Train - Vladivostok to Irkutsk - Day 2

One day follows another on the train. The next day (Thursday 26th) found us about 2000 km from our start, but still in the Russian Far East. We were still not in Siberia!

Breakfast is black tea, cheese and rye bread, all of which travels well on the train.

The country slowly became more heavily forested and less marshy. In some areas, the forests are very thick and largely impenetrable. With blue skies, sunshine and the green growth of spring, it was hard to recognise that this is very tough country. The ground is permanently frozen below the surface (permafrost), experiences frosts from October to April and has a January average of -33 ^oC.

Buying snacks at a station stop

By mid-morning, we crossed into Siberia. Otherwise, the scenery remained unchanged, with forests of thin birch trees and some taller conifers. The traditional train lunch of cup noodles or bread and cheese was taken as we rolled through the countryside.

The Kindles are proving their value as lightweight libraries. We read and snoozed as the world rolled by.

By afternoon the forests became thinner and the land increasingly more open, with low rolling hills. By evening, the country was very open – rolling hills swathed with green, small rivers and watercourses and occasional stands of small, thin trees with small settlements of wooden houses. We saw horses and some cattle grazing and local Russians enjoying the warm evening, generally by relaxing beside the rivers (fishing, picnicking and camping). With the rivers and the green fields, the country looked like parkland. There is plenty of space here – any group that we saw was on its own.

In various towns, we would sometimes see a very fashionably dressed young Russian lady walking down the street. The fact that all local streets are unmade dirt, and are presumably snow-covered for much of the year, did not seem to be a barrier to wearing the highest possible heels. The clothing of the young Russian males is perhaps more dressed-down, generally being T-shirt, shorts and thongs or sneakers.

In the dining car

Following some pre-dinner Balticas in our cabin, we transferred to the dining car. It doesn’t seem to get much custom; we were the only customers. We are learning to ignore the menu and simply to ask what is available. Tonight it was fish, steak & potatoes or snitzel. We elected for the snitzel which was quite good. We asked for white wine and were given a bottle which we presume was the only option. It was a wine bottled in France, but seemingly consisting of “wines from various European counties”. So, both the grape types and the production counties were unspecified – it’s appropriate that it was described in the French as a “melange”. So our world-wide wine tour through Russia continued!