Hotel DeLuxe Novosibirsk

... We were very lucky in our cabin as we had one footballer who spent all his time in the other cabins with his friends, and the fourth bed was unoccupied except for a couple of hours in the middle of the second night. Until, unexpectedly an army man appeared and we thought he wanted to check our passports, when we realised that he would be sharing our cabin with us!

Siberia was a lot different to what I expected; I thought it would be just wasteland, desert ...

... sehr leckeren Salat und Krautrouladen geschenkt. Von dem vielen Feiern gestern sind wir heute ein bisschen bedient, aber es hilft nichts. Heute ist Internationaler Frauentag da müssen wir durch und wieder mit Wodka anstossen. Kurz vor Irkutsk haben wir auch zwei deutsche Geschwister, Christian und Johanna, kennengelernt, die mit ihren Eltern, Kurt und Helga, auch nach Olchon fahren. Christian studiert Jura in Krasnojarsk.

... 1080; посёл 82;ов и вдале 82;е сверк 72;ла гроза. Судя по тучам на подлё 90;е к Новос 80;бирск& #1091; пого ...

Saavuimme Novosibirskiin aamulla 06:20, jo toisen nukkumatta jääneen yön jälkeen. Mitään majoitusta meillä ei ollut varattuna, joten otimme bussin rautatieasemalle ja toivoimme sieltä saavamme majoituksen järjestymään. Rautatieasemalla seisoi kuin seisoikin useampi nainen, jotka mainostivat vuokraavansa asuntoja. Lähestyimme yhtä naista ja hän vakuutti, että hänellä on kolmen huoneen asunto ihan tässä vieressä, missä on punkat kaikille ...

... og greier. Litt kontrast med godstog som peiste paa nokre meter unna, men ellers var det akkurat som ein sydenstrand. Etter eit godt tradisjonelt maaltid med Arkady og familien paa restaurant avslutta me kvelden paa ein lokal sportsbar midt uti skauen! Neste dag hjalp Arkady oss med transport til togstasjonen og tross noken faa komplikasjonar gjekk ting veldig bra! Novosibirsk var ein suksess og me kom oss paa toget til Irkutsk!

... his Nintendo DS scrabble partners and people in Hotel Dusk - he is even talking to them - I wonder if he is getting bored with me!!!! Phoned home after Clare's eye op - all OK. Bed early as we leave the train at 4 am ish...... This is after the 56th time of checking the time, keeping track of UK (home time), Moscow (train time) and Irkutsk (Local time) is getting too much!

... trains across the entire country run exclusively on Moscow time). Oh, which reminds me, I had my first would-be harassment by police last night. After I'd gotten all ready to sleep on the train and laid down on my bunk with my mp3 player, an officer appeared out of nowhere and tapped me awake. On a train? What the . . ? I handed over my passport to him and he started flipping through it and then barking at me in Russian about my registration. I told him I registered ...

... song was a slow, emotional one. Shevchuk sang: That's all that's left, after me; that's all that I'll take with me. And: "Do svidanya, drug." (Good bye, friend.) The crowd stood. We chanted, "DDT! DDT!" We really appreciated Shevchuk. What an artist! I only wish the concert would've been better-set- up for dancing. Concerts are weird, in a great way. Or great, in a weird way. I haven't been to many. During the music's best parts, my and my neighbors' smiles ...

... A shiny van that looked like it could've been a 2007 model stopped for us. It was driven by two intimidating guys wearing buzz-cuts and no shirts. They looked like they did business in a dark basement somewhere. But, such a nice vehicle would have to be safe, I thought. Alyona and I got in. I wasn't expecting these guys to love us and treat us like family - but that's what happened. Thin, blond Dima, the charismatic passenger wearing ...

... getting dressed for winter. When the train arrives at a station and pulls to a stop , the female carriage attendant - the Provodnitsa , breaks chunks of ice away from the brake assemblies with a large stick. Our Provodnitsa is called Ina and she is lovely. Sometimes there is some carriage shunting performed during the night. So that yesterday you were three carriages from the restaurant car. Now perhaps its five. The mind finds it difficult ...