We chose to do a long run from Irkutsk to Moscow. Three and a half days… 84 hours straight with stops for an hour or so along the way. Everyone hops off to get their exercise and buy provisions…bottled water, bakery items, ice cream…ramen. The children run like mad and their parents try to keep them off the tracks. It is different than the short hauls. More Russian families. Noisier during the day quieter in the mornings. There’s a rhythm to it, chilly mornings with mist on the lands delving into warm afternoons and restlessness for me. We keep track of where we are by the mi (km) markers and referring to the very informative Lonely Planet Book, Trans-Siberian Railway, since our Cyrillic alphabet skills are modest. Mike has befriended the two Russian provodnistas who make this run from Irkutsk to Moscow, 12 hrs on 12 hrs off, back and forth in 10 days then 48hrs off. They are young friendly girls with fair English skills and we are able to communicate thanks to Ruth (bridge player/Russian language instructor from Greeley, Co) and google translate. The gentle rocking lulls you into sleeping more than usual. This is reading nirvana.
Water,water everywhere but never a drop to drink. All along this journey water from the tap is unsafe to drink. We have solved this problem with hot water, SteriPEN Traveler (available at REI.com) and cipro from time to time. We are well. Hot and cold water are provided at the end of each coach. They are somewhat primitive but we did not see any samovars. We brought our own drink mix, 3 in 1 (instant coffee cream and sugar) and we have started vodka sampling… more on that later. Yesterday the beer in the dining car was more appealing. Of course ramen is king. Most travelers have provisions and use the dining car sparingly. The dining car is a sanctuary and the social hub. Electricity to power devices is of the utmost importance. The Chinese train had a plug-in per berth, the Mongolian 2 USB plugs per berth and our Russian train only has 3 plugs in the hallway for the whole coach.
As the miles roll by we are seeing lots of small villages, fields of wheat, safflower and barley I think that gives way to birch and pine forests and now marshland. Every home has their own potato patch (1/2acre or so). Siberians call potatoes Siberian apples since their growing season is too short for apples. And yes mom, they still salt cabbage for the winter and add it to their soups! (I love their cabbage soup!)
ASIA-EUROPE
We pass by Siberian towns known for their dark history of exile like Barabinsk where many Polish Jews were exiled, Omsk, where Dostoevsky was exiled in 1849 and gulag camps that Alexandr Solzhenitsyn detailed. Yekaterinburg marks the point where we pass from Asia to Europe and enter the Ural Mt area and we raise a glass of vodka (Finlandia) with our Australian acquaintances in the dining car. This city also marks the spot where the Bolsheviks executed the Romanovs and where Boris Yeltsin was born.
My grandmother Hardt’s family came from Russia in a farming area near here, Saratov, and she was born in Huck, Russia. Her family were descendants of those Germans brought to Russia by Catherine the Great and were recruited with promises of no taxes for 30 yrs, no consignment into the Russian army and a small parcel of land. After years of war in Germany they were happy to have the opportunity. The land was uninhabited and life was hard, but they prospered along the Volga until many emigrated to the United States to avoid conscription (promises rescinded) and hence my grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Hardt, was processed through Ellis Island as a girl of 12yrs. Of course I love kraut.
Daniel is a boy of 15 years and is traveling with his family. He speaks a little English and says hello every morning and we do likewise. He often stops in our berth just to try out his language skills…today he came to say goodbye and wants to exchange coins with us and gives us his gmail address!