The Great Wall of China

Posted on 12/06/2021 by MountainTraveler
MUTIANYU, SEPTEMBER 1999 – SIMATAI, JUNE 2002 - One of the biggest ‘tourist traps’ of China, maybe of the world.  But still , it is just awesome to see it with your own eyes, and on my second visit to the great wall, I was again very impressed with its grandeur and atmosphere.
I don’t like to go twice to the same place, because when revisiting a place, the magic of the first time visit is gone, you compare with last time, etc… and of course there is simply not enough time in one lifetime to go more than once to the same places.

But with regards to the Great Wall , the story is different.  I visited it two times, but I went to different sections of the wall, which gave me different views and only increased my awe for this masterpiece.  And I experienced even more of the Great Wall as I traveled along it with the Trans-Mongolian train.

Mutianyu

This  section is one of the more quiet places along the wall, but still a very touristy place.  It is also an almost fully rebuilt section, which makes walking a lot easier, but still hard – the first impression remains ‘I didn’t imagine it to be so steep, so high…’.  I was there on a hot and sunny day, and the views from the wall on the surrounding mountains were absolutely stunning. We walked for about one hour along the wall and the same way back, doing a lot of stairs .. ! On the wall we met several girls selling medals, and of course I bought one… just couldn’t resist.  Also we met ‘Ghengis Khan’ (in full gear, including bow and arrow) and he wanted to have his picture taken with us (for a small fee of course…) – but we could escape from this one. But we could not escape the line of T-shirts-and-other-stuff-vendors at the endpoint of the walk… there is simply not another way to go and there are so many of them… but it is all part of the experience, after all you are in China’s tourist trap number one !

Mutianyu, 1999my medal...

At some points the wall is so steep that it seems almost like a ladder.  And walking really gets tough sometimes,  but the view from the highest point on the wall and the different watchtowers and the mountains,  it makes it so worthwhile.  This is one of the experiences you wish it could go on for a long time, but you have to stop at some point because it exhausts you at the same time.  But the images in your mind last forever. The pure beauty of the surrounding nature and the large architectural structure of the wall itself, it is not your everyday fence, wall, transportation hub or tourist stop. It is something you would want to walk as far as possible, you wont be able to drive it so you might just think to yourself, I want to sell my car, but don’t do that because when you’re done seeing and walking the majestic wall, you’ll need some transportation.
Simatai

Three years later, and the images were still fresh in my mind….  I was a bit afraid I would be disappointed from this second visit, because after all I had seen it already, and maybe the reality would turn out to be less splendid than the great images in my mind ?  But soon, my worries were gone, because Simatai turned out to be absolutely fabulous and in comparision to Mutianyu a stronger experience.

Simatai, 2002

steep and dangerous ... !

 We got to the starting point with the bus, and then I walked all the way back to Simatai for more than three hours.   Simatai is a non-rebuilt part of the wall, and that makes the walk a real adventure, and results into very atmospheric views.  The walk was really exhausting, as the wall goes up and down all the way, with 25 watchtowers on the highest points.  It was hot, 36 degrees or more, and I had 2 litres of water with me, and I needed more !  By the way, the watchtowers are the only places where you can rest and cool down for a while.

But we had good company…Already from the start of the walk, we were followed by a group of about 15 Chinese and Mongolian girls, and one old man.  They were very ‘worried’ about us, warning us all the time for loose rocks, offering us drinks, etc… of course this was a selling trick, but we enjoyed their company a lot. We shared our drinks and snacks with them (some of them had never seen pringles)… and we had a lot of fun.  After about one hour, they told us all they had to go home, and they all told us ‘please buy book, T-shirt, postcards… we are so tired, we will not make it back, we are hungry, we have no money, look at holes in our shoes….’ What a nice performance of ‘Great wall acting’ !   I bought a T-shirt because I tought they deserved it , after all I was on holiday, and they did this walk multiple times a week, and we have had a great time with them.

And at the end of the walk, I was exhausted, dehydrated, but still looking back to the wall and its surroundings, and it was again hard to leave the place …

The train stops there too !

A few days later, I boarded on the Trans-Mongolian train , bound for Ulan Bator.  The railroad follows the Great Wall for quite a while, and this was my third encounter… many nice views from the train, and there is also a stop not far from Badaling, the most touristy place along the wall.  And seeing it from behind the windows of the train, it was almost hard to believe I had been on this wall a couple of days ago… It seemed so steep and so ‘impossible’ …
But I know I have been there , and that the memories will last.

