Faceplant (the post all-nighter bit)
As if street urchins looking to lift our electronics weren’t enough next up was a seriously unhinged Syrian who of course was going to be joining us for the ride down to Kazan. Just what you want at five in the morning is a babbling, red leather motorcycle jacket wearing, dreadlocked, lunatic grin sporting, babbler who within five minutes of moving from trying to attract attention from the other side of the room to plopping down next to doc (how does he attract such attention) had whipped out a bunch of family photos and trying to tell us something about them which was incomprehensible due to not being able to speak English or sentences in general. My main query about this situation was how on earth did this guy end up in the middle of Russia with no clue or luggage?
Another all seater train for eight hours or so which would get us into Kazan just after lunch time and also be a good chance to sneak some much needed sleep. Except I just couldn’t drift off for more than a few minutes for unknown reasons, it wasn’t uncomfortable, the heat was way up, and until right near the end there was nothing especially noteworthy to be keeping watch for out the window. Thankfully we had lost the Syrian only noticing him again when he had problems with his ticket just the type of attention one hopes to avoid. The original idea when throwing some around pre-trip was to take a boat down the Volga for this leg but two days seemed like a lot just to get the nice view coming into the city and now an hour or so out we crossed the river that has always been that main artery carrying the lifeblood of the nation Rus.
The lift in spirits that had come with experiencing the wonderful arrival vista of the capital of Tatarstan and the fresh air on stepping off onto the platform lasted about half an hour. Seemingly so close to just being able to switch off and settle into a new city a seven hour slog to get a room in which to do this was not how any of us would have written it. Traipsing around with our packs to one hotel after the other finding they were either affordable but full, expensive and full, or pricey with minimal availability. A very helpful girl at the tourist information office found us space in the first place we had tried, they had said they were full, at a cheaper rate than their listed price even with an outrageous 25% booking surcharge. As she phoned this through we left with a spring in out step the thought of a shower and nap powering weary legs and shoulders back up the hill.
As we are quickly learning nothing is ever that straight forward in Russia. Mostly due to some unfathomable communication breakdown the receptionist was yelling for security and for us to leave the premises instead of smilingly handing over keys. There was possibly an amount of resentment also as she was the same girl who had smirkingly turned us away hours earlier and was now faced with not only letting us into the establishment but for a good deal less than rack rate. By the time we had got back to the desk the tourist office was due to close but so, so fortunately the phone was picked up and it turned out that in a way everyone was correct, there was a booking as we asserted but not technically until 7pm because of the rate. So that is how we ended up in McDonalds trying to regain composure and work out any lessons that may be useful in the future.
One thing with hotels in Russia is that they put all the money into the lobby, this one all marble, leather couches and dark hardwood desk. Cram into a tiny elevator then along an extremely wide corridor and its threadbare lifted carpet, faded brown wallpaper and suspicious cleaning lady. Then a tiny room with lumpy beds, no shower, not even a kettle to make a cup of tea to aid in the recovery. Oh well it is a bed at least, I really hope the rooms on the floors below that the wedding parties we were watching while waiting for 7 o’clock to come around are staying are nicer for their sakes.
Tags: Kazan, language, mighty river, train, Trans-Siberia
montombo
May 18th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
[…] Faceplant (the post all-nighter bit) […]