About 2am we cleared the Mongolian boarder and I settled down to 6 hours of blissful sleep.
2:05 and the Major started to snore, oh my god I have never heard anything quite like it. No joke it was as loud as 50 jumbo jet getting ready to take off, then his wife started up just as loud. After trying to get to sleep for a couple of hours I gave up, got up and made my way out of my compartment to glimpse out of the window to get my first taste of the Mongolian landscape. At this point I must thank the strange Danish couple as I saw the most incredible sights so far on my trip. Peering out of the window my jaw dropped as i reckon approximately 500 horses galloped in a line right next to the train before veering off towards the mountains in a cloud of dust. There were so many horses in the line it must have gone on for at least 5 miles and with the pastel reds and oranges of dawn rising over the untouched Mongolian landscape it was like I was in my very own BBC Planet Earth, I was half expecting David Attenborough voice to start narrating in my head. I wanted to wake up everyone in the carriage to see this amazing horses race, but secretly I’m glad I was the only one to see such a spectacular sight, it was a great introduction for Mongolia, my home for the next month.

The hostel was nice, very cramped and the bed was very hard so sleeping was a great problem. I met loads of great people who gave me the low down on where to go by the lake. The places where most backpackers end up are either Olkhon Island or Listvyanka. I chose the island as I had more time and is further away from civilization.

Olkhon Island is about 1/2 way up the lake and takes 8 hours to reach by bus, which seems far but after a 50 hour train journey it really seems like nothing.

Let me give you some statistics about the lake just in case you have never heard of it before.
1. Baikal is 636km from north to south.
2. The shape of Baikal looks like a banana. (Very comedy cock)
3. Baikal is the worlds deepest lake, 1637 meters. (Fresh drinking water)
4. The water temperature never gets above 14 degrees.

after 7 hours of a bumpy dirty road we made it to the ferry terminal that would take us to the island. The island is home to the Buryat people who still have a large village on the island. They are believed to be descendents of Mongolians and their culture is very similar.

The first sighting of the lake reminded me of the Lake District, Mountains hug the shoreline stretching as far you can see. But the different was I had never seen water like it before, it was almost a turquoise colour and it was so clear you could easy see 5 meters down in some places.

Once on the island it was another hour to the village of Khuzhir where I would be staying at the hostel run by the ex Russian Olympic table tennis champ ‘Nikita’. oh trust me, it gets far more random.
The hostel is wonderful, and I met up with a few people that I had met in the hostel of Irukutsk. Breakfast lunch and dinner are included in the price and its pretty good food, though 5 days of eating fish in various forms. Fish soup, fried, baked and smoked has taken its toll. I’m not sure after these 5 days I’ll be able to eat another fish again.

The first evening I went for a stroll around village. Its a very strange place and nothing like anywhere in Russia I have been before so it made a great change. About 600 people live here, the houses are all made of wood and none have running water. The Toilets are holes in ground and they only been connected to electric grid since 2005. Cows and dogs wonder freely around the streets (muddy tracks). Next to the village are the two Shaman Rocks which have pray flags tied all over them, these rocks are a very spiritual place for the Buryat people.

Just north of the rocks is a long sandy beach which I walked down to only to be confront by some locals youths who wanted me to take there photo and in return have a couple of drinks with them. I haven’t been in the village more than 5 minutes and im already drinking cheap larger that had a sandy/oilily taste to it. mmm lovely. I love meeting the local people, but im sure one of you lot are tipping them off to get me wasted at every stop a long my route.

Each day there are many different tours around the island that the hostel put on for its guests. The first tour I did was to the south of the island. As there were to many of us on the tour we couldn’t all fit in the 4×4 mini van (looks like a VW camper but with bigger wheels) so 3 of us had to wait for our ride. Would it be another mini van?
No.
Would it be 4×4?
No.
What on earth was it then?
A clapped out Lada with bold tires no seatbelts, My door wouldn’t shut properly, one of the back door wouldn’t open and whenever we went up a step hill we had to get out and let the car cool down. Talk about an adrenalin rush as we are bombing down muddy 4×4 tracks in the middle of a forest to find a lake which the Buryat people practice their Shamanism. The lake its self isn’t anything special but who really cares when you had a ride like that! I think the hostel should make the Lada ride a separate tour, they could make millions out of the daft adrenalin junkies!

