has travelled Asia!!

Narva

Enjoying Tallinn and Esters company so much I started rather late but got nearly instantly a hitch towards Narva, which is a small town located on the Estonian-Russian border, having a Estonian and a Russian part. My driver was very nice, a young woman from Tallinn who could hardly stand leaving me alone on plain street. She even came back 20 minutes later offering me to give a lift somewhere further. Thank you so much, Tiia.

It took me two more rides (one of them in a car quit similar to a Audi Q9 !) to reach Narva, where I passed the border by feet. I had to queue and it took quite some time but then I could instantly pass, not even getting a stamp. It was only on the bridge that I realized I had not entered Russia yet, but only left the EU… The city is divided by the Narva River and actually its two cities, Narva on the Estonian and Ivangorod on the Russian side. The checkpoint where I passed is really amazing: There is the Narva fortress, just opposite the Ivangorod fortress and in between the bridge.

So I had to pass the Russian control: queuing, fulfilling forms and showing what I have in my backpack. But it was rather pro forma and no problem at all. But it got nevertheless already dark and whereas Narva is real city, Ivangorod seemed to be wasted. I got welcomed by a herd of wild (and most beautiful) dogs; there were rarely people around and even after I found some they wouldn’t speak English. Also it was cold and started to snow soon. In other words, I felt really lost!

I found a guy who would speak a few word English and he was keen to help me, but also he seemed to me somewhat backward. Also, even when I told him I was going to stop cars he would bring me to a bus station where the busses to St. Petersburg left.  It looked pretty much third world… First I wanted to get some money but when I finally found an ATM it was broken and the next one would give me electric shocks every time I touched it. I really earned that money!

Wandering along the street most probably going to Peter and trying to stop cars this guy would still follow me, trying to take my sign saying ‘St. Petersburg’ in Latin and Cyrillic script to prevent me from hitching. A car stopped and I felt an incredible relief to leave that place but it was only two youngsters, also not speaking English, signaling me they are a taxi and laughing when I signaled ‘no money’. Walking further (it was dark by know) I passed a road block and this guy had nothing better to do then telling the police I was going to hitch-hike. Thank god they didn’t care but they told me to move along.

Finally I decided it was too cold to camp – I had not even seen a hostel or hotel. Also my host was waiting in Peter for me. So I walked back and bought a ticket for the bus which was only 200 Rubles, not even five Euros. I nearly missed the bus because I first wasn’t aware that with Russia I also entered another time zone, loosing another hour.

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