too! SMS messages sent from Skype cost 11.8 cents each to Australia, which is even less than the 35 cents or so charged by TravelSim. Win? I certainly think so :)

// JC

Album of the moment: Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures

Techy Stuff

2009-11-18T21:57:00.001+11:00

Since this post is predominantly techy, I decided I’d try something new with it in that vein. As such, I’m writing this post from Windows Live Writer rather than the pathetic excuse of an editor provided by Blogger. I wouldn’t normally be one to rave on about a Microsoft product. But this is seriously a great (and free) piece of software.

Now that that’s out of the way, this post is an extension of my previous post where I stopped short on discussing the gadgets I would be taking along with me. Packing light means no laptop. Besides, who wants to be sitting on their computer while they’re on holiday? I could do that here! You people will cope without my online presence for a little while. But that being said, a few pocket sized devices can really come in handy on a trip. Particularly if you’ve got some time to kill in transit or a particularly long train journey or flight (all of which I do).

I haven’t been one to jump on the iPhone bandwagon. I’m quite satisfied with my Nokia N95 8GB. It does everything you would expect a phone to these days, and probably a lot more that I’m not even aware of. Rather than roaming with 3 which ~~could~~ would get expensive, I picked up a TravelSim. The benefits of using this instead of my 3 sim are nearly endless, so I encourage you to check out the website no matter where you may be travelling to. It basically works as a pre-paid sim which you can top up from the handset itself or online, which gives you much better rates overseas. In Mongolia and Russia it will allow me to receive calls for free, and make calls at around a quarter of the cost of most other networks on roaming. Another bonus is that anybody can send me SMS for free from the TravelSim website. Drop me a line if you want my number for while I’m over there.

Whilst I didn’t go for the iPhone, the death of my trusty 1st generation iPod Nano prompted me to upgrade. After mulling over the idea for a while, I went for a 3rd generation 32gb iPod Touch. The device is basically a much slimmer iPhone without the phone, camera, and GPS. As such, all applications that do not rely on any of these three features will work fine on it. Even if the app requires internet access, it can do so via the WiFi connection if you’re in a hotspot, which is very handy. The applications available for it range from stupid and tacky to entertaining to extremely functional, and everything in between. I’d been told about the large variety of apps available from the store, but I was actually amazed at the vast array of interesting apps available – with the majority costing no more than a few dollars. Unless the apps are graphically intense or contain a lot of sound/music, the majority are quite small in size. With 32gb to play with, that leaves a lot of space for music. Music takes up around 25gb out of the 32gb available on mine. In terms of apps, here are the two menu pages on my iPod:

A lot will be self explanatory, so I’ll focus on those which will be useful for my trip, starting with the Lonely Planet Mandarin Audio Phrasebook. This is basically a stripped down version of the physical phrasebook which you can buy from the shops, with the added benefit that upon choosing a phrase, it is actually read out to you by a local speaker. Hence if things get really hairy, I can simply find the phrase needed, tap it, and hopefully get somewhere. The only problem in this situation is that if whichever phrase I pick requires a response, sadly the app isn’t about to record and translate what they say into English for me. Hence I’ll be more limited to questions which warrant a nod, shake, point, etc. But just knowing I have access to this type of thing is a comfort, as it is a little daunting visiting a city without being able to speak even the slightest bit of their local language.

I don’t trust my chances with the “Can you lower the price?” one. Using a gadget to speak for me whilst trying to bargain? I don’t quite think so…

Sticking with China, the Beijing Metro app is exactly what the title implies: a guide to the Beijing Metro. It does have some nice features though. The mess in the picture shown to the right is only a snippet of a portion of the metro system. This map does however contain the names of the stations in both Chinese and English, which is helpful. Upon selecting one of the many lines, a list comes up like the one shown to the left, giving a small timetable to go by, which I am hoping for my sake is correct. Upon selecting a line, you can then select individual stations and add them to what the app calls a “Taxi List”. You can store all the stations and places you need to visit in the Taxi List, so that when you jump into a cab, you can show the driver something like this:

Now I am assuming that the Chinese is a direct translation of the English text below. However I don’t trust that exclamation mark in the first line. If anyone would care to translate for me it would be greatly appreciated. But just how will I be able to hail a taxi in a city I’m not familiar with, you may ask? Well this app has that covered too. From the screen with the taxi information on it, simply flip the iPod sideways, and you get this:

Problem solved. It flashes too. Pretty!

