Russia

We crossed the border into Russia with a small amount of nervousness.  For months now people had been scaring us with stories about how wild and lawless the Russian countryside is.  Apparently our visas were in order because the actual border crossing produced no dramas.  In fact, we had nothing but good experiences in Russia. Our hearts sank when the police in their sooped-up Lada pulled us over…..but they just wanted to help us with directions.

 

 

Once into the countryside, it was obvious that Russia is the poor cousin of the region.  Most houses are all run down, entire apartment blocks and factories are deserted, fields are uncultivated and lawns look like they have never seen a lawn mower. 

  

It is difficult to see how people earn a living because we saw no signs of economy other than an occasional shop.  Many towns that we passed through did not even appear to have a shop (although we can’t be certain of that because shops were almost impossible to identify due to their complete lack of signage combined with the fact that we can’t read Russian).  Thank goodness for Coca-Cola marketing.

 

We found no campgrounds outside of St Petersburg and so we set up camp wherever we could find a quiet spot (such as a war memorial park or a beach).  Water was quite an issue since sometimes even the local people didn’t have running water.  Very third world.