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Published: January 11th 2006
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January 3rd, 2006
Trans Siberian-Mongolian Railway
Moscow to Beijing (total distance = 7865 km)
This installment: Moscow to Irkutsk
Left Moscow at 21:20 Temperature = -15C
I boarded the train with an hour to spare. I found my cabin and much to my delight I had the entire space to myself (I have good luck in this department). Naturally this didn’t mean someone else wouldn’t join along the way. My cabin is equipped with a table, two beds, a TV (are you kidding me?!) and a plug (highly useful). Every train car has an attendant and ours is a portly and friendly (thank God) middle aged Russian lady (upon proof reading you might find the ‘friendly’ title puzzling given later encounters!). In her EXTREMELY broken English and in my TERRIBLE Russian she managed to communicate to me that I would be brought food every so often. I had spent a good hour this afternoon buying things to eat and had just eaten some fish, cheese and crackers before being told this. Not 10 minutes later, a full plate of meat, potatoes and bread showed up. Not wanting to appear like a 1st class snob, I ate it as
Russian comrade selling fish at a train station
Damn, I bet his wife loves the smell of his 'eau de poisson' well.
A few hours later…
I have already been scolded once which is no surprise. I found a way to open the windows. I stuck my gloved hand into the Russian night whilst gripping my thermometer (these temp readings I provide are good to +/-0.5C by the way). I got to -6C before aforementioned Russian lady started waving her arms like a peacock trying to take flight… I didn’t need Russian101 to understand that she wasn’t finding my meteorological pursuits worthy. I said ‘da’… pretended to not really understand and closed up the window. I have since found that the window in the bathroom also opens so I will now use this method… as long as I’m not seen from the outside, then I figure I should be OK.
The sound card on my computer is now shot meaning that unless I learn to lip read I’m not able to watch DVDs anymore. Naturally, this is a sign that I should read more and will thus polish off ‘Crime and Punishment’ which I have now been ‘reading’ for 2+ weeks.
Jan 4th
Temp: -9C
It has actually warmed up which is unusual. Mind you we
Typical Siberian Countryside
Try to zoom this pic and check out the window frames... better photos in next blog if you're unable left Moscow under clear skies and we are now carving our way through a beautiful Siberian blizzard so I suppose this makes sense. Everything is a bit of a blur as snow is being whipped up all around the train. I spent last night playing Yahtzee with two French Swiss guys and the Russian restaurant car attendant. There are very few English speaking tourists on the train but I took the opportunity to bone up my French. These two guys left Geneva in a car, left the car in Krakow and then made their way to Moscow via train. They are exactly 3 months into their trip which has seen them through Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and now Russia. They are 20 years old and between ‘university’ and ‘work.’ They seem to find the fact that I wear a suit for a living and am now in the middle of Siberia rather amusing… I suppose I do as well! We crossed the Urals (north south running mountain chain) in the middle of the night which put us officially in Siberia. I was woken this morning by the large Russian train attendant and her yelling at me whilst stripping the
bed that I haven’t been using. I couldn’t quite catch what she was getting at but I wanted to make sure that she knew no one had used it as the last time she yelled at me, she tried to extract roubles from me if I did want to use it. I was mistaken however… she was yelling at me for the bits of bread that had fallen on the ground. The two Swiss fellows and I stayed up eating after Yahtzee and naturally it made sense for us to hang out in my ‘room’ as theirs was occupied by a Ukrainian fellow who no doubt wanted to sleep. Back to World War III… so I figured this out and basically threw my arms up in the air as if to say ‘this is what you’re angry about?’… last I checked customer service involved SERVICE!!! One of the other attendants happened to be walking by and popped her head in to see what was going on. They spoke to each other in Russian… I kept saying that I didn’t understand Russian… and the newcomer then started turning up her nose and making oink oink noises imitating a pig whilst pointing
at me. I could only laugh because their combined weight has to be close to 500 pounds… the irony was too thick… sort of speak! God help her if she decides to wake me tomorrow morning yelling again!
Jan 5th
Temp: -12C
Today was relatively much like the others save for the Russian train lady NOT yelling at me for a change. We passed through some interesting terrain… basically prairie like environment dotted with beautiful Siberian cabins. The architecture is quaint with painted and ornate window frames being distinguishing features. Photographs to follow in next blog. It has been tricky taking quality photos from the train for two reasons. First, I will likely be left in Siberia with my camera and my passport if I’m caught opening the window again. Second, there has been snow falling for pretty much the entire trip. Both these factors have led to most of my photos being rather blurry and bland.
Jan 6th
Temp: -16C
Temperature is falling and we’re nearing Irkutsk. Irkutsk is some 5000km from Moscow and basically represents me crossing the length of Canada. Today was spent polishing off Crime and Punishment and getting my things together
to de-board. The train stops in Irkutsk at precisely 07:32 the next morning. I emphasize ‘precise’ because this train journey has been extremely punctual. This is somewhat amazing given the changing speed of the train and numerous stops with varying stop times (shortest being 2 minutes and longest 37 minutes). Each stop the attendant drops down the stairs and one is permitted to get off, stretch legs and buy pretty much anything from the merchants on the tracks. The attendants get off in uniform and proceed to bash the side of the train with an axe or large bat. They do this of course to rid ‘delicate’ areas from the built of ice and snow. The frozen column hanging from the toilet is also left ‘post-beaten’ in a frozen clump on the tracks… I know you needed to know that!
Jan 7th
Temp: -18C
Still hasn’t hit -20C but am I glad to get off this train. It has been an incredible trip but I’ve had enough. I can’t imagine doing the whole thing (the train continues onto Vladivostok which is on the Pacific) without stopping. The entire trip is something like 9000kms and takes a further 2
After our 12th game of Yahtzee
Yahtzee TransSib style... no bed time, no deadline... no worries.
Me, Swiss guys, Russian Train Attendant
(left to right) nights and 3 days! Irkutsk is dark at 07:32am but bustling with people beginning Christmas celebrations. The Russian Orthodox church recognizes Christmas on January 7th. I make my way to the apartment I’ve rented for the night and proceed to pass out. I am picked up the following day at noon by Lenid who takes me onto Listvyanka which is a small fishing village on Lake Baikal. I am to spend a night there before heading off for my 2 day snowmobiling trip.
I have just been through my photos from this 2 day trip and given this has been such a long blog and that they photos are simply SPECTACULAR I have decided the next blog will be a photo essay. Suffice to say I have an unbelievable trip into the Siberian taiga and along Lake Baikal that the photos do far more justice to the experience than my words.
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Kim & Chris
non-member comment
Wow!
Dear Jason, Beautiful photos of the Siberian countryside! We have been following your blog for the past month--and we are now assuming you Canadians must get more than two weeks off a year. We are so jealous! Keep the fabulous pictures and comments coming our way. We look forward to seeing you back in the Pacific time zone!!