It's day 3 and we have fallen in line with the pace of the train....an easy restful experience punctuated by the station stops. I wake at 8am Moscow time and wander to the loo which by now holds no fears. However I must still remember to wear waterproof shoes and roll up my trouser legs to avoid absorption of various liquids on the floor.
I pick up some boiling water from the samovar and make some instant porridge with honey for breakfast. My Dutch cabin companions break out some crackers over which they spread a tuna mix. Yuk! This combined with the smell from their clothes of the "sware shag" rolling tobacco, which they smoke, is too much and the porridge is pushed to the side.
Back to the bathroom for shave, wet wipe bath (these weren't invented when i was a baby so this is another first) and a change of clothes. Chat in corridor. Nap.
At around midday stop in Omsk, buy 2.5 ltrs of beer for £2 but fail to find something for lunch. In my cabin share my beer and the Dutch provide some tasty 'oude amsterdammer' cheese. The scenery changes as we move into the steppe and will remain unchanged, other than at stations, for another day.
Next stop I buy noodles which I later discover to be mashed potato (tasty) and the Russian equivalent of a magnum ice cream.
Now 4pm but 7pm local time adding to the disorientation. I join Leo and Dor was some sausage, bread and beer.
At 10.30 local time we reach Novosibirsk with great sunset. Now Leo, Dor and I are joined by Laura and Shin. We settle down for a few hours of Dai Fu Gon, a complicated card game taught by Shin which the others now call Japanese shithead. Bed at 2am local and sleep like a baby.
Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
