Only in Russia – Tinda

While living in Siberia for a year, I agreed to speak at a human rights conference. Only in Russia will you find a place like Tinda, a city we stopped in on our way.

Trans-Siberian Railway

When living in Siberia, the only way to get around is car, helicopter or the Trans-Siberian Railway. Since I had neither a car nor helicopter, the train it was. Unfortunately, the train to my conference left at 4 AM after a night spent trying to acquire a travel visa on the sly, which meant drinking a lot of visa.

Dutifully, my travel partner, Oleg Vladimirovich, and I made the train where we were met by a local reporter, Nina, who was coming along. The Trans-Siberian Railway can offer some amazing views, but not at four in the morning. I went to sleep.

The thing about Russia is you simply can’t grasp how big it is. Although we were traveling in the same state [“oblast”], the trip took 30 hours. Since it was winter, the view out the train was mostly of snow covered trees. Yes, it sounds romantic until you have to sit there for a day. Fortunately, the Russians have good taste as the train radio blared John Lee Hooker most of the way. No, I don’t know why.

Tinda

Only in Russia will you find a city like Tinda. During the Stalin era, it was determined that the timber and natural resources in a particular spot of Siberia were very valuable. Unfortunately, nobody lived within 500 miles of so of the location. To solve the problem, the authorities decided to build a railroad and city from scratch.

Building in the middle of Siberia is just a slight challenge. Just to get to the location of Tinda, the Russians had to build a railway over permafrost, bogs, huge mountain ranges, roaring rivers and I won’t even mention the bugs in the summer.

The unfortunately named BUM railway was started in 1930 and finished in 1984. During this process, hundreds of five story concrete buildings were built to form the city of Tinda. A hundred thousand people were uprooted from their homes and moved to this city in the middle of nowhere. Walla, the communist authorities had a labor force to exploit the natural resources.

With the fall of communism, the authorities in Russia are no longer interested in the area. The city is failing and people are flocking to live in cities with jobs and better wages. The ones that remain in Tinda are in desperate straits. It is a sad statement to the legacy of communism, where the interests of the state dominated.

About The Author
Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com - makers of writing journals. Travel journals are great travel accessories and travel gifts for student travel, family vacations and adventure travel. Visit http://www.nomadjournaltrips.com for more travel articles, travelogues and travel stories

Russia Travel Visa – Vodka and Old Friends

If you think getting a visa to travel to Russia is difficult, you should try getting one to travel around the country. Living in Russia, I needed just such a Russia travel visa.

Russia Travel Visa

Unlike many countries, foreigners in Russia must declare on their travel visa where they will travel in the country. If they want to add a location, they have to get a new, temporary visa for the location. Basically, it is red tape and bureaucracy out the ying yang.

While living in Siberia, I was invited to speak at a human rights conference in the town of Tinda. I wasn’t entirely sure where this was, but new I needed a temporary visa to get from my city to it. My host, Oleg Vladimirovich, told me getting one would be no problem. I should’ve known I was in trouble when our first stop was the liquor store.

Four vodka bottles in hand, we hit our first stop at the home of a retired customs official who was married to someone’s half brothers third sister and so on. We reminisced and drank shots for a half hour or so. Feeling no pain, the customs official called a friend and off we went to meet him while leaving the open vodka bottle behind.

At the new gentlemen’s home, we cracked our second bottle of vodka. Reminiscing was undertaken, which left me out of the process since I had never met the chap before. Eventually, another phone call was made and we were off to make a new friend.

As you can probably guess, this process was repeated two more times. At our final meeting, I was so “warm on the inside, cold on the outside” as Russians say when demurely sipping vodka that I was reminiscing with a man and wife who I had never met before in my life!

Eventually, we obtained the necessary visa or something that wouldn’t get me arrested. Oleg joked it was a “semi-visa”. It might work or might not.

About The Author
Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com - makers of writing journals. Travel journals are great travel accessories and travel gifts for student travel, family vacations and adventure travel. Visit http://www.nomadjournaltrips.com for more travel articles, travelogues and travel stories