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Published: July 21st 2014
Kupeyny vagon or second class is four to cabin and is far superior to cattle class, so our trip to Krasnoyarsk was suprisingly pleasant, apart from one drunk clown who was so inebriated that he could have been dangerous, first chance we got we left the restaurant car. Sometime later the waitress delivered our meal to our cabin which was nice.
I slept well, ear plugs certainly help of course, waking about 7am, just 4 or so hours to Krasnoyarsk. On arrival Antoliy from the Transib hostel was on the platform waiting with a big name card, I just love that it means no aimless wandering or dealing with dirty cabbies. He was also able to help me change one of our second class tickets to first which I never would have been able to do alone.
The hostel is clean and modern and on Krasnoyarsk main shopping street so lots of places to eat and drink, had my first burger in quite a while and a tasty burger it was. Then it was time to wash some clothes, thank the saints, as all my clothes reeked.
Anatoliy returned a short time later and we headed to World
Forest path
Stolby nature reserveheritage listed Stolby nature park where we hiked up the top of this hill to see the large rock formation that over looks the city, when we reached the top there were some nice views of the park and of Krasnoyarsk and the Yenisey river. As we moved to another lookout point Ruth slipped in some gravel and banged her head, poor thing looked so pathetic laying there.
Then a few minutes later the lightening and thunder shook the heavens the rain bucketed down and we got thoroughly soaked, coincidentally all our other clothes were in the wash lol.
Next morning we walked to the museum in hope of seeing the 4 metre high mammoth skeleton, only to find that in this country of eternal day light the museum didnt open till 1pm in summer and our train to Tomsk departs at 1.11pm. So we went for brunch before taking a taxi to the train station.
On entering the kaos of the train station I immediately checked the departures board noticing that our train was in red, this was new, so I tried to find out why, after much effort at looking confused and pathetic someone told
me the train was delayed some 2 and half hours.
Not good we have been dreading this horror trip in 3rd class for sometime and the wait has exasperated things even more. Eventually we boarded in cooling weather which from a comfort perspective made a big difference, still the old crone across from me tried her best to make things unpleasant with her constant fidgeting.
After traveling some 5 hours I realised that we were close to our destination but were not due to arrive for another 8 hours, confused I tried communicating with various people finally I was told that we would top at the Taiga where the train would be split half going on to Novisbirsk and the remainder to Tomsk. This didnt explain the all night wait in the middle of no where, then in the morning we were joined to another train coming from somewhere else. Eight and a half hours to complete the last 2 hours of the trip with the crone snoring in my ear for most of it.
Finally we arrived at Tomsk 1 station a bit after 6am, we are now on Moscow time +3 hours so soon we
Admiring the views
Stolby nature reserve will no long have to allow for time differences. The taxi driver tried to cheat me again but I have their measure now, the going rate appears to be about 50 rubles per kilometre so now I work out what is reasonable before hand rather than pay what they as ask. Our hotel is a nice bed and breakfast close to the centre of Tomsk which seems a pleasant laid back universty town.
After a kip we headed out for brunch at a trendy Lenina Street cafe before seeing most of the cities major sites including two reasonable museums the second of which was based in the former KGB building and exhibited cells and memorabilia of those tortured and or murdered in the Tomsk area during Soviet times.
Woke this morning covered in mosquito bites, have not seen one the whole time we have been here. We went to visit some of Tomk famous wooden houses, it is surprising any are left considering the poor shape most are. Still I wouldnt mind one.
We returned to our digs in time for our breakfast before heading to the vagzal to catch our train to Tyumen, 22 hours in
Takmak rock
Stolby nature reserve 1st class this time. The trip was pleasant and relaxed in our room until we reached Tyumen, here I had to purchase my first train tickets in Russia by myself and I did well considering the lady and I could not communicate easily. I was feeling really satisfied at managing to get the ticket for the right train in he right class on the right date when some bloke started ranting at me " if you cant speak Russian then get out of our country blah blah blah". The trip to Tobolsk took 3 pleasant hours with the male providnitsa dropping in for tea.
We arrived about 1pm and got a bargain taxi fare from an honest cabbie, shock horror, then set out to explore the sights, which took about four hours. The mammoth statue at the museum was fantastic as was the Kremlin overlooking the river Irtysh. The church in the Kremlin was really beautiful.
We are registered at a lovely hotel unfortunately we are not staying there, after check in we were escorted to a type of motel out the back, I still cant believe it.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Train travel
2nd class sounds pretty good and how nice of them to deliver your food. You are really seeing a lot of the countryside. I would love to see the Kremlin.