Gustible - under the rubric of [$_SELF]

I have just returned from yet another two day trip to an unusual destination. This time it was Siberia – to be more precise, the city of Novosibirsk, or “New Siberia”.
Although I often travel on business, this has been the most unusual destination so far. Of course, the mere mention of the fact that I am going to Siberia elicited endless comments of “Are you being punished ?”, or “What have you done wrong?”. It was with some trepidation that I prepared for the trip – not because of any misguided fears that Siberia is (still) some kind of prison camp, but simply because I expected it to be extremely cold. Living in Cape Town, I am used to winters where the minimum temperature very rarely if ever drops below zero Celcius.
So – where is Novosibirsk ? More or less halfway between Moscow and China. And it is hardly a small town – it is in fact the third biggest city in Russia.

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Given that I spent such a short period of time in Novosibirsk, there was no opportunity to do any sigthseeing. I had to make do with a couple of quick photographs from the while car travelling to work and back, and some pictures around the hotel. See below (remember … this is spring):

What struck me was how everything is designed to handle the extreme weather conditions. The temperature was in fact very mild when we visited – between -4 and 6 degrees. Of course this caused the snow to start melting, which leads to nightmare conditions on the road (although the average driver does not seem too notice the sludge and ice…). One of our hosts told us that the temperature dropped as low as -50 degree Celsius during the past winter. Note how the hotel rooms have double doors. The entrance to the hotel similarly has double doors. Every single building we entered had such an arrangement. Everywhere there are tractors, scrapers, bulldozers and people with shovels in evidence, busily cleaning up the roads and pavements. Notice the rubber mat in the car, specially shaped to catch snow and mud. I realise that this kind of thing might be old hat to those from northern climes…but for us who live under the Southern Cross this is highly unusual.

Some travel tips:

• Take decent shoes – they will get wet, they will be ruined if it is either spring or winter. Boots are a must have.
• The matroshka dolls in Novosibirsk airport cost approximately a fifth of what they cost in Moscow airport.
• Hotel Bilyna (should you stay there) really has a great kitchen – excellent food
• English is hardly spoken at all – if you cannot speak Russian, you may have some difficulty. I have no suggestions for solving this problem short of learning a bit of Russian. But – the people are generally very friendly. Someone somewhere is bound to understand some English. Good luck.
• Flying time from Moscow is approximately four hours.
• You will probably transit Moscow International on the way to Novosibirsk. If you do, you may have to take the shuttle to Terminal 1, for the domestic flight to Novosibirsk. Do NOT take a taxi. The shuttle bus is free. Simply go to the transit desk after you collected your luggage, show your ticket, and you will receive a receipt that entitles you to take the shuttle. The transit desk is right next to the exit of the arrival hall. The shuttle departs every 30 minutes, and the trip takes approximately 15-20 minutes. Repeat – do NOT take a taxi. The taxi drivers are obnoxious. Just ignore them – they don’t know anything you don’t.
• No – you cannot walk from terminal 1 to 2 in Moscow, or vice versa. It is simply too far. And in winter you will freeze to death.

I would have liked to be able to spend more time in Novosibirsk. The nature of the trip (sorry, can’t tell you about that) simply did not make it possible. Hopefully Lindy and I can visit Novosibirsk together – this time as a stop-over on the Trans-Siberian Railway – a long-held travel-dream of mine.
And finally – self portrait: in the window of Hotel Bilyna (room 314, to be precise):

The next travel instalment is coming to you from Warsaw, where this post has been written.