Wednesday 10 August 2011

My First Train

I left Vladivostok at 10:30pm on Tuesday 2nd August. Well, 10:30pm Vladivostok time, anyway. The tickets for the Trans-Siberian all have the departure and arrival times printed in Moscow local time. In Vladivostok station too, the departure board had Moscow times and even the clock on the wall. So in fact, using the Russian train system's timing, I left at 3:30pm.

I wasn't entirely sure why this system was adopted. My ideas were that it was to:

* Emphasise the dominance and importance of Moscow in Russia.
* To confuse tourists and make them miss trains, so that they'll spend more money on another ticket.
* To stop people getting drunk before getting on the train. I'm pretty sure that only sober people can work out the train times accurately.

It would seem more sensible to just state the local time of departure and arrival, like when taking an international flight. The fact that the train crosses 7 time zones adds to this confusion. In fact, a Russian working in a hostel I stayed at later suggested tat this was the reason for the system. they thought that it would be too difficult for the ticketing office if they needed to take account of all the different time zones.

I'd chosen 2nd class for all my trains. 1st class was obviously more comfortable (and expensive), but sharing with only one other person meant that if you didn't get along, you were stuck with each other for the duration of the journey. 3rd class was the most sociable, with no separate compartments withing the carriage and more beds. However, this brought me images of excessive luggage, a lack of privacy, and a larger likelihood of being kept awake. With this in mind, 2nd class seemed like a happy medium. There were 4 beds in each compartment, and a lockable door. In my mind, this gave opportunities to speak to people, but also gave a level of privacy and security not available in 3rd class.

After taking a few photos at the station, I showed the Provodnik (male carriage attendant) my ticket and found my bunk. The compartment was smaller and darker than I expected (however it was night!). My home for the next three nights only had dim lights, and my shoulders touched both upper bunks when I stood up between them! I also realised as the train departed, that I had the cabin all to myself. The attendant came and gave me some bedding, so I settled in for the night. Over the next few hours, I was joined by three more people.

First was a Russian guy on his own, who I later found out to be Sasha. He didn't speak any English, but I think I established he was going to Khaborosk (one night away). When I told him my destination, Ulan Ude, he managed to explain that he'd never stay on a train for that long (4 nights).

Next, we were woken by another Rusian guy with his son entering the compartment. The father was another Sasha, who didn't seem to speak English either. I didn't know the boys name, but the next morning he demonstrated his English skill with two phrases, 'Hello' and 'I will kill you!'. Not sure if they're both included on the school syllabus, but i'm sure they'll come in useful in the future. Despite his thick, menacing Russian accent, and his promise to end my life, the 5/6 year old's promise didn't seem to threatening.
During the next morning, his father his father asked me where I was going, a question I was able to guess and answer using gestures and drawings alone. He also gave me a wierd little Russian cucumber (that's not a double entendre). These actions didn't seem to fit with the son's previous threat, so I dismissed the fear of being smothered in the night.

The train has a restaurant, but it's hideously overpriced. I had a quick look and found prices ranged from 300-600 rubles, when in Vladivostok I'd eaten a main course for 150. I'd prepared for this and had brought numerous cup noodle type instant foods (free hot water from a boiler type things (samisvar in Russian maybe)), a bit of bread and cheese, 4 beers, and some water. There are supposedly people selling things on station platforms too, but by 1:30pm of the next full day I hadn't seen anyone. None of the other passengers seem to have aquired any warm or fresh food either, so I guess it's not that I'm looking in the wrong places.....Finally found some when we stopped at a station at 10pm. There were quite a few people selling different foods, as well as some small kiosks. I got a big sausage (ooh-er matron), a loaf, and some dumplings - stodge city! Wolfed down 3/4 of the dumplings and saved the rest for later in the journey.

The little boy in my compartment seemed to be getting a bit restless. His dad was trying to read, but was getting nowhere as the kid was constantly asking questions. I asked his name in Russian, then played a few games in English and Russian with numbers. It didn't quite have the desired effect, as his dad had to keep helping him, but there were a few periods where he was left to read in peace. Anyway, I learned the boy's name is 'Garin', he's 6, and his dad is 36. Gave his dad a beer later too and he attempted to communicate a bit more.

The morning of the 4th I woke up at about 9:30am (Vladivostok time) and had a massive breakfast of cold dumplings, bread, and cheese. All this while continuing to read about Peter the Great. A round 12, I noticed a distance marker 7030km. These relate to Moscow, again showing how Moscow centered the train system seems to be. All along the route there are these signs by the side of the track marking the distance to the capital. The entire length of the Trans-Siberian railway is 9,289lm. However, there aren't just markers each km. Instead, there's one for every 100m. So you see a constant countdown, 9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...7029 etc. So I guess there are over 92,000 signs! It's nice when you have a guidebook and can work out where you are and what's coming up soon, but seems a tad excessive to have so many signs. Must be a bugger to maintain.

As well as the guidebook, each train has it's own schedule (different trains stop more or less, or travel at different speeds) posted in the carriage as a reference point. It's all in Russian, but studying the cyrillic alphabet on the ferry paid off and I can work out most of the names. I've also managed to read words like cafe, univeristy, and calzone as they're all pretty close to English when you read them out. Without studying more Russian vocabulary it'll be pretty difficult for me to get beyond these odd words I think!



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