Alison: From Moscow we embarked on our first big train journey to a place called Yekaterinburg. This one was 28 hours in duration which is easily the longest train journey we have ever been on. We located our carriage and struggled down the narrow corridor to our cabin to see who we would be sharing our cosy 4 berth lounge/bedroom/kitchen/diner with.......a little old Russian man in a suit and flat cap!

It was all a bit awkward when we showed up. He was just finishing putting his stuff away into the storage under his seat/bed and getting settled, and then we were piling in with lots of things and disturbing his peace. The space in the cabin is really tight to share with a stranger. He was talking away in Russian to us and we were talking back in English. Neither party knew what the other was saying but he seemed like he was trying to help us which was nice. We then sat in complete silence on the platform waiting for the train to start and I was thinking that the journey was going to be the longest one of my life!

I was glad when another Russian guy showed up so that the first man had someone to talk to. The second guy that came along was young and spoke a little English. He was quite friendly and was laughing and trying to communicate with us. I did notice that there was a whiff of booze coming from him so I wasn't surprised when he almost immediately got out a bottle of beer and wrapped it in tissue paper and started trying to conceal it behind his back. He told us that you aren't allowed to drink on the train. We did see another guy drinking a can of beer that he bought from the restaurant cart on the train so I'm not entirely sure if the rule is that you can't bring your own alcohol on or whether you can't drink from glass bottles. After polishing off a few secret beers, he fell fast asleep and his feet started to creep towards me from the seat opposite. They slowly made their way across the carpet and then leapt up onto the chair next to me and then came the grand finale of him trying to actually put his dirty feet on my lap! Luckily the old guy quick as a flash sprung into action and grabbed his feet and tried to force them down to the floor. He was completely out of it though and kept trying to put them on me. Eventually he came to and the feet retreated back across the cabin!

The good thing about the younger guy was that he did some translating for us so that we could talk to the older guy which broke the ice. We discovered that his name was Dimitri and that we were both going to the same place. He was really interested in our trip and was very gentlemanly and considerate. Even when our boozy translator left the train later that day, we were still having a go at communicating by using our Russian book and gesticulating. My favourite seen was at bedtime when Dimitri went to bed and warned us that he snores and we should kick him if he does.....he did the classic hands by head for sleeping and then started fake snoring and then jumped up and pretended to kick himself! Nigel nodded and lifted his pillow and pretended to suffocate him which got a good laugh and the thumbs up!

That night we went to bed with the window open because we thought that Dimitri was trying to tell us that he preferred it open. We were trying to be good roomies so went along with it but it was freezing overnight! I was on the top bunk and the top of my head was in line with the window. It was so windy and noisy when a train when by!

The following day went by pretty quickly. Each cabin has a conductor that looks after that cabin and she decided she wanted to come and find out all about us. She didn't speak any English so we had lots of fun acting things out and drawing pictures to try to communicate. She disappeared off and came back with a young guy who spoke good English and then got him to quiz us! He was a very nice guy who was an MC and had been performing at a train festival (?!?) in Kiev. He was also going to Yekaterinburg and he even gave us his phone number in case we needed any help when we got there :)

Nigel: When we booked the hotel/hostel, we got an email back from the owner who said that they had arranged for a friend (Maxsim) to come and pick us up from the station. They said that he would meet us near the monument and would be holding a sign with my name on it. They also said that if we wanted, Maxsim would show us some of the sights of the city. Sightseeing is the last thing that you want after a 28 hour train journey and not having much sleep, so our priority was to try and get to the accommodation as inconspicuously as possible and try to rest up. It didn't work out as planned. First thing Maxsim, the person who came to pick us up, was wearing a bright neon orange boiler suit so we would be able to identify him when we got off the train. To be fair he did email me saying that he would be wearing it but as we had no internet connection we didn't receive it until after we had met so it was a bit of a surprise. He did also pay for our taxi to the place we were staying which was good of him. He talked about how he is training to be a paramedic and when he finishes his degree, he wants to go to Australia on a 2 year placement to carry out further training. He wanted to practise his English on us and show us around but was only available for the rest of that evening so although tired and hungry, we thought we would let him show us some us places near our accommodation.

After dropping our bags off, we decided to head to the shops so we could get some supplies for tea that evening. Even though we thought he seemed ok at this point, we were still a little cautious with him as we had only just met him. When visiting foreign countries and speaking to the locals, words can easily get lost in translation and sentences don't sound right. The first incident which we came across this, was when he started talking about road signs and then came out saying he was a suspect. We thought ok maybe he didn't say it correctly but left it at that. The next incident occurred just after we had entered the shop and we were looking for cheese. Out of the blue he said lets buy a knife. This got alarm bells ringing (recap, we are walking around an unknown city with a lad wearing a bright orange boiler suit, which easily could be mistaken for a prison outfit and he is saying I am a suspect and lets buy a knife!!!!!). On reflection what he was trying to say was he suspected that the road signs in Russia are the same as those in the UK and he was referring to us to buying cheese which you can cut with a knife and not the slices which we were looking at as it would be cheaper!!! Phewww!!!!

He couldn't get away with the boiler suit though. Even the locals were looking at him thinking WTF. Least it took the distraction away from us.

In the end everything was ok and we saw some other parts of the city. Maxsim was a very pleasant person and we have swapped contact details and said that when he arrives in Australia, he should give us a call and we can show him the sights of Perth....wearing our orange boiler suits!!!

P.s sorry about the picture quality...