Executive Summary - Trans- Mongolian Railway

• Saw: Trees, lakes, rivers, factories, farms - all from the window of the train carriage; Russian men wandering around without shirts on, the inside of my eyelids for more than half of the 87 hours

• Did: Read The Poisonwood Bible, slept, taught 3 Irish lads with questionable motor skills how to shuffle cards (still working on that one), slept, looked out the window, recovered from hangover, slept, competed in unofficial iPod wars with Michiel the Dutchman with a mean 90s selection (played the trump card...3 CD set of power ballads)

• Ate/Drank: Reconstituted soup, reconstituted mashed potatoes, reconstituted rice, polemi from the babushkas at the train stop, borscht with mayonnaise in the restaurant car (ew...mayo...).

Oh, and there's this clear alcohol that's quite popular in Russia, I understand. It's something like vod....kah? Had a bit of that.

• Favourite part about the train journey: There's something quite special about 11 people sharing a confined space for 87 hours without showers or opportunity to escape, and not killing each other in the process.

• Least favourite part about the train journey: Why the Russian train companies feel it's necessary to blare bad pop music through the speakers in the train carriages is beyond me. And after 4 days, the combined smell of smoked fish, cigarettes and something unidentifiable coming from the toilet compartment is a bit much.

• Life-altering revelation which has contributed to my search for universal truth: Never go shot-for-shot with a 400lb Russian construction worker, who boards a 2 night train journey with 5 litres of vodka. You're going to lose.

• Current career thought: Professional solitaire player