Ulan Ude to Krasnoyarsk

It felt awhile since I’d been on a train. The 27 hour journey ahead of me felt pretty small fry. Back into the routine of working in Moscow time, now only 5 hours behind me. A clock behind reception gave a reassuring boost that I’d got it right.

Leaving Ulan Ude, we crossed the swollen Selenga River and farming villages.

For the first 4 hours I was alone in the kupe and I ate my complimentary lunch – the one meal provided during each journey. Then, joined by a physics student and his mother on holiday visiting relatives, the exchanges of stories resumed. I tasted tea made from a handful of fresh leaves and berries.

The track ran alongside the shoreline of Lake Baikal, so close it felt like we were on the beach.

Leaving Lake Baikal behind there was  30 minute stop at Irkutsk, gateway to the western shores.

A seven year old boy was keen to practise his English, a group were returning from a rafting expedition in northern Siberian, a woman’s sister had had a DNA analysis which had shown she was 70% British ancestry. Just a snapshot of the people on the train before crossing another time zone and arriving at Krasnoyarsk.