Sunday, 18 September 2016

My Trans Siberian experience


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 cafĂ© 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.