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Published: November 24th 2008
In our compartment
Vodka finished... after a carriage wide search, no more vodka left. So we had a brew.Hello again, we've arrived in Siberia!
The train journey from Moscow to Irkutsk was fantastic. It was everything we'd hoped for and we're so glad we went all the way with no stops! There's no way we can convey how good it was in one blog entry because so many funny things happened. But I'll have a go.....
We set off on Thursday lunchtime. Unfortunately we were on a slow train- one of the ones that goes on a little detour straight after Moscow. Also it was one of the older trains. Our Russian ticket-buying skills don't stretch to phrases like 'can we go on a new train that goes fast?' so we knew it would be a lottery.
In our (tiny) kupe (4 people) we had a very old bloke (who we called 'Uncle Vernon' - Harry Potter ref.) and a middle-aged woman (not together). Tristan and I were on the top bunks. On the first day we kept ourselves to ourselves but by the second morning we had made friends (though conversation was limited to gestures and we used the phrase-book a lot- Uncle V knew a couple of words of English). We kept getting invited
Siberia
East Siberia, near Irkutsk (the train window was dirty). down for food. They shared theirs with us and wouldn't take anything that we'd brought. They kept passing us glasses of vodka and so every 5 minutes we had to down a (large) shot. They wouldn't let me refuse the vodka- even in the mornings! So every day I had 2 hangovers. By the first evening 2 military blokes from the next compartment had come to join us for vodka so there were 6 of us squeezed onto the bottom bunks! The things we ate varied from bread and salami to cheese, smoked fish, beetroot, wonton things, red cabbage, burgers....
Every day the train made a few station stops. Some lasted for up to about half an hour so we were able to stretch our legs on the snowy platforms. Tristan enjoyed buying bits of food from the vendors on the platforms- some women brought bags of hot food they'd just cooked in their homes.
We tried to make the most of the daylight as there wasn't much of it, and looked out of the windows at Siberia. The novelty of snow and pine trees soon wears off though! The time flew by (especially as the clocks went
Provodnista
Our carriage attendent knocking snow from underneath the train. forward every night) and we didn't get bored at all- just more and more dirty. It was so overheated on the train and obviously no shower so we were a bit minging.
When we woke up this morning the landscape had changed a lot. Sudddenly there wasn't just snow on the ground but also the heaviest frost I've ever seen with loads of frozen rivers and lakes. Irkutsk is really cold- -10 degrees C today. We had a walk round the city this afternoon but now we're back at the hostel getting ready to plan a trip to Lake Baikal. I think it's going to be amazing.
We're missing home. Mum texted me today to tell me she's making xmas cake. Can't beleive it's been less than 2 weeks!
x x x x x
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Becky
non-member comment
Jealous
Keep up the good blogging work Chaz and Tris! Hi from all the Pulsar Crew in Hathersage! Your train cabin looked so cosy! xxxx