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Buying food at the stations
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The days have been going past surprisingly fast. There has always been something to do. One of the Russian girls speaks a little English which has obviously been a great help. She advised me early on in the trip not to use the restaurant carriage. I suppose if the locals don't use it because they think it is dirty then I shouldn't use it at all. However, we haven't been short of food, because about every four hours or so we stop at a station for about 15 minutes. These have been good opportunities to stretch our legs and also to buy food from the many people who wander up and down the platform. They sell things like meat, boiled eggs, bread, ice cream, milk and tomatoes. At the last stop I bought some sweetcorn, potatoes and a pancake style dish which had egg and meat inside. Very tasty.
We have two provodnik’s on our carriage to look after us. They make sure we are not left behind at any of the stations. Though there have been a couple of occasions when we have had to run for it. It is not always obvious when the train is about to leave.The two provodnik’s also make sure that there is plenty of hot water for us. They are supposed to keep the carriage and toilets clean but they don't do a good job of it. I keep the trips to the toilet down to a minimum as it is very smelly in there. Luckily we are at the other end of the carriage. We are supposed to wash in a small basin and that cubicle but you can imagine how difficult that is when the train is moving fast. It is a good job I brought along my own plug and soap as there is none. There is also no toilet paper.
Everybody on this carriage is Russian apart from a German guy and myself. The Russian girls cannot understand why I travel on this train. They say that there are trains with better class compartments or perhaps I could fly where I wanted to go. They didn't understand that this was part of my holiday. For them it was a necessity to use this train to go from one place to the next.
Next door is a family of four. There are two young children, the eldest being eight. His name is Nicoli. He was very excited when I got on the train as he had heard me speak English. He came up to me and asked whether I was “Anglee”. He keeps talking to me in Russian and he does his best at translating by using gestures. Every time he passes me in the corridor he says “hello” with a deep accent.
I have played chess Nicoli’s papa a number of times as well as with provodnik. Unfortunately I keep losing. I spend the rest of the time reading my book, listening to music and looking out of the window. Fortunately we can open the window in the corridor as otherwise it is difficult to see out of them. I have asked the provodnik about cleaning them but he just shrugs his shoulders.I know roughly where I am most of the time as I have a guidebook for the Trans-Siberian. There is a scribbled list of stations we are stopping at on the wall in the corridor. With the aid of my book, which has a bi-lingual map, I have been able to translate these into English. The list also gives times of arrival and roughly how long the wait at the stations. All of the times, as well as the clocks on the stations, run on Moscow time. Which is currently four hours behind us. I have been trying to eat and sleep in local time but it is not always easy. Particularly as we can only eat our main meal when we buy it at the station.
The views from the window had been quite varied. Sometimes crops, sometimes dairy. At other times just forests as far as the eye can see. To start with the land was quite flat but as we crossed The Urals it became more undulating. Now in Siberia it is flatter again. The mountings marked the border between Europe and Asia. I find the small communities we are passing very interesting to observe. I always stop what I am doing to take a look. As a consequence, I haven't got far with my book. Most of the houses are built of wood, some of which are very small like dolls houses almost. Some are very colourful and picturesque whilst others are run down. The standard of living out here is much lower than Moscow. Dotted along the railway we have passed a number of big industrial cities which have the usual concrete tower blocks. The only beautiful buildings in these cities are the churches with their golden domes.
After three nights we reached Krasnoyarsk (4099 km’s from Moscow). This city has nearly 900,000 people and it was here that I said “dos-vee-danya” to the three girls. It was a sad parting as we had had some good fun. At one of the stations I took a picture of them and they have asked me to send a copy on to them.
When I got back onto the train I found I had a new travelling companion. A Russian woman. She doesn't know any English and my conversations with her have been rather one sided. However, someone else who got on invited me into his compartment next door for some vodka. He speaks very little English but we managed okay with gestures. He wanted to know what I thought of Siberia. I truthfully said that it is very beautiful and it is. Much better than back further west. The forests of birch trees, the fields and the occasional rivers, are all very beautiful.
Later
We entered the fifth time zone at about midday Moscow time. We also passed the halfway point of my journey to Beijing. This was at 4500 km. Because I had lost my travelling companions, Nicoli next door, decided to entertain me during the afternoon. He brought some apples along with him and then proceeded to teach me some Russian. Starting with the numbers. He was most amused by my bad pronunciation. He didn't seem to understand how difficult it was for me. So I gave him a few English words to try. However he already knew how to count from one to 10 and to say “hello” and “thank you”. The latter I can just about manage as well as “how much” and “goodbye” in Russian.
Because the food I am buying at the stations cost only 200 to 300 roubles, I don't usually bother about the change which helps a lot with the language problem. 200 roubles is of course only $.20 and what can I do with the $.05 they tried to give me back? I have too many 10, five and three rouble notes in my wallet as it is. Also, on the first of September, all notes below 100 roubles will become worthless.
In the evening I said goodbye to all the friends I have made on this trip so far. Tomorrow morning, at about 5.15 a.m. we will arrive in Irkutsk where I will be having my two-day break. Luckily the train is running two hours late.
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