Advertisement
The Rossiya
This train is practically a symbol to the russians. It is THE trans-siberian train (there are lots of trains on the route but just one in the Russian colours) so we were very lucky to be traveling on it. It was train number 2 (number 1 in the opposite direction) - generally the lower the number, the better the train Since we were last in contact we have had a very eventful few days - prior to leaving moscow we were lucky enough to get to go to the circus (or half of the circus as we had to rush off midway to catch the train) - apart from cirque de soleil - not sure if that classes as a circus - it has been a really long time since i have been at the circus and the circus in moscow was absolutely amazing - my personal favourite was was the poodles who acted like they were on speed! They were absolutely adorable and the little ones were really cute. The acrobats were amazing (no net - but some of them wore safety lines - where others did not) and at the intermission they had some of the animals out in the foyer so I got to see baby tigers! Jonathan says: we missed the second half which was probably just as well as we were well warned that animal lovers would not be happy. A very professional performance though and we were sorry to have to leave. Earlier that day we had visited the local market and remarkably for me,
Our cabin
Shared with 2 aussies for the 4 nights, I got quite attached to it. Luggage goes under the bottom bunks, and the top ones can fold back if necessary. You get some very good sleep on a rocking train I actually bought something: a pair of addidas tracksuit bottoms that meant that I looked like a local russian while traveling on the train (very fashionable and worn with a pair of socks, and flipflops or hotel slippers - not by me mind, by the russians!). We also took the opportunity to buy supplies for the train.
Then we rushed off for four nights on the train - again we were sharing our berth with Matt and Eleanor and it worked out great for us. The train was super - it was a special train whose only function was the trans siverian route and for each carriage we had a lady (called a provinista) who looked after us - she made sure that the carriage stayed clean - vacum cleaning every day, made sure we did not get left behind when we got off the train at the stops (a bit like herding cats) and made sure things were generally ok. As this was a special train they had these decorative metal mugs with a glass and spoon which you could use whilst on the train - they were absolutely gorgeous (we decided to buy one as a souvenir!).
New engine for train
Many of our stops were for things like changing the engine, getting water etc. so I took a shot of this while waiting The train journey itself was really nice - watching the landscape as we crossed from Europe into Russia. Jonathan says: the whole russian train system operates on Moscow Time, even if the timezone has changed. This meant that some people are going to bed when others are getting up and meals are all confused. The result is that you don't care about time at all - quite a nice feeling, except to work out when the next station stop will be. 2 reasons for that: it is the best chance to buy stuff from the old babouskas on the platform (water, pancakes, bread, fruit, beer (Baltika #7 became the drink of choice), fruit juice, games, soft toys, icecream, and mysterious stuff), but it is also for practical reasons as the toilets are closed for the stop and 15 minutes either side - this is because they check the underside of each carriage at every station and the toilets flush straight onto the track (another reason to step back when flushing while the train is at speed or the contents can go the wrong way!). Spent the time wandering to the restaurant car (looked just like out of the movies), making
Train cups
The Provonistas guard these carefully and make sure that they get them all back after a train journey. Luckily she was prepared to sell one to me - it is Rossiya specific - a nice drinking utensil (ignore the drinks in the background ;-) own food, chatting with the friendly russians (they are very keen to throw their vodka into you), playing cards, chess, suduko, reading or sleeping. It was a very pleasant 4 nights with nothing to worry about as there was nothing that could be done about it anyway. We got on well with our cabin-mates so that helped alot, and the Rossiya train is one of the special ones on the Russian network (probably the most famous so we were very lucky about that). Our provanista even had a shower attachment to hire for 50 roubles so we could manage a hot shower using the washbasin in the spacious toilet compartment (there is a drain in the floor).
After the four nights on the train we arrived in Irkutsk but travelled directly to Lake Baikal - really interesting and it was also nice to be off the train. Lake Baikal is amazing and to me seems to represent what I thought Siberia would always be - when we arrived - fog was moving up from the lake towards the Tiger Forest where we were staying in a guesthouse - the building were predominanatly wooden houses and it was COLD! Thankfully
Train stop1
Some of the stops are for only 1 minute but some are long enough to get off the train and purchase a few supplies from the aul'ones on the platform. This was the longest stop - 40 minutes by the time we had showered and headed out to explore it had cleared up and the sun was shining. That evening we had dinner at the Chalet. Jonathan says: we also took the opportunity to go for a proper walk in the local hills and village. it was good to remember what our legs were for after so long on the train even if it did mean we were attacked by swarms of insects and chased by a guard dog at the top :-) We went to a local Banya (basically a sauna except that you use birch twigs (with the leaves on) to massage the skin). After being beaten and steam so felt very clean and healthy after the trip. It was noticable just how far from Moscow we were - people, houses, and countryside looked really different and the pace of life was much slower. I understand that the mindset of ambitious young people there was to go to the only exciting place they knew of and head to Moscow. Lake Baikal was very impressive - deepest lake in the world with enough water (naturally cleaned and drinkable) to support the world's population for 40 years if
Train stop2
More of that stop - a chance to stretch the legs and see the outside world there was no other source. The following day we visited the local exhibit about the lake which included 2 seals in an aquarium that was smaller than 2 office cubicles (considering seals can swim up to 30 kms/hr, they must have been pretty
Advertisement
Tot: 0.112s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0589s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb