Day Eleven - Jun 6, 2013

Trans-Mongolian Train

High Point: The dried fish and the egg salad dumplings

Low Point: The water pressure in the shower? Optimistically a trickle, which is good as the drain may be our carpet

Miles By Train: 911

Today's Antiquities: Much of the view out the window

Today's Weather: Sunny, partly cloudy, room temperature on the train

Tonight's Lodging: Car 9, Compartment V, Beds 9 & 10

Touristic Events: Gutting your dinner at the table

Travel Tip: The Trans-Siberian. A lot like driving the Alcan, without the driving or Canada.

Daily Didactic

We started off our day with a walk to the dining car. We had read that it was expensive relative to what you get. We found pancakes and ham and eggs for 250 rubles (around US 7.50) apiece, amidst the soups and goulash. Theresa ended up with both meals, but that's a longer story. As we waited, a gal we had met at the station before we left sat across from us. Karen is from England and her compartment mate who showed up shortly after her, Omar, is from Switzerland. We ended up chatting for a couple of hours before we were kicked out of the soon to close dining room. It was a good and small meal that did, in fact, cost a little more than it should. We retreated to our room to paint and watch the scenery go by for the afternoon until our next stop at Barabinsk. Barabinsk provided us the first opportunity to buy authentic Russian food from authentic Russian older women. We'd read about this, as it appears had most of the westerners on the train. The four or five Russian ladies were descended upon by hungry train travelers with rubles. In fairness it doesn't seem to bother them one bit. Theresa's catch was some kind of cheese curd filled pastry and a dumpling with something like egg salad in it. Brian's was a whole dried fish. We returned to our compartment to feast. Brian had been studying up on his fish and understood there were four steps to enjoyment; beheading, detailing, gutting and skinning. A fair bit of work for the meat and the skinning went poorly, but it was good eating. Theresa seemed pleased with her simpler fare. Somewhere midday we figured out that the windows in the corridor open when unlocked, which the attendant had done. Our photos suddenly lost the dirt filter of our room window (which does not open). The remainder of the evening went much like the afternoon, watching small villages alternate with small industrial towns that looked like their better days were behind them. Right before our last stop of the evening we were treated to a beautiful sunset crossing the River Ob. A restful day.