and a new friend found

i just alight from train #1, the 'rossiya', after a 3 day 2 night (57h) journey that brough me from the russian far east to russian siberia. i'm now at irkustk, a city near the world's deepest fresh water lake, lake baikal, just north of mongolia.

it was getting rather boring on the train, and 'war and peace' is just sooo long. food from the restaurant wagon on the train just seemed overpriced, so we didn't eat there; we've been surviving on biscuits, instant noodles, and wadever junk the rural peasants bring to sell at the platform when the train stops. the junk, fyi, ranging from siberian dumplings to pork paddies and mince meat puff, are really quite delicious - it's really fortunate i can stomach these not-so-hygeinic foods.

the scenery along the journey has been magnificently marvellous though. it's pretty much the reason y we're on the train n not on the plane, huh? rolling tundras, sprawling conifers in taiga, and swathes of larches interspersed with little orange flowers were whizzing past us as we were glued to the window. we could also see snow capped mountains far far away in the distance. n occasionally, we would cross a roaring river with it's tumblings rapids along its meandering course. it was particularly beautiful today when we were travelling along the edges of the lake - the reflection of the forests, the mountains and the sky on the clear blue water of the lake was just so very pretty.

anyway, the highlight of the train journey, i suppose, was me befriending this 20 yo russian sailor who was also in the same wagon as me. he's heading home somewhere near kazan from vladivostok (where the russian pacific fleet is based). it's really quite amazing how we became friends - neither spoke the other's language. there was alot of gesticulating and guessing i suppose. haha. phrase books helped minimally, while the half past six translation of a fellow passenger who is studying english in school was marginally helpful. with his acquaitance, before i knew it, i had befriended everyone at the back of my wagon. the sailor's called alexander (or sascha) btw. haha. it's really nice to make friends with the russians- they r really cordial and warm. alexander even invited me to drink with him. haha.

fyi when i smsed joshua to tell him abt this happy incident, he replied with: 'gay time...'. haha. if anything gay happens to me on this trip, i'd b sure to tell the whole world abt it. so don't worry ;)

i'll b off to the lake tomorrow for 3 days, and i suppose will b pretty much out of contact with the world again.

~.~.~.~.~.~

in retrospect in photos...