Notes from our round the world trip part III
18 May 2007. Friday. Ulaan Baator train station aboard the Trans Siberian rail road waiting for it to leave.
Breakfast at our homestay this morning. We went to see the Ganden Temple, a Buddhist monastery on the other side of the city. We tried to find a taxi, but could not, so we walked about an hour. We spent little time there because we had to be back for our pick up to the train station. And we walked all the way back. Nancye is especially tired. Most shops don’t open until 10 or 11 am - so Nancye did not get to do the shopping she wanted to do. Still she bought a cashmere scarf made in Mongolia. Relaxed at the room briefly then here to the train station.
19 May 2007 Saturday. Siberia. The train left on time from Ulaan Baator. Many people hauling bales of fabric or clothing on board. From Friday afternoon when we got on until now a “gang” of Mongolians have been carting piles of shirts, blankets, purses and other stuff back and forth in the train. It is not at all clear what they are doing but, Ola - a Norwegian fella in our car says they are smuggling these things into Russia. When we finally got to the border the Russian guards searched in all the cabins. Ola thinks the Mongolians bribed the officials. What we don’t understand is why they keep hauling the stuff back and forth. Sometimes they do it in bales and sometime one or two items.
Getting out of Mongolia and into Russia was a long tiring process. At least we could stay in our cabin. First the Mongolian official had to look at our passports and take them away. Then their customs official had a go. When we got our passports back the train moved forward in fits and starts.
After a long wait the Russians had their chance. I think we got to the border about 9:30 pm and left well after midnight. Sometime during the night our passports were returned.
I slept better and longer last night. We woke up at Ulaan Ulda in Russia and have been moving West all day. This is point at which we join the rail line from Vladivostoc
Breakfast - some dry cereal, tea, bread and jam. Lunch in the dining car: borscht with bread and beer. Dinner a dried noodle soup reconstituted with boiling water from the samovar.
We had ad difficulty getting rubles. The Mongolian Bank had very few. At the dining car a $50 bill was accepted with Russian rubles as change. At Irkusk we thought we’d find a bank at the station, but there was none. The ATM machine would not take Nancye’s debit card. But it took Ola’s so he did a second transaction and we bought rubles with dollars from a Norwegian.
The scenery has been spectacular and varied. From Ulaan Baator - dry and looking like eastern Colorado, it slowly greened up, trees appeared and water. The train follows the southern bank of Lake Baikal for many kilometers with many great views to the north across the lake. To the south some snow capped peaks.
Gradually more villages and towns. We saw many people outside working on garden plots. They are preparing the soil; nothing seems to be planted yet.
20 May 2007 Sunday. On the Train in Siberia. Awakened in Krasnoyarsk this morning. We just passed the half way kilometer mark between Beijing and Moscow.
We have seen steppes and taiga, little mountain streams. We pass many small villages. They are motley gray weathered often with gaily painted shutters. Most have a fenced in yard - no grass. Either junk or a garden in the yard.
We have had a bit of rain and it is mostly cloudy today. We have had clear and sunny weather every day this trip until late yesterday.
The train operates on Moscow time even though we are several time zones away. So we are gradually moving our clocks back and our daily schedule later. I think we are gaining back the day we lost over the Pacific.
For breakfast we are eating dry cereal - we have a box of Chinese cherrios!, bread and jam and tea.
Last stop at Achunk was 20 minutes. The Mongolians hawked their wares to the locals from the train doors making it hard to get off. So I went to the next car and got off, but the preovodnitsa seemed not to want me to get back on - she of course did not recognize me.
We are stopped at Marinsk for 25 minutes. We just finished dinner in the restaurant car “meat” soup - a pork chop and potatoes with some pickles and bread, two beers. 570 rubles or about $23. Not cheap. Bought orange juice from a stall.
We had thought there would be babushkas at each stop selling hot food and fruit. At only one place has there been anyone selling food. One place some guys were selling dried fish. Still we are eating well and are healthy. Sleeping is better. The beds are narrow - 2-2 and a half feet wide, barely long enough and rather hard.
