Early on in my career break, I came up with a list of “must-do” activities or experiences for my travels through the former Soviet Union. These were some of the things that had been floating around in my mind for months, even years – the things that I wanted to do no matter what.
Here is a look back at the list – and how I did:
1. Volunteer in at least 3 different countries. Check. Last fall, I volunteered through Geovisions in Russia, tutoring English in St. Petersburg and Moscow. In the spring, I volunteered at the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia (the de facto national tourism board), placed through the Armenian Volunteer Corps. Then, in the summer, I volunteered with the Zerafshan Tourism Development Association in Tajikistan, living with two different families and teaching them English.
2. Become fluent in Russian. Not quite. I can definitely speak much better than I could when I started and my conversation skills were good enough to get me through just about any situation and to make small talk with people I met. But I can’t say I was anywhere close to fluent.
3. Run an international marathon. This was the first item I checked off the list when I ran the Tallinn Marathon on September 11, 2011.
4. Visit Lake Baikal. Check. I spent a weekend on Olkhon Island, the largest island in Lake Baikal, the oldest and deepest lake in the world, holding 20% of the world’s unfrozen surface fresh water.
5. Visit Yekaterinburg. Check. I spent nearly three days in this city near the Ural Mountains in Russia and of course my visit included an excursion to Ganina Yama, the site where the bodies of former Tsar Nicholas II and his family were dumped after they were murdered in Yekaterinburg in 1918.
6. Ride the length of the Trans-Siberian Railway from Vladivostok to Moscow. Check. I started my journey on November 9 and finished up December 4, stopping in Ulan Ude, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Yekaterinburg and Kazan along the way.
7. Visit Chernobyl. Check. Tours had just resumed when I got to Ukraine in January so I was able to make a very snowy visit to the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
8. Visit Transdniestria. Check. While staying in Chisinau, Moldova, I made a day trip to this country that doesn’t exist in the eyes of 99% of the world.
9. Take the Black Sea ferry from Odessa, Ukraine to Poti, Georgia. The ferry actually lands in Batumi, Georgia, but check. It took nearly twice as long as it should have, but I made it!
10. Take the Caspian Sea ferry from Baku, Azerbaijan to Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan. Nope. I decided to take this off my list due to the uncertainty as to when it might leave and how long it might take, as well as the fact that I had no desire to repeat my Black Sea ferry experience and I had heard conditions on the Caspian Sea ferry would likely be much worse. I wasn’t too disappointed that I missed this one.
11. Go hiking in the Yangykala Canyon in Turkmenistan. Sort of. I visited the Yangykala Canyon, walked along the rim and camped on the plateau above the canyon. But what I didn’t realize until I arrived is that it really isn’t possible to hike down into the canyon the way you can the Colca Canyon or Grand Canyon (at least not from what I could tell).
12. Take a pilgrimage to the mosque of Beket-Ata in Kazakhstan. This almost didn’t happen, but thanks to a little serendipity in Aktau, I was able to join a bus if pilgrims to take a day trip to the mosque. While it was an interesting experience, it was also a bit of a let-down.
13. Visit the Aral Sea. Check. I arrived in Aralsk at 2:30 a.m. and after a short nap and shower, took an excursion to the sea and the nearby “ship cemetery.”
14. Travel the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan. Nope. When I decided to volunteer in Tajikistan, I effectively removed this from the list. I hoped to be able to get a 45 day tourist visa so that I could still travel the highway after my volunteer stint, but it wasn’t possible. And as it turns out, fighting in the Pamirs led to the closure of the region to tourists toward the end of my time in Tajikistan so I likely would not have been able to go anyway.
15. Stay overnight in a yurt. Check. I spent three nights in Kyrgyzstan staying in these portable s made out of a wood frame and covered in felt, historically used by the nomadic peoples of Mongolia and Central Asia. Sleeping on mattresses on the floor covered with thick blankets, they were just as cozy as I imagined.
I actually forgot I made this list until toward the end of my trip, but everything on it was so ingrained in my mind, it didn’t take much effort to remind myself what I wanted to do. I feel pretty good that I accomplished most of the items I set out. The Caspian Sea ferry will never happen, but I plan to keep working on my Russian and I definitely want to return to Tajikistan someday and make it to the Pamirs.
Do you have a bucket list? What’s the next item you want to check off?
Congratulations on accomplishing so much of what you originally set out to do — and for knowing when it was appropriate to drop one thing in turn for something even better. This was a great RTW journey — very unique!
Thanks for the update – this was actually one of the first posts I read when I found your blog, and I remember wondering how you were doing in terms of checking the items off your list! Lovely to hear you accomplished most of what you wanted to! I hope you’re settling into the non-nomadic lifestyle well
Excellent post! But you in the text have a mistake. In a Ganina Yama remains not Alexander II, Nikolay II were buried.
Ah! Thanks – correction made!
This is awesome! Congrats on making it so far! One of my goals is the ride the Trans-Siberian Railway too 🙂
Congratulations:)
You’ve certainly experienced loads in that fascinating part of the world. The Trans-Sib and Lake Baikal in on my list, but waiting until my youngest is older and will appreciate it better (or choose not to come along)
You did damn good to me! You pretty much made it. I hope you are super proud of yourself as I am so happy for you.
Thanks Rhona!
Well done Kate on achieving so much.
What a nice list, Katie.
How sad that the visit to Russia and the CIS region need a visa.((((
The dream of a world without borders.
Thanks Pavel! And yes, I hope one day I can go back without having to go through the visa hassles!
Once again I want to thank you for the work done. You have created a unique guide that is based on practical experience. I liked the posts “30 Rubles about Russia”, “Shopping Like a Local in Russia”, “Finding a Family in Shing” “Grodno: The Cutest Town in Belarus”. Really, really COOL!
It all started with the fact that I wanted to know how looks Russian visa …. found your site))))))))
I love this. Such interesting goals and almost all achieved. Well done!
Thanks Bethaney!
It’s gotta make you feel good to look back on this list and realize how many of your bucket list items you checked off!
This is so awesome!!!!! Thank you for this inspiring update!
Yurt! and the trans Siberian.
Awesome list and great to see you got so much of it done. Not that I want to follow in your footsteps SO much, but the yurt and the trains do sound like fun.
Great list. I actually added Lake Baikal to my list based on yours. I looked it up and was really intrigued. I like things like that that are out of the norm.
I have a huge bucketlist that I’m working through. I’m moving to England and made a list of things I want to do before I head out. The next few things will be visiting the Alamo in San Antonio and visiting the bats on Congress Ave in Austin. There’s more, but those will be the highlights.
I also have Transiberian Railway on my list and the Harbring Ice Festival in North China. It might be close to where you will be if you go back.
Thanks! Lake Baikal is incredible, I highly recommend it! And I would love to go to the Harbin Ice Festival (and China in general!).