The next day was spent onboard boat cruising around the tiny islands off Olkhom, In the afternoon a couple of us decided to brave the cold water and go for a swim. Being the hardest (most stupid) I went first. I lasted about 40 seconds before my body started to shut down and I had to get out! One of the girls I was hanging around with over heard a conversation from a Russian family about me. It went something along the lines of.
Mum ‘look there is someone in the lake, he must be a tourist’
Son ‘I think he is English’
Mum ‘No he’s not, he is speaking Hungarian’
Son ‘No that English’
Mum ‘No that’s Hungarian, I should know, your Grandma was stationed in the war there’
Son ‘oh ok’
So there you have it, mum knows best. Apparently im not from Essex but from Hungary instead. I’m not sure which is worse.

Day 3 was spent taking a tour north to the very tip of the island, more pray flags and apparently hanging dogs from trees though I didn’t see them. I’m not sure if that was anything to do with a Buryat tradition or if the villages got fed up with the dogs. either way its a bit dark.

Night time we had a bit of a party as a few of travelers that I became good friends with were leaving. so out came my good old friend Vodka and his friend Mr beer.
Last day was spent taking photos and chewing the fat with some new travelers which included a posh couple from London who complain about everything and disagreed with everything I would say. I’m not sure who is worse. Chavs on holiday or posh 20 year old gap student who have daddy’s credit card to take around the world. Sod it, I don’t like both those type of people. Moan over!

Waking up early the next day to catch the mini bus back to Irukutsk I could hear……rain! when it rains in Siberia, my god does it rain! Being Russia they had over booked the mini bus so 13 of us squeezed in to a 9 seater bus. Taking the mini bus back Irukutsk was meant to knock off 2 hours of the journey but as it was raining and the road became a thick muddy track the mini bus was struggling to get up the hills and we managed to get stuck a few times. Where was Lada boy when you need him? So taking the mini bus back turned out to be a complete disaster. Not only was it the most unpleasant journeys I have ever been on it took an extra hour longer than the bus….. 9 hours sitting on mans lap, we were very close friends by the end of it! Even though I had such a bad ride back, I had such a great time on the island, Its been the best thing i’ve done in Russia so far. Lake Baikal is truly a wonder of our planet, I wish i had more time, i could have easily spent a couple of weeks around the lake.

Only 3 days left in Russia and only 4 days left on my visa. I hope the trains are on time otherwise im a bit screwed. Next stop Ulan-Uda, the Russian gateway to Mongolia!

Ulan-Uda, what a rather odd city. The people here are a mix of Russian, Buryat, Mongolian and Chinese. Quite a contrast to all the other cities I’ve been too in Russia. The other thing I’ve noticed about this city is I must stand out like a sore thumb as at least 5 people have come up to me asking me questions about where I’m from. people here seem more chilled out than the rest of Russia and the most shocking thing is the all the people seem to speak some English. One of the many crazy thing about this city is that in the summer the city authorities switch off the hot water and all they get is the cold water that gets pumped from Lake Baikal. My hotel gave me a discount of five pounds as it had no hot water. At the time I thought that was great news until I tried getting under the shower and then having flash backs from diving in to the lake. My room was great, it hadn’t been updated since the soviet time. Brown flowery wallpaper

and a hotel radio with only one knob ‘off’ which sounded like it was spurting some kind of communist propaganda at me…..well what do you expect for a hotel that cost seven pounds….. after discount.

After a quick nap it was off for a look round the city. First stop is the statue of Lenin, after seeing what seems like 1000s of statues of him in all the Russia cities and getting rather bored of him at least this one is a bit different. Its the worlds largest Lenin head (even bigger than mine). As normal he dominates a public square, I noticed they were rigging up a stage so I thought something might be going on tonight, more on that later.

One sad fact I’ve noticed about Buryat people is I fear the culture may not last much longer as our western culture creeps in to the region. Out go the tradition clothes which the grandparents and parents wear to the shops to be replaced by fake Gucci tops and cheap tarty hotpants. Its a shame as the Buryat people are very beautiful but the way they dress make them almost look cheap and dare i say a bit chavy.
In the evening from my 6th floor hotel window i could see the crowds gather on the square in front of the stage. I couldn’t miss this, maybe it was a good bye party for me? On the way there i ducked in to a Russian fast food joint. I think i must have been the first foreigner they have ever had judging by the reaction i got from the excitable girl that served me, after i said i was from London. When she went in to the kitchen to get my hot dog (i know, i know, it’s all i could read on the menu) All i could see from the kitchen was the staff peering around the door to get a glimpse of the hairy English dude. A quick wave and a smile to them from me insured that i got a mountain of chips on my plate. Yum! I haven’t had chips since SA, so it was a bit of a treat.