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Three days on the Yangtze river

Posted on 12/06/2021 by MountainTraveler
CHONGQING, SEPTEMBER 1999 - One of my goals when coming to China was to see the world famous ‘Three Gorges’ on the Yangtze river.  The way to see them is by taking a ‘cruise’ onto the Yangtze river.  I went for a three day trip from Chongqing to Yichang.  Most of the trip was done using a big ‘cruise’ ship.  Don’t imagine this ship as being a luxury ship however. To the Chinese these boats are often the only way to get away fom their village.  

The ship has some ‘luxury’ cabins for tourist (which are clean cabins but not at all luxury ones…) and the rest of the ship is standard cabins that are used by Chinese people, with communal showers and bathrooms.

Porters carrying the luggage

From the moment you arrive on the docks, porters try to convince you to carry their luggage.  It’s hard to convince them you have already hired a porter.  Taking your backpack yourself onto the ship would be a big offense to these men.  The porters also carry the rest of the ‘load’ of the ship – like the laundry (sheets etc…), the food and other goods that need to be transported.  Everything is loaded manually.  It’s interesting to be on the ship and watch the loading process – it takes many hours.

During the three days, the ship stops several times to allow the tourist to visit some little village, sometimes there is a temple – for the Chinese this is just their endpoint or the place they have to load or unload their goods.  Most of the little villages will disappear because the water level will rise 135 metres when the Yangtze dam will be completed.  Millions of people are to be relocated because of this dam project.  Along the sides you can already see white housing blocks that will become the new homes of these people.  Their current houses will be ‘dismantled’ stone by stone.  Nothing is wasted here.  What struck me however was the amount of waste on the river.  In fact the whole river is a floating garbage dump.  Everyone throws their garbage from the ship into the river !

Old and new villages
Lesser three gorges

A main attraction is the visit to the ‘Lesser Three Gorges’.  These are very narrow gorges with only shallow water levels.  It takes small boats to visit them.  I also went on a tour with one of these small boats.  The sights are really spectacular.  It happened a few times that the little boat got stuck – the boatmen used bambo sticks to keep the boat floating.  Suddenly the boat stopped near to the side.  Everyone had to get off.  It appeared that our boat had an engine problem.  When we were all on the shore of the river the boat left and went for spare parts… We were left alone in the middle of nowhere. Half an hour later the boat arrived again and we could go on.

After this exciting trip, we boarded the big ship again and were ready to continue on the Yangtze.  That was however not possible : the ship had an engine problem and could not leave !  After 8 hours, a couple of beers and a lot of fun in the karaoke bar, the ship finally left the dock again.  It was already late in the evening.  In the middle of the night I woke up by the sound of a bell.  I walked out of the cabin and saw that we were in a giant lock.  It was the temporary lock of one kilometre long that is built due to the dam project.  The Yangtze is blocked here by a temporary dam and the ships have to use this lock to go further.   A few hours later we could go ashore and our wonderful cruise was over.

But we had one more big event coming up: the excursion to the dam project.  This is really the most giant project I have ever seen.  A complete city is built where the construction workers live, housing 50.000 people in total.  The building site itself is unbelievable.  Giant trucks are dwarfed by the walls of the dam and locks that are being built.  The rock dust in the whole area blurs your view.  My black boots were white covered with dust when I left the construction site.  As a tourist you have only limited access to this site.  There are obviously a lot of guards and they do not like you taking pictures of everything.

Dam construction site

Currently, phase one of the dam project is terminated. The dam project is scheduled to be complete in 2007,  the ‘Three Gorges’ will be history then.

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On the night train

Posted on 12/06/2021 by MountainTraveler
BEIJING, SEPTEMBER 1999 - Traveling by train is always interesting. In China it is a real experience.  Not only the buying of the ticket is a challenge (I had the tour company doing this for me),  finding out how train travel  ‘works’ is as exiting.  Waiting in the main hall of Beijing railway station is already impressive.  A lot of Chinese use the train to visit their family, or to go to school (university) or work.  A lot of people still don’t own a car and distances are big in this country ! 

All of the passengers are waiting in one big hall - mostly standing or sitting on the ground or on their luggage. As soon as the gate to the platform opens, everyone starts rushing through that gate.  Since all places on the train are numbered, there is no need to hurry, one would think – but luggage space is limited (and some of them have a couple of chickens with them or a sack of vegetables).  We just didn’t care and waited till the crowd had gone through the gate to go to our train.

