Arrival in Switzerland

With the last short hop from Berlin to my home town Basel/Allschwil came my journey “Singapore2Switzerland” after many thousand railway kilometers to an end. I brought back home unforgettable memories of interesting people who I met during my journey as well as beautiful landscapes which passed by on the train window during the past 2.5 months.

   

The first part in South East Asia with its simple accommodations is still outstanding in beauty of the landscape. I love the paddy fields, palm trees, the warm climate and the fabulous food, which is available at every corner. The whole journey was dominated by daily organization (When is the next train leaving? Where can we sleep and eat?), what sometimes was very tiring.

   

Positively surprised I was from the high standard of the hostels in China. In this country the trains were the most comfortable ones on the whole journey. Fasinating are the contrasts between the multi million cities Beijing and Shanghai compared to the inner China villages, where you still can find the simple life without Starbuck’s coffee shops! The air polution throughout the country is a big minus point on China – there is still much to be done until the Olympic Games in Beijing next year.

Within miles of the crowded streets in China was the barely inhabited Mongolia. The endless steppe with the ger tents of the nomads, who are herding their livestock was one of the most impressive lanscape along this journey. Riding horses and camels and living the simple life as a guest of a nomad family was a highlight.

   

Crossing Siberia I recall as only eating cucumbers and tomatos for several days, the food selection was very limited in this area of Russia. The scenery with its endless forests was getting boring with the time. The two major cities Moscow and St. Petersburg are a modern contrast to the rest of the Russia which I have seen. I was impressed and had a good time in this two modern cities. A new experience were the White Nights in St. Petersburg, where it didn’t get dark at all. In good memory I also have lively Berlin, which offers a lot to tourists.

   

After five years in Singapore I will go back to work in Switzerland already next week. Therefore this travel blog is coming herewith to an end. Many thanks to all of you who have send us e-mails or posted a comment on this blog during our “Singapore2Switzerland” journey. We are looking forward meeting up with you guys in the near future. In the meantime please stay in touch with us under kian_april@yahoo.com or marc.schurch@yahoo.com

     

Before we part, please keep this blog marked as April might be doing something exciting for her ‘goodbye Asia, hello Europe’ tour.. We will not reveal anything now, so take a peek once in a while before she leaves for Switzerland in mid-October.

Wonderful Berlin

Berlin – the capital of Germany - is looking back on a turbulent past 100 years. Two World Wars followed by dividing the city Berlin and the reunification in the early 90’s took their toll on the biggest German city.

10 years back when I visited the city, everything was under construction. Now, Berlin is an attractive, multicultural city, which is throwing up new architecture so fast, that there is a lot to discover.

    

The main sites of this 3 million inhabitants city can easily be covered while walking through Berlin, some of the most interesting history anyway can only be reached by foot. I was impressed by the newly arranged government area with the Federal Chancellery, Reichstag, German Bundestag and the nearby Brandenburger Gate.

   

The most famous attraction in Berlin is definitely the remains of the Wall, which came down in 1989. One of the latest opened attraction is the ‘memorial to the murdered jews of Europe’, with a touching information center about the Nazi’s policy and the development that led to the Holocaust.

    

   

I also covered Hitler’s bunker, Postdamer Square, Victory Column, Museum Island, SS Headquarter and much more.

    

   

The longest tourist queue was in front of Reichstag, to get up into the new glass cupola which provides a great Berlin panorama view. It was worthwile waiting 1.5 hours.

    

A visit to Berlin is only complete with a river cruise on the Spree.

   

Berlin was a great stop in a wonderful city. Where else can you find islamic gardens alongside holocaust memorials. And which other capital city has a gay mayor? I also met up with Sandra, a friend from Singapore who left Asia only one month before me.

   

It’s nice to be able to read all the signs again. It reminds me, that I am now very close to Switzerland, where my train journey will come to an end soon.

   

Via Belarus and Poland to Berlin

I decided to transit at Belarus – it´s ok if you have to look on an Europe map where this country is – and Poland without sightseeing. My two days train journey will bring me directly to the German capital city Berlin.

At the train station in St. Petersburg I first time realized that Switzerland is coming closer! To my surprise the railway clocks are the same as we have back home.

   

I shared the train compartment with two Russians who were travelling to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where the train was reassembled with carriages which arrived from Moscow. During the stop, women were selling berries and pre-cooked food (mainly potatoes) on the platform.

   

I was lucky once again with the weather during my journey, but the scenery in Belarus was quite boring. There were a lot of old factories from the old Soviet time along the railway track, which were looking really run down.

   

In Brest, the border city to Poland we had to change the railway boggies to the smaller Western Europe gauge. Even  I had witness this process already at the China – Mongolia border some weeks back, it was still impressives.

   

Back at the railway station the passport control took place, what took an other hour. I got some serious trouble with the custom officier, who told me that there is no registration in the computer system with the tourist police from St. Petersburg, what means that my hotel didn´t register me. He wanted to bring me to the local police where I should pay a fine of 400 Euro. I was not worried as the officer gave me my passport back after it was stamped. Luckily the time was on my side and the officer had to leave the train as it started to roll off slowly. I guess he tried his luck on me to earn some extra pocket money.

While approaching Warzawa, endless agriculture land was passing by my train window. The train attendant asked me to close the cabin compartment with all three (!) locks on the door while being in Poland.

   

When I woked up the next morning, the train reached the German boarder. I thought great, only three more hours to Berlin. Unfortunately the German loco driver were on strike that morning and nothing was going any more. Without information we were waiting at the boarder for hours. The Russian travellers joked about the western democracy and called the Germans lazy…….

With several hours delay I finally reached Berlin, only to find out that my hostel gave away my bed because I didn´t show up earlier.

   

St. Petersburg

The night train conveniently ferried me from Moscow to Northern Venice – St. Petersburg!

My mum joined me for a few days here, where we could make most out of our days as at the moment the ‘White Nights’ are ongoing in St. Petersburg. This is the season when it never gets dark in the city. Even at 2:00 am it’s still bright enough to read a book without any lamp. Really fascinating and most enjoyable after five years in Singapore close to the equator, where it gets dark every day at 19:15.

   

The city was built from scratch with many lovely canals by Peter the Great in early 18th century. It has been known by several other names (Petrograd, Leningrad), before it renamed itself to St. Petersburg after the Soviet Union came tumbling down in 1991. But whatever it’s called there’s no denying that St. Petersburg is one of the most glorious cities in Russia.

   

Walking along the Neva River and the many canals that meander through the heart of the city is a seamless showcase of hugh palaces of 18th and 19th century architecture. Winter Palace, the former Royal residence of the Romanov family, houses nowadays the Hermitage, one of the most magnificent art collection in the world. The rooms where these art pieces are showcased were equally impressive.

   

By hydrofoil speedboat, we made a trip 30km outside the city to the Palace Peterhof – the Russian equivalent of Versailles. The centerpiece of the palast is its garden with 140 fountains and canals. Being a tsar 300 years back during the immensely rich Russian Empire time must have been a good life.

   

We also set aside some time to explore the Yusupov Palace, Vasilyevsky Island and the Peter & Paul Fortress. My mum also liked the Cathedral and Churches. As the sightseeing days were long - thanks to the White Nights - we were quite tired in the evenings.

   

   

It took me five (!!) hours at the central train ticket office to get my ticket via Belarus and Poland to Germany. Sometimes it’s extremely frustrating as English it not spoken in Russia outside the main tourist spots. Travelling in Russia was not always easy!