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Irkutsk, Russian Federation
52° 17' N 104° 16' E
Aug 19, 2005 03:28
Distance 4206km

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The trans-siberian slog.....

Text written in: English

I boarded the train at Yakubovskaya station in Moscow armed for a 78 hour train ride to Siberia with the following:

2 x pot noodle (russian version)

9 x cup-a-soup

1 x small baguete

2 x tiny packs of noodles

1 x crisps

1 x tobasco sauce (cos everything tastes horrid without it!)

5 x litres of water.

At first, I couldnt find my room, which was a bit worrying, but then it turned out I was in a room with two beds instead of 4 like i booked which was a bit of a brucey bonus!  I had to share my room with a Russian woman who didnt speak any English, so i just ate my crisp sandwich and read a bit about Genghis Khan then counted a few sheep.

The next morning, I had a walk through the carriages either side of mine and i could only find one English speaking person.....great!  I would have taken a few pictures, but 95% of the time, the windows were locked shut and the (fit) providsnaya (attendant) was no-where to be seen.....

Every 3-5 hours or so, the train would stop at certain stations for about 20 minutes, giving everyone the chance to have a walk around, get some fresh air and buy some revolting looking smoked fish if they wanted it.  I resisted, as the toilets werent that hot and i really didnt want the shits on the train.

At times, i got so bored, i resorted to doing sit-ups and chin-ups, using the guard rail on the upper bunk bed, but that soon stopped when the bed started making funny noises and i thought i might rip it off the wall!!

I awoke on my final day on the train, acheing to buggery after my "exercise", and put my lovely smalling vest and shorts back on....I had already been wearing them for 3 days, but i figured, as the train doesnt have any showers, I am going to smell anyway, so i might as well save on washing!

Finally, thank the lord, i arrived in Irkutsk (siberia) and there to greet me off the train was a man holding up a board with my name on it....how fancy am I?  He was there to transport me to a small town called Listvyanka on the shore of Lake Baikal for my next two days.........

Oh, i nearly forgot, on my last night on the train, not only did i have a new roommate (who snored really loud) and hear the crazy frog song 3 times, but i went to the food carriage with my German friend Steffen to have a few beers before i left.  A Russian guy (v. pissed) came and sat next to me and started slurring words at us in Russian when one of the bar staff started having an argument with him....anyway, to cut a long story short, 4 of them had a massive fight all the way down the carriage, and then the bloke who sat next to me was arrested a the next stop!!! Very random, but by far the funniest moment of this train journey.