What bed am I in ?

As soon as we had found our carriage, we had to hand over our ticket to the guard of this carriage.  He gives you a metal or plastic token and folds the ticket in such a way that it fits into his ‘book’. This ‘book’ is his tool for knowing where everyone is going and where everyone is located on the train.  In the morning he will come by some time before your stop, to return your ticket and collect the token – never loose this token, this would distress the system heavily !

On the train there are great opportunities to discover the Chinese people.  As ticketing is not centralised, each railway station  has some places reserved for the train. When buying a ticket, finding adjacent places is often not possible,  which results in a mixture of Chinese and the odd tourists in the same compartment.  Conversation is not easy, but with the help of a little phrase book, you can manage fairly well.  Usually the Chinese are very interested in looking at your guide books etc… On one of my train travels I have encountered a Chinese Civil Engineer that spoke English almost fluently.  This was an ideal situation as he could be my interpreter.  Another good thing is to bring a bottle of wine or spirits, to share with the Chinese, you’ll make friends easily.

Stop in railway station

The Chinese railways have three classes of carriages :  ‘soft sleeper’, ‘hard sleeper’ and ‘hard seat’.  I’ve traveled in the first two ones, the last mentioned is just an overcrowded carriage with wooden benches.  People are everywhere, including under the benches, in the aisles, even onto the overhead luggage rack.  Making your way through such a carriage is a hard job. A ‘soft sleeper’ compartment has soft beds, only 4 of them, and a door that you can close.  The ‘hard sleeper’ compartment has 6 not too hard beds, but no doors at all.  As a train travel can take up to 20 hours, people have brought their food to prepare & eat on  the train .  It can get very messy after a couple of hours (I’m deliberately not mentioning the toilets !).  On each train you can also get thermos cans with hot water to make tea.  They use a coal fire to boil the water.  For the ‘rich’ traveler, there is a restaurant carriage.  The food is not according to high standards here, but they really cook everything on the train ! At one occasion when sitting in the dining carriage, the kitchen seemed to be on fire … which was quickly extinguished.

Another great thing about train travel in China is the stops in the railway stations.  On every occasion people approach the train or even board the train to sell something, mostly food or drinks.  Mostly the scenes are interesting and colorful.  Sometimes the train stops in the middle of nowhere – because of some technical problem or because another train has to pass by.  Then you have the kids of the country side approaching the train.  Giving these children a postcard of your home country or just talking to them in English (some of them speak some English) is just plain fun !  As a tourist you are the big attraction !
Unexpected stop encounters

When the train finally arrives at its destination, you get the same rush as where it all started.  This time you mostly end up a square in front of the railway building, crowded with people waiting for their relatives or friends. A parking lot with buses, cars and the tourist sector people that try to sell you excursions, hotel or restaurant bookings, etc…

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Going to the summer palace

Posted on 12/06/2021 by MountainTraveler
BEIJING, SEPTEMBER 1999 - I arrived alone in Beijng ‘old’ international airport – the new airport (currently used by international flights) was to open some weeks after I arrived.  Airpanes were parked next to the runway, in the same way as you would park cars.  We had to wait for the ‘stairs’ to get of the airplane – facilities were obviously very limited here.  After some walking through corridors and onto stairs, and after going through visa control and collecting my luggage,  I arrived in the main hall of the airport building.  The crowd was overwhelming - hundreds of Chinese walking, standing, sitting, shouting…elbows had to be used to get through.  

After I changed some dollars into Yuan (some search work necessary to find out where the ‘bank’ was and the procedure to be followed) , I was ready for my first trip by Chinese taxi into the city of Beijing.

Beijing City
To get to the hotel - since I don’t speak Chinese – I just brought a note with the Kanji writing of the name of the hotel.  “Uh huh ” was the drivers response – so far so good.  It struck me that the highway was not at all crowded – that is, the direction going into town – in the opposite direction there were many traffic jams.  When I reached the city, we passed huge hutongs (traditional century-old housing) along the sides of the main roads of Beijing. Further there were the big newly built hotel blocks.  Afterwards I’ve discovered that my driver did some ‘extra sightseeing’ to get more Yuan on the taxi meter display. By the time I arrived in the hotel we had passed it already a couple of times, but the ride was still very cheap to Western standards.

