On a essaye pour vous... le CouchSurfing (Omsk)

Our whole trip revolves around traveling from city to city. So far, we've relied on hostel booking websites to find accommodation for us. We've almost had no problems trying to find cheap dormitories in cities big or small, but when we started researching for Omsk, we hit a real road block. Our only option appeared to be hotels which were way too expensive than we were willing to pay. We wanted to stop at Omsk because it would split our train rides into two separate short night trains rather than one lengthy, slightly torturous plaskart (3rd class) train ride.

We understood what couch surfing essentially was, but we were not familiar with how it works and whether it would be feasible for us. But seeing as we did not have much choice we decided to give it a try. Technically, we had done it before in Poland, but it wasn't official and it was a bit of a fluke.

Couch surfing is when a traveler stays at a local person's house for a night or two. He may be sleeping on the host's couch or are provided with their own bed. There is no payment, but a friendship is made and the learning of cultures are exchanged. Many travelers rely solely on couch surfing and save a lot of money. A lot of surfers and hosts keep in contact and the hospitality is returned when the host visits his surfer in their home country.

There are risks involved (I'm sure family are thinking about it right this moment), but generally if you read through people's profiles and see references about them left by previous surfers, you can make a confident decision on who you choose. Obviously this applies to the host as well.

Okay, so here is our experience as couch surfers.

We contacted Tanya through the couch surfing website. We described ourselves and our traveling plans to her, a bit of a curriculum vitae to impress the potential hostess. Tanya had previously hosted more than 30 people in her home, so we felt confident that she knew what she was doing. She agreed to open her home to us, giving us directions to her house when we arrived, even apologising that she couldn't pick us up at the train station because she was entertaining two other surfers who were just about to leave!

At the train station, we immediately bought tickets to Irkutsk, not knowing when we will next have the opportunity to go back to the station. We then headed to Tanya's house with the help of the ticket lady who also happened to live in that area. Tanya's house was full of people! She had friends over, couch surfers packing, ready to leave. It was very lively and we were instantly offered coffee. We were planning on spending the rest of the evening chatting and getting to know each other with Tanya and Marsha8, when we found out we had accidentally booked the train ticket to Irkutsk a day too early. Tanya called Andrei to meet us at the station to help us exchange the ticket. At that moment, Antoine and I felt like real idiots...

But with Andrei's help we got everything sorted and eagerly waited for the extra day in Omsk we got back.

Tanya had asked Artemy to show us around the city the following day. He picked us up from the apartment at noon and we set off. Our first stop was to the stores for us to buy warm clothes for winter in Mongolia. Tanya had explained to Artemy that we wanted thermals, “warm underwear” - which he took literally as knickers and boxers! As we wandered through underwear shops, our confused looks might have helped indicate that we were not after such clothing. Nevertheless we had a good time finding out more about our new friend. Turns out that he learnt English watching movies, and never took classes!

Artemy next took us to the Victory Park, a place where the locals would often hang out and picnic around a camp fire. It is called the Victory Park because of Omsk involvement and contribution to the war against Afghanistan. The park itself is more like a small forest, big area of trees with it's own lake. The leaves were turning gold for autumn, its beauty matching the clear blue skies.

After a small tour around the main parts of the park, we started to head out to the city. We were walking past a small innocent muddy spot when I slipped and fell right into it. I was covered in muck! Thankfully it was absolutely hilarious for everyone (including myself) and to top things off we went back to Tanya's apartment for some afternoon tea served with vodka.

Falling in the mud gives me a rugged, gangster look

Jambe gauche et main gauche couvertes de boue. Le sac qu on apercoit n a pas ete epargne.

Evening came and we were invited to watch Artemy's folk singing and dancing rehearsal at his university in the city center. It was such a treat to be able to watch this tradition that is not catered for tourists. The singing was beautiful and the choir treated it seriously. They sang a traditional song sung at weddings and another about going to war. The second part of the rehearsal was dedicated to folk dancing, and Antoine and I were given the opportunity to have a go. This time, they were entertained by our lack of coordination and Antoine's clumsy moves! We better stick to free dancing...

In the later hours, more friends of Artemy joined us for a stroll along the river. We visited the church, the city gates and the old military hospital, before walking back to the apartment at 2am.

We have very fond memories of Omsk, thanks to Tanya, Artemy, Marsha and their friends. They made us feel like home and made every effort to ensure that we saw Omsk fully. We made some special friends and have swapped contacts with many of them, hoping that one day we will meet again.

So here is our account of couch surfing. We will definitely be doing it again!

Comment ca le CouchSurfing ? Tu prends un canape, tu le mets sur de la neige et du fais du surf ?...

Bien que cela puisse etre amusant, vous etes a cote de la plaque. On pourrait traduire en francais le mot CouchSurfing par CanapeSquatting.

Le concept est simple. Il vous faut 1 voyageur (ou plusieurs), il vous faut 1 ville (ou un village), et il vous faut 1 personne qui habite dans cette ville et qui a un canape de disponible. Melangez le tout, et vous obtiendrez une experience forcement interessante.

Le CS est apprecie et pratique par de nombreux voyageurs que nous croisons en route, mais nous n avions pas encore pris la peine de nous renseigner. Un petit tour sur internet, et nous voila inscrits sur couchsurfing.com. Il faut se creer un profil, en precisant si vous etes un voyageur ou un hote. Pour pouvoir etre un hote, il faut avoir au moins un canape a partage, voire une chambre de disponible avec un lit, et vouloir accueillir des voyageurs chez soit. Pour pouvoir etre un voyageur, il faut voyager.

Tout cela est gratuit et permet a chacun de rencontrer tout un tas de monde.

Ce qui nous a motive soudainement a nous interesser au CS, c est le manque d hotels peu chers a Omsk, notre destination suivante apres Yekaterinburg. Nous avons trouve le profil de Tanya, mere d un garcon de 7 ans, ayant heberge 33 voyageurs en 1 an, dont les critiques la concernant etaient plus que positives. Nous l avons contactee par mail en nous presentant et en precisant nos dates d arrivee et de depart pour savoir si nous pouvions utiliser son canape. Reponse rapide, elle ne pourrait pas venir nous chercher en gare puisqu elle s occupe d autres couchsurfers, mais nous serons les bienvenus dans son logement. Adresse complete, indications pour trouver, numeros de telephone, etc...

A notre arrivee sur place, nous croisons un couple de couchsurfers qui etaient la depuis 2 jours et qui partaient prendre leur train. Apres nous avoir offert une tasse de cafe, Tanya et son amie Marsha nous expliquent notre programme. D ici la fin de l apres midi, nous allons faire les courses pour le diner du soir et nous allons rejoindre Andrei en gare pour nous aider a nos billets de train (erreur de date lors de l achat de nos billets pour Irkutsk). Le lendemain, nous allons etre pris en main par un de leurs amis qui va nous faire faire le tour de la ville. En soiree, il nous emmenera a une repetition de chants folkloriques russes pour nous faire decouvrir ses traditions.

Appropriate clothing for Siberia in October - duh!

Comme prevu, Artemy est arrive en debut d apres midi. Nous sommes alles dans un immense parc pour apprecier quelques statues et se balader au milieu des arbres multicolores, verts, jaunes, oranges, marons...