Well we had been really lucky with our last couple of trains. Somehow we had managed the really comfy ones, sharing with the Dutch couple we have been bumping into since Beijing and ourselves. Our luck had to change and it did.

Boarding our carriage we went to our compartment. Two really big Russian men were already in there lounging on our bottom berths. They ignored our hello's and tried not to make eye contact. It smelt like fish.

Funnily enough it turns out the Dutch couple are a couple of compartments down. They didn't fare better with 3 people already in their 4 berth, one being rolling drunk. We all beat a hasty retreat to the restaurant cart to steady our nerves. More fish and some rather harsh sounding Russian folk music.

So one of our roomies snores like a freight train. Imagine our delight when they both got off the train this morning, needless to say, without a goodbye. No replacements yet, 36 hours to go.

Siberia is whizzing by. Its beautiful and vast; woodlands, meadows full of wildflowers with the occasional village thrown in. I really don't know how these people survive, especially the long, cold winters. Guess you just do. Vodka must help.

Lucky they have so many trees as frequent logging mills along the track. The Trans-Siberian is clearly so important to the country with trains full of trees, coal and new cars constantly whizzing past.

You wouldn't read about it. The loud speaker that has been serenading us with Russian music is playing "land down under". We figure it must be a shout out to us given the lack of any other Australians on here.

I gave in, noodles have been consumed. Desperate times, desperate measures and all that. Still no roomies, 28 hours to go.

Technology is brilliant. Thanks to Rob for loading me up with it. Community and Game of Thrones have kept time ticking along nicely.

We have woken to a different landscape. The rolling hills of pine forests and cute villages has turned to flat land, big empty spaces and masses of scrubby looking trees. Fewer village make way for bigger looking cities now and then.

With 12 hours to go still no room mates. Tonight we sleep in a real bed!

So with 6 hours to go karma struck me down either for eating noodles or being a particularly bad winner to Emmett in a round of cards. First the cold sweats started, then the shakes, I'd been poisoned and became violently ill in all manners. The next few hours of my life were as horrible as can be. To my credit I made it to the hideous bathroom/toilet every time, except of course when the doors were locked at one of the stations. I vomited on the floor and gave the carriage attendant a real reason to hate me.

We got off at Yekaterinburg, beyond happy that we were not going straight on to Moscow. I had never been happier to see a reasonably nice hotel with a real bed and our own bathroom. I spent the next day there in the fetal position watching The Proposal in Russian. Not surprisingly Ryan Reynolds is fabulous in any language.