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Published: June 10th 2007
The beginning of an adventure
Eve at Moscow train station about embark on the Trans-Siberian railway
Shane & Evonne As we set off from heatwave Moscow (low thirties - very unusual even at the height of Summer), we were both excited and apprehensive. Three days on a train is a long time but we were looking forward to idle days resting and staring out the window watching Siberia pass by.
We awoke to a loud smash only 6 hours into the Trans Siberian trip (at 3am!). A hooligan had thrown a rock at the train and smashed of course, our window (see pic). Luckily we were unhurt as the rock only shattered the outside pane (double paned windows for insulation against the cold) but unfortunately, that was the end of idle days staring out our window!
Travelling on the Rossya (the premier west-east direction Trans Siberian Train, #002 for those in the know), we were reluctant to venture very far from our carriage for the first few stops. We enjoyed watching the frantic buying and selling between other train passengers and the local sellers at each station platform (I like to call them gypsies, whether they were or not - who knows?). They have anywhere between 5 and 20 minutes to sell their "wares" and usually place
Cold beer on the train
Cheers! We are finally on our way themselves outside the carriage door for the best advantage.
After the first day, we were getting into the swing of train life and in the end, we only purchased beer on the train. All other meals and snacks were provided by what we had taken onto the train, bought on the station platforms or shared between our neighbours. Most of the food we bought from the gypsies were sweet bread like things with potato, cabbage or cheese fillings. They were very nice and were cheap, 10 Rubles or 50c each and we didn't get crook. We could and did also buy bread, tomotoes, cucumber, chocolate bars, noodles and of course, beer (in degrees of coolness). Hot water was free and plentiful on each train carriage so most meals were soup, noodles or sandwiches.
The views along the way are not that interesting after the first day. Mainly birch and cypress trees and the occasional stop for a train station or passing train. There is also a lot of water sitting in pools along the train line, almost like wetlands from the melted snow. Unfortunately, the pooled water brings monster sized mozzies. They knocked on the windows trying to
Window
Our smashed window get at us when we stopped to wait for other trains. However, on one morning when our roomies were sleeping, we moved some of our bags out into the passage so we could make some breakfast. Some of the other passengers (who knew where we were getting off even though we did not speak to them once) were really worried because they thought that we were getting off a day early. A panic broken out. It took a few mintues to explain through a combination of gestures and pointing at the timetable that we were only eating our breakfast and not actually getting off.
At 9.30am after 3 and a half days on the train (now Friday), we arrived at Slyudyanka, a hourbourside town of Lake Baikal. During the previous two hours, we had made the slow decent down to Slyudyanka. The views along the way were truely breathtaking. We had been told that the Lake was quite spectacular but could not imagine how much. As we wound our way down, we caught glimpses of the Lake and the amazing snow covered mountain backdrop. The pics just don't do it justice. It was spectacular!
Slyudyanka is not a
Station at night
Yekaterinburg station at night, no rock throwers here! spectacular town in itself but more for the Circumbaikal railway which departs the town taking 6 hours to reach it's destination, only 200kms away. Yes, very slow. You would think that we'd had enough of trains by know but it passed with ease as we made numerous stops at pretty little towns dotted along the coast of the lake and staring out of this window was awe inspiring. There are also numerous tunnels and bridges and sometimes you feel like you're sitting right on top of the lake. And yes, the water is as clear as the rumours say. No problems seeing the bottom until the sun glare was too much.
The train terminated at Port Baikal and our time at this town was interesting to say the least. It proved to be one of the unexpected highlights of our trip. Hoping that we had booked accommodation at one of the hostels in Port Baikal (we hadn't received any confirmation before we left Moscow), we thought we saw the building pictured on the hostel's website (maybe, we are still unsure) and started to walk toward it. Close to the hostel gate, we were approached by a couple of guys
Carts but no horses
Local gypsies selling their "wares" who didn't speak english but were intimating something along the lines that the hostel was either not open or full but we all agreed that we were looking for accommodation. After a brief wait at the gate of what appeared to be a normal house (just up the street from the "hostel"), we were asked to come up and go inside and then there we were, standing in this couple's kitchen, them not speaking a word of english and us well, our Russian is not that good. It was a normal house and we felt a little uneasy but safe and welcome and were asked to drop our bags in their other bedroom. We made some smalltalk via our Russian/English phrasebook with this couple who we guessed were in their 60's and to cut a long story short, we were cooked dinner (without delay) which was really nice and a welcome change from sandwiches.
We had a cooked breakfast the next morning at the ungodly hour of 5.30am (so we could catch a ferry to a neighbouring town for a connecting bus) and we were not asked for a single ruble even though we tried to give something (so
Rossya in flight
The Rossya in full flight we cheekily left some money on the desk in our room). As all of the trains in Russia run on "Moscow time", my alarm setting didn't quite go according to plan and we missed the ferry (luckily our wonderful hosts woke us up) but in another turn of good fortune, some locals had also missed the ferry and it came back for them (and us after some yelling and screaming by the locals). After a quick, manic run with our growing packs, we were on the ferry (I was sweating in 0 degrees).
It was extremely cold and raining on Saturday morning which we hadn't expected after the temperatures on the train and in Moscow. So, with our big backpacks and freezing, we decided to see if we could find some warmth early in the morning which we did, a brand new 5 star hotel (Listvyanka is becoming known as the playground for the rich). Feeling uneasy once we were inside wasn't given a second thought (we were freezing, wind blown and hadn't showered since Monday - only bathed), we were just happy to be in warmth and drinking coffee.
We finally made it onto the bus and
Mural
Red mosaic mural outside Krasnoyarsk station to Irkutsk. The shower in the hostel at Irkutsk (thanks Jack) was possibly one of the best ever (Eve agrees wholeheartedly) and with some good food, rest and once again beer we relaxed before the next leg of our train journey to Mongolia which was to depart in the early hours of Sunday morning.
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Peter and Angela
non-member comment
(njet) stroganoff
Hi Shane and Evonne! Finaly a message from Holland. We had aan great time in Moscow, it's nice to see your pictures and read your story. After our arrivel at Schiphol we imidiately got busted by bussy working-days, family- days and so on! Great to read your story about THE railroadtrip, nice you got your tickets on time ;-). So how was China?!?!?!?! Let us know! Yesterday we booked a vacation to China in september, we are very exited about it. Would be nice to hear from you! Greetz Peter and Angela.