Eastward Ho!

I had booked the cheapest flight to Moscow that left as soon as possible. This meant flying overnight from Southend to Moscow Vnukovo via Chisinau, which I found out is the capital of Moldova and we used to call it Kishinev. Southend Airport turned out to be horrible and Chisinau really nice.

I landed in russia at 10am then learned that russia has the slowest passport control in the universe. Even so, by lunch time I had caught the really swanky double decker express train into the middle of Moscow and was ready to get to grips with Russia!

The train ride took about an hour and passed some small towns, some with beautiful medieval architecture and some made of slums that reminded me of Vietnam. Coming closer to Moscow I saw industry on a scale I’ve never seen before. Sprawling factories, never ending freight trains and convoys of massive lorries. It really excited the nerd in me who’s been playing far too much Transport Tycoon recently.

The first thing I wanted to see was Red Square and St Basil’s Cathedral, famous for its iconic onion domes. I found out there is also a park next to the red square called Zaryadye Park which is also surrounded by impressive buildings.

I was told that when going to Red Square, it’s essential to visit the ornate shopping centre GUM and buy icecream. This shopping centre was once the most impressive State Department Store, inspired by traditional russian architecture and London railway stations. Now its the place to buy icecream and the queue was massive.

I was also told to look for the bright green drink Tarhun which was available all around the square and GUM. It really is bright green and very delicious!

A cup of Tarhun: always very green and very delicious

In the evening I met up with Irina, who is one of my friend in England’s mum, who had kindly agreed to show me around in exchange for crumpets.

She took me to have dinner at a retro soviet canteen called Stoloviya 57 after the World Festival of Youth in Moscow in’ 57. Irina says its exactly like the canteens she remembers except it has a better range of squash to drink. I had Okróshka soup, herring in a fur coat (shredded beetroot), liver stroganoff with buckwheat, followed by a starchy fruit drink for afters that was something between a drink and jelly. She said I was very adventurous and she’s never even tried the liver stroganoff!

The queue for Stoloviya 57 was out the door! Everyone seemed to be Russian

After eating she took me on a tour of the Moscow metro underground stations. These stations are all decorated with marble and semi-precious stones and each is unique and has a story. One is where the government were based during the blitz and has murals of fighter planes another one was being built in 1943 and is decorated with mosaics made in Leningrad while it was under siege! I think these stations show how much respect there is here for public spaces and institutions, something we might have had once in the UK when we built glorious railway stations but that we have now lost and don’t look after.

This station was used as the government base during the blitz due to being the deepest at the time

This mosaic was made in Leningrad in 1943 when the city was under siege. Fifteen were made in total but only 6 made it to Moscow and survived

Glowering face at Dostoyevsky station. Another name I recognised on a station was Mendeleev.

It’s said to be lucky to rub this dogs nose. I’m told they’re based on a real pair

My first impression of Moscow is that its a modern city that’s still thinking of future development whilst also being proud for their heritage.

So far, the impression I have got of their feelings towards soviet times is not negative. There seems to be great respect and administration for what was achieved and the adversity that was overcome. There is even some nostalgia even amongst the young people – who were queueing out the door to eat at Stoloviya 57. There are so many statues and paintings of Lenin that I got bored of photographing them but I’ve yet to see any of Stalin.

As I’m writing I’m sipping Kvass which is a naturally alcohol-free beer brewed from rye bread which is also a key ingredient in Okróshka soup

Kvass: naturally alcohol-free beer brewed from rye bread. I’m told this is the second best brand.

This is the introduction to my series From Moscow to Osaka by Land & Sea.

Two months ago I quit my job at the bank. Today I finally set off on my month long adventure of trains, boats and hikes that will take me from sleepy Rufford, Lancashire, North-west England to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), South-east Vietnam where I will start my year of teaching maths.

Mere Sands Wood in sleepy Rufford, Lancashire, North-west England

I will be taking the train east from Moscow to Harbin, China with stops in Irkutsk and Chita. I will then turn south and travel to Shanghai via Shenyang, Tianjin and Beijing.

From Shanghai I take a detour to Osaka, Japan by ferry. Then finally I fly from Kansai airport to Ho Chi Minh City. I had intended to not fly at all during this trip but I need to start work earlier than I originally planned so it saves time.

I took this last time I was in Vietnam in 2018 from the train somewhere outside Hanoi

But first I need to go down to London to sort out the last bits of visa admin. Visas have been a real headache over the last two months. I had never applied for a visa before and there are a lot of things I wish I had known. Such as the embassy taking my passport for the time the visa is being processed – this delayed my plans because I had intended to apply for my Russian and Chinese visas at the same time but both require my passport – so I have done them sequentially and lost some time I had hoped to spend in Russia.