The Moscow Metro app doesn’t have as many features as the Beijing Metro app, but it does have one advantage. Due to the complex layout of the Moscow Metro, you often need to make a few connections to get to where you need to go. Tapping the “Route” button at the bottom right of the app allows you to input the stations you wish to travel between. It then works out the route, tells you where to jump off and change, and also gives an estimated time for the journey. Another example of a simple app that will likely save me a lot of mucking around working out my connections on the metro. It is to be noted as well that apps like these two are available for most major cities across the planet, and they all have differing features. So if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, I would definitely recommend that you have a quick look and see if you can pick one up for your destination. Bad memories of looking like a gawky tourist with my large paper map of the London Underground…

Similar to the Lonely Planet Mandarin Audio Phrasebook is the World Nomads Russian Phrasebook that I found. It isn’t as nice to use as the Lonely Planet one, and doesn’t contain nearly as many spoken phrases (some it contains only in text – not audio form). However it could be potentially useful if my limited amount of Russian fails me (which I guarantee you it will at some point) and I just need something quickly without resorting to my dictionary. It contains the words or phrases in both Cyrillic and English phonetic, however one downfall I noticed is that some of the English phonetic is quite misleading, and a user without any knowledge of Russian would likely have trouble being understood if they used some of the pronunciations given. All that aside though, for less than the cost of a cup of coffee and taking up less room than a couple of songs, this is an app that will surely find itself some use along the way!

One last app, and arguably the most important, is a currency convertor. There are plenty of apps which do this, but I picked eCurrency Convertor based on a couple of things. Firstly, the range of currencies supported. Half I hadn’t even heard of, and so this will take care of my currency needs for plenty more holidays to come. Secondly, it looks good. Some of the convertors out there are really ugly. It’s a pretty device, so why taint it? And thirdly, if you shake the iPod, it switches the currencies around (eg. from MNT –> AUD to AUD –> MNT). Very neat. Also, if you’re in a WiFi zone and you tap on the black bar at the bottom, it will update and get the latest rates from online. If you’re not in a hotspot however, no need to stress. The app simply uses the last updated rates. An anyway, you only want these kind of apps for a general idea. You’ll ruin you holiday if you spend the entire time trying to convert everything back to AUD to the cent! Great to know that I’ll be feeling pretty rich in Mongolia, since according to the shown conversion, just less than $40 AUD will give me 50,000 togrog. Nice!

In terms of practical things, that’s about it. However I most certainly couldn’t get by without a few games along the way, so I’ll point out a few gems. The first is Canabalt, and as you can see, for maximum awesome, headphones are recommended. With a killer soundtrack, this game is addictively simple (as most iPod/iPhone games should be). You start by jumping out of an office window. From there on, you’re running along building tops basically trying to escape as everything around you is collapsing. The guy runs on his own, and simply requires a tap to jump. Sounds easy? Think again.

Another simple-yet-addictive one is Doodle Jump. I’d seen this in the charts for some time so decided to give it a try. It’s fantastic, and great for killing time in waiting rooms particularly. The premise is even simpler with this one. The creature jumps by itself, and you simply have to tilt the iPod to lead it higher and higher. The higher you get, the more points. As simple as that. Some little obstacles crop up every now and again, such as monsters, broken blocks, elevators, jetpacks, trampolines, and many others to keep you busy. Other great games include Airport Mania, Bejewelled (of course!), and a port of the classic Beneath A Steel Sky. All definitely worth checking out.

All up, you can see that the iPod will likely come in very handy. I picked up a wall charger and power convertor as shown in my previous post, so hopefully I’ll have enough opportunities to keep this baby charged. I certainly won’t run short of music for my plane and train journeys, and hopefully have enough to keep myself busy in transit!