Some days later I had the idea to go the famous Summer Palace. Since this is located outside of Beijing, and I wanted to try something else than the taxi, I decided to take public transportation – the bus.  My guidebook said that I had to take bus number 808.  Finding the bus terminal on the corner of Chong Wen Men av. and Qiamen av. was the easy part – all I had to do is wait for the bus with the right number on it.   Explaining where I wanted to go was something else… !  Once I was sitting in the bus, some of the ‘staff’ of the bus came along to sell tickets.  Chinese buses always have a minimum staff of three to four people, including a ‘hostess’ and a mechanic, next to the driver of course.  The words ‘summer palace’ only provoced a smile on this lady her face.  Seemingly they were not used to tourists on this bus (I was the only non-Chinese person on the bus).  Suddenly I remembered that I had bought postcards the day before – there should be some picture of the summer palace on one of them.  I went through the postcards, with the lady next to me naming all the places and buildings in Chinese.  I had to nodd everytime to make clear this was not where I wanted to go.  Luckily I finally found the postcard of the Summer Palace.  “This is where I want to go“, I said while showing her the postcard.  An “Aha” later, she gave me the all-Kanji-bus-ticket.  I gave her some Yuan banknotes – she gave me almost all of them back, together with some coins.  This busride was under one US$ for a total duration of one hour.  At least that was the estimated travel time the guide book told me.

Bus Ticket
The bus stopped at several locations.  Lots of people getting off.  I was already thinking about the “where should I get off” problem, the bus ride now took already almost two hours.  The bus was maybe going to drive to another village or town.  At one of the stops, I showed my postcard again to the lady that had sold me the ticket.  She made somehow clear to me that this was not the stop I needed.   Some stops later, she approached me, showing this was the stop I needed. There was a small village that had only some dirt roads.  But there were many taxis on this parking lot and there were tourists nearby.  I followed ‘the crowd’ and came face-to-face with the main entrance of the summer palace.

At first it was not clear to me where to buy a ticket.  I passed a big gate, supposing that this was only the entrance to the park and that there would be a ticket booth further away.  A young man in a uniform asked me “No ticket sir ?”.  I tried to ask “where to buy ticket ?”. He replied “come with me,sir ” and we went together inside the park.  When we were far enough away from the gate, so that the other people could not hear us anymore , he told me “15 Yuan, sir,  no ticket“.  Understanding what he was trying to do, I returned to the gate and went outside again.  Sure there would be some ticket control later on or when leaving the Summer Palace, and then I would be in trouble.  As I went back, I noticed a ticket booth before the gate on the right.  It was closed.  Maybe lunch break or something.  I waited for a couple of minutes till someone came to the booth.  I bought a ticket, went on through the gate again (this time the young man that almost got me in without ticket, checked it carefully…).  To the people standing nearby the gate (probably his friends) , this was very amusing.

The summer palace visit was really worthwhile.  It is a huge complex however and a little map (with English and Kanji names) is not a luxury item. I got back into the city by taxi.  In China there are generally three ‘grades’ of cabs – the cheap ones only cost a few cents per ‘driving unit’, are the smallest, mostly red, and have the most ‘unsafe’ drivers as was demonstrated later on… On the highway it was starting to rain pretty much and my driver didn’t really notice that the cars in front of him where suddenly stopping ! Fortunately he managed to stop ‘just-in-time’.  I was relieved I didn’t have an accident, he just seemed to go on as nothing has happened.   Of course, being a local, he was used to driving in China.  
The Summer Palace

There are a couple of basic rules :

1) never stop (not for pedestrians – crossing the road is really impossible the first days in Beijing ! – ,  bicycles, cars or trafic lights, just move on slowly and make them go out of the way or avoid them;
2) use your horn instead of the brakes;
3) even after a near-accident , just go on as nothing has happened.

I was glad to be back in the hotel safely, but this adventure had learned me a lot about the real day-to-day China.

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The family pension

Posted on 12/06/2021 by MountainTraveler
WEST TURKEY, AUGUST 1991 - In every town we arrived, people were waiting at the bus station – they invited us to stay with them, in their ‘family pension‘.  It was always difficult to make a choice, and we always had to disappoint most of them.  We often stayed in this type of accomodation, and although it was mostly “very basic” (but we didn’t care, it was very cheap also), the atmosphere was always great – the cooking was always good, food typical for the region, and we mostly ate together with the family. 

We had a drink and a chat, we watched Turkish TV together, didn’t understand any of it, but had a lot of fun.  Sometimes we went with some of the family members to a wedding party or a cultural event in town.  Sometimes these people also guided us around town…

The wedding party
Pension in Selçuk...

