A Morning on the Trans-Siberian Railway

by onetravel

Welcome guest blogger, JTrek , and thank you for this personal look at a trip on the Trans-Siberian.

Sleep isn’t coming. My left earplug’s come out again, and I’m putting both of them away. While I try to rearrange the covers on my upper bunk with my feet, I shove my pillow to one side to see out the compartment window a little better. At first I think we’re going through a tunnel, but then realize the sun still hasn’t risen. I fumble for my pants, and pull the cell phone out of my pocket to check the time. 3:37am. Maybe. We’d crossed one time zone yesterday morning and then yet another in the afternoon, and figuring out whether we’d done it again would have taken effort. My phone hadn’t automatically updated its clock since Australia, so I’d just set it to Moscow time. I realize water is in order, reach down for my nalgene knock-off and drink.

Two hours later, I wake up again, still not knowing what time it really is. I take a quick survey of the compartment. Across from me in the upper bunk, the 26-year-old Russian father is asleep, shirtless without any covers, and making an odd squeaking noise with his mouth I’d only heard one or two people pull off, conscious or unconscious. His 22-year-old wife is asleep on the bunk below him, as was their 3-year-old son, who is buck naked. Across from them on the bunk below mine is the new guy, fully clothed, no covers, asleep on his face. He looks like just like stereotypical drunk out of a Charlie Chaplin movie. I can no longer smell him on account of having been in the cabin far longer than the 5 minutes it takes for the human nose to ignore existing smells. Same with the smoked fish. propped open by toothpicks on the table for the last three days, though we might have eaten all those last night. The fish, not the toothpicks. Actually, after the amount of vodka consumed by all present, I can only really speak for myself on that point.

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