TRANS SIBERIAN EXPRESS DAY THREE

OR TURNING FERAL ON THE TRAIN.

There are different types of regression and how far back you go. I went back to being a prehistoric ancestor, a cave woman if you will.

WALLOWING IN ONES FILTH!

By now I’m beginning to feel very grubby. My sink washes are getting less thorough as I feel they aren’t really doing anything except smearing the dirt. My hair stays for longer un-brushed, and my teeth haven’t been cleaned for three days after leaving my toothbrush in Moscow. My attitude about putting those socks on again has become a matter of indifference. In general I have reverted back to being a feral child and am loving it.

Home made sandwich eaten off my filthy IPad.

I know the routine and I am no longer intimidated by Marta and the other staff. I am now in train life limbo and it’s super liberating. I am one with the train and it’s foibles! Enjoy this I say to myself, you’ll never really experience the like again. It’s unique. Wallowing around, I have reached the Nirvana that is day three. I have no concerns and am not accountable. I have gone feral!

People, as I saw later, who stay on the train for the whole duration without visiting some of the splendid cities and countries en route, revert back to completely wild beasts with manic hair and hard loud laughter. I’m glad I never got to that stage, it’s no longer Nirvana more like Purgatory!

The night before. Signs of me going feral.

IT DOESN’T OCCUR TO YOU THAT YOU’LL EVER LEAVE THE TRAIN IN THIS WEIRD TRANCE!

VIDEO ABOVE: Long but accurate walk through on train to the restaurant!

So sad to leave…

Although this sounds foul it’s GREAT! I sprawled around my cabin watching 30 Rock that I had cannily downloaded in London, laughing my head off, guzzling snacks and occasionally trotting off to the bar for beer. A quick mime joke here and there with Marta or the bar lady and I somehow thought that I would never leave. From my now clearly cave woman brain, I was happy with my food source, nest, watering hole and occasional human interactions. A basic, lovely life that, if you’re lucky, you can only experience in your childhood or on a long lazy camping holiday or both.

Trust me, its bizarre but true. I just finished my reading material and had been happily looking at some excellent comedy I had down loaded on my external hard drive when I suddenly thought “We’re in Irkutsk tomorrow morning!! ” It was a shock and huge regret engulfed me as I realised I would be returning to reality. I had to pack my grubby few bits and get organised! A car would pick me up at the train and I would be driving to Lake Baikal for a two day stay at a very eccentric hotel that I had chosen back in London. I went for a final beer and looked dubiously at the fellow travellers who would be staying for the whole week on the train til Beijing. They looked pretty strung out already and as I found out later on they were to get worse. It’s a long time to be on a train.

MY LAST NIGHT PARTY…. OR HOW I GOT MY BASHED THUMB.

Last night before Irkutsk on a lonely platform.

I thought I’d have a quiet night but it wasn’t to be. The Chinese guy I had chatted with on the platform from time to time was in the bar so it would be rude not to have a drink with him. Two beers later a Finnish guy joined us. Now this chap had contraband in the form of a very pokey bottle of vodka. He kindly went to his cabin and brought it to us. And so started the rather riotous party. No one else was in the bar so we were knocking back neat liquor and they were saying what a brave woman I was for doing this long journey solo. At the next station we got off for a platform cigarette.All very merry. My first accident ensued, I’d managed to slip after catching my boot in the lining of my coat on the last step down and crashed to the platform.

Funny at the time 😦 sore thumb for weeks!

Grovelling around on my hands and knees on the platform, I couldn’t get up for laughing and constantly standing on my coat again. Vodka hysteria ensued! Again and again, trying to get up like and oversized turtle only to tread on my coat and fall again. Everyone was laughing and trying to help only to make it worse! So us unlikely pals finally re-boarded and said our goodbyes.

I lost their numbers along the way so I hope they didn’t go insane on the last days of their confinement and said a cheers to the memory of the mad English woman they met. I’m saying cheers to you two now … so thanks for the vodka and the great memory.