These people always had a lot of family and friends that had a restaurant or café or shop, or they knew the taxi driver – they also posted your postcards if you wanted… Of course, all this service was for a small fee, and that is how the whole system worked, everybody helped everybody - but it was at times very convenient, especially because our knowledge of Turkish was very limited. Like in the situation that I got sick, and needed to go to the doctor. When he gave me a prescription, he called a little girl (maybe his daughter or another family member ?) and she accompanied me to the pharmacy – of course she got a small fee from the pharmacist…

Living for a couple of days with these people, learned us more about Turkey than any guidebook.  And I will always remember the last day of our holiday, we had to leave at 4:00 AM to go to the airport, and the whole family of the pension was there to say goodbye to us – as if we were good friends that were leaving…

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On the trail of the ruins

Posted on 12/06/2021 by MountainTraveler
WEST TURKEY, AUGUST 1991 - Ruins of temples, castles and fortresses, amphitheatres, city walls,… hot, dry and remote places.  Some of these places used to be ports in Greek times.We travelled from town to to town, using dolmus busses – on arrival we searched for a place to sleep and explored the region -  we moved on when we wanted to… A constant feature on this trip seemed to be that wherever we came, we searched for the ruins of a long time ago…

 

We visited the site of the historical Troy - basically only city walls are left, and you need to be an expert to see all the different layers – the acropolis and fortress in Bergama (Pergamon),  Pirene, Didymea, Efes… the array of interesting sites is large – some of them no more than a collection of stones, others well preserved and restored…  It is a travel through Greek and Roman culture.

Medusa's head (Didymea) Ephes

Sometimes we had to take a bus to a remote site, and we were dropped of in a place that was only large enough to visit for half an hour, not for the whole afternoon, the time we had to wait till the next bus arrived to bring us back.  But when this happened, we always found an interesting café where we could watch the old man play cards and drink tea – or there was always a carpet shop where you could spend a couple of hours….
At other times, the sites were really impressive and you felt like being in a time warp…walking on the same roads as the Romans did, sitting in the same theatre…
I also remember that often we were the only tourists around, and on the bus, mostly overcrowed by locals – the bus stopped everywhere -  the landscapes were always great and the farmers still used mules and horses.

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Istanbul

Posted on 12/06/2021 by MountainTraveler
ISTANBUL, AUGUST 1991 - “The gulf war has just ended, prices are very low, the destination not overcrowed, so let’s go… !” My friends and I arrived on the airport of Istanbul in the morning, and we could see the mosques of the city, and we immediately felt… this is a completely different world.  We had nothing but our plane ticket and some money and our personal belongings.  We made it all up as we were travelling from one town to another….

But let’s return to Istanbul, this fascinating capital, where the adventure starts and we meet another culture.  After our first disputes with taxi drivers, we decided to take the bus into town…. Finding a place to sleep for a couple of days was not difficult, there were vacancies in most of the places.  We stayed in a budget pension, in the middle of the old city, next to a mosque… as we found out the first morning at 5:00 AM when the muezzin called for the first prayer of the day from the minaret.

History and prayers

The first days we visited all the classics : the blue mosque, suleyman mosque, aya sophia, topkapi palace, mausoleum of the sultans, etc…  It was quite an eye opener to the great history of Turkey and to the present time muslim culture… at several occasions, we could witness the prayers in the mosque, and it was always crowded.  We also visited the bazaar, the many (black) markets, … Everything was very cheap, there was a lot of space, and people were constantly asking for our attention, to sell carpets or silk, or to invite us into their restaurant or café…- “Shoeshine” boys on every corner… – we all were wearing sports shoes, but that didn’t matter to them….
We ate kebab, corn, and simit (a doughnut-shaped sesame bread) from the food stalls – or fresh fish in a restaurant on the Gatata bridge – the old one , that collapsed some years ago, now replaced by a new one.

The blue mosque The cisternes

We had a great time, and we were all millionaires… – every time we changed our US $ into Turkish Lira, the exchange rate went up… inflation was 70 percent or more over here.

Fresh fish

One of the following days, we went on a boat trip on the Bosphorus, the gateway to Asia…. Along the river, many interesting buildings and sights… but this was not a tourist-only boat, as it was also used by turkish vendors, people going from and to work, or for shopping into town. This boat trip was also a place to experience day to day life in Istanbul.

