Zdravstvuite from Siberia!

I arrived in Irkutsk today, (former prison town of those who opposed the government, including Lenin). My journey started in Moscow, some 5000kms east of here, and has passed through three time zones. Shortly after leaving Moscow I met a Russian girl, Nastia who was studying in university at Ekaterinburg (my next stop). Her English was not strong, but we managed to communicate pretty well, and she invited me to stay in her house. On arrival at Ekaterinbug, we waited for a while for a tram to come before giving up and thumbing down a passing car. This is very common in Russia where every other car doubles as a taxi, and the driver will negotiate a price, (normally 1-2 pounds), and take you anywhere in the city. Her mother cooked us all some traditional Russia food, Zapikanka (meat potatoes etc) all baked together. I drank vodka with her brother, while Nastia translated the various toasts. Other dinner, I produced my own bottle of vodka which I had brought in Moscow, and the fun continued. In the morning, Nastia went to university, and her parents went to work, so her brother cooked us some borscht (beetroot soup). After that we drank a few beers while eating pistachios and dried fish?!? Then Nastia returned home and we went around the town to see the Church where the Romanov family were assassinated, (Russia likes killing people), then bowling followed by some pizza, (with more beers naturally). We then hitched a lift to the station where she found a Korean man who could speak both English and Russia, and help me on the right train. The Korean man was a lecturer and was with a group of students, taking the Trans Siberian to the end of Russia, to a place called Vladivostok, on the Sea of Japan. On the train we shared another bottle of vodka, and a bottle of champagne which I brought at one of the stations we passed (a little over 2 pound!) That night I had some strange dreams about running along the line after the train and getting electrocuted! :-) The next morning I arrived in Krasnoyarsk, where I spent the day looking around the town. There wasn't a lot to see here, except a literature museum (where Lenin once stayed), and the boat which he sailed to exile on, although this is now a bar, (what would he think?)

The following day I took the train from Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk. On the train I met two people from Chita, (further along the line after Irkutsk). We got off the train at small stations to buy some food, (boiled potatoes, black bread, potato dumplings, and a roll with cabbage inside), and shared these and some beers with each other. They didn't speak any English at all, but one of them had a laptop with a program where he could type in Russia Cyrillic, and the reply would come back in English, and I could do the same! We managed to communicate just fine until the computer ran out of batteries, so we gave it to the attendant to charge while we headed off to the restaurant car for the obligatory bottle of vodka. They say in Russia that if you drink vodka you can speak any language, and they even see t-shirts with the Nokia symbol, and the slogan, 'Vodka. Connecting People'!

More pictures to follow, when I can get a computer which will let me upload them.

The following day I took the train from Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk. On the train I met two people from Chita, (further along the line after Irkutsk). We got off the train at small stations to buy some food, (boiled potatoes, black bread, potato dumplings, and a roll with cabbage inside), and shared these and some beers with each other. They didn't speak any English at all, but one of them had a laptop with a program where he could type in Russia Cyrillic, and the reply would come back in English, and I could do the same! We managed to communicate just fine until the computer ran out of batteries, so we gave it to the attendant to charge while we headed off to the restaurant car for the obligatory bottle of vodka. They say in Russia that if you drink vodka you can speak any language, and they even see t-shirts with the Nokia symbol, and the slogan, 'Vodka. Connecting People'!

Now I have arrived in Irkutsk where I will spend three days, including a side trip to Lake Balkai which is the worlds most deepest, widest, coldest, oldest, oxygenous, and loads more other 'mosts'. After that I have one day in Ulan Ude, (the Buddhist capital of Russia), before crossing the boarder into Mongolia.

More pictures to follow, when I can get a computer which will let me upload them.

Guddy vaj Ingush
Phil :-)