After getting our OJ we walked up and down the platform a little. We have settled into a routine - calm and quiet. I am pleased that I manage to get by with my very limited Russian. “apelsin sok” got me orange juice. Sorry, I don’t have a Cyrillic alphabet on my computer. I first just said apelcin and then added sok. She showed me oranges and I said cok and she found it. Great. I did it!
We sit reading and when the train stops we either write in our journals or get out and walk. Then there are times we just watch the country side roll by.
Trees, Trees, Trees.
21 May 2007 Monday Monday. Tymen, Siberia. What a zoo yesterday at Novocibursk! The Mongolian sellers were hanging from every door and many windows hawking their stuff to crowds of Russians. Clothes, blankets, shoes, handbags. There was a huge wall of people coming to the train to buy cheap stuff from China. We have not seen the babushkas selling food. There was at Novsibirsk one older woman with a cart. She had pizza, “hot dogs” and pelmeni. We bought a small try of pelmeni for 30 rubles. They were still warm and good.
Overnight through Omsk and we just stopped here at Tymen. We tried to buy a pack of crackers, but the woman would not sell them. Perhaps the ones in the window are only for display.
7:20 Moscow time, we think 9:20 local time and we are off again.
Afternoon and we are in Sverdlovsk. Again the people on the train are selling their wares. There was a huge crowd waiting for us. Again no food for sale. We find this amazing. Whether or not these goods are legal they clearly have a market. After three days on the train it is getting a little dull. We had hoped for a greater variety of food - but we rest, read, watch the scenery go by. Watch the natives get ready for each sale.
I must say the two women previdnitzas work hard. They have been on duty in what is probably 12 hours shifts for three days and they assist with these train side sales.
22 May 2007 Tuesday. On the train
We just stopped at kilometer # 440 and can’t tell what city it is. Gorky? What ever it is, is not listed in the handbook. Good sleep last night except that it was quite warm in the afternoon and evening up to 85º so we had the window in our compartment open. I left it open a crack and it got down to 60º in the cabin by this morning. When the window is open we also get a fine dust coming in. So everything is coated today.
Late in the Evening. Last night one of the young Mongolian women who are selling things from the train, paused in our door - then came in and sat down. She has no English and we no Mongolian and each of us only a little Russian. But we still had a conversation. She though we were Russian, I guess because I use what limited vocabulary I have and that is what she heard. Anyway, we talked about ages and showed her the pictures of Alice and Trevor and Leighton. so far everyone who sees the picture of Alice immediately points to Nancye seeing the resemblance. I have never seen it my self, but over the years many people have.
Even late last night they were selling stuff off the train.
One last day on the train arriving in Moscow at 2 pm tomorrow.
I have greatly enjoyed looking at all the small garden plots along the rail line through Russia. At the east end they were just digging them up and preparing the soil. Over Saturday and Sunday we saw many people working their plots. Here near Moscow more things are growing - onions and other tiny green sprouts. Fruit trees are in bloom. Many of the plots are mounded up and a few raised beds. They fit them in a variety of small spaces - some close to the tracks. It gets me wanting to get home and garden. We have stopped in Vladimer, the engine is being changed and the people are selling again. We found a lady selling piroshky - still warm. I bought two beers and so when we start up again we will have an early lunch.
We have been able to buy food from the platform only three times and one was from a stall and it was cold. We got pelmeni earlier and today the pirosky. Neither seller looked like a babyshka! We paid 10 rubles for each piroshky, a little more than a dollar.
4 pm We arrived on time in Moscow and had to look a bit for our ride. The train comes into the NE quadrant and we were driven to the west side to a Stalin gothic high rise near the Moscow River. We have a big room - not air conditioned and it is 30º C. in Moscow today. Very comfortable anyway. The family is a young man, Sasha and his wife Lena and two boys and a cat. We are relaxing and trying to figure out what to do next.
