Aboard the 22.55 Train 68 to Ekaterinburg.

Waiting at Yaroslavski station I inadvertently discovered the best tactic for avoiding hawkers and beggars all after your cash - Be French.

Someone came up to me trying to sell me some tat, and when I didn’t respond asked me “speak English”

“No. err…Little.”

“What Language?”

Didn’t really think this one through did I… for want of anything better to say, “ Je parle Francais”

“Oh! Francsikiii!? Ah…” And promptly walked off leaving me in peace. Jackpot!



Confusingly Ekaterinburg is still called Sverdlosk on the rail network, the towns old Soviet name. After 20 years you’d have thought they get round to changing the timetable but anyway…

Anyway, I managed to board the right train, starting my first real train trip, 53 hours to Ekat. My first sighting of the train showed this really was a normal train, with standard passengers loading huge stacks of mannequins and literally thousands of soft toys on as ‘hand luggage.’ They don’t really do baggage allowance in Russia.



My cabin mates were arguing when I arrived, something about whose bags went where. Some classic insults like “go back to thirds class!” were thrown about, but it soon died down okay. It was already midnight so we went to bed, and I awoke to find my angry cabin mate being replaced by someone else, much to everyone’s delight. After a very quiet morning, we got talking at lunch, where sharing food just makes everyone happy - I brought my chocolate and biscuits, they brought fruit and veg, perfect!

The Russians aboard the train (I didn’t meet any foreigners in the 53 hours I was on the train) were all fascinated to hear about what I was doing. My broken Russian worked fairly well, with me explaining how far I was going by train. They found everything I said hilarious, from the fact I was travelling across Russia for fun, that my Mum was very worried about me, that I was on my own. right down to the fact I couldn’t quite fit on my bunk - “Ochin Bolshoye!! HA!” (very big).



By the end of the journey I was very sorry to say goodbye, they had taken a liking to me, explaining how to lock the compartment and even stealing a bowl from the ruthless Provodnika (carriage attendant) so I could make instant noodles. This is standard Russian train fare incidentally. I visited the restaurant car at 8pm to see what it was like, to find it deserted. Returning to my Carriage there was a queue for the Samovar (coal fired boiling water dispenser in every carriage) to make noodles.



I arrived in Ekat at 4.30am, stepped out of the station to see the clocks at 6.30am. The whole train network runs on Moscow time, which makes for a confusing time zone crossing experience, but it was fine in the end. Made straight for my hostel to have a nap - doing nothing for 50 hours is surprisingly tiring!!

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