The Trans Siberian railway is 100 years old this year so I have decided to take a ride on it to mark its Centenary.
Ferry from Donghae to Vladivostok - 20 hours
The Trans Siberian journey now starts on the ferry from Japan over
to Korea and then into Russia so any excuse to travel via a different mode of
transport and I'm there. My journey started in Korea.
Ferry was almost a cruise liner.... but a lot smaller. Dorm room
was 3 bunk beds and very comfortable. Most people were Russian along with two
from Japan so not much conversation there.
The Restaurant served salads, soup
and meat which for £10 for dinner was great value for money- seconds and thirds
were included.
I spent most of my time with Aziz - a guy from Kyrgyzstan and also
his friends who were from Kazakhstan and other Stan's that I'm not visiting.
They were curious as to why I was not visiting Pakistan and Afghanistan since
for them they are considered safe. Hmm, maybe another trip.
We spent most of the time chatting on top deck or walking around as
there was not much else to do. There was a duty free shop and also a small food
shop selling top price low quality food. Aziz, a chef refused to even entertain
the instant noodles - what a foodie...
The ferry was a mixture of Russian's , Japanese and Korean. Very
few foreigners. I did come across a guy and his son from Japan who wanted to
sing karaoke with me using his ipad. Beatles let it be, Cliff Richard various
songs (thanks mom for all those hours of Cliff at home it gave me great street
cred), Abba and a couple of American artists. He was so happy when I left him.
Many of the young Russian men were drunk walking through Korean customs and
continued drinking throughout the journey. Something I have learnt is quite
commonplace in Russia.
Overnight the ferry changed to Russian time which was confusing
when the breakfast last call came up just as I was waking up. The ferry docked
40 minutes late which is unheard of in Russia. These Russians can teach us a
thing about punctuality. Anyway, 40 minutes without any information and lots of
drunk men and feisty Russian women was an eye opener. Luckily the staff were
from the Philippines so spoke perfect English and I got some form of an update.
One hour before my train was due to leave we docked and made it
through Russian customs easily. Conveniently the train station was in front of
the ferry terminal. I finally got to the
train station and found the ticket booth to exchange my ticket only to find
that the train runs on Moscow time which is seven hours behind!!! Realisation
set in, I was to be at the train station for eight hours. No luggage lockers
available so it was a sit and wait. Hmm. A German guy strolled in who had been
on the ferry, he spoke little English but just enough for me to ask if he could
mind the bags whilst I went to the supermarket (well what else would I want to
go and see first) and get some lunch and supplies for the train. Later a couple
of Aziz friends arrived who were also on the same train so I had friends to
smile at. No English and me no Russian- it made for an interesting 4 hours of looking at the beautiful ceiling.
I did manage a walk around Vladivostok local roads and discovered
that they had copious amounts of burger shops, a Cinnabon (Canadian cinnamon
bun shop) and also a lot of beautiful Russian architecture.
Thinking back to my
last time in Russia some twenty years ago I remember being served the same cake
for three nights running in a hotel and seeing cockroaches on the wall of the
kitchen. That was the last time I ate in that restaurant instead food was at
the local pizza shack. Well food standards have since improved I am pleased to
report and they now have a reputation for great food. I can't wait…. My other
memory was going around Moscow opposed to through the centre so that we could
not see the queues at the bread shops in the mornings. How times have changed.
On the way back to the train station I bought a waffle filled with
synthetic cream and maple syrup. One of my guilty pleasures. Ate half and gave
half to the boys, think even they rejected it. Ok what I did I say about great
food.
Trans Siberian train
experience
Leg one - Vladivostok to
Irkutsk
Eventually at 23:55 the 099e train pulled out of the station, on
time - let the 75 hour journey commence. The lower the train number the better
the train I was dutifully informed by a local on the ferry. Anything below 100
was ok, so mine at 99 was deemed an ok train.
My bed was in second class - two sets of bunk beds with me having
booked a top bunk. It was hot and broken air conditioning, however a welcome
comfort and straight to sleep. Well sort of if you could endure the train’s
bumps and sharp jerks as it trundled into the night. By the morning there were
four of us in the room.
