Reflections

Thursday 3 August

COLIN’S COMMENTS:

It’s been a day on the train and I suppose it gives you time to reflect on the passing countryside in comparison to the previous few days.

Many of the houses we have seen so far are very alike – from two or three at the side of the track to larger, almost town sized settlements – what I would call ‘Dutch’ or ‘Norwegian’ style dwellings. These have all been made of wood with their window frames or shutters painted in the ‘obligatory’ green or blue. They all have their plot of garden where one can see a variety of vegetables being grown, but hardly any flowers - the exception being the large number of sunflowers that are grown presumably for the seed and oil. The houses over the last few days have not been in “good repair”. However, today many of the dwellings appear in a far better condition and some even built of brick. In good or bad repair all the houses have corrugated sheeting for the roof.

I have wondered whether any of the settlements have running water, but I assume not, as a few, mainly seen today, have at the side of the house a large rusty tank or barrel, which is obviously their water supply. The others probably get their water from the numerous wells I have seen about the settlements. Nobody seems to be able to tell me yet, whether these houses have inside toilets, but by the number of small outhouses nearby, I guess not. Within these villages there are no ‘made up’ roads - I wonder how they manage to cope when its 30 or 40 below freezing and snowing.

I found it interesting the way each of our guides has portrayed their city - they all seem to think they are the third city in Russia, after Moscow and St Petersburg. They are full of enthusiasm and pride in almost anything, from a mosque or church to a supermarket under construction – things that we would just expect in our country – so perhaps they need to travel more and understand what is the norm outside Russia, or is it that we should not take anything that we have for granted?

I expected the further east into Siberia we went, the cities would get harsher, but last night’s visit to Novosibruisk proved me wrong with a relaxed atmosphere and a guide who described everything as it was. I was quite surprised at the number of people in the outside restaurants, giving it a typical western feel. They even have several ‘Irish’ pubs and ‘Rock Clubs’ singing western songs, albeit the proprietors and staff are Russian.

I have mastered the art of getting hot water out of the shower and managing to shave whist the train rocks it way merrily along. I shall now attempt to dress for dinner whilst Steffi continues the blog for the day, after my impromptu interruption. It may also be necessary for me to sample a ‘small’ amount of clear liquid that comes out of a vodka bottle given to all passengers on this train. Vashe zdorovyel! (Cheers! courtesy of Steffi)

BACK TO STEFFI:

The scenery has been as changeable as the weather today. When we awoke, we were still in the Russian Steppes – large flat plains with sparse trees and bushes ( but no cultivated fields), and as we have progressed along the track, we have passed through rolling hills with countryside not unlike England’s green and pleasant land, to mountains with lakes and rivers. There has been only small pockets of industry along the way – usually away from larger settlements – a small (maybe disused) coal mine, some logging camps and wood-cutting sheds, and rail and road mending teams – and although many gardens are growing vegetables, there is very little formal farming of crops or animals – we have seen the odd cow and a few goats. There are many forests, mainly silver birch on the lower lands and pine trees as the landscape rises.

The weather started grey and overcast (maybe it’s because we have lost so many hours it’s still the middle of the night!), but by the time we stopped at Krasnoyarsk for half an hour to take on water – about 12.30 -, the sun was up and it was very warm again – so warm Colin stood in the shade! This afternoon has been a mix of sunshine and showers.

Russian lessons continued – we will be having a different teacher from tomorrow as the staff change over at Irkutsk. Sabira and Olga have done their best to encourage us to try and read and speak a little Russian to the waiters and now it will be over to Tatiana. We even had to sing songs in Russian this morning!

This afternoon we went to watch a film about nature in Siberia – “The Realms of the Russian Bear” by the BBC. But someone forgot to tell the operator that the audience was English and all the narrative was in Russian. Which was a shame as the programme was interesting – similar to those of David Attenborough – showing all the animals, birds and fish found in Siberia. It’s a long walk for us to the Club Car – Carriage 6 from 17 – but so far it’s proving to be our daily exercise – power walking along the corridors and opening and closing about 70 doors!

So far from Moscow to Novosibirsk yesterday we had travelled 3335 km on this train, or just under 2100 miles. From Novosibirsk last night about 23.00 till 12.30 today arriving at Krasnoyarsk we traveled a further distance of 763 km (about 480 miles) and now we are on our way to Irkutsk arriving early in the morning (our tour starts at 08.30) a distance of almost 1100 kms or almost 700 miles. The route now is very twisty and the train is often rocking from side to side (not very helpful when one is putting on one’s mascara! – I’ve nearly had an eyeful several times) and at times the speed is quite alarming. We have now crossed the Yenesei River which marks the centre of Siberia! Irkutsk is the town where they sent the dissidents and revolutionists for distribution to the salt mines!!! We had better be on our best behaviour tomorrow.