Omskaya Oblast’

After a night of terrible sleep, I awoke from what little sleep I did get, to Jamie checking that I was still alive and functioning.

3 cups of coffee later, I felt ready to face Day 2 on the train. I started digging around my bag to find my Kindle and came across my resistance band and brightened up at the thought that I will still be able to achieve something bordering on exercise. Our Dutch cabin mates giggled at the sight of me attempting to design an exercise routine on my small bed, I decided I was going to make a travel app which specialised in exercising in small spaces. I even managed to do some squats and side lunges in the connection between our carriage and the restaurant car and some press-ups on the floor of our cabin. This trip might not be so bad after all.

After a makeshift breakfast of a porridge sachet in a thermos mug with hot water, a protein bar and an apple - it was time for an unscheduled nap, I woke an hour later to find nothing had changed - I was still on a train, still passing landscape dotted with millions of trees, and still counting down the hours until I could have my first shower. Only 60 hours or so to go now... woooo.

Some interesting observations about the train so far
1. You only have access to hot water and cold water., therefore if you want to bring your own food and you want it to be hot, it should be in the form of 2 minute noodles or soup in a mug.
2. There is a restaurant car and to our surprise the food isn't that bad and is relatively cheap at about 5 pounds or so for a meal or 6 pounds for a "Business lunch" where you get a choice of juice (apple or orange), a small salad, a vege soup, a cutlet of chicken topped with cheese and a side of boiled macaroni. The other interesting observation is all soup seems to come with a dollop of mayonaise in the middle. It kinda curdles but doesn't taste all that bad. Wine and beer are also available, and you are able to get a bottle of cheap Russian bubbles for 400 rubles or about 5 pounds.
3. There is toilet paper on the train, but it runs out quickly, so it is important to have your own stash if it hasn't been replinished. It will be replenished, just not necessarily, quickly.
4. The carriages are heated, which is great when it is starting to get to 0 degrees outside, but when they make it as hot as a tropical island on the inside, it becomes just as uncomfortable as it being freezing cold.
5. The scenery so far, as I mentioned above, has been trees, trees, trees, which are beautiful, with their autumn hue, and small towns dotted in between.
6. There is food and beer available on some platforms when the train stops longer than 2 minutes for you to get off to peruse, and dozens of ladies shoving baskets of apples in your face for purchase. Food includes whole cooked chickens, the biggest ice creams I have ever seen in my life, the forementioned apples, random Russian bread things, and a plentiful supply of 2 minute noodles.

After exercise time, it was time to play cards and drink the Apple vodka with Frenchie, Dutchies and Polie before the Dutchies left us, and the train, to explore Perm our next major stop of the day. The morning conversation consisted of the Dutchies rubbing it in that they were going to shower today, but when we came to the outskirts of Perm and saw the "industrialised" look of the city, the conversation quickly changed to everyone hassling them for choosing such a wonderful tropical place to stay in. Shortly after, they disembarked the train for their amazing destination while we soaked up the only fresh air we were going to get for another 6 or so hours. We said our goodbyes with promises to find each other on Facebook.

The next few hours until dinner time passed in a blur, keeping ourselves occupied by playing cards and reading on the Kindle before it was time for dinner in the restaurant car. Upon entering the restaurant car we saw our Polish friend Lukas sitting with our Russian Stewardess Sofia. Knowing full well that a train romance was blossoming, we gave them some privacy by sitting a few berths away. Awwww young love.

When we got off at the next stop, Lukas found me in the shop and put his recent education of the Russian language to good use, bragging to me about how good he now was. I laughed and said it looked like him and Sofia were hitting it off, and he said that she was going to come and spend some time with him once we got to Irkutsk. She lives in a place called Chita, which is on the Siberian-Mongolian Border and about 1000km away from Irtkusk so will have to make a return trip after the train reaches her destination and she finishes work for the week. He is now contemplating extending his time in Irtkusk to be able to spend time with her. More Awws.

After the lack of sleep the night before, I thought tonight would be a breeze and I would fall asleep in no time. At Midnight, I gave up any notion of sleep and proceeded to read another book on my Kindle counting my lucky stars that I loaded it with 5 books before we boarded the train.Read more