On exploring the carriage that morning I met the Provodnitsa (or
as described by the lonely planet “She who must be obeyed”) This is the person
responsible for the carriage, she welcomes you, she cleans the carriage, she is
the one who makes the decisions and who will scowl and say no if it’s not the
right way of doing things. Luckily for me mine seemed ok, she did not speak any
English but we got round that by the lady in my carriage downloading Google
translator.
The rest of the carriage was made up of about 10 rooms each with
four beds in. Unlike the economy classes we had a door to each room which was
generally closed. Second class was predominately women and families or at least
that was in my carriage so well behaved and quiet. At the one end of the
carriage the Provodnitsa resided along with the hot water boiler and the
cleaner of the two toilets. The cold water tap was not available.
My ticket entitled me to dinner. I had initially thought that was
one per day but no it was one. That was quite a shock when realisation kicked in;
all I kept getting from the restaurant carriage guy was one! Vladivostok to
Moscow one. Dinner on day one transpired to be chicken with buckwheat and veg.
This had to be pre-ordered early morning when all the woman could say in
English was Chicken. Yes that’s fine I thought trying to mime the rest would
take too long.
The train staff spoke little English which made for interesting
conversations me in English then responded in Russian. We could have been
talking about anything but at least it was generally with smiles on our faces.
For lunch on day one I was invited to join the only remaining
woman in my room. She was leaving the train and going to a local restaurant. We
had one and half hours so we ventured into the station restaurant via the
tracks opposed to walking the long way using the platform and bridge.
She
ordered four pizza slices, later I realised these were a treat for her children
she was seeing later and not for herself. I diligently followed and ordered two
slices of pizza luckily the server realised that I was following her and gave
me one piece. She then ordered salad (served by weight) and chicken in sauce
(again served by weight) I ordered watermelon to compliment my pizza slice and
a black coffee. This time without sugar (unlike my previous attempt at ordering
on a street stall outside the station the day before). Next we ventured outside
to take photos of a statue. No clue who it was of but he looked important.
It was only when back on the train that I looked in my notes and
realised that my train schedule I’d printed in England was not current and the
place I had got off was the one my travel nurse had told me to cover up or not
to get out at as Japanese Encephalitis is prevalent. Oh well, I seem to survive
wearing shorts without any major bites I’m pleased to report.
After lunch I remembered that I had spoken to a guy at the train
station (we had bonded over the plug charging socket near the café during the
gruelling 8 hour wait) he was in economy class so I signalled to “She who must
be obeyed” that I was going down to carriage one. There are two provodnitsa’s
to cover the 24 hours this one was more smiley. Unfortunately the guy had got
off at that stop so I never found him but I did come across an Australian guy
and his kiwi brother who I’d also met at the train station. I spent the rest of
the daylight train journey in their carriage so thank you Russell and Trevor my
time with you was insightful and never a dull moment.
During the three days we had visits from locals bearing vodka and pork
/ venison meat. This turned into somewhat of a lively affair. I played the “I’m
on medication hand” and stayed away from the alcohol. The guys shared bunks with
two young Russians one who was referred to as being part of the mafia since he
had a huge ring on his finger. On closer inspection it featured Mary and Jesus,
not sure this is the image that the mafia usually displayed. However they spoke
a little English and were fun to be around.
One of the highlight of the journey was in next doors bunk area
when they got a bit carried away with the alcohol and became a little loud “She
who must be obeyed” called the police out. Statements were taken and passports
reviewed. Eventually after a few hours some of them were accompanied off the
train. We think for being illegal immigrants. So “She who must be obeyed”
really does have the last word.