If I do get really stuck, I can always rely on my Nintendo DS Lite to keep me out of trouble. Highlights that I’ve been meaning to spend some more time on include Kingdom Hearts, Professor Layton 2, Scribblenauts, and Mario & Luigi – Bowser’s Inside Story.

Laptops? Who needs them. We can clearly do enough with pocket sized devices these days, and if you really feel you can’t live without that laptop for a few weeks, then you should re-consider your need to travel. Not sure if I’ll have much more to post before I leave now, so if not, wish me luck, and in the not too distant future I will be hopefully gracing you with many pictures and stories of my adventures.

All the best,

// JC

Album of the moment: Julian Casablancas – Phrazes For The Young

Gear

2009-11-08T15:48:00.003+11:00

Today I'm running you through some of the gear I've collected throughout the year for the trip. The harsh winter conditions mean you can't really skimp on clothing, so there isn't really a cheap way around this one. The first thing needed is a strong, waterproof, windproof, and most importantly comfortable pair of boots. I'm packing light, which implies that the only footwear I take is what I'm wearing when I leave home, making the choice even more important. After a bit of research, I decided on this heavy duty pair made by Bates, an American company who make footwear for the military.

In harsh winters, Gore-Tex is your friend. Hence the boots are Gore-Tex lined. They are wind-proof, water-proof, snow-proof, and fire-proof. Despite what the pictures may tell you, they are surprisingly lightweight and comfortable. In an attempt to break them in, I wore them to uni on a number of occasions, receiving more than my fair share of odd looks and questions from my peers. However, despite their lack of sex appeal, these boots didn't even need to be broken in; they were comfortable and wearable straight out of the box.

Snow is snow, regardless of where you are. So I sought the expertise of the guys down at my local ski/snowboard shop for a good quality jacket. After trying out a few working out what would be most suitable, I thanked the guys and left. I couldn't believe the prices on some of these jackets. This is where eBay becomes your friend. For nearly half price I picked up this previous season Burton snowboarding jacket which was perfect for my needs.

Complete with Eskimo-hood and all, this is the toastiest jacket I have ever worn. In fact, I'm surprised snowboarders don't get heat exhaustion when riding with this type of thing on. Also, I'm still unsure how a snowboard jacket differs to a ski jacket, but I am assured that there are major differences. Please feel free to enlighten me.

The pair of Marmot gloves I picked up are nothing short of beautiful. After falling for them in a shop, I turned to eBay and managed to pick up a cheap pair. The tags on the pair implied that it was a promotional version given out to shops, as it was marked all over with "Not For Sale".

The gloves are also Gore-Tex lined, giving them similar properties to my boots. They are a little clunky, however housed inside these gloves are another smaller pair of gloves which are attached via a velcro strip:

Therefore when I need my hands for something, be it taking a picture, trying to thumb through a street map, or giving the bird to a cabbie who refuses to stop for me, I can slip the larger gloves off without having to expose my skin to the weather. A lovely idea indeed. I liked the gloves so much that I decided to stick to the same brand when purchasing my thermal base layers:

Marmot are easily making some of the best quality cold-weather gear out there at the moment.

The last thing needed to complete this outfit is something to cover my legs. Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I go through jeans like there is no tomorrow, and that's just with everyday general wear. Hence for this trip I splurged and picked up a pair from G-Star Raw. Tapered fit Elwood Heritage 96, in a scrawny size 28 of course!

Big thanks to Anthony @ G-Star Melbourne Central for helping me out with these. Go see him if you need a new pair of jeans, you won't be disappointed! But obviously jeans aren't going to cut it in some of the more extreme places I'm heading, particularly during outdoor snow activities. That's where these Marker outer layer pants come in, or "fishing pants" as my Dad calls them.

Complete with brace straps and all, these guys are also Gore-Tex lined. A bit of an eye-sore, but highly practical. I guess you want to see it all on together right? Well, being 33°C today (around 92°F for my foreign friends), that wouldn't be the smartest idea. So instead you get this:

Just lovely.

