Irkutsk to Listvyanka

We got off the train at Irkutsk, the capital of the Irkutsk Oblast and, according to our guide Natalya, largest city in Eastern Siberia.

We were met at the station by our guide Natalya, and she drove us to Listvyanka, on the shores of Lake Baikal.

We drove through the Taiga. 

During the drive we Natalya was telling us how Russian parents push and prioritize eduction. Why did that sound so similar to desi parents? 

We asked her whether she identified as Asian or European. Because her part of the world falls in Asia. 

'Neither,' she said. 'I am Siberian!'

She told us about how Eastern Siberia always voted for the opposition to whatever party was in power.

We got around to discussing the weather. We were told to prep for 1-5°, but it was close to 20 when we reached. 

This year's winter was mild. At -25°C.

Pardon me while I burrow under every single comforter I have at home.

Learnt a lot of interesting things from her.

The Angara River is the only one that flows out of Lake Baikal, while 300+ flow into it.

In peak winter the ice is at least 1 meter thick and people drive across the ice to the opposite shore. 

Apparently this winter it wasn't as thick and a few cars went down, and will be pulled out of water come summer.

There isn't enough vodka in Russia for me to digest this.

Why would anyone drive miles across ice in a lake that's a mile deep?

We checked into our hotel and are off to dinner.

Here are a few more shots of Lake Baikal from the view point near the hotel.

The mountains on the opposite shore of the lake.

More later.

Dasvidanya for now ,

From Russia... with Love 

Lake Baikal

A picture speaks a thousand words.

I can take a thousand pictures of Lake Baikal and not do it any justice.

This was our first view .

That little patch or white behind the trees. That's lake Baikal.

And we got closer.

A good portion of the surface of Lake Baikal seems to be covered in ice.

The clear blue skies, the ice covered lake, the bare trees.

I can't even begin to describe it. 

At this point we have the lake on one side and snow capped on the other. 

And back to back freight trains interrupting a good shot.

EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Lake Baikal is not the largest freshwater lake in the world in terms of surface area. 

Its the deepest freshwater lake and is said to be a mile deep.

And it also holds upto 20% of the world's fresh water.

The circumference of Lake Baikal is estimated to be around 2100 kms. 

So no. I won't be taking my morning walk around the like I would do at Kukkarahalli Kere.

The first time I heard of Siberia and Lake Baikal would have been in 1981 when my parents took us to Ranganathittu bird sanctuary. The guide there pointed out various migratory birds from Siberia and Lake Baikal which would migrate south to Ranganathittu every year for the winter.

Looking at Lake Baikal now, in May... Well, most of the surface is still covered in ice. 

Hopefully will get to see some old avian  friends back home here too.

A lone fisherman. He has cut a hole in the ice and is fishing.

Alone.

Seems at peace with the world.

And we passed this. Looked quite like a Buddhist place of worship.

And then I remember, we're in the Republic of Buryatia, where the dominant ethnic dwellers are Buddhist.

Snow capped mountains on the other side of the track.

Going to sign off here. 

More later 

From Russia with Love 

Last day of this leg

So here we are. Married 25 years and starting our celebrations on the world's longest railway. Who'da thunk it?

Round the time I posted yesterday, we were running parallel to the China border. Inhabited areas vere very rare. It was all grasslands and woodlands. Since late afternoon, yesterday, we've started to see more and more towns. And some are quite big. We're starting to see factories. And we seen to cross large freight trains, 100 wagons at a time, at least once every 10 minutes. 

Every time I try to show the OH something out of the window, a freight train goes by and blocks the view. And by the time it passes we're away from there too. I don't know if I have seen volume of freight movement while travelling by train in India. 

We travelled along the Shilka River for a while. There were small ice floes and blocks of snow floating in the river for long stretches.

For the next stretch, after the Shilka station the tracks and the River Ingoda kept each other company.

Later in the evening we hit Karymskaya. 

Karymskaya is the point where the a part of the trans Siberian line branches off into the Tranc Manchurian line, going all the way to Beijing.

We got off the train. Our idea was to walk up and down the platform to stretch our legs a bit. 

We were all bundled up, hat, jacket, muffler.. the works... despite all that it was still rather chill. And then we saw these bros.

Shorts, T-shirts and slippers. 

That made me shiver all the more and I just went back into the toasty train.

Early this morning the train stopped at Ulan Ude. Our Provodnitsa asked if I wanted to get down. The OH was asleep and I thought it was a sunny day and I would stretchy my legs. 

I saw the temperature reading at 1°C and said Nyet.

Ulan Ude is beginning of the Trans Mongolian line that goes all the way to Ilan Batar in Mongolia.

I got up late last night and looked out of the window and saw the full moon over the forests.

This is a terrible shot. Taken from a jerky train through a foggy window. 

It looked a little magical. A little eerie. A little scary.

Maybe I expected a dementor or a Nazgûl to fly across the moon. Just to set the mood.

We should hit lake Baikal soon. 

