The Trans-Siberian/Mongolian railway (sorry about the length, I had sometime to kill!)

1st night
The last day in Moscow was spent seeing the final sights, generally relaxing as our train was at midnight again and getting a few supplies for the trip (cheap vodka was high on the list to break the ice with our fellow room mates). We left the hostel around 9 and walked 40mins to the station where we found a cafe and waited to anticipation for the 4 day journey. We were both apprehensive about it. Finding the right train was a big worry. Sounds stupid but none of the signs were in English, all using the Russian alphabet and russian people don't speak English and if they do their generally unwilling to help. There's also 4 beds in each cabin so we could be sharing with anyone and the thought we had our last shower for 4 days was not an appealing one.

Eventually our train number came on the board with the correct time so we guessed it was ours. When researching the train back in the uk we found that the lower the train number the better it is. We'd spent a lot of time planning this journey using a good train, which was 20 (train numbers can go as high as 320).

We found our carriage and waited outside for the carriage attendant to open the door. After 10mins waiting in the freezing cold an angry looking attendant woman opened the door. She closely studied our tickets and passports and let us on. The lights on the train were switched off so the next hour was spent with James and I in our cabin waiting to find out who we'd be sharing the massively long journey with. To pass the time we made odds of who it would be. We decided that a fat Russian man was likely and a hot Russian blonde was not.

The clock counted down and we started to move. At this instant we bumped fists as we weren't sharing with anyone. We had to make our beds and the angry attendant woman came round and folded the upper bunks away.

We decided to sleep facing the window the the curtain open so we could wake up to see the Russian wilderness without moving when we woke up. Once the lights came on we got ready for bed, got the kindles and vodka out (wishing we had bought more expensive vodka rather the £3 a bottle since we no longer were sharing it). After short while we turned off the lights and went to sleep. The motion of the train was surprisingly soothing and sent me straight to sleep. Lying in bed thinking we are not that lucky to have the carriage to ourselves and wondering where we were actually on route to.

Day2
The next morning we woke up about 10. The beds were slightly thinner than the pervious over night train, I woke up a few times and the train stopped at a station around 3am which was quite noisy. But compared to some hostels we've stayed in it was an excellent night sleep.

The train was quite hypnotic. Consistently moving and rocking. At the hostel in st Peterborough we found a trans Siberian travel book, we decided to 'borrow' it. The first line says that the Trans Siberian remains one of life's great travel experiences. Being on the train I can defiantly see why.

I had a wet wipe shower (James didn't find this funny I did it next to him) got dressed and took in the views of the window. It was completely white with snow, passing forests and the occasional town.

The train stopped at a station at midday. We hopped off and bought some more supplies from the platform as its loads cheaper compared to the train.

Getting back on the train we found our way to the dinning carriage and had some food. It was surprisingly nice. The carriage tried to be posh but it really wasn't. The food carriage was 3 carriages away. Swapping to the next carriage was interesting as there was a gap which you could see the moving ground below.

After food we went back to the room put my headphones in, read and decided whether or not it would of been better to have people in our cabin with us. If we had they certainly wouldn't of spoken English, defiantly would of been Russian and angry at the world. Using this logic I decided it was best just with me and James.

It also it was the first time I've felt that we are safe since being in Russia. Stopping in 10 rooms hostels our bags could go missing or walking the streets didn't always feel safe, especially with my over active imagination. It felt like even the KGB would find it hard to get us on the train.

The size of our trip dawned on us during the evening. Reading the borrowed book we found out that Russia, China and Mongolia land mass covers quarter the world. That night on the train we crossed from Europe to Asia.

When the train stopped the again I left James in bed and went for a walk on the platform. Women sell home cooked food and drinks on the platform. I bought some boiled potatoes with herbs for snacking on. Before leaving home I read that buying food from the platform was a part of the adventure so not wanting to miss out I made James test one before I did.

As it turned into evening we read our kindles, drank more vodka and played cards till early hours of the morning. It was a strange feeling looking out the window and having literally no idea where we were.

Day3
We woke about 10 again. Spent a lot of time looking out if the window. It was pure white with a snow mist. I had another wet wipe shower. Learning from the day before James left the room. Went to the dinning carriage for brunch. We had a couple of drinks and there's charging points in there so we could charge the iPods. Swapping carriages became more hazardous as each one was now filled of ice and snow.

The train stopped at a station just after lunch. James being James he wanted a picture of him in shorts and T-shirt in the snow, after he stopped moaning he was cold we finally got a good photo.

It's surprising how many trains we pass on the way. Apparently this railway is one of the busiest in the world, transporting coal and over raw materials to cities.

After this we spent another day relaxing reading and listening to music.

Later that evening we the train stopped for the second time. Being fed up of drinking straight vodka we bought some coke and water. James bought carbonated water which we both dislike. He then shook and opened several times in an attempt to get rid of the fizziness. At this point I realised i needed a new travel mate.

I read about the different cultures and how not to offend people in Mongolia and China then played cards and attempted to finish the vodka.

The vodka wasn't going down so we decided to play the ring of fire. This made the vodka disappear quickly. We decided to get some food. We walked down to the food carriage but it was closed. At that time we pulled into a station. James in his tshirt and shorts, me in a tshirt and trackies decided to make a run for the shops on the platform. These were closed, the train was stopped for half an hour so we decided to run to the train station entrance where we were bound to find food. We did, and also found beer! We had some funny looks from locals being in Siberia in winter with what we were wearing. We dashed back to the train paranoid it would go without us, ate the food and drank our beer, all in all a good night!

Day4
We said the night before that we were going to set the alarms early to make the most of the last day. This didn't really happen, although we got up earlier than we have been doing since we've been on the train.

After a wet wipe shower we went to the dinning carriage again. There was a Chinese girl sitting on her own, she spoke perfect English to the waiter so we invited her to join us. After chatting for a hour we said to come back to our room to carry on the chat and play some cards.

Her name was Jiayi. She pulled out a bottle of martini and we still hadn't finished all the vodka. She showed us a new drinking game where you had to bet the amount you were going to drink. If you won the other people had to drink your bet. Its safe to say James lost.

She lives in Xian, one of the cities we are visiting in China. She has invited us to stay with her. She seems keen on travelling to Chengdu with us after to see the pandas and to do some hiking.

After she left we got ready for bed. Our body clocks were really messed up because we've been through 5 more times zones, the clocks and stopping times on the train are still using Moscow time, we're now 9 hours in front of the uk. But not getting off the train means we've stuck to Moscow time, we also wanted to keen it simple as well so we didn't miss our stop, otherwise we'd be in middle of no where.

The train was an awesome experience and wouldn't of changed a thing about it. Saying that I've seen been toilets at festivals, but that's a small thing which can be easily overlooked. We're looking forward to the next 70 hours we have left on trains until we get to Beijing.

Now we're off the train and found the hostel. Having a shower, a nap then off to explore the city.