Breakfast at our homestay this morning. We went to see the Ganden Temple, a Buddhist monastery on the other side of the city. We tried to find a taxi, but could not, so we walked about an hour. We spent little time there because we had to be back for our pick up to the train station. And we walked all the way back. Nancye is especially tired. Most shops don’t open until 10 or 11 am - so Nancye did not get to do the shopping she wanted to do. Still she bought a cashmere scarf made in Mongolia. Relaxed at the room briefly then here to the train station.
19 May 2007 Saturday. Siberia. The train left on time from Ulaan Baator. Many people hauling bales of fabric or clothing on board. From Friday afternoon when we got on until now a “gang” of Mongolians have been carting piles of shirts, blankets, purses and other stuff back and forth in the train. It is not at all clear what they are doing but, Ola - a Norwegian fella in our car says they are smuggling these things into Russia. When we finally got to the border the Russian guards searched in all the cabins. Ola thinks the Mongolians bribed the officials. What we don’t understand is why they keep hauling the stuff back and forth. Sometimes they do it in bales and sometime one or two items.
Getting out of Mongolia and into Russia was a long tiring process. At least we could stay in our cabin. First the Mongolian official had to look at our passports and take them away. Then their customs official had a go. When we got our passports back the train moved forward in fits and starts.
After a long wait the Russians had their chance. I think we got to the border about 9:30 pm and left well after midnight. Sometime during the night our passports were returned.
I slept better and longer last night. We woke up at Ulaan Ulda in Russia and have been moving West all day. This is point at which we join the rail line from Vladivostoc
Breakfast - some dry cereal, tea, bread and jam. Lunch in the dining car: borscht with bread and beer. Dinner a dried noodle soup reconstituted with boiling water from the samovar.
We had ad difficulty getting rubles. The Mongolian Bank had very few. At the dining car a $50 bill was accepted with Russian rubles as change. At Irkusk we thought we’d find a bank at the station, but there was none. The ATM machine would not take Nancye’s debit card. But it took Ola’s so he did a second transaction and we bought rubles with dollars from a Norwegian.
The scenery has been spectacular and varied. From Ulaan Baator - dry and looking like eastern Colorado, it slowly greened up, trees appeared and water. The train follows the southern bank of Lake Baikal for many kilometers with many great views to the north across the lake. To the south some snow capped peaks.
Gradually more villages and towns. We saw many people outside working on garden plots. They are preparing the soil; nothing seems to be planted yet.
20 May 2007 Sunday. On the Train in Siberia. Awakened in Krasnoyarsk this morning. We just passed the half way kilometer mark between Beijing and Moscow.
We have seen steppes and taiga, little mountain streams. We pass many small villages. They are motley gray weathered often with gaily painted shutters. Most have a fenced in yard - no grass. Either junk or a garden in the yard.
We have had a bit of rain and it is mostly cloudy today. We have had clear and sunny weather every day this trip until late yesterday.
The train operates on Moscow time even though we are several time zones away. So we are gradually moving our clocks back and our daily schedule later. I think we are gaining back the day we lost over the Pacific.
For breakfast we are eating dry cereal - we have a box of Chinese cherrios!, bread and jam and tea.
Last stop at Achunk was 20 minutes. The Mongolians hawked their wares to the locals from the train doors making it hard to get off. So I went to the next car and got off, but the preovodnitsa seemed not to want me to get back on - she of course did not recognize me.
We are stopped at Marinsk for 25 minutes. We just finished dinner in the restaurant car “meat” soup - a pork chop and potatoes with some pickles and bread, two beers. 570 rubles or about $23. Not cheap. Bought orange juice from a stall.
We had thought there would be babushkas at each stop selling hot food and fruit. At only one place has there been anyone selling food. One place some guys were selling dried fish. Still we are eating well and are healthy. Sleeping is better. The beds are narrow - 2-2 and a half feet wide, barely long enough and rather hard.
