Blogs from Siberia, Russia, Europe - page 41

The train pulled out at about 4.30, or 11.30 Moscow time. Russia covers 11 time zones but all the trains and train stations run on Moscow time, on this trip we put our clocks back five hours along the way. To add to the confusion the dining car ran on local time and we were not really sure exactly when we crossed the time zones, luckily it was open fairly long hours so we never saw it closed. There was also a lady that came past 2 or 3 times a day with a trolley or a basket of peroshki which we particularly liked. They were like a meat doughnut and probably not all that good for you but they tasted good. It’s a long way from Irkutsk to Moscow and I thought it would be ... read more

Free time this morning, check-out was at 12 and we had to meet in the lobby at 2pm to get the bus to the train station. We wandered around town, went to the internet café to check the emails and got a few supplies for the train trip. One unusual thing about Irkutsk is that there are many old wooden houses in the city that apparently have no running water, there are wells with pump handles at various places on the sidewalk and the occupants collect their water from there. There can’t be too many though as we never saw anyone at the pumps we passed. We left the hotel at about 3 to catch our 4.30 train, it wasn’t very far but Sergay was worried about the traffic. As it turned out the traffic was ... read more

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 ... read more

Lenge siden sist naa, foerst og fremst vil jeg takke for alle hyggelige meldinger jeg fikk paa bursdagen min paa torsdag. Dagen ble feiret i Terelj, en vakker nasjonalpark om lag 60 km oest for Ulaanbaatar. Dit dro vi sammen med en vill franskmann ved navn Hicham, og en sjaafoer som hadde kjennskap til russisk. Han kunne noen ord, men hadde uforstaaelig uttale og fryktelig grammatikk. Men det var hyggelig aa ha noen aa snakke med, eller det vil si aa ha noen som snakket til en, og jeg ga respons ved aa nikke, smile og le hoeyt. I Terelj fikk vi ri paa kamel, en ny og rar opplevelse. Kameler er ikke behagelige aa ri paa, og det virker som om de har svaert lite til overs for aa ha noen paa ryggen. Men vi ... read more

4 napi vonatozas es ivas utan megerkeztunk Irkutskba. A vonaton eszrevettuk, h Jaroszlavltol kezdve: Sok a fa. A taj kb. olyan mint God felsotol Szodligetig. Csak 4 napon, ill 5000 kilometeren keresztul. Vettunk a babuskaknal pirazskit meg uborkat nyugat es kelet sziberia vonatmegalloiban. Kb. az 100kmnel levo allomason (nevere nem emlekszunk) arra lettunk figyelmesek, h muanyagszatyros neniket meg embereket terdeltetnek geppisztolyos meg kutyas katonak a sinek mellett. Aszittuk elsore, h a halas neniket szankcionaljak ilyen kemnyen, de kiderult, h hozzank csatoltak egy ujabb kocsit, amivel rabokat szallitanak a kovetkezo bortonig. Utunkat fegyencjaratklent tovabb folytatva megneztuk a Novoszibirszki palyaudvart, ami magasan ver minden palyaudvart a vilagon. Nezzetek meg! Erdemes! Csak marvanyt hasznaltak a burkolashoz. Utihaverjaink voltak: 2 orosz katona, akik kozu... read more