Travel | 13. Trans-Siberian Train – day1

Trans-Siberian train, Russia

The hour has come to kick this trip up to speed! Goodbye Moscow!

Tired? Who, me?

Even though my bags were heavy with all the food, I decided to walk to the station as I had time to kill and backpacks don’t very well go with metro anyhow. It was only 2km.

Moscow Kazanskiy Station, last bit of Moscow I’ll see in a while.

Btw, at the station, I learned that it was true! The tickets really were almost half the price in Russia. The same trip the agency charged me 140e was only 85e here! So I recommend getting your tickets here! But be prepared to wait for a train that has space, as this one is booked full.

Finding the right train and platform was surprisingly easy. The station is little smaller than the one in Helsinki and the signs were pretty clear. In no time I was standing in line to present my passport and a print of my e-ticket for the provodnitsa in charge of my car. I was sure there will be a problem with the ticket but to my surprise, my name was on the list and soon this young and helpful girl was taking me to my bunk. It was the one I specially asked for 2 months ago! (mid car top bunk so I can see everywhere and am not bothered by people going to toilet and to smoke) Remarkable!

Wow, can’t believe I’m really here. The trans-Siberian train number 82. The corridor is so narrow that even I had trouble passing through with my bags. The bunk space is so small that if I had claustrophobia, I’d have trouble sleeping here. I hear only Russian in my ears and I’m LOVING IT ALL!!

I’ve tried to “talk” mostly with my hands to my new travel mates with little success. Maybe they are shy? They are nice enough though. But to my surprise, there is no sharing food here! Everything I offered was turned down. Confusing because I thought it is a cultural thing not to refuse offered goods to avoid insulting the other. Maybe this rule doesn’t apply to tourists 🙂

Only one cute little girl in my car so far…
EDIT: later on when I felt confident enough, I went to this little girl and her parents and said (or tried to say) something like: “good afternoon. My name is Niko, what is your name?” Silence. Luckily I had prepared my secret weapon, the chocolate bars in my pocket. After asking the parents if it was “harasho” to give, she took them and thanked me! Then I learned from her granny(?) that her name is Angelica (i guess).

Speaking of tourists, there are none! Well, except me of course. Makes me stand out a little because the train is otherwise full! Yuri from Fresh Hostel told me that it is low season now so this was to be expected… More fun I guess 🙂 Or maybe the fat-ass Samsonite tourists are hiding in their 1st and 2nd class private rooms. That I’m going to find out soon enough.

The first leg will be Moscow to Yekaterinburg.

First stop to grab beer, snacks and the tackiest souvenirs. Consider yourselves lucky I have limited space (no space) in my backpack 😉

Apparently, this is approved and common way to cross rails. Even saw few old babushkas do the same stunt. Living on the edge! /,,/

Relaxing on my post. Notice the improvised cup holder. I drink Russian “military” -beer, not because it goes with my boots, but because at 20r (0,46€) for 0,5l can it is the cheapest I could find. And it tastes ok!

I got bored lying on my back, reading my book (Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk, thank's for the recommendation Luca!). So after a nice meal consisting of instant-soup and pita bread filled with salami (thanks, mum), tomato and red pepper, I decided to take a walk inside the train.

First I wanted to find the restaurant car. Aha! A drunk guy vomiting in between the cars, which is apparently a convenient place for taking a leak too. I knew I had to be close. 2 cars later I found it. You should hear the music! Even with Russian standard it was, lets say, intriquing 🙂 apart from one couple, a lone man and two rather unattractive girls, the car was empty. So I made my way back dodging the vomit guy and some agressively debating fellows.

The night falls and the mood gets darker around the restaurant car…

The train rarely makes longer stops than 2-5min so most times when I want to go out to walk around and take pictures, the provodnitsa blocks my way.

Wouldn’t want to be left alone on this stop in the middle of the night.

All in all, this was a good first day! 3 days 10 hours 1 minute and 49seconds to Ulan-Ude.

(First published 06/10/2011 at LiveJournal)