Day 2 Trans-Mongolian

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Sleeping has not been easy. Rock hard, small beds and a train conductor that drives like he has the hiccups does make a restful night. We use bottled water for brushing our teeth and wipe ourselves down with “baby wipes” to try stay clean and fresh. There appears to be a silent alarm that signals the 1st class people to dinner because twice a day a troop of them would come marching past. They must have been on a tour and paid heavily for the food that was not going to be missed. The rest of us in the economy section drink tea and eat noodles with content. The temperature has slowly been cooling and the landscape is becoming sparser as we head east into Siberia. Snow is starting to fall and collect on the train platforms. Like in Kalmar, I seem to have made myself a friend. Saba (I think that was his name) is a 30 year old ex-army Finn who was passing his time aboard the train drinking as much beer as he could purchase at each station stop. Why is it that drunken people want to tell you their entire life story? Especially when it is in a language you can’t understand. We have also found out the hard way that the toilets are closed when the train stops. Since the toilets are basically holes in the floor, I guess they don’t want people making a mess of the train stations.

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