02.06.2011 – 04.06.2011  24 °C

I’ve decided to combine the three days on the Trans Siberian from Ulan Ude to Kungur as the days are very similar in action. Our life on the train goes as such:
– Wake up
– Have some brekky
– Go to the loo
– Have a nap
– Read book
– Eat
– Go to the loo
– Play cards
– Read book
– Have a nap
(You get the gist)
So each of the days has been largely the same as the others. Unfortunately the temp on the train has been about 30 deg each day so we have mainly been bitching about how hot we are. Day 2 and 3 has seen weary afflicted with some sort of slight tummy bug so she has spent most of her time asleep on her top bunk trying to get over whatever is afflicting her. My other travelling companions are so far well so fingers crossed they don’t get whatever it is that i have.

Another interesting fact is that I have had to again change my dietry habits. Traditionally I would not drink any sort of beer (I just don’t enjoy the flavour) well I have had to swap from soft drink to beer as beer is far cheaper than softdrink and is available cold in the dining car!

Food has been sketchy.. Dining car (retro 70s– bright green vinyl benches– looks like something that you would see in a Jetson’s cartoon) provides Borscht (vege and ham with beetroot) and Perlminy (dumpling) soup (both of which I enjoy) so I’ve been mainly dining on those combinations for either lunch or dinner. Brekky has been bread with peanut butter and honey (yep i’ve found my lucky combination) and the other meal is whatever snack-ables we have in our room. You can buy some food on the platforms in Russia but the days of Babushkas (old ladies) cooking up a storm and serving it on the platforms are long gone and Russia has moved to having convenience stores on the platforms.. which is great for an icecream (and of course beer) but not much else.

Overall the three days have really flown (esp cause I slept most of the 2nd day away). The landscape for the last few days has really reminded me of the swampy part of the back of Gladstone (on the old road that I think ran into the back of Kinchela??) where the black swans used to live.. Empty paddocks (no cattle to be seen) with an occasional birch tree and lots of water. Not knowing a hell of a lot about the climate in winter I’m surprised there isn’t more farming here as the land looks quite similar to home.. I guess its just too vast and no helicopters to help round up cattle and I think winter would be brutal!

All in all have had a really great time on the train.. we hop off tonight at 1am Moscow time (6 hrs behind Brissie) and go to a hotel in a town called Kungur (still two days out from Moscow) with us visiting an ice cave!