Blogs from Irkutsk, Siberia, Russia, Europe - page 20

6/18-22 Trains I found a seat ahead of the masses, right side facing east, so as to best view Lake Baikal. Across from me sat a guy of about my same age and aspect. Long Russian train journeys require company or some form of dialogue. Hence, Russians are quite gregarious and bien dans leur peau amongst new strangers. In a matter of a few minutes after departure, he initiated conversation. "You going far?" "Yes," psyched that I understood. "Novosibirsk?" "No, Irkutsk." I replied, surprised that I had carried the conversation that far. After a reflective look out the window, he added: "That's not far." Naturally, he asked about my nationality and my response aroused his interest. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a bag of roasted chicken soaking in its own oil and a bag ... read more

Hey everyone, How's it going? Well, this is the second attempt at sending this message. The first one Technical Explanation: We lost because the internet connection timed out and while trying to reconnect with Russian prompts we lost it NonTechnical Explanation We lost. Anyways, since we last talked to you, we have been to Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk, and now we're in Irkutsk. Yekaterinburg was formerly called Sverdlovsk (for those of you with politically incorrect maps). Yekaterinburg was, well, formerly called Sverdlovsk. That's about all we have to say about the city. However, the people we met there were amongst the friendliest people ever. A lady on the train told us which bus to take, and we must have taken it in the wrong direction, cause nyet less than six people on the bus helped us figure ... read more