Up early enough to get a shower before the rush – bag sorted, last minute shopping done in a local shop (apples, tissues, water) followed by last trip on the coach to the station here in Moscow to get the Trans-Siberian train to Irkutsk. We dumped our bags close together and stood watch in shifts as people went off to buy snacks etc. Very interesting, as the pickpockets had already identified us and were moving in (L held on to one last night when he took her purse out of a secured bag – and finally got it back). I saw some of the bags were a little unprotected so wandered over to them, and nearly bumped into a man who veered away quickly! Another two men sat nearby and one whispered to the other while watching us closely. Not that we were paranoid or anything…..
Finally our train showed up on the timetable board – platform 1 and off we went. But what a struggle getting on – just try manoeuvring through a narrow corridor with a bag on wheels which is wider than it, at the same time as negotiating the full-to-bursting backpack with a sleeping bag dangling, and a bag of supermarket goodies for the trip. Made it finally and stowed as much as I could in the box under the bottom bunk. And then we were off.
I read a lot of very negative stuff about the toilets on the train, but have to say they weren’t at all bad – and were kept clean throughout the day. So does that dispel another myth? They do, of course, empty out onto the rails when you depress a pedal, but as long as you can cope with the sight of rails rushing by below your feet then you’re OK. I suppose the highlight of this first day on the train has to be the episode in the dining room (which was so pretty!) when I not only had the wrong salad served to me (one with bloated sausage…?) but at the end when Ann and I had already paid for our meal, the rest of the party got into complicated negotiations with the Russian staff about their bill. Others joined in, including 3 young men, one of whom spoke a little English which just complicated matters. They were army cadets,very friendly, and one told us his father had been an officer in the Soviet army that invaded Afghanistan in 1977. Although the bill was finally settled, the jollity increased to a point where the staff chucked us all out and closed the dining car.
Patamateria 