well, i think its about time i wrote another entry, as ive been seeing and doing so much!! my last day in moscow was really relaxing, i visited the tretyakov art gallery as well as the all russian exhibition centre, a bizarre kind of city centre park, with pavilions built to impress people (russians? foreigners?) with the success of the soviet economic system. now, its just a huge funfair, with a shopping centre sellign cheap imported goods of all descriptions. nearby was a museum of cosmonautics which mainly commemorated yuri gagarin, but was quite interesting. definitely the highlight was seeing the doggie space suit!!! and so, i got back on the road, and took the night train from moscow to kazan, the capital of tartarstan. i arrived there midmorning, and the first task was to buy a ticket. at least this time i was psyched up for it being an ordeal!! it took a while before i could find someone to point me in the direction of the counter for longdistance trains. the only person serving seemed to be having a deep and meaningful conversation about something other than train times. she wrote down where i needed to go, but unfortunately she used joined up writing, so i wasnt able to read it. i showed the bit of paper to a couple of young guys in uniform (russian guys like to wear uniform, russian women like ridiculously high heels on their equally ridiculously pointy shoes!!) and they seemed to understand what i was wanting, and led me into a building with more counters. they commanded me to 'sit down', about the only thing they knew in english, while they stood at the counter, to get information. i thought this was great, kind of cheating, but still, far less hassle than my last ticket buying experience. anyway, after about ten minutes, they returned with a train time. using my not very helpful phrasebook, i tried to tell them i wanted a later train. one of then took ages to transliterate my cyrillic alphabet into english, to check where i wanted to go. but they didnt seem to actually be helping. in fact, i am almost certain they were giving me information about trains TO moscow!!! after an hour of sitting about, getting almost as frustrated as i had been in moscow, they left me to it, so i joined the queue they had previously been in, and proceeded to wave my bit of paper and the person serving. she was actually quite helpful. i understood that there were no evening trains, so i said any train that day would be fine, but then there were no seats in 'platskart' class. didnt matter, i would travel kupe - and i managed to get the ticket!!! the only drawback was that the train left about 90 minutes later!!! and so began my lightning tour of kazan. i saw the kremlin, which wasnt as impressive as the moscow equivalent, but is in fact a world heritage site. then i took photos of a few churches, and then found the markets, where i nearly got lost!! and subsequently nearly missed my train. it pulled away from the platform just as i boarded, and i had to walk the length of it to find my carriage. i was so flustered when i finally got to my seat. in this compartment were three russians, two of whom spoke english. the third, a guy of about 25, was travelling with his girlfriend, and on seeing my harrassed state, insisted on making me cup after cup of tea. then he started giving me some of their sandwiches, and also some homemade 'perezhok', a kind of pie, the taste and texture of a donut, but filled with potato and onion. it was really good, and i ate it so quickly he insisted i eat another. and then another!!! dont quite know what his shy girlfriend made of this! they were all really nice, so that was a really enjoyable journey. i arrived in yekaterinburg about 6.30 the next morning. about 30km from the city is an obelisk marking the europe - asia border. i headed straight for the ticket office, and in fact succeeded in buying a ticket to my next destination in about 15 minutes!! i think i cracked it!! all i had to say was (in my newly learned russian) ticket - irkutsk - today, and it worked!!! so i was able to spend a day wandering round, seeing the sights of yekaterinburg, including the romanov death site, now marked by an iron cross and a marble monument. near the city hall, i saw a communist party rally, under the watchful gaze of a statue of lenin. and there were also a few museums. it was cold - more snow, along with lots of frozen slush by the roadsides. that evening, i caught the train to irkutsk, for what would be my longest journey of the trip (so far). again i was in platscart, and as it was night, the others were asleep. so i got into my top bunk, and caught some sleep. next morning, i met the other people i was sharing the bunks with - a russian woman and her 6year old daughter, and a bloke, none of whom spoke any english. despite this, we managed to communicate, albeit not