Irkutsk 18/5/12 - the train!
The train station is vast, with several buildings running along the length. I walk into the closest door, and line up. I show the cashier my barcoded e ticket, and she wave me in the direction of another building. By luck or fate the next window I line up at has a lovely lady who happily exchanges my e ticket for a paper one, and even spoke a few words of English. At this stage, I had 6 hours to wait for my train. I couldn't find any luggage lockers, so I went wandering around the immediate vicinity with my bags. I stopped at a cafe where I pointed at a plate of unidentified food and a drink, and relieved of 120 rubles. I spent the next 5 hours wandering around different parts of the station, trying to find a warm area to while away the time.
I found a sign which stated my train was on platform 1. Of course, I could find how to get to all platforms besides that one! I was pointed vaguely in several directions, and managed to find a gate which took me through. Staff motioned for me to head to the back of the train, where the provodnitsa tore my ticket and motioned me on board. Taking a guess I headed for bed 18 since there was an 18 on my ticket (however, I was also on carriage 18 so who knows??). In any case, bed 18 was vacant so I sent up camp.
As cabin mates, I had an older Russian gentleman, a kid and a woman. Now I'm no supermodel waif but this woman was fat. Ridiculously so. When she lay on the bed, most of her rolled off the edge. Luckily she had a lower berth, as I could not imagine anyone sleeping under that would feel restful, if she had even managed to manhandle her great girths to such heights. Naturally she snored like a freight train, but her daughter was quick to slap her when she started up again.
I quickly learned the Russians seem to fall into 2 distinct groups - those who are ridiculously friendly and those who completely ignore me, even avoiding any eye contact. The woman and child fell in the latter category while the man the former. He spoke some school level german, as did I, so we managed to have some short conversations. He helped me learn some Russian from my guidebook, even to the point of quizzing me at times! He pulled out a magnet with a picture of his hometown and gave it to me. I regretted not bringing any Australian paraphenalia at this point. He also shared all of his food (and I reciprocated of course), and left me with a bag of seeds that I said I had liked.
I have to say, I'm not one of those women who talks all the time (well, I don't think so anyway!) but not being able to communicate makes it quite lonely. The fact Russians even avoid smiling means there is not even body language to feel a connection with. At one stop I get off to stretch my legs, and a young girl begins speaking to me in German so it was lovely to have even that sort of stilted conversation.
Along the corridor. The contraption at the end is the urn for making soup, noodles etc. I also had a steel water bottle which I'd fill, and then let cool for drinking water - highly recommended!
In the 4-berth cabin; not mine, I was a lot cleaner
Our train
The dining car