BENGALURU: The longest train journey on the Trans-Siberian railway and Baikal and the largest lake in Russia, were the two main reasons why writer Sumaa Tekur chose to backpack across Russia in 30 days. In conversation with CE, she tell us about her adventure, misadventures and anxieties being a solo traveller.

Why did you choose Russia?
There are a lot of ideas about what Russia is – of it being the land of vodka and mafia. I wanted to visit the place and see for myself. It turned out that it perhaps isn’t, and there are a lot of superlatives associated with Russia.

I have travelled 18 countries in 13 years, most of these have been solo. Travelling in the West is easy since we’re exposed to their culture. South east Asia is also comfortable in terms of weather and food. Russia, however, held all the mystique, of the things we don’t really know about the country. From planning the trip to making the bookings and executing it, every step was challenging. But it is that challenge that kept me going.

Tell us about your experience on the trip.
I landed in Russia on May 16 and returned on June 13. My trip started in Irkutsk, the Eastern capital of Russia or the capital of Siberia. I spent 10 days around Lake Baikal, which is considered to be mystical because the Siberian Shaman culture grew around this lake. From there, I took the steam engine train, Circum-Baikal train. This is a five-hour ride along one of the oldest railway lines in Russia. This was fascinating, because it takes you to villages that don’t have access to any form of transport. And so, they name the villages based on the km on that line, like 102km 103 km, for example.

I also took a flight across the lake to the northern tip. That was by far one of the scariest flights I’ve taken. It was one of those old 50-seater aircrafts. It has all the trappings of a pre-soviet era – the carpet, the food tray, the air hostess was a really old grumpy lady. Nobody on that flight spoke English and the weather had gotten bad, so I had to wait for nine hours to catch the flight. The positive part that came out of it is that we landed safely and there was a lot of hooting and celebration for the pilot after we landed.

Do you feel anxious while travelling solo?
Yes. Even if you go to a place like America, which is considered safe, there is a bit of vulnerability that comes in, because you are, at the end of the day, a foreigner. I feel as safe/unsafe in any part of the world as I feel in Bengaluru. One of my most difficult experiences has been a taxi ride in Bengaluru. One day, I got into this taxi from the airport at 2am, which was from the terminal and still I felt like something was going to go wrong. That’s when I called my sister. Intuitively, I felt something would go wrong. I kept talking to my sister on my phone and that somehow made me feel better. But that’s how vulnerable we solo travellers get on a simple taxi ride. It happened to me in my own city, where I should feel the safest. But it can happen anywhere in the world. On the contrary, in Russia, not even once did I feel unsafe. I didn’t feel threatened at any point.

Sumaa Tekur will be talking about her experiences on Decemebr 23, 6pm at Atta Galatta, Koramangala.