Nihzny Novgorod

Nihzny Novgorod was a restricted town till 1991, so even Russians needed visas to enter. It was used back in Soviet times to internally exile people. So you can imagine we were fairly off the beaten track. No hostels , hotels overpriced so we had arranged to sleep over the offices of team Gorky, after the taxi got us there and we met Vladmir and some other guy, all our anxieties were instantly allayed, bar one split second when Vladmir opened his boot for us to put our bags in, our eyes fell on a saw and axe in the boot. Being the outdoor type it made sense, but for us standing in a strange city, on a street of dodgy run down buildings, at midnight, about to hop into a car with a guy with an axe in his boot it screamed insanity. We all looked at each other and burst out laughing, Vladmir for a split second didn't understand and he had minimal English, but when he copped on he started laughing too. It was a ridiculous moment, one I won't forget. So we drove up the street a couple of hundred meters, and he brought us into a 'hotel', down an alley way, not a hostel not a hotel by our standards. It was eery, an old Soviet style hotel we think. It was empty bar us, the restaurant was set but yet they served no food, a large snooker table was covered on the first floor, the corridors were long and dark. The decor so dated, ceilings looked like they would collapse. Our room consisted of two twin rooms, with shared toilet and shower, in the toliet was a picture of Arnold Schwarnegger! on the wall beside the loo! Bizaare. We reckon it probaly housed soliders at one point and now in disuse bar us! Definitely the strangest place I've stayed in. I pondered as to why they took us up to the first floor, and all the way down the corridor to the last room? Dave informed me it was so no one would hear when they killed us!!! It was perfect setting to do our Blair Witch sketch! The type of place that horror movies are filmed in!ha!

Wednesday we spent in the city, again Vlad dropped us into town , showed us the bus stop to catch our bus, told us what number, how much, wrote down our stop to show to the bus driver. Again his generosity was phenomenal. He had very little English and possibly slightly bemused that we were going on this rafting weekend with no Russian! Should be interesting!

Not much to Nihzny Novgorod, we wandered the main street, took in the view of the Volga, spent ages finding somewhere to eat. Jesus the food here is atrocious, it's been very hit and miss. Generally stodgy, greasy, meaty. they don't do veg or fruit, any we found has tasted crap. I'd love an M&S Jazz apple!!! Jaysus!
We found somewhere eventually and had a few beers. Braved the bus journey back, really old style buses, and they drive the crap out of them.

Back to our Soviet abode, and Arnie - sweet dreams.

Friday morning - we arrived down at team Gorky offices, shortly before 10am. Lots of families and young couples standing around the buses. Wasn't long before we realised our guides didn't speak English, nobody seemed to, anyone who did wasn't coming on the weekend trip - perfect! We got on the bus same as the public ones and away we went giggling to ourselves. It was two and a half hour journey to the river and the last half hour was insane, we were driving through forest terrain, we thought the bus was gonna topple several times. If it was Ireland health and safety would be all over it. Parents with young kids , no seat belts! The bus driver smoking away , on the phone playing load music, madness! We pulled up at the river front and were instantly bombarded with mosquitoes! Once we were covered with insect repellant and suncream we had some lunch, packed up our stuff into dry bags, and boarded our raft. So they are essentially bib 8man inflatable life boats. The river was so calm, so we did a lot of paddling over the weekend. Mica was our team Gorky guide, he a little english. Sergei was our leader, he had some English too, this was all very reassuring.

The general agenda of the weekend was raft (35km in total over 3 days), stop off at beaches on the river front as you wish, take a refreshing dip. Back on the boat raft again, and wherever sergei decided to stop for food, all the rafts pulled in, and the guides all unloaded the cargo raft and prepared lunch/ dinner. The food was great; lots of salads, fresh fruit salads, soup, pasta, tea coffee, desserts, all included in the price. Sergei as it turned out was an absolute legend, this guy could cook, raft, chop wood, start fires, play guitar, sing and speak English - ha! A bit of a rarity as we are learning. Oh and he can erect a tent in two minutes. Everything is provided - tents, sleeping bags, ground mats the lot. It was a great few days. The weather was smashing. It seems everyone comes with friends or family or work colleagues, floats along having picnics on their rafts, drinking vodka. When people realised we weren't Russian, they were intrigued, would grab hold of our raft and share vodka and food with us. We were completely unprepared had no booze with us!! So we were at the mercy of their generosity!

At night Sergei sang Russian songs at the campfire. Apparently he played Soviet Marches in a blues style, so there was lots of laughing going on, and as time went by more Russians who spoke English emerged, and filled in the gaps for us. The first night we camped in a forest and the second night we camped on the beach. The river was so clean you could drink the water, and the beaches beautiful. It was idyllic. We got eaten by the mosys though. It was real camping, and the river was full of people doing it.

It was super to be so immersed in Russian culture, and language. They were intrigued as to why we were there at all. it was great to meet Russian people and properly experience what they do, and how they socialise.

Sunday night - got the night train to Yekaterinburg. Took 20 hours. Plenty of sleep, vodka drinking (to make up for our dry weekend) and chilling out meant the time flew by. Very comfortable way to travel.