Day 7 and 8 : Life on the Trans-Siberian Express - Km 1816 to Km 5185 Ekaterinenburg to Irkutsk

Let’s start with a little Siberian history. There’s plenty more to it than Gulags…

Western Siberia was initially inhabited by an Altaic tribe called the Sibirs, the forefathers of today’s Inuits and of the Turco-Mongolic tribes that later gave us Gengis Khan. In the 14^thcentury, following the invasion of Tamerlane (Timur – the great Uzbek Emperor – see my Uzbekistan blog!), this region became part of the Khanate of Sibir. From here the Sibirs started a series of incursions to the West, pillaging towns in what at the time was the Eastern reaches of Russia.

Russia reacted by sending groups of Cosacks into Sibir territory. Although outnumbered, the possession of firearms gave the Russians the upper hand. As they spread in the newly won territory they built Ostrogs (fortresses) and Russian hamlets started sprouting up around these, as prisoners, religious conservatives and, later, ordinary Russians arrived in the land of opportunity. The new arrivals forced the local population to 'sell' furs to the Moscow. 

Development picked up pace in the 1890s with the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway, which gave life from one day to the next to cities such as Novosibirsk and Krasnayarsk, that didn’t exist until then and are today amongst the biggest and booming cities Russia. 

For a short period in 1918 and 1919 the resistance movement of the White Russians fought the Soviets from their short-lived base in Omsk, in Western Siberia.

Without going into the history of each town, here are a few pointers that should give you a feel for the towns we see passing by (or not, as we travel through some of these at night) as we gaze out of the train window….:

Tyumen – the first Russian settlement in Siberia and today a bustling city at the heart of the oil rich region it has given its name to;

Tobolsk – founded in 1587, and Siberia’s early capital, a beautiful little town famous for its pristine white Kremlin and derelict old wooden houses, and a centre of learning;

Omsk – the last bastion of White Russian resistance and today a bustling, but grey town with plenty of concrete buildings;

Tomsk – this city is actually 4 hours away from Novosibirsk, so not officially on the Trans-Siberian trek, but nevertheless a destination for those who venture this far - this university city founded in 1604 is famous for its university and café’ scene and known as an intellectual centre that encouraged artists, writers, film directors to make it their home in the 1960s.

Back to the train…

We share a compartment with a young Russian family, with Mum and Misha on the bottom bunks and Dad next door. Misha is the sweetest and best-behaved 3 year old little boy I have ever met. He’s very friendly and chatty (not that we’re understanding much;-).

Misha

As we’re basically relegated to the top bunks, we decide to pitch up our tent in the dining car. With furniture covered in green leather this looks like a cross between pre-war Art Nouveau and a 1950s American diner… Pretty unique!

It is at this point that we have the first negative experience of our journey…

When I first visited Russia in 1997, the stereotype of the grumpy Soviet really hit the nail on the head. Very few people spoke English back then, but irrespective of this difficulty, they generally tended in any case to be quite gruff and short tempered.

On this trip everybody we have met does their best to help, they are friendly and laugh heartily at our attempts to speak Russian. Everyone except the dining car attendant…

As we are not yet ready to have lunch (but having already ordered 4 teas and 2 coffees) he decides to literally through us out. He seems to think that my Trivial Pursuit box is actually a cake and that we plan to eat this instead of his ‘pirovi’ pies! I have rarely in my life had to stand up and tell somebody very loudly and clearly to stop, but I had to on this occasion. The threat of wanting to speak to the ‘boss’ (interestingly the word for boss in Russian as well), has Tania and Irina, 2 waitresses, rushing over and apologising. He had apparently not slept for 2 days since he got on in Moscow!

Apart from this experience, life in the dining car is fun. When does one find the time to just sit, gaze out the window, read and write? I know my answer... Never!

Time to catch up with my blog:-)

The Dining Car 

The rude waiter

Co-travellers

We cross several time zones… Ekaterinenburg was 2 hours ahead of Moscow and we switch forward by 2 hours yet again on the approach to Novosibirsk. We hop off the train in Novosibirsk at midnight and admire the very pretty Art Nouveau station.

Today Russia’s third largest city, Novosibirsk was born to accommodate workers during the construction of the 870m long Trans-Siberian Express bridge across the wide Ob River. It is a modern, dynamic, city dotted with parks and plenty of museums, galleries, Tsar era mansion gems and ... Soviet concrete blocks – a thriving city between the coal mines in the East and the minerals from the Urals in the West.

Novosibirsk Station

Bed time ... 

With our minor jetlag we wake up at 10.30am.

Out of the window the deciduous trees of the Urals have now given way to the thick pine forests of Siberia…

We arrive in Krasnoyarsk, another modern, fast growing city and the main hub of  Eastern Siberia.

The region of Krasnoyarsk and the Khakhassian Republic were inhabited and ruled by a tribe of Kirgizh origin, called Khyaga, between the 9^thand 14^thcenturies AD before everything changed with the Mongol invasions. The Khyaga dominated most of Central Asia and central Siberia at the time. History classes in school never mentioned them…

Cosacks and fur hunters started moving into Eastern Siberia in the 16^thcentury and colonisation grew further with the development of the Trakt, a road connecting Siberia with European Russia.
Like in Novosibirsk, we wish we'd had more more time to visit what is described as a pleasant city with a national park within its boundaries, some stunning timber mansions, a lively museum and restaurant scene and... plenty of concrete blocks....

Krasnoyarsk Station

Che Guevara's graffiti in the distance

Lenin and Friends

We have just spent the afternoon talking and playing Trivial Pursuit Eat & Drink with our new friends from Leicester, who we met whilst hiking in the Siberian forest… The hours pass by…

Trans-Siberian Pines

Dusk is settling in. The next big stop will be our next destination, the city of Irkutsk, 70km from Lake Baikal. For the rest of the day and night we will be stopping in towns with names such as Uyar, Ilanskaya, Uk, Angarsk, some historical, some new, some renowned for being transit points to nearby gulags.

We are now about half-way between Moscow and Vladivostock… The distances are staggering…