Went to bed at midnight with time zone changes last night and more later today need to get into a sleep routine. We arrive in Irkutsk at 08:40 tomorrow morning. For first class the mattress is bloody hard the mattress in 3rd class was much more comfortable. Arrived at some station around 05:00 lots of noise and lights was there for over 30 minutes decided to get up.
From Moscow to Vladivostok the journey on the Express train takes 6 days and there is a 9-hour time zone difference from the west to the east of Russia. There has been more snow in the region we are passing through,now seeing snow drifts up to 2m high. The villages we passed through with a meter high of snow on the roofs. I wonder, the people who live there what do they do to live there through these harsh winters? How comfortable and warm is it too live in these houses, how do they keep themselves occupied, do they have TV, phones& internet. If they have fire places there certainly no shortage of firewood as there are trees everywhere. We in the western world just take so much for granted, the teenagers would not cope in these conditions and remoteness which I am witnessing. Do these local people know what is Brexit?
Got invited to the dining carriage for porridge and a meat sandwich. Going between carriages we got flurries of snow hitting us. The porridge had bits of dried fruit bits in it with a big nob of butter on it.Tasted bloody good and warming then they produced a bill of 900 roubles we thought it was free like last night’s meal.
We stopped for 22 minutes I got dressed and walked along the station platform all the smokers we out puffing merrily away some dressed in shorts slippers and t shirts it was not too cold – 8 C. A Russian army squad were getting a talk to by their commander. A couple had all their bags and boxes in very large holdalls dragging/ struggling with them along the ice on the platform. I walked past the numerous 3rd class carriages thank goodness we are not stuck in one of them for 50 odd hours of travel. It is 16:30 and getting dark. The vastness of this country is truly mind boggling as we travel this remote route, I wonder how long it took to construct the Trans-Siberian rail line and how many men were involved and how many died?
Maurice's Travel 