After getting our OJ we walked up and down the platform a little. We have settled into a routine - calm and quiet. I am pleased that I manage to get by with my very limited Russian. “apelsin sok” got me orange juice. Sorry, I don’t have a Cyrillic alphabet on my computer. I first just said apelcin and then added sok. She showed me oranges and I said cok and she found it. Great. I did it!
We sit reading and when the train stops we either write in our journals or get out and walk. Then there are times we just watch the country side roll by.
Trees, Trees, Trees.
21 May 2007 Monday Monday. Tymen, Siberia. What a zoo yesterday at Novocibursk! The Mongolian sellers were hanging from every door and many windows hawking their stuff to crowds of Russians. Clothes, blankets, shoes, handbags. There was a huge wall of people coming to the train to buy cheap stuff from China. We have not seen the babushkas selling food. There was at Novsibirsk one older woman with a cart. She had pizza, “hot dogs” and pelmeni. We bought a small try of pelmeni for 30 rubles. They were still warm and good.
Overnight through Omsk and we just stopped here at Tymen. We tried to buy a pack of crackers, but the woman would not sell them. Perhaps the ones in the window are only for display.
7:20 Moscow time, we think 9:20 local time and we are off again.
Afternoon and we are in Sverdlovsk. Again the people on the train are selling their wares. There was a huge crowd waiting for us. Again no food for sale. We find this amazing. Whether or not these goods are legal they clearly have a market. After three days on the train it is getting a little dull. We had hoped for a greater variety of food - but we rest, read, watch the scenery go by. Watch the natives get ready for each sale.
I must say the two women previdnitzas work hard. They have been on duty in what is probably 12 hours shifts for three days and they assist with these train side sales.
22 May 2007 Tuesday. On the train
We just stopped at kilometer # 440 and can’t tell what city it is. Gorky? What ever it is, is not listed in the handbook. Good sleep last night except that it was quite warm in the afternoon and evening up to 85º so we had the window in our compartment open. I left it open a crack and it got down to 60º in the cabin by this morning. When the window is open we also get a fine dust coming in. So everything is coated today.
Late in the Evening. Last night one of the young Mongolian women who are selling things from the train, paused in our door - then came in and sat down. She has no English and we no Mongolian and each of us only a little Russian. But we still had a conversation. She though we were Russian, I guess because I use what limited vocabulary I have and that is what she heard. Anyway, we talked about ages and showed her the pictures of Alice and Trevor and Leighton. so far everyone who sees the picture of Alice immediately points to Nancye seeing the resemblance. I have never seen it my self, but over the years many people have.
Even late last night they were selling stuff off the train.
One last day on the train arriving in Moscow at 2 pm tomorrow.
I have greatly enjoyed looking at all the small garden plots along the rail line through Russia. At the east end they were just digging them up and preparing the soil. Over Saturday and Sunday we saw many people working their plots. Here near Moscow more things are growing - onions and other tiny green sprouts. Fruit trees are in bloom. Many of the plots are mounded up and a few raised beds. They fit them in a variety of small spaces - some close to the tracks. It gets me wanting to get home and garden. We have stopped in Vladimer, the engine is being changed and the people are selling again. We found a lady selling piroshky - still warm. I bought two beers and so when we start up again we will have an early lunch.
We have been able to buy food from the platform only three times and one was from a stall and it was cold. We got pelmeni earlier and today the pirosky. Neither seller looked like a babyshka! We paid 10 rubles for each piroshky, a little more than a dollar.
4 pm We arrived on time in Moscow and had to look a bit for our ride. The train comes into the NE quadrant and we were driven to the west side to a Stalin gothic high rise near the Moscow River. We have a big room - not air conditioned and it is 30º C. in Moscow today. Very comfortable anyway. The family is a young man, Sasha and his wife Lena and two boys and a cat. We are relaxing and trying to figure out what to do next.
posted by Thomas Van Brunt | 9:49 AM
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