This is a 48 hour leg on board train #10 'Baikal'. Our two-berth compartment has an odd nautical theme, with seal picture curtains, random bits of rope around the mirrors and walls made to look like the deck of a ship.
We boarded at 0418 Yekaterinburg time, having semi-successfully drunk our way through in a Scottish themed pub. My blissful sleep was destroyed by having the Russian eurovision winner pipped very loudly into our room – I stumbled around for 10 minutes before I finally managed to turn it off (Kirsten slept through this with her earplugs).
The trains run to Moscow time, so as you pass through 5 time zones, it's difficult to know what the local time is. This doesn't really matter since you're just reading and waiting for your next delicious pot noodle.
Again we drunk with the Aussies, who'd acquired a Russian cabin mate (Roman). Conversation with Roman was a little difficult as he looked up words in his Russian-English dictionary, but became easier as he got drunk and took a shine to Kirsten's knees. And he seem to master the words to “If Your Happy and You Know It”, much to the annoyance of the provodnitsa, who stood in the doorway like angry matron.
The buffet car lies between 1st and 2nd class, and is open 0900 – 2300, although it's not clear exactly what time zone they operate in. The upshot of this is that Kirsten and I got trapped in 2nd class (Rob and Rachel had bailed earlier due to the overwhelming smell coming from the fish Roman had bought on the platform). This was a great concern as we were separated from our vodka supply; Luckily it lasted 'till the next station, were we did a quick dash down the platform.
No comments:
Post a Comment