Blogs from Chita, Siberia, Russia, Europe

It's hot, sunny and things are getting a little sweaty. It's only 7am but this is Siberia baby. Temperature fluctuation is huge here, with summers reaching the +30 degree Celsius highs, meanwhile winter can fall as low as -67 degrees Celsius. Having spent 41 hours on the train to Chita we are ready to stretch our legs and embrace summer time fun in Chita. By this point we have traveled 3,289km consecutively by train through Russia. Chita, like Kamchatka and Vladivastok was formerly a restricted military city. Post loosing its military status and due to tis proximity to China the city developed rapidly and somewhat unevenly. You can see modern high rises right next to broken down wooden houses. From those wooden houses grandmas still continue to fetch water from a pump outside which I've read ... read more

So I make train 20 - the Trans-Manchurian and I start with a full carriage to myself. There is some confusion when the train arrives as there is no carriage twenty for me to board - but I quickly realise that they will add further carriages at each stop and when I board it is empty apart from the usual dour russian provodnik and me! I am also at the back of the train so I can easily get some shots of the view from the back which will be nice. Later I am joined by Walter a Beijinger who is super friendly and inquisitive compared to my last compatriot but He does not speak english and so our conversations use the manadarin phrasebook and take hours to determine do i have children? - no - ... read more