Economy class carriage
The other notable passenger was an older guy we eventually found
out was a 71 years old Russian called Alexi. He was travelling around Russia on
holiday with a tent. He was well prepared and each meal time was a joy to
watch. Alexi would get out his army canteen set and produced meals from dried
food and the hot water on board. This was accompanied by bread and on one
occasion we watched him smothering the bread in butter then in chocolate condensed
milk. He was my hero and the highlight to my train journey. I loved to watch
him at meal times. On our last leg of
the train journey he got his camera out and showed us photos from his holidays
my favourite was on the border with Kazakhstan in the area of the Altai
mountains, maybe another trip.
Each morning I would walk the ten carriages saying good morning to
the Provodnitsa’s and the occasional male Provodnik. Mostly they smiled and
waved. It was a great way to see life on the rails as each carriage showed the
lives of locals. Some slept the day away seeing it more as a means of getting
from A to B than one of the world’s greatest train journeys. Families eat and
chatted others played cards. Those on their own often sat with a puzzle book or
magazine happy to wave as I passed through. There were several young men
returning from working away going back to their families.
Once in economy class with the boys we spent much of the journey looking
out of the window. The scenery seemed to be the same throughout – countryside
with the odd “Dacha” wooden summer house and groups of rail workers who spend
up to a month at a time working and living on the tracks.
As we ventured into
Siberia the trees were silver birch and pine. Autumn has definitely started to
appear, the leaves were changing from green to yellow and then to red. Every now
and again we would pass a village, the houses had brightly coloured roofs –bright
blue being a common one and walls of yellow, maroon and blue. Near the villages
there were graveyards this tended to show the size of the village. Each grave
featured plastic brightly coloured flowers. The Russians do love their colour.
The train only stopped at the main stations to let passengers off
and on. Three times a day we had a longer stop for 15 minutes to get meals.
These were great times to quickly explore the food carts. We noticed local red
berries, sausages and dumplings and then in the small shops you could buy
anything from pizzas and bread products to vodka, jars of coffee or Tea
(Russians preferred choice known as Chai). Bowls of instant noodles which was
the staple food for most the passengers.
Cars on roads tended to be Lada’s and old Russian trucks as well
as more modern vehicles. Often the roads were empty.
Some of the other notable highlights to mention were at each end
of economy class carriages there were phone charging points. If you wanted to
charge your phone or device you must stay with it. If a phone was left then
either the police or guard would go through carriages to find out who it
belonged to. Sim cards in Russia are registered to individuals so they were
ideal targets to be stolen by the mafia.
Toilets in Russia (as in Korea) are often western style and plumbing is very basic. All toilet paper has to be left in a bin and not put down the
loo. Toilet paper has the feel of regular paper, think this is to stop much of
it being used. It is the same type all over the guest houses, not sure if soft
is available here. Toilets smelt in economy and it was the same smell as the local sausage. Hmm, not great when the carriage
door used to open and this wafted through.
Taps in the bathroom are also special in the sense that water doesn’t
automatically flow out. Instead you have to push up the nozzle for the water to
flow. This took me two days to realise and then only after Russell told me.
Smoking was not allowed on trains, however as the train did not
stop for long people used to stand in the tiny area between the carriages. Once
the doors were closed the only fresh air was from gaps in the bottom of the
carriage. At one point “She who must be obeyed” came round and said NO smoking
to each of us. Not guilty on that one as both Russell and I looked at Trevor.
Trevor and Russell got off at the stop before me. After waving
goodbye I went back to my carriage to pack. I tried to let the new woman in my
carriage know I would be leaving, this ended up in a large discussion since I
was used to Russell working on Vladivostok time and she was back on Moscow
time. I thought I would be getting off in 5 hours but it transpired it would be
2am in the morning. Heck, it was only after lunch and I had already eaten three
meals. I chilled out with my Kindle and watched the sun set over Lake Baikal. I
went to bed early safely knowing that I would be woken up by the Provodnitsa.
After four days of no shower and only wet wipes for company I was
finally came to the end of my first train journey. I had done well, only two
marriage proposals which I had managed to fend off now definitely looking
forward to a few days off for R&R.
If you fancy looking around the train further try http://eng.rzd.ru/vtour/index.html
this will give you a virtual tour inside the premium train.