Walking to the stage I really hadn’t got a clue what on earth was going on. What I could make out it was some kind of ‘BBC Sports personality of the year meets The Eurovision song contest’ Awards were given out to the local sports winners including two Buryat people who are off to Mongolia to enter in to the Naadam festival for wrestling and archery. A Russian Rapper backed with girls dressed up in cave girl outfits blasted out some ‘karaoke’ hip hop whilst the Russian version of Pams people dazzled the crowd with…… errr amazing dance moves that Michael Flattley would be proud off. The evening came to a climax when I can only describe as a cross between the Corrs and Guns n Roses came on to a thunder’s roar from the crowd, after 3 songs the concert came to the end with a massive fireworks display that seemed to go on forever. What a great way to end my Russian adventure.

What do I say about Russia then?
Highlights

Moscow, it such an interesting city. And my favorite city I visited in Russia.

Lada drivers, frightening but so much fun

Lake Baikal – i could spend a few weeks camping there, so beautiful

Trans-Siberian – Who thought you could have such an adventure in a moving cupboard.

Vodka – £1 a bottle, need i say more?

A nation that is more obsessed about bread than me, though is no way nicer than the bread in SA.

Trust me to be on the Trans-Siberian with a complete monster when it comes to Alcohol. I set off from a very hot Moscow yesterday at 21:25, it is now 14:25 the following day and I still have nine hours till I reach my next destination of Yekinateburg which is the boarder between Europe and Asia.

I find my carriage and plonk myself down waiting to see who I’ll be sharing with. A few minutes later a tearful Russian lady comes and sits down. I’m guessing she had just left family in Moscow as a big group of them were waving her off when the train left. Then in came carnage! An old guy who is called Vladimir. He comes in with a tatty backpack and heaps of bags. After about 20 minutes of fluffing around and chatting to the old lady he finally settles down….. well that’s what I thought. Moments later he is shoving a drink in to my hand and telling me to neck it….. but not before I have made speech! I muttered something about new friendships made on the Trans-Siberian blah blah, I could of said anything as both of them only spoke a few words of English, they seemed like nice people so I thought I’d go along with it.
Now you all know I like a good drink but nothing had ever prepared me for this. I didn’t understand what he was telling me about the drink I had in my hand but every time I said vodka he shook his head and said Spirit. Now, how you drink this homemade devil brew is

1. Take a glass of water, take a sip and hold it in your mouth
2. Then take ‘spirit’ and neck it.
3. As you feel the burning in your mouth you quickly swallow it and drink the rest of the water. I have never felt anything quite like. It makes Absinthe seem pretty tame. After two more shots I was so pissed, we had only been on the train for about an hour! Only 25 hours left…… shit! How am I going survival this?

After a bit of a feast, with Vladamir pulling a massive smoked fish out of one of his bags and the lady pulling out vegetables and bits of a pig we sat down and tried having a conversation. I guess I come from a completely different world to them and I really don’t think they understood what on earth I was doing on a Russian train on my way to Mongolia.

I woke up to Vladimir shoving another shot in my face, bloody hell its only gone 9am. After the shot I was pretty close to being sick so after laying down for 30 minutes with a dizzy head I managed to crawl out of bed…. only to be face with another shot, this time he had some how managed to drag a Dutch couple in on the action. After another flipping shot he could see I couldn’t keep up with him so he made me the most amazing homemade herbal tea which he added Strawberry Jam and honey. It was incredible! If only I knew what was in the tea I could go on Dragons Den and make millions.

I then became the teacher for the rest of the morning with the help of the Lonely Planet phrase guide. I even tried to get him to say ‘Nice one bruva’ I don’t think he had clue what I was on about, but it was rather amusing to listen to him say it in his thick Russian accent.

