Around The World in 66 Days: 05/01/17

At the mercy of Siberia

It is said that one of Bill’s great-grandmother’s favorite sayings to describe the complete helplessness of a situation was to be “At the mercy of Siberia”. We’re pretty sure she never got within 10,000 miles of this place but she sure did aptly nail the description of barren, nothingness, and wasteland called Siberia. More about that later, but to back up a bit as to how we got here…

We spent our last day in Vladivostok with a late 2 p.m. checkout, repacking and reorganizing and making our grocery store run for all the provisions needed for the six-day train run. There was a store about ten minutes by foot and we found it to be very well stocked, reasonably priced and clean. Libations were also there, in a separate checkout area…and also well stocked. It was somewhat of a challenge to haul it all back to the hotel (all uphill, of course) but we trudged onward…Andrea in the lead. Decided to have a late lunch\early dinner since the train left at 7:10 p.m. As we collected our luggage and ordered the taxi at the hotel, another nice young man who checked us in…named Maklim…said he was getting off work and would just take us to the station. It actually took us thirty minutes to go the two miles to the station due to the rush hour congestion and general madness of the Russian drivers so we were able to have a good chat with the young fellow. Turns out he had just completed his compulsory one-year service in the Russian army and was now in training at the hotel. He was 23 years old and was proud of his country but also inquisitive of ours.

The train terminal was built in 1899 and it was a beautiful structure. The cornerstone was actually laid by Tsar Nicholas II, at the time the crown prince, who rode out all the way from Moscow for the occasion. Could you imagine that trip 120 years ago?? Here is the terminal:

The terminal signs and schedules were somewhat of a challenge to read and surprisingly, there was not wireless so our Google translation app was useless. But, we bumbled our way through it, found the platform number, our coach number and boarded our humble home for the next three days before our mid-way stopover in Irkutsk, Russia…2,469 miles away.

Our train

Our train is Russian Railways train # 001 and is known as “The Rossiya" Russia’s flagship upscale train that makes the six-day 5,556-mile run from Vladivostok to Moscow every other day with minimal stops. Looks like there are about twelve coaches plus a restaurant\bar car. We are in first class, meaning two people share a private compartment that looks like this:

There are nine first class compartments in our coach and presently, only three are occupied. Surprisingly, the compartments have no private toilet or lavatory facilities but there are two WC’s at the end of our coach. There’s a shower for rent for $2 that we discovered two days into the trip. Its like a camping shower, rinse, lather up and then rinse again before you run out of hot water!

There’s also second-class…four people to the same-sized compartment…and then there’s third class…or steerage as Andrea likes to say…which is about sixty hammocks per coach, three high on each side and ten rows. You have to wonder how someone travels the equivalent of New York to L.A., then back, and then back again…hanging from a hammock? Looks like this:

We think our beds are a little more comfortable.

Each coach has a Provonista…the boss of the coach who keeps order, cleans frequently and enforces all the rules. Her job is also to keep the boiling vat of hot water full so you can prepare your meals. We bought instant coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, ramen noodles galore for lunches and dinners and cups of instant potatoes to go along with whatever we buy from the train stop vendors.

The boiling water station

Our Provinista is a pleasant lady named Olga (we think) whom early on, we bribed with a big bar of chocolate and a Donald Duck T-shirt we bought at Wal-Mart for such matters. This is her waiting for us to board. She always announces how much time we have when we get off the train at the scheduled stops along the way. If you miss the re-boarding, the next train does not come thru for two days!

Anyway, we’ve made a few stops along the way just long enough to get out and shop at the local markets that are conveniently located by the railway or setup on card tables and manned by old Russian ladies with gold teeth. Bill is determined to buy and eat one of these bad boys soon:

The Local Market

At some stops, the ladies did not set up tables, they just walked with their goods in baskets and invited you to take a peak and buy.

We are spending our time reading, watching downloaded movies on iPads and just staring out the window looking at the fascinating scenery. The Siberian expanse is mind-boggling. Then, along comes a town that looks like something from the 1800’s…. ramshackle homes, dilapidated half-built crumbling concrete buildings, dirt roads…what’s the deal with all this??? We’re anxious to talk to some Ruskees to get their spin on it.

There’s a thirty minute stop around 4 p.m. today at a place called Chernyshevsk Zabaikal’skly so we’ve decided to buy dinner from the old-lady vendors selling their wares at the station. Breads, meats, pickles, and smoked fishes will be the selection. There’s no prices displayed…we will just hand them some rubles and hope they’re honest.

Bill successfully negotiating dinner

She's probably saying "Where did he come from?!!"

This was dinner. Andrea was not too happy with the meat. It was very gamey tasting.

Now, this looks more like it!

So, this is a glimpse of life on the Trans-Siberian. With no internet or newspaper, we are completely cut off from news of the world. Hope Kim hasn’t launched those nukes.

If not before, it looks like we’ll post this when we get internet access at our hotel in Irkutsk.

Here are a series of favorite pictures along the route: