As we prepare to check another country off the list, I reflect on our time in this vast country. A couple observations:
1. Traveling as we are (budget) makes for some long hauls in this enormous country. The train gets boring by day four, esp. with few English speaking passengers. The buses that run among towns seat 9-12+ people and blast Russian and Mongolian techno music as they tear down highways that have gravel sections and slam on the brakes to yield to cows crossing from one non-fenced pasture to another.
2. Young travelers from other countries are so more well educated in languages than we are. Nearly all of them are trilingual if not more. Their English knowledge includes slang and distinguishes among British and American pronounciations.
3. Everyone smokes. And many lack polite manners to keep it from children, foreigners, and enclosed areas.
4. The countryside villages are colorful. You can tell which village had a run on a certain paint color. One will have a bunch of blue homes, the next yellow, the following green. But all graveyards have blue marking some of their headstones and tributes.
5. Faithful leave whole cigarettes and coins as they pray at road side monuments in Siberia.
6. You can pick out a gulag from miles away- the large guard towers, the stone walls, the barb wires.
7. Smoked fish. Beer. Borsch. Lamb. Potatoes in every variety. I am in heaven but I am looking forward to a large, crisp salad when we return home.
8. Siberian villages lack municipal trash pick up. As such the major corners amd the fields near the train tracks are the dumping grounds for plastic bottles, large containers, and other assorted man made goods.
9. Despite some of the letters of the Russian alphabet looking like our's, they are not pronounced the same. Pectopah, which looks perfectly phonetic in our language is actually "Restoron" meaning Restaurant.
10. Fashion in St. Petersburg is big. Women and men wear only skinny jeans. Women are waifs with long straight hair and their perfect city coats are topped with colorful scraves that are at minimum one full yard of fabric. They tower over crowds in 4 inch stilettos on cobblestone roads and uneven brick sidewalks- with ease. Nowhere can you see cleavage. It's all about the thin legs and booty. As you move east the fashion wanes a bit and practical walkers in Irkutsk pair their skinny leggings with flats more so than stilettos.
11. Despite all the movies depicting large Russian men, we saw few. Most are skinny little guys. Josh certainly towered over the crowds.
12. All toilet paper is disposed of in bins and not in the toilet. Makes for some smelly water closets but keeps the toilets from clogging up a centuries-old sewer system.
13. East meets west in Irkutsk. Some cars have steering wheels on the left and some on the right. The food selections have more asian influence and themes. Faces of different ethnicities are found among the crowds.
14. Mongolian bound trains assign all foreigners to the same car(s). Locals are grouped together in other cars.
15. Cars park along the streets and on wide sidewalks in St. Petersburg. Cars hop the curb at intersections and drive among pedestrians to an angular parking spot, nose to nose with the parallel park jobs on the street. Common occurrence. Keep an eye out when walking and looking up at architecture.
16. How to take a train shower 201. The toilets have a small hole in the floor that looks directly at the track (think air flow). On top of this is a rubber mat, like the ones used in fish houses. Hang clothes on hook and splash water from sink basin (running water as the sink does not plug) onto your goose bumps. Soap up hands, wash the parts that count, shiver as you splash more water for a rinse cycle. If brazen enough to handle it, air dry because if you share a compartment, this is the only time your skin can breathe and not be clothed. Attempt to wash hair. Attempt again to cut three days of grease with cold water. Laugh. Give up. Shower done.
17. Russian train cars loaded with coal and lumber head east and south, and passenger trains sometimes yield to these commerce vehicles to the Asian markets.
18. Four people unload train freight, such as mail and deliveries, onto wagons with no bars. A small tractor then pulls the wagon(s) down the platform while the staff walks alongside with their hands holding the freight in place.
19. Russian beer is typically less than 5 percent. No wonder they drink vodka. And most Russians advise drinking Finnish vodka which is higher quality and more expensive.
20. Four days in Finland costs almost as much as thirteen days in Russia. Thankfully exchange rates continue to work in our favor as we head east.
21. Shopping among small businesses is like playing plinko. All items are enclosed in display cases or on shelving behind the counters - think jewelry store. If your Russian is poor, you point or attempt to pronounce what you want as they reach and touch four different items before getting to the one you desire.
22. All platforms have ice cream. It became a small tradition to get off the train at longer stops and walk the length of the train holding hands while enjoying our selections, which cost 30-60 RUB. Cheap date and wonderfully appetizing after four days of cabbage soup.
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