a great deal. he was travelling from kiev to chita, for work, while she lived near the ural mountains and was travelling to ulan ude, but im not sure why... i dont know if they understood that it was my dream to travel by train across russia, this response to their question of why was i there, was met with slightly baffled faces. and i think they thought i was rather weird for travelling in winter, rather than summer. it was really good fun, they were sweet, and we were all keen to try 'talking'. i was so pleased to arrive in irkutsk, where i was able to have a shower for the first time in DAYS. but i think there were plenty in the carriage who were less concerned about their hygiene than i was. plenty people wore the same clothes each day, and slept in them at night. there was one girl who walked around the carriage in old, faded pyjamas, but always had a full face of makeup!!! in irkutsk, i met up with two other backpackers who had been on the train. i hung out with them that afternoon, and in the evening, we met a russian girl who was studying english, so invited us out with her. this was my first experience of russian bars, and they dont serve vodka like they do at home! instead, it comes in 100ml flasks (like the science lab) and you drink it straight. very nasty. things got better when i started mixing it with coke. the bar wed gone to was quite odd, there was even a striptease show! some induction into russian nights out! needless to say, the next day was a bit of a writeoff, as i was feeling a bit the worse for wear. the following day however, was great fun. first, i was strolling round the market, taking photos, when some butchers started posing for photos. they then invited me behind the counter, and were very insistent, despite my protests. there were tiny scraps of meat all over the floor, and i was really not expecting to see two pigs heads just lying there!!! they had me sit on a bloodstained stool, with my head framed by two axes on the chopping block, to take my photo. 'unfortunately' none of their attempts turned out, including the one of me wielding the surprisingly heavy axe. it was really funny. i dont know what the customers made of it, but there were clearly no hygiene concerns about me being there - half of them were smoking their cigarettes behind the counter!!! after that, i managed to catch a bus to listvyanka, on the edge of lake baikal. its quite a nice place, a little touristy. the lake is still quite solid with ice, though it was beginning to melt around the edges. i had a pleasant few hours there, just wandering around, before catching the bus back to irkutsk, and then taking another train. (no intersting story about buying this ticket - the girl spoke english!) this was another great fun journey. the provodnitsa (the woman in charge of the carriage) was really friendly and was trying to chat, despite not speaking any english. someone managed to translate a couple of words. a few hours into the journey, when i was all tucked up in bed, the 'translator' guy told me we were about to make a stop on the edge of the lake, for 15 minutes. i felt obliged to get up and stand on the platform, even though it was the middle of the night so of course the lake could not be seen!! at this point another guy from the carriage, whod been drinking plenty beer, came up to me and presented me with a fish. it was from the lake, had been smoked, and was for sale on the platform. despite my protests that id already brushed my teeth, he was adamant i take it, and so began a rather inpromptu party!! back in the train, he wanted me to drink beer, but got me a cup of tea. we were then joined by a couple of others, students, who spoke some english, and were quite happy to try it out. i dont know what time the party finished, but i bailed about 2am. the train arrived in ulan ude at 6 - once again, i had very little sleep!!! my main reason for going to ulan ude was to visit the ivolginsk datsun, which is the centre of buddhism in russia. it was a really interesting experience, i got to see monks praying, chanting and drumming. the buildings were really amazing inside, one was unbelievably colourful, so pretty! also visited a museum in the town, all about the local buryat (the largest indigenous group in russia) art, which was good, nothing in english, but i got the jist. and of course, ulan ude is famous for having the largest lenins head in the world. dont know why they havent got a statue of all of him, instead its only his head, looking out over the town square!! i was quite happy to sit by it, enjoying the sunshine. ive had great weather recently, i can hardly believe the warmest ive had so far has been in siberia!!! that night i slept in the station, as i was taking a really early train. ill tell you about that journey next time!!! thanks for reading to the end:) Joanna x