Don't be so Kras-noyarsk, yuk yuk yuk

Took the train from Irkutsk to Krasnoyarsk. When we arrived, we got off the train which was going all the way to Moscow and ran into no less than 5 people we had been on the train with so far. They were all apparently streching their legs and headed to Moscow on the same train!

We walked around the city for a bit until we found one of the hostels in the lonely planet (hereinafter "the book") which took a while due to my brillant navigational skills getting off over a kilometer from the correct stop. (I swear, if I was a 15th century explorer looking for India, I'd probably run in to the bahamas or something).

We checked in, but it seemed a little dodgy, there were no lights on and was lit by candles. We checked in using the now usual sign language pidgin english and we were informed that the electricity was out but would be back on shortly. We checked in and went out to explore the city. Lunch was at a cafeteria which was pretty good and cheap. After we looked for the telephone office to make a call home and were stopped by the Russian police.
"blah blah russian words blah blah vladimir putin putin vodka?"
"what?"
"blah blah stalin kremlin tetris fur hat."
"what?"
"documenns"
*shit.... the hostel has our passports and our russian "must get a stamp" papers.... time to play dumb so they dont fine us.* (Russian police often hassle foreigners for not having their documents in order so they can fine us and pocket the money to supplement their income)
"I don't know what you're saying"
"DOCUMENNS"
"I like flowers and hostel kept eating semi-truck"
"DOCUMENNS!"
"We can go and dance or go over there and find them"
[english equivalent] - never mind, forget it...

and we went on our merry way.



Found the museum where apparently the cossak warriors were bombed by a complex attack of fighter planes and goldeneye. We went to the boat that Lenin took into exile where we met some locals that thought it was funny to talk to us in mock chinese and say hello in japanese. I responded in japanese and korean and then spanish, german, french, and I made up a few languages too. With an asian bow, hands together, and a smile, I silently cursed their reproductive organs and their future spawn.

We cruised around for the rest of the day and went back to the hostel only to find there was still no electricity. After another strained conversation, they told us it would be on at 5pm. After waiting around, it still didn't turn on. We sat in the dark for a while, haven't had a shower for a couple days since we were on the train and the bathroom in the hostel having no windows so it was pitch dark. Finally we got fed up and confronted the staff again. They told us another dely and we went up to our room. After a little bit we went to ask for our money back, we would move. We packed our stuff and I told my brother to hurry up. He didn't understand so I explained the way my luck goes. We packed and with great effort got a refund. As soon as we stepped out into the bitter cold Krasnoyarsk night, the electricity switched on and the hostel was brighter than a witches teak (whatever that means). We looked at each other and then ran down the street into an ally.

After walking around in the cold and snow and stopping at several hotels trying to find a reasonably priced room, then just a room, we both simultaneously sighed and walked back to the hostel where we handed back our money and collapsed back into our room (which was actually pretty nice) and watched some "House" on my laptop.

Thus was Krasnoyarsk.