Moscow-Tomsk, Russia – 09/09 The Tran-Mongolian Express

(Michelle) Leaving around 11pm, we started the 3 night/2 day train ride. We will be on the train for about 60 hours until our next stop of Tomsk, Russia. We wanted to go to Yekaterinburg first, but for some unexplainable reason (ok, it was explainable if you knew Russian) we couldn’t get those tickets, so on to Tomsk.

As TJ mentioned, the food list is somewhat limited for a trip this length. There is no fridge, so could only buy things that could be eaten without refrigeration and if it needed to be cooked, it had to be something that only required you to add hot water. Every car on a train in Russia has a big hot water tank for the passengers to use for food and tea, which is great for a person who is as hooked on tea as I am. I think on the Russian trains you can borrow cups and silverware, but I decided to buy my own tea cup so that I wouldn’t have to ask.

So, what can you make with hot water? Mostly Ramen, although TJ found some instant mashed potatoes that he was pretty fond of. The train stops every couple of hours or so (I think it was anywhere between 1-4 hours between stops) and at each stop, there were people selling ramen and other stuff outside of the train. I had read this would be the case, so I was actually a bit disappointed because I was envisioning a large food selection at each of these stops and it was mostly just ramen, beer and bread. I know, what am I complaining about, what’s wrong with ramen, beer and bread? I certainly survived on that for 4 years of college.

When we bought tickets, we had several options of car class. First class (SV) would be a private compartment for 2 people. Second class (in Russian – Kupe) is a private compartment for 4 people. Third class (in Russian – Platskartny) is an open car that is partitioned off into groups of 6 beds, 2 sets of bunks facing each other and 1 set of bunks on the foot of those bunks against the opposite wall, with a walkway separating the group of 4 bunks with the 2 against the wall. Can you guess what class we were in? Kupe costs 2-3 times more than Platskartny, and we’re not the Rockefellers. Luckily on this long journey – we scored the set of bunks against the window in the middle of the car. The best seats in the car!! If you are on either end, you are right next to the doors of the bathroom – not a good spot (we’ll get that spot later on in the journey), if you are in the bunks facing each other, you can only really see the people across from you. Sitting on the bunks against the wall, we could see a lot of what was going on in the train. Was there anything that interesting going on? Not particularly, but it was still fun to look. The bunks against the wall are built so during the day, you fold the bottom bunk away and it turns into a table with two chairs – like being in a camper, and I love campers. The provodnitsas (car attendants) kept our car relatively clean. This first Russian car was probably the cleanest train car we would be on for the rest of our train rides through China and Vietnam.

(picture note – check out my grocery store sweatpants).

(TJ)

60 hours on train can seem a little daunting when you first think about it. I was imagining a smoke filled, filthy cabin with people giving me the evil eye while my eyes were on our bags. Fortunately as Michelle said it was not the case. Most of the people were friendly enough with a few exceptions. It would be nice however if there were a few other things to do (perhaps a dining car). Basically you can do 4 things, look out the window, read, eat and sleep. Watching a movie on the computer or doing anything on the computer was nixed by Michelle’s fear of the computer being stolen, she didn't want anyone to know we were carrying a computer. On this train there were pretty much only Russians, which is relatively rare as we would later find out. So talking with the neighbors was difficult but not impossible.

So what to do??? I probably slept a good 12 hours a day, ate 4-5 times a day, read about 8-10 hours a day. The other hour was probably spent looking out at the same pine tree scenery that spread out for thousands of miles interspersed by some small villages or perhaps a abandoned factory every once in a while. I knew Russia was big, but unless you are riding across it, you only then realize really how big Russia is. We were riding for 3 days and probably crossed maybe a little over a fourth of the country. The lesson here is, don’t invade Russia, bad idea, it never ends.

It was really not that bad for me since I enjoy reading. I guess we also played cribbage a few times, which I got sick of relatively quickly since Michelle almost always beats me and just happens to get phenomenal hands almost every game. If you don’t mind being a little grubby by the end of three days and eating ramen and mashed potatoes I’d recommend it.