Another random thing happen to me as well (as if). The Trans Siberian stops at many small station on the way, stopping for about 15 minutes you can get out, stretch your legs and buy some food and goods from the local traders. A teenage boy came up to me and tried selling me a sheep skin rug. When I opened my gob and said no thank you. He was so excited and spoke in perfect English, talking about David Beckham and how English football is best in the world (he might as well have been talking in Russian as I hadn’t got a clue what he was going on about). He then pulled out his mobile and started to film me so he could show his English class. It was a full blown interview, Asking where I’m going, doing etc and more importantly which football team I supported, I told him Arsenal (Is that good?) which he seemed delighted at. The most random thing he said was that he was from Turkmenistan and his name was Dennis! Surely you can’t be from Turkmenistan and be called Dennis? Surely, that is as strange as ‘Hi my name is Keith and I’m from Kazakhstan’ see, It just doesn’t work.

The rest of the journey was more chilled out as Vladimir had passed out from drinking to much of his home brewed rocket fuel so I had time to listen to The Mode ‘Greatest hits Live’ and the Howling Bells (cheers Stu again) before I too passed out. Waking up just in time to sort my shit out before I depart off the train, I was just about to leave when Vladimir woke up jumped down from his bunk and insisted he took my bags for me on to the platform. We said our goodbyes and I headed in Yekinateburg. I’m gonna miss that crazy old Basted.

Once getting in to Yekinateburg I headed to my hotel. I found a taxi and ask him to take me to The Park Inn hotel. He seem to know what I was going on about so I hopped in. On the way there he is on the phone to someone, I see my hotel on the other side of the road and point to him, completely ignoring me goes passed my hotel about 100meters and pulls over next to a disco strip club. He hands me the phone, I’m like what the hell is going on?
‘Hello’ I say down the phone. A deep Russian voice speaking in perfect English says to me ‘What can we get you’ I reply with a rather shaky ‘err could I go to my hotel please?’ ‘Put the taxi driver back on’ I hand him his phone back and he gets out and opens the boot and gets my bag out dumping it on the floor like I’ve done something wrong. I pay the guy, he gets in his car and speeds off leaving me on the side of the road to lug all my stuff to the hotel. I’m not sure what on earth that was about!

This is the first hotel I’ve stayed in since I started this trip so I was looking forward to my own room for once. Plus this hotel is only one year old so its nice and modern. Mmm A hot bath and I can shave this bloody beard off. I’m sorry to all the beard watches out there.

This is a tribute to Mr Dawson

Waking up very late the next day (my the bed was so comfy) I decide to get up and do some sightseeing. There really isn’t that much to see and do in this city, There are the normal Lenin statues and war memorials dotted all over the place, there is on famous church that dominates the city called The Church of Blood and I must say its rather impressive inside and out.

The rest of my days in Yekinateburg where spent shopping for food for my next train journey (about 50 hours to Irkutsk).

2 days later and I’m back on The Trans Siberian, what randoms might I find in my carriage this time. Well for the next 50 hours I get to share it with a mute who looks like Greg Dyke and is eating the biggest smoked fish I have seen which is stinking the whole train out. The other guy I was sharing with got off about 8 hours in thank god because he was doing my nut in. He really could have been a character out of Little Britain. With only one gold tooth in his mouth which he was very proud to show me and do a hand gesture to tell me it cost a lot of money (If it cost so much why didn’t he spend the money getting new teeth instead?). He stunk the place out with a cocktail of booze and BO and every time a girl walked passed or was on a platform he would do the international ‘thrusting hips’ sign and get very excited. As I said he only lasted about 8 hours before he got off. Ha ha, I then see him on the platform with his wife (A Russian Vikki Pollard) and about 6 kids. See, the UK isn’t the only one to have chavs.

I am now half way to Irkutsk (24 hours left). I can hear you all say ‘Sam, what is Siberia like?’ well gang, so far I’ve seen trees, more trees…… oh wait there is a bit of grass…. oh we are back to trees again! brilliant!

