A decent departure time saw us getting on the train at 9.07 this morning (4.07 Moscow time, which makes it not so decent!) All the trains run on Moscow time, so we have ad to keep one watch on that and the other to local time - it gets all together very confusing when you walk into a train station and the clock is running hours behind! The train is identical as the last one, save for the Euro trash dance music blasting through the speaker system, which our last provodnista thought better off. Fortunately you can turn it off in your cabin, though it makes for a bit of amusement here and there. Our young female provodnista was also a lot more caring of her carriage than Sir Redgrave was of his. She was constantly hoovering the carpets, turning over the runners, wiping the blinds and clearing the rubbish - we think she was gearing towards promotion!
We had a cabin to ourselves, which was actually rather nice, as it meant I could catch up on typing up the diary and also was a little more chilled - that said Iit was somewhat more boring as there was no-one else to talk to and when you are stuck in one small room with just each other it can send you a little insane! After scoffing a puff pastry (which I was hoping had apple in it but was actually just puff pastry) I promptly fell asleep, as did Stu and we awoke half an hour later to the cry of market sellers flogging al sorts of goodies. Time for my last umal of the trip so we popped out and bought a fish to tuck into. Others bought tens of fish and whilst they taste like a slice of heaven they smell well and truly like all fish does and the heater on the train is in full swing - not so delicious. As we tucked in, the train passed the most beautiful scenes we have yet seen from the train windows. We were circumnavigating Lake Baikal and it never ceases to be wonderous. The icey shoreline is so striking and we searched it for seals, but no joy. We travelled along the water’s edge for kilometer after kilometer just a couple of meters from the shoreline and you could see just how crystal clear it is, at some points gently lapping the beach at others lashing the breakers, which were themselves covered in inches of thick milky ice. We simply can’t get over the ice and I just can’t imagine how the lake changes in the deep freeze of January and February where apparently it’s entirety ices over up to three meters deep - it must be incredible.
Seeing the lake from the train clarifies just how big it is, it seems endless like a sea whose mouth passes through majestic mountains. Every time we thought that we had seen the last of it, we turned a corner of trees and a few minutes later were back on the water front, following the lake’s pristine landscape. We did of course pass some not so beautiful areas, where industry brings in money for the locals and as such also monstrous buildings but they were few compared to the delightful wooden houses, small buildings and little farms or allotment lands scattered around, which are blanketed in perfect snow right now as they don’t get used until the summer. I think one of the strangest things we saw as we passed by the little hamlets and villages was washing hanging up to dry. In up to in up 20 conditions as it is right now and with the trees coated in frost I am certain it is not the temperature for drying clothes - surely they freeze to a crisp... Mind you, I am sure they know better than me!
The next two days were spent snaking through arid land, alongside frozen rivers and gentle mountain ranges. At a number of points we could see the front of the train ahead of us as we passed the most dramatic changes in scenery - from one moment forests, albeit mainly sparse as all but one type of tree have lost their leaves, to arid land with nothing but scrub for miles. Minutes later their might be mountains in the background - which at sunset were bathed in the most glorious auburn with hints of mauve that gave to the land an incredible golden hue. The sun was shining and along the way we saw plenty of tiny communities scattered around, making for picturesque viewing but I am certain very harsh living. One little station that we stopped at had quite a large wooden city behind it, with very few lights on despite the pitch black. As the characters at the train station moved about, dressed all in black, their furs swayed to and fro the people seemed more like shadows or ghostly figures than real humans, sashaying through the darkness - the only colour the odd glow of orange from flickering cigarettes. This particular town reached minus 33 in the winter, whilst we passed another place that goes form minus 60 in the winter to plus 45 in the summer - giving it the most extreme in temperatures in the whole world. One question - why live there?
Despite the stunning scenery, after three days on the train and just each other and a couple of boring books - which we had finally started to read - we were ready to get off and just in time we reached Khabarovsk, where our first challenge would be to taxi around the city trying to find a hotel - finally we got a crazy expensive one (for what it was) and bedded down for the night - worried once again at how expensive Russia actually is.
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