Blogs from Siberia, Russia, Europe - page 50

It's a dreary Tuesday night, and five layers of clothing, a big furry hat and thermal gloves later, I have braved the dark and unwelcoming night of Siberia for you, dear readers, to visit an internet cafe bring you the new installment of my travel adventures - even if it means sitting in a drafty doorway! Last week, I spent four days and three nights on train number 2, also known as 'Rossya', from Moscow to Irkutsk. This time, I shared my compartment with a Vladimir, a lovely retired Siberian surgeon, who wore a short-sleeved T-shirt in all weathers and bought me ice-cream on the platform stops. Apart from his snoring, he was a great roomie, and we had many monosyllabic conversations. Being on the Trans-Siberian railway is a bit like one big pyjama party. Once ... read more

I was met on Saturday morning - 7 am Siberian time, 2 am Moscow time, which I was still on - by Valera, my host in Siberia. As luck, or serendipity, would have it, he offered to take me straight to Lake Baikal, the sacred lake about 70 km from Irkutsk. He said he had an apartment there also, about 100 m from the lake, with a view to it from the bedroom window - would I prefer that instead? What a question! I wanted to kiss him! It was just what I needed after all that time in big cities and on the train. So we drove straight to the Lake in his car and watched the sun rise over miles and miles of forests and frosty fields. And the apartment there was simply amazing ... read more

Exhausted, tired, knackered we disembarked. The friendships forged were replaced by utter miserable tiredness and we didn't want to even look at one another, Russia, a pot noodle or anything except a pillow. 'Velcom to Irkutsk' beamed Anatoli, our pudding-bowl haircutted cheerful honcho. 'Blah' 'grrr' 'whatever' and 'helllo' greeted him (the latter from the ever cheerful Aussie). He bundled us into a dodgy looking miny bus, the driver smoking all the way, and we trundled and bumped through Irkutsk, which looked like a cross between Ballymun in the early eighties and my previous notions of soviet russia prior to my arrival there. As I was equally familiar with both, I felt at home. One of the group compared it to their previous experiences 'my God it is like Gambia.' Yeah yeah I said inwardly, you've compared ... read more

Well, as we have 4.5 more hours to kill before our next train (at 1.25am local time!) I thought I'd tell you a bit more about the trains as one or two of you have been asking. Once on the train, it is really quite relaxing and it is easy to spend lots of time just watching the world (or the trees) go by. They are generally comfortable and clean although the latter depends to some extent on the 'provodnitsa' or lady/ladies in charge of the carriage but many of them seem to be very houseproud. There are toilets at both ends of the carriage which are usually bearable even if you wouldn't want to spend a long time in there. It is clear that people doing longer journeys use them for showers as I have ... read more

Sept 21 Back on the road towards the Mongolian border. Once we had paid our (dis)respect to the giant Lenin head in the town square, we were off. It was 7 degrees C at 10am in the morning, and there was a bitter wind blowing (fortunately in our favour). We stopped to visit the Ivolgolinsk datsan, built in 1955 as a concession by Stalin to ‘religious tolerance’. For this reason, it had a decidedly 1950’s look, made from bricks.but with colourful wooden rooftops. The many buddhist temples that used to be in the area were destroyed in the early years of communism. The temple seems to be a favourite site for wedding blessings, we saw two bridal parties there for photos and drinks, and maybe a blessing. The brides were wearing white dresses and their clothing ... read more