The longest journey

Here are my write ups from the train journey between Yekaterinburg and Irkutsk:

Day 31 - 25/06/2010 - 23:55 - In Transit, Russia

So today was our last day in Yekaterinburg and we couldn't find the QWERTY monument much to my disappointment. We believe it's been taken down because of graffiti or something, we were in the location that the pictures were taken from!

We did however, go to Giana Yama - a monastery complex built on the grounds of an abandoned copper mine where the Romanov's were brutally murdered. It was very tranquil, as it should be, and the weather is nice but I wasn't feeling well so I really didn't appreciate it all - I had a very bad stomach (it happens I guess on these sorts of trips!)

I definitely didn't appreciate the hole in the ground outhouse "squat" toilets either. Bad, bad times!

In the evening however, we did treat ourselves to some Japanese cuisine, expecting it to be like the Japanese food in Moscow but after something relatively plain. Mine however, had something that seems to be an absentee in Russia thus far - flavour! A rare treat indeed!

So we're on the move again - this time to Irkutsk! We are one hour into our journey, and we've just stopped at a train station - a 25 minute stop. I guess it's for refueling as I can see nothing of any particular note here.

The train is similar to the one (#68) from Moscow to Yekaterinburg. We are sharing a cabin with two women, both Russian - one middle aged + one old aged woman. We have chatted to the older of the two with our limited Russian and sign language (as you do). Her name is Anna and she knows our names, where we are from and where we are going (Irkutsk). We also caught the came of the place she was going to - all I knew is that it was after Irkutsk.

She seems very nice but reminds me a bit too much of Pat Butcher off Eastenders!

The train, whilst similar to the 68 is better. Whilst there is no window in the cabin we are in that opens, which really worried us when we first got on - there is A/C instead! It kicked in about 20 minutes after we set off. Bliss! We also got a pack of goodies courtesy of Russian railways (slippers, toothbrush etc) as well as a load of Russian newspapers and magazines that are of no use to us!! That would have been the services element of our train ticket then!

Day 32 - 26/06/2010 - 22:16 Local Time - In Transit, Russia

So, almost a full 24 hours on the train, in fact as the time zone has changed to +3 Moscow time, we've technically (although not actually) been on the train longer than 24 hours!

I slept OK last night, I didn't realise how loud Russian women could snore thought. And being only 1 metre or so away from the source (Anna) was rather distracting. She snored like a beast!

Nonetheless, I did eventually fall asleep and coupled with a 3 hour nap today I feel great - napping is most certainly commonplace on the trains!

We ended up getting up at about 10am local time - a nice lie in! We had some breakfast and just relaxed.

In the early afternoon an attendant came in and took our order for lunch - one of the meals included on the trip. I overheard the word plov, so had that, whilst the attendant spoke a bit of English and said there was chicken on the menu - so Laura had that!

It arrived at 3pm or so and it was very, very nice. Plov is an eastern Russian meal which is mutton with rice and spices and it was probably one of the better meals I've had out here (although that really doesn't say a lot!) It came with a load of plastic cutlery, water as well as some tea/coffee sachets. Unfortunately we didn't have a mug.

Anna asked us later if we wanted a tea or coffee and pointed to our sachets. I managed to communicate that we had no mugs (Niet *point to mug*). She immediately got up, went to I presume the attendants cabin and came back with 2 mugs! Legend!

Later on the other woman offered us tea which was gratefully accepted along with some milk! I was amazed that she had milk in her tea but then she does live in the far east of Russia (beyond Chita) so that may have something to do with it! I looked very grateful and said "Britannia, chi, malokov, da!" which was greeted by much laughter from the two Russians!

We actually had a good few conversations with the ladies, we showed them our itenary on a map which they were amazed to see and very surprised that we were doing it alone (apparently Russians think you are mad if you don't do something as a tour - plain, simple and organised!)

We had a 25 minute break at Omsk, a station in central Russia were we all got out to stretch our legs - Anna somehow had a key to the carriage compartment so she could lock it freely! We are now about an hour away from Novosibirisk, capital of Western Siberia. Today has been wonderfully relaxing yet one of the most interesting days thus far!

Day 33 - 27/06/2010 - 23:20 local time - In Transit, Russia

So we're nearly there! We've been on the train around 45 hours or so - one night between us and Irkutsk!

Today has been fine but I'm starting to feel a little bit stuffy on the train - the A/c has been rather sporadic today - I need a shower!

I've read a fair bit of my book today - The Long Way Round by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman - listened to my Zune and managed to stretch my legs at Krasnoyarsk, Ilanskya and Tayshet whilst the train was stopped for 20-30 minutes or so. Last night I got off at Novosibirisk for the 40 minute stop too.

Anna and the other Russian lady are still pleasant company - Anna sharing this large Russian salami she had for tea - it was very good - unlike the food on the train for lunch today. I had two small chunks of grey beef with pasta. Yum. Why wasn't there plov again?!

Roll on Irkutsk, the outside world and a shower tomorrow!!