I was in the first carriage. Just to the left is the engine. Since I was in the front I had to walk past 14 carriages. It's a long walk! Especially with a backpack, a knapsack and a bag full of groceries.
I was in a second class, or kupe compartment. It looks something like this.
There are four beds and a small table. Baggage can be stored under the bottom beds or over the door. The idea is that the bottom half of the compartment is shared during waking hours.
In the front on the right is my new Swedish friend Kjerstin. We hit it off, which is a good thing when you're stuck on a crowded train for over three days. The other folks are part of a large Dutch contingent scattered throughout the train. This group got off in Irkutsk but were eventually going onto Beijing because the couple on the right has a daughter competing for the Dutch water polo team. Pretty cool.
They were all extremely nice and welcomed me into their group. Which was good, because there's a reason this picture isn't of my cabin.
I was fully expecting to be the only English speaker on a train full of Russians. I brought along a bottle of vodka to help me make friends. I've read and heard a lot about how part of the fun of the train is sharing compartments with strangers, sharing food and drink and having broken conversations in multiple languages.
I shared my compartment with Nelke, the Dutch woman in the front left of the picture above. Notice that she is not in her compartment either. That's because the two of us were stuck with two truly awful people. They were Russian and didn't speak any English, but that wasn't the issue.
The Fun Couple truly felt the compartment was theirs. It never occurred to them that they were supposed to share. They were either sitting at the table or sleeping. Only when we stopped at platforms would they leave the compartment, and then it was usually only the man. They reminded me of a loud, white-trash couple from East Baltimore. Picture an old Bawlamer hon with frizzy white bottle-blonde hair and a old man with a beer belly sitting on a stoop in Dundalk.
They didn't so much as acknowledge my presence. From talking to other people on the train I discovered there is a fairly elaborate etiquette on the train. For instance, generally couples will take a top and bottom bunk and so have one side of the train to themselves. It is customary to offer women the bottom bunks. This would have been nice in this case because Nelke is a bit older and had some difficulty getting up and down.
But the man in the Fun Couple was probably too obese to get up and down. Not that it would have occurred to him to offer. Both of them snored to wake the dead, but what's worse is that even when awake they talked in inappropriately loud voices and made all sorts of weird groaning and sighing noises. It was like sharing a cage with two wild animals.
They slept at odd hours, which is fine, except that they didn't respect that Nelke and I slept at normal hours. So they'd wake up at 2 a.m. and have tea. But not just tea. They'd sing or read to each other or cackle like witches. I didn't sleep a wink the entire trip. God forgive me for saying so, but I've never hated two people so much in my life.
End of rant.
Having said that, the overall experience was enjoyable. I would love to do it again. I'd like to do the entire trip. I'd like to see it in winter. However, after three days I was feeling pretty grungy and yes, the Fun Couple did give the compartment a distinctive odor. I can't imagine how I'd feel after doing the whole trip, which takes about 8 days!
The trains were not designed for tourists. This is how Russians move around the country. The menus in the restaurant cars have English, but the staff there don't speak a word. But at least you can point to what you want. There isn't a wasted square inch on the train. There's no place to lounge around except in the cabins or restaurant car.
There's a schedule on the wall which lists the time and duration of each stop. At the longer stops we'd get off and stretch our legs. There were almost always kiosks to buy Coca Cola, cigarettes or Pringles. (Why are Pringles so popular around the world?)
If we were lucky there would be local folks selling "real" food. Sausages, pickles, bread, pilmyeni (Siberian dumplings), etc. At one stop people were selling dried, salted fish. I was trying to buy one from a woman when she suddenly dumped everything into her bag and walked a way. I thought, "Fine, if you don't want my money..."
Then I saw three soldiers walking down the platform. So apparently what I was buying was illegal. At one stop a woman was selling small smoked sturgeon, which I'm almost positive is illegal. (Sturgeon is the fish from which we get caviar, and they're chronically overfished.)
After the soldiers left the woman came back to me and sold me my fish. Kjerstin bought a different variety, and later we ripped them apart and ate them like barbarians. It was wonderful.
I was hoping there would be some sort of observation platform on the back of the train, but no. The windows don't open, which makes sense considering the trains go through Siberia all winter. But it's difficult to get a decent picture. And you can't see what's ahead of or behind the train unless it turns, which happens rarely. For hours on end the train goes on in a straight line with nothing but trees on either side.
The one constant sight out the windows are power lines and poles. The trains are run by electricity, which is a bit disappointing, as it deflates the romantic idea of a steam train chugging along through the countryside.
There are major cities along the line. This is Krasnoyarsk, a city I had planned on stopping to see. Because of it's location on the hills above the Yenisey River it's considered the most scenic city in Siberia.
I'm sure this city, as well as Perm and Novosobirsk and other cities we passed through, have their charms, but mostly all we could see from the train were industrial sites and soulless Soviet-era buildings, basically giant, rundown concrete boxes.
But especially as we got further east we saw more and more traditional Siberian settlements, where virtually all the buildings are made of wood.
We passed acres and acres of meadows covered in beautiful wildflowers, mostly yellow and purple. Even though this shot didn't turn out, I like it because it looks like an impressionist painting.
Finally, here is a shot from Irkutsk, where I am now. In the foreground is the Angara River, the only river that flows out of Lake Baikal, and in the background the train station where I arrived.
Irkutsk has roughly the same population as Baltimore, but there are still traditional Siberian buildings everywhere. I'm staying right off the main drag -- Karl Marx Street! -- and just a few blocks away from the bus station, and yet this is the building next door to my hostel.
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