Getting off the train I walked to the hostel which was a couple of miles away. Moscow is a little different to St Petersburg in that it doesn’t have any road signs in English so finding your way round using the Lonely Planet maps is pretty useless. After my very impressive map reading skills (a lot of guess work) I found the hostel straight away. I was only staying here for two night as it was fully booked out for the rest of the week. The Hostel was really nice and I met loads of really great people however on the 1st night there I had to share a dorm with a Russian family, Mum, dad, Babushka (grandma), Granddad and 3 very annoying little shits that ran around the hostel at 7am screaming the place down to the delights of all the people that had only got in 1 hour before from clubbing. The other great moment I had with the family from hell was when I walked in to the dorm and Mr Russian was sitting on his bed completely naked eating with the family. He was like a cross between Homer Simpson and a grizzly bear (ooo he was a hairy man). I now have that image burnt in to my brain and it has scared me for the rest of my life.

A few of us from the hostel went out to sample Moscow’s nightlife. The were eight of us all together, 4 top Irish guys, 1 German, 1 American and a Canadian girl. The only problem going out in Moscow is that it is impossible to get pass the bouncers. There is a strange thing over here called ‘Face Control’, basically if your not good looking or can’t tip the bouncer 1000 Rouble (£20) you are not getting in. The bouncers come out with the same stories, its either closing soon or its a private party. After 4 different bars/clubs we managed to get in to one called Goodbye Babushka. Was it worth all the hassle? Not really cos the fucker then fleeced us £7 each for a beer as we tourists. So we left there and bought a bottle of vodka (£2) and drank it back at the hostel which turned out to be a great laugh.

Moscow is a fascinating city and I’m really enjoying my time here, I’ve seen some amazing sights, taking a tour around the Kremlin which looks like the baddies hide out in a James Bond movie.

On the side of the Kremlin is the jaw dropping Red Square, which isn’t square or red for that matter. Russia’s main landmark, the crazy St Basil’s church is at one end of the square and just looks like it should be in Disney World with its crazy onion roofs and mad colours, I think it has to be one of the coolest looking buildings in the world.

In the centre of red square is Lenin’s tomb which I have yet to see as its been closed off all week as they have been setting up a massive stage for Russians Independence day more on that later.

Update, its now Thursday and Lenin’s tomb was open. Was it worth the two hour queue? Well to be honest I’m not sure. It has to be the weirdest things I have ever seen in my life. Once you have dropped off your bags, cameras, phone, heck everything you own (They might as well have taken off all my clothes the security was so tight) you are aloud to enter the tomb. The tomb is black marble which makes it impossible to see more than a meter in front of you. You wind down some stairs passing numerous somber looking guards and you finally enter the main chamber where Lenin is laying……stuffed…… OK he isn’t stuffed but preserved in paraffin wax and lives in a glass box. The only light in the tomb is on Lenin and its giving his skin a kinda weird Dale Winton shade of orange, you could almost be in madam Tussuad’s. As you pass him you exit the tomb and in to the statue ‘hall of fame’ where there are many status of past soviet leaders. It had to be one of the weirdest things I have ever seen! Talk about going to La la land. Well worth a look, if not just to snigger at Lenin’s tan!

I love walking around this city as there is so much to see, with all of the crazy soviet statues and monuments. There certainly wasn’t any expensive spared building them. Some of the most fascinating things to see are out in the suburbs like ‘VDNK’ which has been a highlight of Russia so far. The VDNK is a park that was built in Soviet time to show off the might of the communism machine. The building each represent a different part of soviet life such as Industry, farming, family, space, army etc.

Its a fascinating way of stepping back in time and getting a sense of what they were trying to achieve with Communism. The park is a bit tatty and isn’t very maintained which gives it such an eerie run down feeling. It’s a shame they don’t have the money to preserves such an unusual and fascinating place. Well worth a visit if you come to Moscow.

I had to move hostels as the one I booked up had ran out of space for the week. The hostel is called Yellow blue bus which translated to Russian means ‘I love you’ aww isn’t that sweet. Anyway, I met up with two top lads from the UK who were also staying at the hostel. We decided we would go down to Red Square and celebrate with the Russians there Independence Day. After necking a bottle of £2 vodka we headed down there to be confronted by a 1000s of police surrounding Red Square. It turns out its a ticket only event. After trying to blag it passed the guards with the ‘My hostel is over there’ trick (It got us through two check points) we had to give up. Earlier in the day I had seen them setting up a stage in the VDNK so we decided to give it ago. Armed with cans of Hooch, yes they still sell Hooch, but this isn’t any old Hooch this is Super Hooch which is 9%, in fact most alchopops seem to be that strength over here. Once again we had to blag it passed a police man to get in to the park.
After 10 minutes of jabbering away in English to him he finally gave in and let us passed.