Along the Bosphorus Anadolu

We spent a couple of hours in the little town Anadolu, on the coast of the Black Sea.  We had crossed the border with Asia.  Again fresh fish and calamares… !  But also little streets and poor housing.  This was different from the splendors of the historical old city of Istanbul.

When we arrived back into the city, I remember the abundance of fresh fish from the many fishermen – the fish were still alive when sold !

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Toledo

Posted on 12/06/2021 by MountainTraveler

TOLEDO, MAY 1999 - Not far away from Madrid,  the capital of Spain, is a little town called Toledo.  This town has a medieval look and many interesting historical buildings are preserved over here.  When coming from the railway station, you can see the town on the hill, surrounded by walls and a river, a fortified city.  Obvious landmarks are the fortress (Alcazar) and several cathedrals.  But to me the most interesting thing to do in Toledo is to wander around in the narrow streets, have a sangria on one of the quiet squares and watch the people in the streets and on the balconies.  Just think for a minute you could be back in the Middle Ages of Europe. 

Toledo town with Alcazar

When I visited Toledo it was quite hot, even in the month of May.  Spanish people have their rest in the afternoon (siesta), so it is very quiet in the streets.  To see the real Toledo street life however, go there in the late afternoon and in the evening, the moment people get out and  have a chat, and the children play football in the street.  And then in the evening go for some tapas first, and then to an open air restaurant to have some delicious paëlla, with on the background some spanish music …
Spain is the land of the sun, a place to enjoy life, to forget your worries and relax…

Streets of Toledo

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Shopping in Russia !

Posted on 12/06/2021 by MountainTraveler
ST-PETERSBURG, JUNE 2002 - Shopping… ?  I am not a big shopping fanatic, but when on travel, visiting little shops, supermarkets, open air or covered markets, it is a great way to learn about the local culture and to see the locals.  And I’m not talking about souvenir shops either. 

On one of my shopping adventures, in a supermarket, there was a little stand where one could taste some cake… It was actually good cake, and to my surprise, when I said “two” (in Russian), the girl began to explain all about these cakes in Russian… That was of course a little too much for my limited knowledge of Russian.  But as soon as she understood I spoke English, she continued the explanation in English !

Instructions ... follow carefully ! Cakes

But in the little shops, nobody can speak any English, so you just need a lot of time to find the right words in the phrasebook, and of course pointing at things always helps… however on one occasion I pointed at bottles of vinegar when I needed water… Paying for your shopping is often also exciting… a little calculator can do wonders here.

Russian Champaign Caviar

Typical things you might want to try when in Russia are the Russian Champaign , vodka, caviar, and do not forget the huge range of cookies, cakes, sweets, and chocolates.  But also take a look at more “common” thinks like fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, and cheese.  Especially big meat and fish markets are my favorite shopping places to wander around !

Cookies More sweets... chocolate More nice chocolates !
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Going underground…

Posted on 12/06/2021 by MountainTraveler
MOSCOW, ST-PETERSBURG, JUNE 2002 -  Whenever in a big city, I like to travel with local transport : trains, buses, taxi, and metro !  Most metro systems look more or less the same, but not the ones in Moscow and St.-Petersburg !  These subways have style, and making a trip on the metro and getting off at all the stations an excursion on its own !  

First of all, the metro system is deep, very deep… It takes a couple of minutes of steep escalators to reach the platforms.  And every escalator has an “attendant” in a little booth, and he or she can speed up or slow down the escalator, to adjust for the crowds.  The reason these subways are so deep below the surface is that they were designed to resist under heavy bombing conditions.  Also, they were equiped as shelters in case of war.  Actually, there is a lot down there, far more than you can see as a commuter on the metro… see the article Mysteries under Moscow for more information.  What is real and what is fiction ? I cannot tell, but one thing I can tell you : I was highly impressed by this metro system !

Moscow Metro station Moscow Metro station

All stations are beautifully decorated, with statues, marble, mosaics, etc… Getting around in the maze of lines and stations (everything in cyrillic, including your map) is not that obvious, and walking distances are great down there.  But you can’t get lost, simply try to backtrack from where you came in emergency situations…  Some other remarkable fact about this metro is that it is so well maintained (no “tags” found anywhere).

St-Petersburg Metro building

From above the ground subway stations are often impressive too.  In the tunnels and underpasses, often whole “shopping streets” with little stalls can be found.  A good resource for drinks, snacks, pirated CD-ROMS’s, and souvenirs…

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