Siberia calling

Well, after 4 nights on a train, we've finally made it to Irkutsk. The journey was surprisingly easy really, the beds were comfortable and the rocking motion worked a treat at sending us to sleep. Of course it got pretty boring at times, but when else do you get the chance to spend hours and days just reading and lazing around, without feeling the slightest bit guilty about all the other things you should be doing? Luckily Maria had a very good book, which she lent to me when she had finished it, in a day and a half. It was the story of a pair of Aussie nutters who did roughly the same journey as us except with one vital difference - they were riding recumbent bikes.

Our abysmal lack of Russian made it hard to communicate with anyone else in our carriage, but we still had great fun with some kids, racing up and down station platforms, doing gymnastics in the corridor and translating long lists of not-so-useful words (if I see a Siberian Tiger I'll know what to shout out). We even made our own chess set out of folded scraps of paper, with pieces that were both recognisable and stood up most of the time.

Roughly twice a day the train stopped at a station for half an hour or so, long enough for us to buy soft fruit and pastries from platform traders. Which was lucky considering that we only managed to get one meal from the restaurant car. Its opening hours were totally incomprehensible and the scary woman in charge did nothing to ease our understanding - we got off to a bad start when we forgot (for less than 30 seconds) to pay for a meal, but she really didn't need to be so aggressive!

Of the long hours spent looking out the window, the most exciting times were when we crossed rivers. There must have been at least five that were each close to a kilometre wide, far bigger than anything in Western Europe. The taiga forest was pretty, interspersed with flowery meadows and swamps, especially Krasnoyarsk when the landscape got hilly. The wooden village houses were nice too, with their well-tended gardens.

But still I'm very glad to be back on solid ground, where I can stretch my legs and see Lake Baikal without a pane of glass blocking my way.