Once we were in we were confronted by a stage with a dj and dancers banging out noisy gum bleeding techno for the rest of the night. Much fun was had dancing around with all the crazy Russian and it was the 1st time I had seen so many Russians smile and that’s no joke!

In all, Moscow is a cracking place to visit, I can’t put my finger on it, maybe it reminds me of London…..An edger London with more concrete and Larders. It must be one of the best cities I’ve been too in my life.

Tomorrow I leave Moscow. The next stop is Yekaterinburg, this is my first stop on my Trans-Siberian adventure. I must book a hotel at some point, and I get in at 1am, expect random stories.

The cheapest thing by far is vodka with the cheapest i’ve bottle i’ve found being just over £1 for a 1 lit of the evil stuff! The 1st thing you have to do when visiting a city in Russia is to register where you are staying so they can keep tabs on you. Well thats the idea anyway but its a load of bollocks as my hostel can’t do registration so they sent me to find a travel agents in some little back street and get it done there. So armed with a scrap piece of paper with the name jotted down on it I was of to find it….. could I find the travel agent? could I bollocks. After an hour searching I gave up and headed back to the hostel. Where I started to get home sick for the 1st time and really felt like giving up and flying back to South Africa to be with Ellie.

In the afternoon I decide to get off my arse and do something so I took the guide book and went out sightseeing. I first came across ‘The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood

which is how I imagined Russian Churches to look. What a beautiful church with it great onion dome roofs. Inside is just as spectacular with 7000 sq meters of mosaic tiles lining the walls (thanks for lonely planet for that fact) What astounded me, in communist times they used it and many other churches as warehouses.

I then stumbled on to the Winter Palace which is draw dropping and makes Buckingham Palace look like a shed. Part of the palace is the Hermitage which is a massive art museum which houses some of the greatest pieces of art in the world. Its so huge its meant to take two days to get around. I don’t have two days so im going to take a whirl wind tour on Friday around my favorite period ‘Florentine art from the 13th to 16th centuries’. (thanks again lonely planet,like I know what im talking about when It comes to fine art). Being the number on attraction in St. Petersburg’s the queues look horrendous from the outside, still I am in Russia and this country is famous for its long lines.

Update, I went there today (Friday) and I can see why its so popular, 4 hours I spent wondering around looking at da Vinci, Rembrandt, Michelangelo and ancient artifacts from Mongolia, Greece and Egypt. Wonderful stuff, Its a must if you come here.

The next day was again sightseeing taking in Peter & Paul’s Fortress which was a bit of a disappointment, then walking past the Central Naval Museum where hoards of wedding parties pull up in there stretched limos and get there photos taken in front of the fountains. The bride and groom then smash there champagne glasses on the side of the dock I guess for good luck. Fire crackers go off, The band starts to play and the families of the bride and groom go nuts, I would love to see what happens at the after show party. All very tacky in a wedding type of way but I found myself strangely drawn to watching them for the next hour.

One thing has sadden me to see that still goes on over here is bear dancing and having bear cubs chained up with there claws cut and muzzles around there mouths. Even sadder there are still tourists happy to pay and have their photo taken with the poor thing. last part of the day I got told by loads of people I must go and watch the St Petersburg bridges raise. This happens every night at about 1am so ships can pass in to the river. So me and a top French guy decided to stay up and check it out. When we got to the river it was mobbed, people everywhere, so what was gonna happen when they raised? Laser in the sky? fire works being set off? nope, nothing, nothing at all. The bridges went up and let a couple of tatty looking ship in to the river and that was it. Unless we were missing the point it was a bit pointless trip out at 1am. I have had more fun watching UKTV Gardens.

Loads of walking on the next day, taking in the views of St Petersburg from the top of St Isaac’s Cathedral and checking out a couple of photography galleries. I also had to go and pick up my visa registration which was on the other side of town. l did so much walking and my trainers aren’t very good for walking in so I now have two massive blisters on my feet so i’m now walking like a spacker.

Last day was spent at Hermitage (see above) and the Summer Gardens which is a very peaceful park on the river. A fine way to spend a last afternoon in St Petersburg. I’m getting the hang of this travelling by myself now and am feeling happier now.. Right i’m off to Moscow! catch you later.