More later.

From Russia.. with Love 

Train time: 48 hours .. or so.. later

The OH and I have been on this train for some 48 hours now. I'm a bit confused about that exact calculation as we're crossing more time zones that I can keep track of.

From Vladivostok, we travelled north and have skirted the northern border of China and are working our way west towards Mongolia.

Just thinking about it all sounds so exotic. I'm travelling on a train that I had studied about in school. A mention in the Geography lesson that the Trans Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok was the longest railway line in the world. 

I used to think it would be wonderful to travel along that line and literally see a huge part of what was then the USSR and is just Russia today.

From 13°C when we left Vladivostok yesterday (or was it the day before?) it's now 0°C outside.

A trip from the comfort of our cabin to the loo feels like an arctic expedition.

The OH is fast asleep (and snoring, though he denied it) and I am enjoying a nice hot cup of tea. I was just standing in the corridor when our Provodnitsa, Tatyana, stepped out of her cabin. 

I asked for tea and was served some in this absolutely gorgeous glass holder.

Feels nice. Hot tea, some nice quiet me time... If only some vendor would walk by 'bisi bisi maddur vade'....

Note to self.. add this to the shopping list.

I'm watching the steppes go by and see that there're many patches of snow in the ground.

In case I had any doubts about the 0° temperature, this sorted me out.

Yesterday, when the train halted at a station called Belogorsk, Tatyana told us it was a 30 minute halt.

The two of us bundled up and went for a walk up and down the platform. Looks like almost everyone on the train got down to stretch their legs.

And there was a statue, so we stopped to say Dobrrye Utra to Vladimir Iliyich.

From the dates looks to be something to do with  WW II. 

In Cyrillic it reads .. Velikaya Pobeda.. I think. I am trying to learn the script. One way to constructively pass time.

A Provodnitsa herding passengers back into the train.

The engine's changed and we're all set to go.

And yes, we did get some travel essentials on the platform.

We spoke to Ilya, the cook on board, about something other than rice and boiled vegetables for lunch, and he whipped up this baked potato with onion and mushroom... With way more oil than absolutely necessary!!!

It was quite tasty. Oily but tasty.

At dinnertime we walked down a few wagons to the dining car. With the help of Google translate, Ilya and the OH decided that we'd have a version of macaroni and cheese for dinner.

Alexander, from the train's maintenance crew, who was watching the entire translation game, sat down and talked to us.

Or rather he talked a lot. When there was signal, we talked through the Google translate app.

He told us about his hometown in Southern Russia, that had a beautiful park which would talk to the soul. Yes, he sounded that poetic.

We talked about families. That's when he said that he last saw his son in October before he was deployed to Ukraine. And no word since. His voice broke as we wiped his eyes. His sorrow was overwhelming. 

A war that was halfway around the world suddenly became rather personal. Alexander's grief was heartbreaking.

Later in the night the train stopped at Skovorodino. We looked at the display which said 4° and decided to stay in. Quite a few people had stepped out to stretch their legs, as it was another long stop. 

One good thing about long stops is that we actually get a signal on our phones, and we used this time to have a video call with our kids.

 Looked out of the window this morning and saw that the temperature was 0°C. There was more snow on the sides of the tracks. And yes, even a little snowfall

We're in Siberia baby... It's official

More later...

From Russia... With Love 

Answers galore - the train

I didn't realize so many people were reading this and asking questions too. Let me try answer everything here.

About the train first.

We are in a 2 berth coupe. 2 lower berths only, if that helps. The size is decent, but our Indian Railways 2nd AC is more spacious in terms of width of berth and the legroom between the two berths. 

My best estimate to describe this would be about the width of a 3AC or a regular sleeper berth. Legroom between the berths is a bit narrow. 

The berths are cushioned. Linens are included. We have been given 2 very comfortable pillows and a cozy duvet each. The bunks were covered with sheets with a cover over that.

Each compartment has 2 attendants, a provodnik (male) or provodnitsa (female). They're in charge of keeping the carriage clean, managing the temperature, cleaning the corridor and washrooms every few hours.

They also manage the samovar ensuring 24 hour supply of boiling water. Very essential for tea and instant meals. 

They monitor passenger safety and keep track of boarding passengers.

Our ticket on this leg includes meals. Which are brought to our coach. We can go to the dining car too, for which we pay there. 

Our Provodnitsa, Tatyana, or the train manager, Marianna, can't speak a word of English. Google translate is a blessing. If one has signal or data. 

The OH and I spoke to the catering liaison yesterday about our meals. We told him nyet masya. No meat. He brought us a dish of rice and vegetables and a cheese plate. 

The food is very bland, but I absolutely do appreciate the effort. 

Of course we have a suitcase full of thepla, instant poha, upma, noodles etc.

The compartment next to ours has showers we can use. Showers are apparently available only on some trains.

We're carrying teabags and milk powder. And steel double walled travel mugs. We just get water from the samovar for tea or soups. There's also a space with a sink and some dishsoap and scrub where we can wash our mugs as needed.

