Okay guys, so I'm clearly not keeping up w my blog and I'm 2+ months behind. Since the thought of going all the way back to where I left off is overwhelming I'm going to pick up in Ukraine a couple weeks ago and hopefully catch you up to the trans Siberian rail where I'm writing from now.
On the train to Ukraine I met a couple on the train w there baby boy. At this point I had overstayed my passport in the eu by a few days in order to make it to Oktoberfest. I couldn't find any clear advise on rather this was a good idea or not but it worked out. The funny thing was the customs agent tried to ask me many questions but do to my horrible Ukrainian and Russian the communication was completely lost. They were forced to stamp my passport since they clearly couldn't talk to me. On the other hand the couple in my train car weren't so lucky. See, the train hit Ukraine at 2:00 am and there visas expired at midnight. They were quickly detained and didn't return for an hour. Apparently Ukraine is pretty hard on its residence and doesn't want anyone leaving the country. Anyway, they returned and fortunately for me they spoke good English. When we exited the train they were nice enough to show me to my hostel and around the city some. funny enough this is really all I saw of Ukraine. After a wild exhausting drunken feast in Poland my body was beat. The price of the hostel in Ukraine was $20 for a private room w a private bathroom and although mildewed and fairly unclean I didn't care and slept for 3 days only waking to grab McDonald next to the hostel a couple times. Now rejuvenated and raring to go I checked out and waited on my train which left at 11:30pm. While waiting I met a couple guys from Germany and the us who thought it was wise to take me to a local bar where the bouncer had a machine gun and you needed a password to get in. After 2 bottles of honey vodka and several beers I was forced to take a cab to the train station as the tram had already stopped running. Once on the train I snored my way to Kiev where I had planned to stay one night but was able to get a train the same day to Moscow. I hung out in mackers (McDonald's) for a few hours then 3rd class rail all the way to moscow. Btw 3rd class is more like a prison cell then a train car, 60 people packed in like sardines w/ barely enough room to lie your head, but it was half the price of second class. I can't say never again but I hope I don't have to.