St Petersberg to Irkutsk - Trans Siberia Part 1

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Hey guys

Sorry - its been AGES since I've last written, entirely due to the complete lack of internet so far between Moscow and here. You don't know how happy it makes me to click on the 'siberia' region in Russia at the top of this posting. 😊

St Petersberg to Moscow -
We started the journey with the lushest train that I've travelled in so far, counting both Western and Eastern Europe. Real sheets, blankets and a little vase of fresh flowers. Ahhhh!
I read later that the same journey in 1978 took 8.5 hours, and ours took....8.25 hours, so I guess that not much has changed since then, apart from the quality of the linen!?

Moscow -
Was massive, and the divide between rich and poor was pretty pronounced. That may in part be because they didn't seem to signpost anything, and I spent the entire first day being lost. It took about 1/2 an hour to find the entrance to the metro from the train station (it was right outside the front door) and then another hour to find the hostel. OK, it may have been my crap map-reading skills, but the lack of signage continued throughout the whole of moscow - even with a more accurate map.
A LOT of sights to see in Moscow - although it helped to have a local Muscovite (?) to assist with pushing into queues at appropriate moments and to tell us where the flea market was. 😊
The metro system was fabulous, I think they used up all the marble in the East of Russia - just to decorate the public transport.
Also excellent was Pickled Lenin. Random, but he looks almost exactly like pickled Ho Chi Minh (and allegedly like pickled Mao in Beijing).
I met up with the Vodkatrain group - there are 11 of us. 2 Finnish girls, one other Aussie and the rest are from the UK. True to the name, we purchased some vodka for the first train - on the advice of the supermarket clerk, some bought 'lady' vodka, some 'man' vodka and some others 'good' and 'excellent' vodka. At about 5 pounds a bottle, I don't know how much difference there was - certainly not much in taste.

Moscow to Ykaterinberg -
A mere 36 hours on the train, and this one was pretty nice too. We had all stocked up on food - mostly dehydrated that could be re-invigorated by the hot water in the urn at the end of the carriage. However, we were given meals (buckwheat and a lump of meat) at dinner and breakfast - along with a comfort pack.
The highlight of Ykaterinberg should have been the marker between the Europe/Asia border, or the place where the Romanovs (Russian Royal Family) were allegedly killed, however the busdrivers choice of either Japanese Anime hardcore porn (dubbed over with a monotone Russian mans voice) or almost as pornographic music videos somehow spoilt the gravity of each of the markers.
Fortunately it was Ykaterinberg's city day, so there were fireworks and concerts and sideshows and an aquabike race (jet-skis) which more than made up for the other sights. They didn't sell beer in the streets for the festival, but that didn't stop almost everyone, Russian or tourist from finding it elsewhere and bringing it in, and most people were staggering around 'dancing' to the 80s cover band (singing only in English) or the more popular Russian 'superstar' who came on afterwards.

Ykateringberg to Irkusk -
All the trains in Russia run to Moscow time, so at 11pm Moscow time (1am Ykateringberg time) we jumped back on the train for 2 1/2 days. Having the difference between Moscow time, Ykateringberg time and Irkusk time was completely confusing for everyone, especially knowing when to sleep - but we figured it out by just going to sleep when it got dark and waking up whenever.
The dehydrated food came in very handy, however the food being sold on the platforms became more and more palatable the further into the 2 1/2 days we went.
Our carriage was number 18 (to become known as the naughty carriage where people drink), right down the end of the train - and I assume that it had to have extra weight on it to stop it from bouncing around, but you wouldn't have known it from the amount of bounciness that we endured. So a couple of us ventured up the train and made friends with some German boys in 1st class (they got sustenance packets of chocolate which they gave to us). There was some carnage and falling down stairs (not me - a Dutch girl) in Omsk...because we had to leave the train in a town called Omsk and our carriage attendant couldn't WAIT to get us off the train, so she woke us 1 1/2 early (12am Moscow time) to get ready to get off at Irkutsk by banging on the door of the compartment and making us give her our sheets.

Irkusk and Lake Baikal -
Everyone was exhausted by the time we got to Lake Baikal - the biggest (by volume of water) lake in the world. We all loaded into a bright pink bus and were driven to our 'lodge', and all somehow opted to go on a 4 hour hike to the top of the ski field with a stop at an aquarium to see some local fish (delicious) and some very fat bored seals.
The lake is beautiful, ringed with blue mountians and bitingly cold. Everyone managed to go swimming though, working through the numbness until we went blue. To counteract the cold of the water we all had a Russian banya last night - the one where they beat you with birch leaves to 'cleanse'. Surprisingly fun and refreshing.

Heading to Ulaan Ude tonight - which is the last of the stops in Russia, and then on to Ulaan Bataar. I'm not sure when I'll get to an internet cafe again, but if you want any more info - leave me a message!

Cheers!

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