How to Get Lost

Yesterday afternoon was frantic. We caught the first bus back to the train depot and hustled to the ticket hall. Over each pair of the 8 or so “kacca” windows was an LED display listing upcoming trains and, presumably, the number of vacant seats. One such LED display listed only 1 seat in Kupe (the 4 bunk rooms we’ve been travelling in thusfar), and another said 8, so we queued up under that Kacca window.

5 minutes later, and with the baggage storage room closure time fast approaching, Geoff went to collect our bags in hope that we’d get on the train at 13:55.

10 more minutes, and the lady in front of us finished her business, leaving me to try to communicate with the ticket clerk. I had written down the train number, time, date, and number of passengers and had our passports ready. I indicated Kupe and she said something long in Russian that we chose to translate as “there aren’t two bunks in the same compartment available in Kupe, but Luxe is available.”

Luxe, another name for S.V., is the “first class” sleeper compartment, comprised of 2 beds. We said “Da!” and she wrote down the price. 6600 rubles for the two of us, about $150 CAD each. I only had 4000 on me, so I ran around the corner to the Bankomat (ATM) to grab some more cash and then back to the window to purchase our tickets with about 20 minutes to spare.

I fear that this relatively calm entry doesn’t fully express the sense of panic and adrenaline we experienced yesterday afternoon. We wanted out of Krasnoyarsk, and we wanted out BADLY.

So, with a lot of relief, we were pleased to find a pristine cabin with two bunks instead of four, and a useless flat screen tv. 2 bottles of Baltika later, we were feeling Mo Betta.

We spent the afternoon chatting and daydreaming out the window as Siberia flew by. I don’t think I’d realized how stressful and… maybe tense isn’t the right word… but quiet it can be with strangers who don’t speak the same language. But with just the two of us, it was time finally to totally relax for 18 hours.

And in 18 hours, I didn’t knit once. I didn’t read one page of Dostoyevsky. I just snacked and talked and did a backbend on my bunk and looked out the window at the small villages and backyard farms and birch trees. Lots of birch trees.

Of course, it’s not all birch trees. Sometimes you have cute wooden villages between the trees.

One of my luxury items that have proven MORE than worth their weight are my loose LuluLemon yoga pants. These have proven to be 24 hour wear on the trains and a comfortable (and comforting) slice of normalcy for me.

So now we’re in Irkutsk and needing to find a phone to call Jack about the homestay since we’re about 9 hours too early still. I just sent him a quick email and it was returned with an autoresponse saying he’s out of town. But the email isn’t dated, so I’m really hoping it’s old and he forgot to turn it off. Because otherwise, I’m not sure where we’d be sleeping/showering tonight.

Oh, a word on that. My last REAL shower was on the morning of May 9 in Moscow. The hotel in Yekaterinburg didn’t have hot water at night, and I couldn’t figure it out in the morning, so I did a quick once-over with the spray hose and washed my hair the first night. And I think I washed my hair in the sink a few times in Krasnoyarsk and on the train last night. Still, I am grimy and gross and am really looking forward to a proper shower. Considering I am not much of a camper, it’s a miracle I can stand myself right now. Or that Geoff can stand me.