So, what exactly is a Russian gulag? Gulag is actually the Soviet agency that administered forced labor camps during the Stalin era form the 1930s to the 1950s. The camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners. No doubt, the Gulag was the major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union. But the term gulag is also used to describe the camps themselves. Some of you may have heard about or read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature. He introduced the world to the term gulag in his 1973 book, Gulag Archipelago. He described the gulag as a system where people were worked to death. As recently as 1940, there were 53 separate camps and 423 labor colonies. Nothing to scoff at, my friends! img=https://blu180.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bic... read more

The best of Siberia resides in its natural resources. The huge coal reserves in the Kuznetsk Basin are the largest in the world. The Basin is also rich in iron ore. Siberia also contains cobalt, zinc, copper, lead, tin, and mercury in great amounts. Norilsk is the second largest city north of the Arctic Circle where the Soviets dug the world's largest nickel mine. Diamond mines in Mirny, near the Vilyui Rover, are second only to South Africa's. Russia also has some of the world's largest oil and natural gas reserves. I am trying to tell you something good about Siberia. That may be about it! American companies have tried to harvest timber, but the deals generally go wrong. The famous Russian business practices of corruption and bribery make it difficult. But geologist have always been ... read more

Russia, or rather, the old Soviet Union was our mortal enemy through most of our youth, up until the fall of the Union in 1991. But what do we really know about this often misunderstood and huge country? First, Russia is the largest country in the world, with 17 million square kilometers. With 142 million people, it is the ninth largest country by population. Most of us know that Moscow is the current capital, though it was moved to St. Petersburg during the reign of the Peter the Great. Making communication more difficult, as if the Russian language is not difficult enough, are over fifty indigenous peoples and languages, both written and spoken). Talk about a failure to communicate, Luke! Also surprising are the two main religions, Christianity and Islam. Yet, rather surprisingly, the life expectancy ... read more

I met two of the nicest people on the first leg of this trip. Janet, a retired teacher from Kalamazoo, and Michael, a young programmer from Zurich. I am using Janet's ipad since my computer will not work. And Michael was my cabin mate from Khabarovsk to Irkutsk. The famous Trans Siberian Railway stretches almost 10,000 kilometers from Moscow to the Pacific port of Vladivostok. This is the chance to see the Russia that the Cold War never uncovered. This is the Russia with curious and twinkly eyed Russians, dressed in track suits, curious to know the foreigner who is crazy or passionate enough to tackle their Mother country from one side to the other by train. The Russians will offer all sorts of food and drink, a truly generous lot of humanity that we know ... read more

This information comes from the Trans Siberian Railway Web Encyclopaedia. How many Railways do you know that have their own paedia? 1. The real distance, calculated from Moscow to Vladivostok in 9288.2 kilometers. 2. The coldest place, located between Mogocha (6906 km, the distances are from Moscow*), and Skovorodino (7306 km) is a rather chilly -62 degrees C. 3. The highest point (1040 km) is the Yablonovy Mountain pass (6110 km) located between Yablonovaya and Turgutui. 4. The lowest point occurs between Amursky Zaliv (9252 km) and Ugolnaya (9253 km) when the route nears the Pacific Ocean. 5. The steepest descent, between Adrianovskaya and Slyudyanka-2 (5305 km) is when the railroad drops 400 meters. 6. The longest bridge is the 2616 meter Amur Bridge (8512 km). img=https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRSfsLcWrrZTWe4oYSJQ2pfeHyCpo1UoAmXNoOG... read more