If you only ever pack 2 things for this iconic journey make sure its the Best Russsian Vodka and a jar of mayonaise. It amazing the tips you pick up from fellow travellers, so along with the vodka and mayo I was also wearing the mandatory tracksuit pants that I had picked up for a bargain in Beijing.
After a slight moment of panic a few days before I went to buy my tickets I found that there were only about 10 seats left on the Train, and I was still in Mongolia, so after a frantic few hours trying to translate the Russian Train website and trying to purchase a ticket I was unsuccessfull, so some more frantic searching brought me back to seat61 and manged to book and confirm a ticket all within 20 mins for a very reasonable commission. It turns out my panic was more than justified as it was actually the Russian Ordothox Easter which is why the train was completely full for the entire journey. Leaving Irkutsk in the early evening I quickly settled into my carriage , I had booked the 3rd class or platzcartny section in which the carriage is configured into open bunks, there are 2 seats by one side the lower one converting to a table and chairs during the day and the other side hs 4 beds 2 up and 2 lower. It was extremely comfortable, much more than I had expected although the bunks themselves were a bit short. ( so far the chinese hard sleeper trains wins hands down over the best budget sleep on this trip)
Once my 3 other neighbours had settled in, dinner began. I had stocked up on some sausage and cheese and pickles in the morning market, along with some mayonaise of course, and no sooner had everyone laid all their fod out on the table I was handed my first glass of vodka, thus the evening continued with broken conversation, eating and more vodka drinking.
Probably the most confusing thing on the train is that it runs on Moscow time, which was 5 hours behind our actual departure time, even all of the train stations in Russia show Moscow Time inside the station but local time outside. Heading towards Moscow made it easier to adjust the time as we went on.
So what do you do on a 4 day train trip when your not eating and drinking ? Along with the basic communication and usual questions there is the reading, finally my bag of books and magazines that I had being lugging around over the previous few months was paying off. Then there is the staring out the window phase , the secenery was actually quite similar throughout and most suprisingly still covered in snow,which passes another few hours and with a few extra naps the time goes quite fast. Although we were always glad of the brief stops along the way to stretch legs and get some fresh air and of course do a beer restock.
Our carriage attendents who looked after us extremely well also kept us entertained by playing everything from russian hip hop and ballads to 80`s pop on the loud speakers. As mentioned earlier it was the Russian Ordothox Easter so there was a real sense of celebration on the train on sunday and more vodka drinking.
A snowy evening arrival into Moscow farewelling my new Russian friends was a great way to end a great trip.
