Having now nearly spent three weeks in Russia I feel that we are only just starting to glimpse the Russian way of life. Over our time here we have spoken with a large variety of people who have given their opinion on Russia, its past, present and future. It seems that most Russians take a pragmatic view of thier countries history, looking upon the soviet era as being both positive and negative for the countries progression. From what we have experienced and b...

16th March woke up very late (again) - our sleepiong pattern here in Novosibirsk is in a bad way as there's really not a lot to do here during the day so we've become almost nocternal. Max (our friend from Rock City) and his friend Jane came round in the evening and took us to their friend John's house. They are all incredibly helpfull, constantly going out of their way to help us out and show us a good time here in Novosibirsk. John, who has a russian bear l...

12th march After 5 minutes of geting off the train at Novosibirsk we were being harassed by a man with very lanky hair, nasty clothes, a broken nose and loads of severe scars on his face, a typical male resident of the city. we hurriedly lost him and headed for an in ternet cafe to contact our hospitality contact here, Dara, an Englishman, who seemed very cool and happy to help us however he was able, although a 10-month stint in russia has obviously left its ...