Some other things are needed of course, such as a practical bag. The smaller the bag, the smarter you have to be with the packing. I opted for a 55 litre North Face pack from eBay. I've been warned that fake North Face gear if rife on eBay, but fake or not it's a great quality pack.

A modest size, but really for a trip of this length you'd be crazy to take much more, given that there's a lot of walking to be done. Some other smaller items I came across on eBay should make themselves very useful throughout the trip:

Top is an under clothes travel bag, essential for money, passport, etc. regardless of your destination. Left to right we have a europlug travel adaptor (the format used in Russia and Mongolia, China uses the same style plug as Australia), an iPod wall charger, an LED booklight, and disposable toilet seat covers. The booklight is especially useful on long train trips where you share a compartment with others, as it wouldn't be too nice to keep the light on to read whilst others were trying to sleep. The toilet seat covers speak for themselves I think.

Travel insurance is vital on any overseas trip, and after doing some research AAMI came out the best for me. Definitely have a look at them before making a decision, and never trust the recommendations of a travel agent.

Some reading material that has either helped me at some stage of my planning or will be taken on me with the trip. All should be consulted by anybody considering doing a similar trip!

And of course, never leave home without a pair of aviator shades.

I'm of course also taking a few gadgets with me. Phone, iPod Touch, and DS in particular. I'll leave them for another post though, where I can spend time explaining just how these devices can be a traveller's best friend (particularly the iPod Touch).

// JC

Album of the moment: Florence + The Machine - Lungs

Flights, Visas, and Vaccinations

2009-11-02T17:09:00.005+11:00

The big departure date is December 4th. First thing to sort out was flights, and then visas & vaccinations. After spending a fair amount of time online and working out an effective route, I came up with a price and route that no travel agent could even come close to. So I booked everything through Expedia, who I'd encourage anybody planning a trip to look at before booking anything.

The first leg of my trip is from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, flying with Malaysian Airlines flight 148.
Sadly I'm only transiting KL, so no time to explore. I take a connecting flight from there to Beijing, China, flying with Air China flight 972.

Note that Air China is not to be confused with China Airlines:

My travel from Beijing through to Ulaanbaatar, and then through to Irkutsk, Listvyanka, and right through to Moscow will be by train, and this will take up the largest portion of the trip.

From Moscow, I did have the option to take an overnight train to St. Petersburg. The distance between Moscow and St. Petersburg is roughly comparable to that of Melbourne to Sydney. However after a bit of research I discovered that it's much cheaper (and quicker) to fly between the cities. I figure by the time I'll have reached Moscow I'll probably have had enough long distance train travel, so I might as well maximise my time.

Moscow has two main airports: Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo. All accounts say that Domodedovo is the preferred airport, as Sheremetyevo still has a Soviet feel to it, both in the staff and the environment. Therefore I'll be flying out of Moscow from Domodedovo. However, on my return I had no choice but to book a flight from St. Petersburg into Sheremetyevo, as my connecting flight out of Russia leaves from Sheremetyevo. I guess I'll be able to see if it lives up to its reviews!

My flight to St. Petersburg is with S7 Airlines flight 45. S7 is the newly branded Siberian Air, and from all I've read they are a fantastic airline. I mean seriously, how could an airline company that uses fluro green planes be bad?

S7 actually have a great check-in procedure if you're taking the train to the airport from the city. At the railway station, you can check in your luggage and receive a boarding pass, meaning that you don't have to worry about lugging your bags on to the train and through the airport. You can check in completely at the station and just head straight for the gate at the airport. One would hope that this process is reliable, as in theory it is fantastic.

Leaving St. Petersburg with good old Aeroflot on flight 840 to Sheremetyevo.

Upon arriving at Sheremetyevo I have to change terminals, which I've heard can sometimes be difficult. My flight from Moscow back to Melbourne is entirely run by Air China, and takes a messy route of Moscow to Beijing, Beijing to Shanghai, and Shanghai to Melbourne, on flights 910 and 177.

