Train No 10 Bikal

Preevet folks! Kag dee la? We have been out of phone and email contact for a week or so now. So to bring you up to speed we should first tell you about our Trans Siberian rail experience. 

We arrived in Siberia last Sunday travelling by train from Moscow to Irkutsk. Our 4 berth cabin was shared with Alex and a lovely babushka Elina who insisted on sharing her food with us during the trip. She knew a few English words, our favourite being 'goodbye my love'.  

Here are a few amazing facts about the Trans Siberian railway;

- covered 4678km from Moscow to Irkutsk which took 4 nights and 3 full days.

- travelled across 5 time zones, Irkustk is 5 hours ahead of Moscow.

- its the longest train journey in the world and the busiest industrial railway.

- most of the journey cuts through the siberian Taiga forrest, the largest in the world. Rich finds this mind bogglingly fantastic and if you want to find out more visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiga

- Russia obtains much of its natural resources for export from Siberia. It is the bread basket of Russia, exporting oil and gas to most of Europe and soon China. Much of the wealth finds its way to Moscow and St Petersburg and stays there. 

- train journey crosses from Europe into Asia.

The cabins were very small, but comfortable enough. For some reason the temperature was cranked up to 30 degrees inside the train, it was like sitting in a sauna for 3 days. We arrived in Irkutsk dehydrated but happy to have made it. 

Buying lunch;
Rich overdressed for the weather.....