004 Trans-Mongolian Express 5th September - 7th September

I was helped on the train at Yaroslavsky station (quite a dodgy area nearby, lots of drunks, police and urine!) by a Russian and an English guy who spoke Russian, that I had met. I started to meet everyone; surrounded by Dutch and Swedes who are all lovely and great fun. I am in carriage 11, there is no carriage 1, 2, 3, 4 or 12 (never discovered why no 12! - I tried to ask the Chinese conductor but he ran away !? (we became better friends later on though...) The cabin is small so it is cosy but compared to the bus there is acres of space! Days pass easily, reading ( i borrowed The Idiot (Dostoevsky), but never finished it sadly), eating, walking up and down the train, chatting to other travellers, getting off at stations and milling about, playing games, playing music, listening to a few Kalinka's (thanks to my cabin mates! - Red Army version best I think!) It goes surprisingly quickly. The views are amazing (sorry I can still not sort out photos!), Russia is so huge and empty. Lots of trees (pine and silver birch mainly) and then open plains, a few small villages and a couple of large towns. The villages are so beautiful, I love the houses and the little veg plots but they seem quite empty of people and so isolated. I start to think that this railway line is an important link for people living here for communication and employment. There is a lot of nothing, not even fields of crops or animals like in the UK - nothing but nature, I love it! (I can't tell you about the whole trip at once, so more soon....)