Trans Manchurian

10 May

 

In the book about the Trans Siberian Railway we have it give as the only reason to do the Trans Manchurian Railway is if you are eccentric and haven't already done it. Seems good enough to me unless you happen to have a grandfather in whose footsteps you are following. Not many people fall into that category.

We got on the train with no hitches fairly early in the morning. We were in coach 4 beds number 9 and 10. Grandpa says in his diary that he was in coach 3 beds or births (his spelling) as he called them 11 and 12. Such detail!

The compartments is the same as we had in the Trans Siberian Train except we have a male attendant who is very shy and speaks no English.

We met Iris a Swiss lady and her 12 year old Lennard. They were travelling from Moscow to Beijing then doing Beijing for a week before flying back to Switzerland.

Apart from them and us the only people in our compartment seemed to be the husbands or wives of the staff who were there for the ride. Iris said she had had a very bad night the night before as they had a party in the next compartment to her.

The train travels from Irkutsk alongside Lake Baikal for about 2 and a half hours and for all that time the scenery is fantastic. We say what looked like an eagle and on three occasions saw men fishing through the ice on the lake. It is really difficult to get your head round how big this lake is.

The snow covered mountains gave me an opportunity for lots of pics. They are spectacular

At one point today we were 5.640 kms from Moscow. There are marker posts at each km to tell you how far away you are.

After we left the lake we were travelling though the Steppes. Huge plains of grass that stretched for miles and miles. We entered the Republic of Buryatiya and the autonomous region of Aginsky Buryat whereTone saw two pairs of Great Bustards. They are native to the Steppes and used to be native to Salisbury Plain. They have recently been reintroduced to the Plain from the Steppes.

When Tone retired from his Wiltshire job the Leader of Wiltshire County Council gave him a County tie.. She said she was looking for a different tie but settled for one with a Great Bustard on it as the nearest equivalent! How rude.

Had a much better experience in the dining car so we know it can be done in Russia. Just not very often.

Went to bed looking forward to getting to China tomorrow!!