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As I write this we are aboard the Trans-Siberian railway travelling across Russia. We are two days in so I will fill you in on what's happened so far.Before we boarded the train we went for our last proper meal. Pancakes. We felt it was only best to embrace Russian traditions so have eaten many so far.After that we rushed over to the train station and boarded our train. It was not the same luxury as the train from St. Petersburg to Moscow but it's still very good. Fortunately we don't have anyone else in our cabin so it gives us more room to spread out.At our first stop we got our first Trans-Siberian experience, the sellers on the platform! We have never seen so much tat in our lives, in particular stuffed squirrels (not soft toys - real dead squirrels!), glittery flowers and gaudy sets of glasses, who could resist... well, us! We couldn't even face the sweaty chicken and tomatoes they were offering. Surprisingly the Russians on board were snapping it all up!Our first night was a fairly quiet one, we had some pot noodles and bread for dinner then went to bed early. After little sleep over the past week an early night was desperately needed!On second day we started to meet people. While at the shop, Tom and Laura made a friend who hunted us down to our cabin. His name is Rhiad and he is a big Manchester United supporter. He spoke little English but was happy to chant Manchester United at us and wanted lots of high fives. Any Borat fans out there you can imagine what it was like. He wandered off and came back with beer which then meant an afternoon of drinking for Tom!! With a phrase book and map of Russia we managed to piece together a fairly good conversation.
We also had the option of a fight with two Russian skinheads - we decided against that though, even though Tom just wanted to drink with them. They were in the minority though as throughout Russia we have been surprised with how kind and helpful (nearly) everyone has been.
We have also met some really lovely people from Belgium, a little bit younger than us. There aren't too many travellers on here but the ones we've met are our age. Everyone spends their time at the restaurant cart. It's nice to meet lots of different people there.There are stops every few hours, where a variety of different things are sold. While out looking yesterday we saw our first bit of snow! Pretty amazing standing there in the cold with it snowing. It's at times like that you realise how amazing this trip is. We'd left a roasting Moscow only the day before and now we're stood in snow.
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We only have 12 hours left on the train. It was no-where near as bad as me and Laura thought it might be. After all the rushing around it's lovely to just chill. Very excited about getting to Lake Baikal, no idea if it's going to be snow or sun! The weather is changing so much as we travel across Russia.
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Sorry this is all a bit disjointed - it's been that sort of journey! We have now safely arrived in Irkutsk but we are suffering a little train-lag (the trains all run on Moscow time so as we stepped off the train it went from 2200 to 0300 - very confusing!).
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