Sadly we said farewell to UB on the 18th Sept and boarded the train to go to Irkutsk and Listvyanka in Siberia, Russia. There was a lot of activity amongst the various traders in the carriages after we boarded. My cabin-mate was a Mongolian lady who was carrying numerous boxes filled with paper-wrapped packages. When I enquired what she had, she told me it was tea. After I had stowed my backpack under my bed, I went and stood in the corridor while deals were being done in my cabin. All manner of items were being traded including the so-called tea, t-shirts, vodka, jeans, saucepans, jackets, blankets, cashmere pashminas, thermos airpots, sneakers and slippers. Even our provodnik (male carriage attendant) Nikolai was in the thick of it trying to sell us silver tea glasses & spoons
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