Hilton Garden Inn Perm Hotel

Well I have done my first of 4 straight days on the train. I muse admit I am starting to fell a little bit stir crazy already and will deifnatley be looking forward togettingoff the train on the 5th day. All of us sleept really well last night it has been the best night sleep of my journey so far. Even though the train was rocking I slept for a good 8 ...

... Fernsehteam waren und eine Dokumentation über die Transsib machen. Wir haben also nur schnell unser ganzes Klumpat ins Abteil (Nr. 6 im Waggon 12) gebracht und dann gleich ein Interview gegeben. Sehr schräg. Nachdem die ganze Anfangsaufregung vorbei war haben wir uns unser Abteil gemütlich hergerichtet. Am Anfang ist uns alles unglaublich eng vorgekommen, aber nach die erste Flasche Wein und das erste Bier offen war, haben wir uns schon wie zu Hause gef ...

En nyt tosta sijainnista ole yhtaan varma, kun ei tullu tarkemmin laitettua muistiin missa millonkin oltiin, mutta kylla ton pisteen ainakin samalla radalla pitais olla. Kolmas paiva tassa junassa. Raportoitavaa ei juuri ole. Junassa on tylsaa, tylsaa ja sita samaa. Tai olishan tas tietty kaikkee kivaa puuhaa, vaikka kielen opettelua, mut ei jaksa. Ainakaan taal ei voi kiirehtia mihinkaan. Aikaa tulee kaytettya lahinna nukkumiseen, syomiseen ja erilaisiin kirjallisiin- ja ...

... with a dead person. I kid you not, we walked straight into the middle of an open casket funeral! That was a little uncomfortable although the mourners didn't seem at all phased. I think it happens quite a lot over here. Obviously, we decided against taking photographs, which was a shame as the church itself was beautiful. We left pretty sharpish though as we didn't want to intrude on such a personal moment. We also found an outdoor market which was quite cool. You could ...

... one of the family, Katia, would be our translator/guide on the 2 excursions we had booked!!!!!! In a city of a million people it really is a small world!! More updates as the computers and internet allow. Cheers Gordon P.S. Thanks to everyone for the birthday messages!! My actual birthday was a bit of a non event, the big treat was McDonalds for lunch & it was a real treat......that should sum up our current food situation...... Nat

... the attendent about us being in his bed.... in the end it was the 2 of us sharing with the mum and 2 kids and the dad joined us during the day. So not only was it increadibly hot in our room we were now sharing with 4 other people during the day in our 4 bed cabin.... it was unbearable in that room! Helen had fun playing games with the kids, neither spoke each others language so it was amazing how we managed to communicate through a game of charades!

... montre une grande et affectueuse approbation quant a mon voyage. Et Wladimir, le chef de la troupe militaire du wagon, cultive et delicat, seul son bon ordre rappele sa vocation. Les couchers et levers sont impressionnants. D'ailleurs, on les distingue a peine les uns des autres. Il y a a peine une ou deux heures de nuit avec cette vision a l'infinie vers le Nord. C'est vraiment magnifique.

When we stop Babushka's (old women) surround the train platform offering traditional food and snacks as well as the typical Russian souvenirs. Were travelling on the number 10 train which only runs about once a week, so its safe to say if you get off at one of the stops and then miss it you're in trouble and stuck in the middle of Siberia. which nearly did happen on ...

I've settled down into trainboard routine. Amazingly, I still find I can sleep easily on board. A few surprises; first of all, we get fed. This isn't necessarily a given on this route I understand, and most of the tourists and locals have bags of food for the trip. The food is actually OK, in a Russian kind of way, grilled chicken or fish with mash or pasta seems to be the order of the day, and I've also got ...

... of images. Now in reserve (for dangerous and wet missions), this is a hardy and dependable camera that's starting to show wear but will hopefully see service in a few exotic locations yet. It was almost a casualty of the tubing here in Vang Viene, but after drying out for a little while he's back in action as if there was never a pool of water at the bottom of that dry bag. The 6.3 megapixel Fuji is the new kid on the ...