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(Day 42 on the road)Siberia officially begins at Kilometer 2102. I however didn't notice that, as I was trying to get some sleep. After a full day of sightseeing in Yekaterinburg and my train leaving around midnight, I was knacked. I arrived in Tobolsk at 0600h with small eyes. But the sun was shining, and I was in Siberia!
My train onwards to Omsk was scheduled for 2345h that same night. So I was in for the long run! I hadn't slept too well on the train the night before, so with 18 hours in the city, it was going to be ab long day. Tobolsk is a sleepy little town which boosts a wonderful stone Kremlin and a very lovely Old City. The Kremlin is situated on a small hill, so that you overlook the Old City and the river below (see pictures). I spent the day aimlessly wandering (better: hobbling) around (as has become my preferred method of exploring a new place, rather than going by the map), and felt that I saw pretty much every corner of this place. I also spent a great deal of time on various buses, so much indeed, that I met the
same conductor twice. The second time time I met her on a bus she smiled at me, the third time she was almost laughing, and the fourth time she shook my hand like meeting an old friend. Funny.
Highlight for me was the visit to the local banya (sauna). As there are no showers on the train, the banya was fast becoming my favourite place to get a decent wash. And really all the banyas I have been to have their own custom. I am certainly no beginner when it comes to saunas, typically going once a week for the last 5 years. But every time I am in a foreign sauna, the local customs are so strange, that I feel quite lost. In Tobolsk, an very nice old man took with about 4 teeth left in his mouth pity on me and introduced me to the secrets of the Tobolsk-banya. He shared almost every single piece of equipment that he had with him with me, and literally took me by the hand to lead me to places, as most of the time I had no clue what he was trying to tell me. It was such a nice experience, and afterwards I felt reborn.
I am also happy to report that I have finally mastered the Russian Train Information Kiosks which are present at all the train stations. The menu is in Cyrillic only, but once I figured out which combination to press to get timetable information it was really worth the time I spent trying to figure it out (purely trial and error). It makes planning so much easier if you know the train times before you go to the cashier to buy the ticket, where I typically only have a few seconds to decide on which train to take!
After a long day in the city, I boarded my next overnight train to Omsk, exhausted but happy.
Next stop: Omsk (Russia).
To view my photos, have a look at
pictures.beiske.com. And to read the full account of my journey, have a look at the complete
book about my trip at Amazon (and most other online book shops).
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Jason Vance
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I am up to day 42 now
I can't believe that you got to do this. You are the luckiest man in the world.