Blogs from Omsk, Siberia, Russia, Europe
November 14th 2008
Today the sceanary was similar to what I had seen the day before although it had a light covering of snow. This entry is mainly just to show afew pictures from the day.... read more
May 17th 2008
(Day 43 on the road) Omsk itself was nothing special. What made it for me was meeting a Russian train conductor that had lived for a few years in Germany, and spoke very good Russian. After we had established that I used to work for the German railway, this practically making us colleagues, we exchanged stories about the different railways and the like. Arriving in Omsk around midday, he took me to his office, showed me around the station a bit, helped me to buy my onward ticket to Novosibirsk that same evening, and I met his wife and his little son. It was a pleasant experience. Omsk however was pretty dull, at least the parts that I have seen. They really had a lot of references to Lenin in the city. Actually, every place that ... read more
July 8th 2007
Dette er fortællingen om vores uventet tur hjem fra Rusland. - VI VED AT DEN ER LANG, MEN OPFORDRER ALLE TIL AT SÆTTE SIG OG LÆSE DEN. EVT GIVE DEN VIDERE TIL ANDRE…….. Vi stod på toget fra Moskva til Irkutsk fredag d. 29. juni kl. 23. Om søndagen tænder vi så mobilen, for at få en sms fra Simon om Den lille prinsesses navn. I stedet modtager vi to sms fra min far, Tom. Den første om at det går skidt og at hun kæmper. Den anden om at hun er død. Det var selvfølgelig ikke meningen at vi skulle modtage dem samtidig, men sådan blev det. Efter at have fået beskeden pr. sms om Leises farmor, besluttede vi lynhurtigt, at vi skulle af ved næste by, som havde en lufthavn, for derved at kunne ... read more
October 5th 2006
Sleeping has not been easy. Rock hard, small beds and a train conductor that drives like he has the hiccups does make a restful night. We use bottled water for brushing our teeth and wipe ourselves down with “baby wipes” to try stay clean and fresh. There appears to be a silent alarm that signals the 1st class people to dinner because twice a day a troop of them would come marching past. They must have been on a tour and paid heavily for the food that was not going to be missed. The rest of us in the economy section drink tea and eat noodles with content. The temperature has slowly been cooling and the landscape is becoming sparser as we head east into Siberia. Snow is starting to fall and collect on the train ... read more
August 29th 2006
Day 86, 25th August Isil’kul’ - Moskalenki - Mar’janovka A nine o’clock start and rain immediately. The wind had made a 180 turn too and was blowing directly into our faces. It was utterly miserable. After 25 miles there was the first very welcome café, then after another 30 miles, the next - we were totally soaked through. Our goal was Omsk to meet Rory who was waiting for us. There were no phones to establish contact, so we decided after 60 miles to leave the next 20 or so to Omsk for the morning. I was glad to get into my tent and into some dry clothes. It was 6pm. The prospect of another month or so of this across Siberia and then Mongolia didn’t relly appeal to me. I got into my warm sleeping ... read more
July 15th 2006
The train ride to Omsk was decent, my final full day on the train. I was in a full compartment again and I would be the first one off. It was a woman and two men this time, the men related and the the woman on her own. I was the only one with english, so it was another ride of reading and smiliing, though the lady did feed me a bit. It was some nice scenery that final day, and the weather started heating up again, so smiles on my face. When I arrived in Omsk, it was morning and very hot. I decided that I would try my luck with a cab driver as the map said 3km to the town from the train station. As soon as they knew where I was going, ... read more
