Trans Siberian Railway........

After having a real good time in Moscow, it was time to head to the next spot. Hopped on the 1:50pm Trans Siberian Rail for Irkutsk on August 5. A 91 hour train ride (just to Irkutsk) that goes eventually to Beijing or the east coast of Russia. I chose to stop in Irkutsk to see Lake Baikal. Will head out tomorrow to see what I can see. To say the trip across Russia was exciting would be a real stretch. Have to admit I was kind of excited about it. That lasted about 4 hours and then I began to realize just how long this trip was going to be. Especially riding with mostly Russians who I couldn't communicate with. During the trip I had 12 roommates at different times. Tried conversations with all and managed to talk a little with a few. All nice people but it made for a mostly quiet ride. I did meet an Irish fellow and his British girlfriend. Hung out with them a little, but didn't want to get in their way too much. The land is very similar to Canada. Trees are the same for the most part, as well as a lot of the same flowers, grass, grain fields etc. Was excited to get to the Ural Mountains hoping to see some rugged sites, but the highest point was 58 meters. Kind of a let down but it was nice country anyway. The terrain went from flat forest lands to small rolling hills, to grain fields, to a large area of swamp land, to more hilly grain fields. Finally went to a little more rugged hills and then back to grain and more industrial. Witnessed a lot of poor living conditions in western Siberia which got a little better as they got into the more industrial based eastern Siberia. Lots of construction in Siberia. One city had 12 high rises in different stages of being built. Tells me there are lots of jobs. There are lots of people in Russia so maybe there are not enough jobs. Hard to tell as people seem fairly satisfied and happy. Funny how we get our own thoughts of people and places. Seems like we are all the same in a lot of ways. We all get up in the morning, go to work, come home, watch a little TV, eat, go to bed. Get up and do it all over again. Try to raise families and do the best we can with our kids and work for the weekend, eventually towards retirement. Russian people seem to have the same aspirations and do a lot of the same things that we do. The cities are modern and well organized. They like to let loose on Friday and Saturday nights in very much the same ways. I watched some of my roommates play cards with each other. They laughed and abused each other just like we do at home. This shouldn't be surprising, but it seems we view them different because we are told things that may not really reflect who they are. My brief time in their country tells me it is hard see the differences. We are all the same and should be able to get along.

See what happens out at the lake tomorrow!