The Trans-Siberian – So what’s it really like?
By Ellen MacGregor

If international airports have killed the “romance” of travel for you, then just get down to Yaroslavsky Station in Moscow from where the Trans-Siberian Express departs. Passengers scurry with their belongings, old ladies hawk Russian newspapers, Russian Eurovision-music is pumping out, and there’s a tang of coal smoke in the air… this is how travel used to be. No duty-free, no check-in desk, no transit bus - you walk right up to your Siberia-bound train and get on. Phew, it’s stifling in here! The jet-air ventilation only kicks in once the trains in motion. Time to meet our cabin-mates for the journey- Sergey, who’s a computer programmer, and his mother.. they’re on their way home to Krasnoyarsk, in mid-Siberia.

“How about a cup of tea?”. Our wagon attendant, Galina, offers to make it for us, and it comes in glass mugs in elaborate steel cupholders…with three spoons of sugar already stirred in! Hmm, remember to ask for biez sagar (“no sugar”) next time! Time for bed… there’s a hand basin in the wc, at either end of the wagon. The boys offer to go for a stroll whilst we bed down for the night.

No-one chases you out of bed next morning-this is the hotel that rides along with you! There’s no breakfast included - we’ve brought some bananas and croissants from a shop in Moscow. Mmmm, the croissants are filled with yucky jam!

Following advice in the Infopack, we’ve bought plastic mugs and our own instant coffee - there’s constant free hot water on tap from the boiler in each wagon. Sergey asks if we want to play chess? We lose - what did we expect, playing against a Russian? And a computer programmer too.. “Big city soon - train stop. Fifteen minute.” says Sergey, so we pull on our trainers to be ready to hop off.

None of the en-route stops are long enough to go further than the platform, but that suits our fellow passengers fine - they’re all lighting-up and puffing away at every chance they get, because it’s strictly no-smoking on board.

Galina’s changed shift now with the other wagon-attendant, Marina - she’s not so strict and more of a laugh, but she still doesn’t want us to go missing at the stop, so she’s tapping her watch and signalling “fifteen!” with her fingers. “Ooral!” says Marina after we’ve been going a while. “Ooral?” Aha, it’s the Ural Mountains! You can only really see the foothills from the train though - they weren’t so daft when they chose this route for the train-lines. We’d heard about the hot food you can buy from hawkers at the stops, so we decide to get some at the next halt. But everyone here is selling… crystal glass? “They make glass here. But factory not pay salaries two years. These people selling.” explains Sergey. I feel kinda sorry for the unpaid workers - but the glass things are horrible. I buy a set of shot-glasses - they’re only $5, and we can use them on the trip.

But we’re still hungry! So we trek four wagons through the train to reach the Restaurant Caralways located in the middle of the train, next door to First-Class. So of course - we take a good old goggle at the First Class wagon on the way! But not so exciting as we hoped - the same as ours, but without the upper berths. At last - hot food! But the menu’s all in Russian. Wait, they have an English translation - it looks like it was typed-out around ten years ago, and all the prices have been corrected a dozen times in different pens. Lucky I’m not a strict vegetarian, or it would only be the Mushrooms in Sour Cream for me - I order them as a starter, and salmon, while Emilia has the Greek Salad and Siberian Dumplings. The food takes ages to come-but we’re not in a hurry anyhow, and the beer is cold and dirt-cheap, “Siberian Crown”, while we’re waiting. We’d planned to stay-up until 1am to see the Europe - Asia border… but, well, it was dark, and that beer was stronger than we thought…

OK, it’s the fourth day on board this train now, and I still haven’t opened my book? We lost our faithful interpreter today when Sergey and his mother got out - but he still helped us buying extra goodies for breakfast on the platform when saying goodbye. We’re on our own now for the last leg into Irkutsk, so we can spread out a bit more - at last there’s space to open the huge map we bought at the Moscow flea market? But it’s all in Russian - Galina shows us where we are, and points out Lake Baikal: “I live”, she says, full of pride. All of the staff on this train are Siberians - they don’t especially like Muscovites, and are pleased to be going home. Today we cross a huge river, over a spectacular bridge - it’s only when you really see it with your own eyes, you understand what a phenomenal feat it was to build this single railroad through thousands of miles of forests and bogs? We must be getting nearer Irkutsk-my mobile’s got a signal again. Marina helped us get it recharged along the way, there’s a special wagon next to the restaurant (but they took 30 roubles for doing it). They have a shower cabin for rent there too, just 80 roubles for a hot shower! Wish we’d found it earlier!

Next morning, though, it’s a change of pace. After four days with nothing special to do, the train’s due in Irkutsk in two hours - and Galina and Marina want everything tidied-up ahead of schedule, so they can finally clock-off work and go home. They’re collecting the bed-linen and hand-towels they handed out in Moscow – every pillow-case has to be accounted for! They finally tot-up our bill for tea, biscuits and snacks they’ve served us during the journey too. Time to say goodbye - it’s a completely different train that’ll take us on from Lake Baikal to Mongolia in a couple of days time… but right now, I’m ready for a night spent in a stationary bed!

- Ellen MacGregor