Supply of boiling water is unlimited, but plain/cold water has to be bought.

Hope this answers some questions.

Certainly not 'Lost in Translation'

This time in 2006, we had moved to Tsuruoka in Japan. We left the humidity and heat of Singapore, and landed in Tsuruoka in late March, and we're welcomed by piles of  snow cleared from the roads on the sidewalks.

Everything was new to us. The place, the people, the language.. everything.

Before we left Singapore we bought a copy of a Japanese-English and English-Japanese dictionary. It was a small one. Just about the size of a paperback. With 10 days of a crash course in Japanese and that tiny dictionary we set off on a journey to a new land with a toddler in hand.

When we landed in Tokyo, there were English signs in most places, and I thought we were worrying too much and that we would be fine. When we reached Tsuruoka, it was a different story. Hardly any signs in English. We put all our faith in our dictionary and marched on to meet life.

Oh the translation issues we've had were legendary. Imagine going to a hospital and having no language in common with any doctor there. Imagine using sign language and drawings (I actually drew something that was supposed to be a human body, but looked more like a homicide scene outline) to communicate with a doctor. Imagine having to use amateur volunteer translators and sincerely hoping that the doctor understands you have an earache and are not asking for a frontal lobotomy.

I really don't know how I coped in those days. If it happened today, I might just have a meltdown.

Thanks to Google and Google translate life is so much easier now. When someone starts talking point the phone at them and Google gives live speech to text translations that are rather accurate. It is to incredibly stress free. 

Even signs. Point Google lens at signs for instant translations.

I remember a time in Japan when I asked someone to get a rolling pin and got an earbud instead. Or the time when a nurse insisted that my doctor was a buckwheat noodle. That's a story that needs a lot of time and a lot of wine. Or even vodka.

I remember asking for vegetarian food and was served slivers of raw meat and seafood. Now I just say it into Google translate and there's absolutely nothing lost in translation.

Things have changed so much over the last 20 years.

Life has become so much easier now, hasn't it??

 

I asked the OH .. 'Imagine how it would have been if we had Google translate back in the day'

He only said, 'we wouldn't have had such hilarious stories to tell then, would we?'

Words of wisdom indeed.

No translation needed

I can't believe we're doing this

So earlier this afternoon the two of us bid adieu, or said Dasvidanya, to Vladivostok and are now on the Trans Siberian Railway train to Moscow. This is the first leg of our trip on this famous train.

In the above picture, taken from our hotel, you can see some goods trains in a yard. That is the absolute end of the Trans siberian line. The tracks stop there and one can go no further by train.

The Vladivostok Station has a facade built in the Neo Russian style. It's apparently a replica of the Moscow Yaroslavskaya station.

The inside of the station has a few classical style decorative elements. There were these old uniforms on display which I assume are old railway uniforms.

The station building has some lovely iron scrollwork and the main area has a beautiful ceiling mural with immediately identifiable architectural elements of Vladivostok and Moscow.

I also saw this absolutely tripper vending machine where one could buy chargers, cables, power banks, earphones, USB drives, travel locks and even what looked like a burner phone.

Travel essentials indeed.

The platform itself was 2 levels below the entrance to the station, and there're no elevators or escalators there. 

This proved a bit challenging because we aren't really travelling light. Like the OH said at the beginning of the trip, 'Are you packing food for all Russia?'

We ended up lugging all our baggage two floors down.

And this platform was at a level with the tracks. Then starts the entire operation of hoisting luggage into the train. We have gotten so used to platform in our railway stations being at a level as close to the door as possible. 

So hoisting full sized suitcases up into the trains was seriously painful.

We got into our 2 berth cabin and were pleasantly surprised with a welcome pack.

Fruits, breads, some cakes and chocolates, tea bags, juices and water.

And a cute little pouch with a sleep mask, dental kit, hair brush, shoe horn, shoe shine, wet wipes and slippers. 

And luggage storage. That's another story.

The coupé has storage under the berths..if it had been left alone it could have very comfortably accommodated large suitcases. But for some bizzare reason there's some kind of a storage area 'built' there, which can at best hold a cabin baggage sized stroller or a good sized rucksack.

Honestly, of nothing had been built there, 2 large suitcases could have been very comfortably stashed there. 

There's an overhead storage area too. Hoisting a suitcase up there isn't for the faint of heart.  We gave up and our other suitcase is very literally underfoot.

Some pictures of the Amur bay from the train.

And along the Reka Razdolnaya river.

The trees alongside and either absolutely bare or just starting to sprout leaves post winter. I am trying to imagine how lovely this would look in summer when the trees are full of leaves. 

I'll keep the posts coming as we go.

I still can't believe we're actually doing this. The world's longest railway journey!! I am so excited!!

Wait a minute... What's this travesty??

There's water (voda) here, but no little water (vodka)?? Certainly cause for concern.

Signing off for now,

From Russia.. with love.