My Name in Russian Has a 3 in it, and other tales from Siberia

Privyet, comrades! Well, in Russia. Its big and cold...not that I expected "sunshine,
deck chairs, and Mojitos" (Kierans, 2006). Since I am taking the trans-siberian train, I am obviously spending a lot of time on trains, although to try and perserve what precious little is left of my sanity I have not yet spent more than one night on the train, although that will change beginning tomorrow night when I begin my 3000km jaunt to Moscow from Novosibirsk. Note: I am not in Novosibirsk now, but in Tomsk. Travelblog.org however does not include Tomsk (although does include the nearby Omsk) in its list of Asia-Russia destinations. Not that it matters. I'm simply trying to shake off a bit of writers block. Anyway, to relate my first night on the train and my crossing from Mongolia into Russia I will present an excerpt from my journal. I will even italicize it to make it more journalish. Journaly? Journalesque!

Oct. 15/2006 - Somewhere on a train in Mongolia

Truely going tran-Siberian now. I have a compartment full of Russians and vodka. Several large shots before the train started moving. Should be an interesting ride.

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I have been

Aldar and Sasha
Oddly, all my pictures of the vodka guy turned out blurry. Funny that.

on this train for an hour and a quarter. The handwriting (trust me on this -ed.) is due to the motion of the train, not the booze. I think. Passenger 1: Sasha - Tajik truck driver. Passenger 2: Aldar: Buryatian kid who went to uni in UB. #3: Vodka man Andre. Keeps feeding me and others booze. Aldar sat down and started crying. Said goodbye to his university friends today. The only one who speaks English.

Oct. 16/2006 - Russia!

I have felt, since about 11:00 last evening, like I am in hell. Lights out at about 10. At 11 Andre, having been helped into his berth by Sasha earlier, falls from the top bunk and cracks his head on the table. After (slightly) regaining his senses he proceeds to unzip his pants and piss all over the door, floor and foot of my bed. Great. I summon the provodnitsa (train lady), shouting ensues. I am rescued by M and M of England and Holland, Hong Kong-business types who booked out an entire compartment for the 2 of them. Sleep out the night in their bunk. Life savers. I'm not sure the other Russians in my kupe understood

World's Biggest Lenin Head
I dunno, its pretty big....

that I was a bit grumpy over someone having pissed all over the place. Cultural difference? Since then we lurched through the night until about 7:30 this morning. We have barely moved since, taking ages with customs procedures (in the end it was 9 hours -ed.).

Funny what differences a border makes. Faces, language, currency all change.

Mr. Vodka has spent most of the day with his head in his hands, but is drinking beer, which is hardly encouraging. Sahsa, the Tajik, doesn't do much, but sings "Michael Jackson, cigarette" to me as our only form of communication. Aldar woke up, had some vodka and has not been particularily interesting. Perhaps annoying, but that this point I am easily annoyed.

My Russia experience has been better since then; I got off of the train in Ulan-Ude, saw the worlds biggest Lenin head, disn't get smiled at much, and got back on the train the next day. Its odd that on entering Russia the architecture and customs change from Asia to Europe, although I am very much still in Asia. Differences noted; public displays of affection (couples wearing matching t-shirts is about as close as it gets in most parts of Asia I've visited), pedestrian right of way (however marginal, it still exists) and dill. In everything. I'm about dilled-out.

From Ulan-Ude to Irkutsk and Lake Baikal (the worlds deepest, although I couldn't really tell). Spent some time hiking around the lake and in Listvyanka. Having got off of our mini-bus half way to Listvyanka (to check out a wooden architecture museum) we were stuck with the dilemma of actually arriving at our destination. Ended up hitching a ride with a couple of Russian girls, the driver with talon fingernails and pink hair, and the other who heldf two beer bottles, looked grumpy and sent constant text messages, who were kind enough to a) give us a mini tour of the area on our way to town and b) not ask for anything in return.

One more train to Krasynoyarsk (4098km to Moscow) and a bunch of church and some cool volcanic rocks, then to Novosibirsk, for about 25 munites until I caught my bus to Tomsk. Tomsk is way cool, despite the crap weather. Onion-domes, wooden architecture (anyone noticing a theme here?) and 'The Oxford of Siberia', according to the Lonely Planet.

So, from Novosibirsk, 3343km to Moskova, where I will meet my dad (you wish your dad was that cool) and then on to St. Petersburg and Lithuania. I may even stop by a gulag on the way.


Ah! And congratulations to Anna on the birth of baby Myles, and to 강윤정 on the birth of JeHa!

m

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