Trans-Siberian Railway: Irkutsk - Moscow

Our third, longest (77 hours) and final installment of the Trans-Siberian railway experience was from Irkutsk to Moscow. Train #1 (aka "Roissya") is the flagship service between Moscow and Vladivostock. Again, the Orient Express its not, but it was by far the nicest train we've taken to date:

- Here, our 6 foot by 5 foot berth consisted of: 2 reasonably well padded benches, centrally controlled air-conditioning, 4 reading lights, a radio channel that played Russian pop music, an in-room 15" television with 2 channels (1 Russian TV, the other was the train carriage hallway security camera), and 2 electrical plugs.
- The amenities provided were: 2 wool blankets, a package of fresh sheets and a pillow case, 4 feather pillows (which we couldn't use since Marie is very allergic to feather), and a daily breakfast package of tea bags, instant coffee, unedible "chocolate wafers", crackers and a bizarre vacuum-sealed mystery meat.
- Our "non-smoking" train carriage had: 2 clean, well maintained bathrooms that had running water and like the others, could not be used when stopped at a train station. Potable hot water was available at the end of each carriage.
- There was a dining car that served what I considered edible food on this train. Marie thought it was far too greasy to eat.

Disaster almost struck when we noticed I inadvertendly left the power adaptor at our hotel in Listvyanka -- that meant we wouldn't be able to recharge the laptop until Moscow (Russia uses the same power plug as France, and our laptop has a US plug). Worse, this meant Marie wouldn't be able to watch DVDs for the 77 hour trip. Thankfully, the friendly attendant in the restaurant car lent us his adaptor, so tragedy was averted!!! Take a look at the pictures to get a sense of how freaked out she was!!!

This train made 28 stops between Irkutsk and Moscow -- some for 2 minutes, others from 20-47 minutes. Thankfully, the schedules were clearly posted and adhered to (apparently in Russia, the railway personnel's pay is tied to punctuality), so we knew when we could hop off and for how long. One fascinating thing about Russian train stations are the elderly women that patrol the tracks, selling fruits, meats, home-made breads and other snacks.

Interesting to note that throughout our time in Russia, we saw many elderly women, but not that many elderly men. A quick check of the "The Economist's Pocket World in Figures" (a great reference book chock full o' world statistics and rankings - if you like CIA World Factbook, you should really pick it up) tells us the average life expectancy for males in Russia is 58.7 years, while for women its 71.8. Without knowing all the facts, I suspect alcohol and unhealthy diet could be two main causes.

Given the previous statement, you wonder if selling products to train passengers could be their primary source of income? In any case, we bought plenty of stuff from them, and they were all tasty.

Random thoughts:
- I tried the bizarre vacuum-sealed mystery meat -- it was NOT good.
- The author of our "Lonely Planet: Trans-Siberian Railway" book compares the journey to going on a cruise or laying on the beach (spend time catching up on reading, relaxing, etc.) Marie compares it to jail (6' x 5' berth, bad food, bathroom breaks and outside activity (train station platforms) at scheduled times).
- The train stations in Siberia (and more importantly, the people in them) reminded Marie of a refugee camp.
- So many of the cities and houses we saw wouldn't exist if it weren't for the Trans-Siberian railway. Apparently the railway was, among other things, a tool used to get Russians to relocate to Siberia (both voluntarily and involuntarily).
- We spent 156 hours (6.5 days) on trains traveling from Shanghai - Beijing - Ulaanbaatar - Irkutsk - Moscow. I don't think we'll be traveling by rail anytime soon.

Bottom line:
It was long, criminally overpriced, and not terribly comfortable. Am I happy we did it? Yes. Would I take it again? Good question. For Marie, its an easy answer (I'll let you guess).