On the whole I found the visa application process to be very straightforward, which I found surprising as I had been warned that the Russians like to make things difficult for you. I will admit that the process of applying for a Russian visa is slightly messy, but as long as you follow the instructions given by the embassy exactly then you'll have no worries. You need to have an invitation letter from a company registered in Russia which has been granted the authority to invite foreigners to the country. Luckily most travel companies around here have a deal with one, so it's not hard to sort this out. You need to provide this, along with flight bookings, the application form, and a letter written in Russian stating the purpose of your travel. Doing this all correctly, the Consulate-General in Sydney will send your passport back to you with this impressive looking visa:

The Chinese visa was very straightforward, however I made the mistake of going to do it myself in person at the embassy in Toorak. This would normally be fine, however I decided to go just after the embassy had been closed due to the anniversary of the CCP, and as such there was a backlog of people wanting visas who seemed to have decided to camp outside about an hour before it even opened. But once I finally made it to the front, the staff were polite and efficient, and a few days later I was given this visa:

I've never been able to work out the logic behind the placement of visas in a passport. You'd think the embassies would just go in order, but Russia put theirs in page three, and China put theirs bang in the middle of the passport, probably 7 or 8 blank pages later. The last visa was Mongolia, and I was astounded at the speed at which these guys operate. I did it by mail, as the embassy is in Canberra, and about 4 days later I had my passport back with the visa:

The nice thing about these guys is that they also provided me with a paper duplicate of the visa which I can keep separate from my passport. That way if I lose my passport, I still have proof of my visa. A smart idea that more embassies should consider doing.

After all my travel documents and flights were secure, I went to sort out my vaccinations. I needed to be vaccinated against typhoid and hepatitis A, which is done with a single shot:

and also cholera, which is an oral vaccination:

This one is only effective for a month or so, so it's sitting in my fridge awaiting consumption. Apparently it makes you quite ill for a day, so I need to take it on a day where I can afford to stay home. It's not so much that there are cholera problems where I'll be travelling to, but it's shown that this vaccine can significantly decrease the chances of you getting gastro. So keep that in mind for travel to any destination! It was also recommended that I get the swine flu shot, and considering Russia very recently suffered its first deaths from swine flu and the vaccine is free, I figured it wasn't a bad idea, so I got it done.

That's enough for today. Next time I'll go over the gear I've picked up in preparation for the trip.

// JC

Album of the moment: Feist - Let It Die

First Post!

2009-11-01T23:03:00.001+11:00

Well, hello all! A few of you have been asking me about kicking something like this off, so here it is. Basically, I plan to keep any of you who are interested enough to subscribe to this blog up to date with my trip I'm doing in December. The trip starts in Beijing, China, from where I'll take a train through Mongolia and into Russia, with numerous stops along the way.

As one could imagine, such a trip involves a lot of planning and preparation, both in terms of gear/equipment and logistics. This is particularly so due to the climate I will be facing. Just the two words "Siberian winter" should conjure up images of what I have to look forward to. This first post is just an introduction, but once I've charged up the batteries to my camera I intend to update you all as to what I've already purchased/prepared and what still has to be done. Once I actually leave, I really have no idea how frequently I will have the chance to update this. Hopefully I'll be able to give you a few teaser photos along the way. But in any case, thanks to the recommendations of Zach I'll be taking along a journal with me so that I can write up a very detailed account of the trip and post it up here along with photos upon my return. The journal should also help to pass some of the many hours I will be spending in transit either in an airport lounge or on a train platform in the middle of nowhere.

Some planned activities at this stage include (but are not limited to) an early morning visit to a certain snow covered wall (a great one indeed), sipping on fermented mare's milk with a local hosting family somewhere in the middle of nowhere in rural Mongolia, ice skating over the oldest and most voluminous freshwater lake on the planet, and an interesting one known as "skijoring", which involves a pair of skis and some snow dogs. After yelling "давай" I'm guessing it's up to the dogs as to where I go. Note to self: learn the Russian word for "stop".

Much more to come soon. This first post will actually be a test to see if I'm competent enough to post a blog. So if you're interested, please subscribe for updates, and leave lots of comments!

// JC

Album of the moment: Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer?