The Primark Train - Blogabond

After a long day of sightseeing in Moscow it was time for me to continue my journey to China. The company who I booked the journey through had arranged for a taxi to pick me up and asked the drivers to ensure that I got on to the train safely. I assumed this was just because they knew that I couldn't read the Russian signs. But when I arrived at the station along with two other British travellers who had booked similar journeys I realised the truth wasn't quite that simple. There are in fact several different trains which travel along the Trans-siberian railway and they do differ substantially in quality. I was booked on to train number 6, a train which is subsidised by the Mongolian government and therefore was mostly being used by either Mongolian students returning home or Mongolian traders who sell cheap Chinese clothes at each stop of the journey. This meant that upon arriving at the station in Moscow we were greeted by a horde of Mongolians all eager to cram their goods into every nook and cranny of the train so as to maximise the profit of their journey not only this but also but they felt it necessary to use mannequins to make the merchandise more appealing so their were heads, limbs and buttocks in the most unusual of places. Thankfully I was sharing a cabin with the two aforementioned Brits and a quiet Mongolian student but even more thankfully we were escorted there by are two well built Russian taxi drivers who proceeded to forcefully empty our cabin of unwanted merchandise, mannequins and Mongolians. Quite exhausted I went to sleep at 10 without exploring most the train.

As I am sure you can imagine 5 days on a train is not the most exhilarating of stories but I will proceed to describe the highlights and lowlights. The cabin was cramped as every four berth cabin I have ever been in has been. Luckily my cabin mates were very nice: Simon a middle class man who although originally from Liverpool but didn't have much of an accent, Jennifer a Scottish women who has Parkinsons syndrome and a Mongolian student who we did not communicate with much because we didn't speak the same language but mostly because she was never in the cabin preferring to spend her free time with the other students on the train.

My days were spent reading, talking, sleeping or photographing the passing scenery. Some of the views were very beautiful but due to my inexperience with a camera, the moving train I was on and the sheer vastness of the views I did not really manage to do them justice with my photo's. As my the journey progressed I slowly met more and more Westerners on the train either those who were merely in other carriages or those who boarded at later stations. These included Michelle another Brit, a Swedish couple, a French couple with a tandem bicycle (for cycling around Mongolia!), a tour group guided by the very helpful Natalia, two very liberal Finns and 80 year old merchant navy veteran.

The tour company I had booked through had very helpfully provided me with a guide book telling me interesting facts and informing me of essential information. Less helpfully this information was very inaccurate and therefore I now question the authenticity of the interesting facts. For example it told me that I would have access to a shower (false), that it would be unwise to bring Pot Noodles as they would offend the nostrils of the other train users (false all the Mongolians ate was a Russian version of Pot Noodle), that I would be able to charge electrical gadgets (false none of our adapters were compatible to the Mongolian plug sockets) and finally that the restaurant car would be a heaving hub of social activity (false, run by a Russian family most of the activity came from the nine year old child who would muck about when not watching Tom and Jerry). Another strange thing about the restaurant car was whatever you ordered one day would either look completely different the next day or would not be available the next day. Fortunately I didn't eat much because I wasn't using much energy.

Although the lack of amenities made the journey slightly unpleasant physically, the scenic views and the interesting and entertaining conversation of my fellow travellers made it an enjoyable journey overall.

written by

redherobluevillain7 on August 7, 2009 from Irkutsk, Russia

from the travel blog: Stories from the middle of the middle kingdom.

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Looking forward to the next update too...!!?

written by Jim on October 6, 2009

I was wondering what you are up to man! Was just feeling pleased with my investigative self when I noticed the date of this last entry - have you delved into a world too seedy and vile to be broadcast? Or maybe China have censored you...

written by Steve Stamp on October 27, 2009

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