Arriving into Russia

After spending 3 amazing days in Finland ( Tampere and Helsinki ) with Tiina and Lasse respectively , it was finally time to head to Russia.

The nice Finnish old man

As i was approaching the bus heading to Russia from Helsinki, a jolly fat man came forward to help me with my luggage and translation .He is a Finnish man ,Alex who spoke perfect Russian  and was on his way to the Caucacus for a vacation .He  will be making a 2 day train ride from Saint Petersburg the next day.

Alex talked to me on the bus , helped me with immigration papers and even brought me to the metro stop in Saint Petersburg where my train departed for Petrozavodsk.I knew the Saint Petersburg Metro well, but his sincerity to bring me there touched me.He was heading to the metro stop after mine.

He asked me to write him a postcard and call him if i ever needed any help.I gave him a $2 singapore currency as a souvenir .

The Bus Ride

The bus ride costed 15 Euros , 7hour from Helsinki.There were nearly 20 Russians , 1 Belarusian , 3Finns and Me , the Singaporean on the bus.Like Russian trains , the bus even has a hot water dispenser.

In terms of view , there didn't seem to be much of a difference between Finland and Russia.Snow,trees and vehicles.You can't see the difference initially , but you can definately feel it in the roads.A smooth ride on the Finnish side and a bumpy one on the Russian side.The bus driver adhered to the rules in Finland.But once he crossed the border ,the atmosphere became more relaxed , the bus driverplayed an old russian movie on the tv, drove faster , started overtaking all the slower moving vehicles on the road of potholes.Welcome to Russia.

Shock at Customs.

Unlike the smoot pass i had at Domododevo Airport  in Moscow last year ,my heart skipped a beat at the Finnish Russian road border.

Custom officer looked at me

" Вы говорите порусский?" (you speak russian ?)

Me :"немнога" ( a little )

Custom officer " #$^%*&|" something incomprehensible "

Me "uh.... непонимаю" ( don't understand )

Custom officer sighed , shook her head , made a phonecall.all i heard was "lalalalalal  ........сингапур"(singapore)

The russian in the next queue went off.

Another russian in the next queue went off.

Another russian in the next queue went off.

Then the militsa came in.A discussion ensued

Militsa took my passport , looked at the visa ..."hmmm....петрозаводск " Looked at me

Militsa flipped to my photo on the passport , looked at me

My eyes were already wide open, jaws semi dropped

He laughed , gave the custome officer my passport said something and left.

Yes.I got my passport back.

Train Station

Yes,you can get your train tickets online, russian price .But you have to exchange the eticket to a printed ticket at the international ticket booth.The train ride from Saint Petersburg to Petrozavodsk was smooth ,but getting to the train station was painful because i was carrying nearly 35kg of luggage.I didn't travel light after all.You can say that i seriously couldn't wait to get to Petrozavodsk the next day.