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Published: April 27th 2006
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Moscow to Irkutsk
No.2 Train, "Rossiya" This entry will be short and sweet, as it's been a month already since the event and memory is a little sketchy at best!
Our Transmongolian adventure started before we even left Moscow with the local "taxi driver" trying to rip us off asking for 50% above the agreed price. I use the term "taxi driver" in the loosest sense, as the process of hailing a taxi involved walking out into the middle of the street, waving your hand and a local man ushering you into his car in the hope of making a few extra roubles.
Finally found our way to our "cosy" 4bed cabin, sharing with 2 Russians, 35yr old Sergei who was in the army, and 49yr old Tonya who was a grandmother. For the first leg of the trip, 5 days to Irkutsk, Tonya kept us fed, while Sergei kept us drunk (although we did notice that Tonya would have a bottle of fortified beer for breakfast!).
Sergei insisted on introducing us to the Russian custom of drinking vodka straight. This involved him flicking his neck to indicate time for drinking, obtaining a bottle of vodka every day from the provenidska (carriage attendent), pouring
Local Trader for Snacks
We asked this fishwife for a few tales.. but she had none out generous shots for the 4 of us, toasting, then knock the shot back in one, followed by a small sup of carbonated water. This was then repeated twice, as the bottle of vodka had to be finished in 3 rounds. Sergei also tried to teach us the most boring card game in the world.... and would insist on playing it at all hours. It got to the stage where we would pretend to be asleep in our bunks around 8pm just to avoid him.
Tonya then insisted on forcefeeding us fine Russian fare, such as the smoked fish you see in the photos (some sort of Breem, and tasted vile!) sausage, kippers and pickles. The 500g bar of Dairy Milk that I had smuggled from Heathrow began to look more inviting by the day!
Met 2 crazy Dutch girls, Martine and Angelique (or Steamy Dragon and Monkey Mama as we nicknamed them - explanations for which would not be polite to publish on a website!) who regaled us with their travel tales to date. One involved meeting a Russian millionaire in the airport, who insisted they stay with him in Moscow in his penthouse apartment, then paid
Samovar
Hot water tank for our noodles for them to be driven around and fed in 60euro dish sushi restaurants! By the end of the train journey, they had also started a row between a few local lads, one of whom got a bloody nose and kicked off the train in the middle of the night. Lovely!
Rumours of squid-only restaurant carriage are unfounded, however the food looked sufficiently suspect to warrant us sticking to our noodle pots for the journey, which, no matter what flavour you got, chicken, beef, vegetable.. all tasted the same.
5 days with no shower, we were glad to get off at Irkutsk in Siberia, though at minus 8degrees, we were well wrapped up. Out for a day trip to Lake Baikal (the largest fresh water lake in the world), hiked up 3k in the snow to mountain top for views across the lake and had some local smoked fish (Omul). Also managed to witness a car careering sideways onto a bus - as you can imagine, the driving in Russia with all those Ladas wasn't exactly the safest.
Back on train to Ulaan Baator in Mongolia, we were sharing with a lady who had filled the cabin with
all sorts of clothes, shoes, bedclothes, leather jackets she was bringing from Russia to Mongolia, while her two daughters studied over in Germany. UB was really cold and windy, and we got caught up in a "peaceful demonstration" that soon escalated into clashes with police. Not sure what it was all about, but great fun watching the riots! Driving in Mongolia is chaotic, and I managed to get knocked over by a car who just reversed at speed onto the footpath. The people here must be very conscious about weight, as a common way to earn money is to sit on the side of the street with a weighing scales in front, and charge people for each go.
Last leg on the train from Mongolia to Beijing was through the Gobi desert.. and we got some free samples as the sand streamed through the poorly fitted window for the 2days. We shared our cabin with an English couple Brendan and Nicola on an extended honeymoon (well, it did start in Maldives which didn't exactly count for hardcore, but all due respect for doing the Transmongolian, no divorce papers as yet!).
йцукенгшщзхъфывапролджэюбьтимсчя
ЙЦУКЕНГШЩЗХЪЭЖДЛОРПАВЫФЯЧСМИТЬБЮ
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Daithi
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Fantastic stuff, great pictures of Baikal, the envy is pouring out of me! 5 days without a shower... reminds me of Glastonbury!