From Switzerland to Viet Naam, overland, 2005.

Part Two: The TransSib from Moscow to Beijing -1 Tuesday evening, 8th February 2005 Moscow Time 21.32 00.35-00.58 04.03-04.18 10.05-10.25 13.41-14.04 17.23-17.46 23.20-23.43 03.59-0419 07.38-07.50 11.32-11.45 15.25-15-40 19.15-19.30 22.40-22.52 00.42.01.02 03.56-03.58 06.53-07.40 (11.31-1144 13.38-14.00 16.54-16.57 17.15-17.38 21.04-21.24 23.57-23.59 00.15-00.27 00.41-01.04 03.12-03.22 08.03-08.33 11.24-11.26 12.16-12.18 13.08-16.40 16.51-16.54 Ulan-Bator Time 22.35-0020 01.13-01.53 04.15-04.45 07.35-08.05 12.14-12.29 15.43-16.03 19.27-20.55 Beijing Time Suhe-Bator CUSTOMS & IMMIGRATION Darhan Sunday, 13th February 2005 Zonhala Ulan-Bator BUT WE ONLY STOPPED FOR 5 MINUTES AT THE MOST Choyr Sain-shanda Dzamynude Moscow Vladimir Wednesday, 9th February 2005 Gorkiy Kirov Balezino Permi II Sverdlovsk Tumen Thursday, 10th February 2005 Ishim Omsk Balabinsk Novosibirsk Taiga Malinsk Friday, 11th February 2005 Bogotol Achinsk I Krasnoyarsk BUT DIDN'T STOP !) Ilanskaya Taishet Nizhne-Udinsk Zima Angarsk Irkutsk II Saturday, 12th February 2005 Irkutsk Slyudyanka Ulan-Ude Gusinoy Lake Jida Naushki CHANGING BOGIES Dozorne

22.00-00.42 05.15-05.28 07.14-07.22 09.45-09.55 11.30-11.53 12.13-12.21 12.47-12.55 13.17-13.35 14.31

Erlian Jining Monday, 14th February 2005 Datong Zhangjiakou Kangzhuang Qinglongqiao Juyongguan Nankou Beijing

1st night and day on the TransSiberian Railroad Morning of 9th February Woken (and kept awake) by my Japanese travelling companions washing their hair. I wonder if it's their morning ritual??? We have a washroom (sink AND shower) between our compartments... there's a loo at each end of the carriage. The attendants must sleep with one ear open, because they are checking and cleaning the toilet almost before we've returned to our compartment. But my much-travelled friend was right: the toilet paper rolls have already disappeared! My personal supply might turn out to be more important than the instant soup. We stopped for very few minutes somewhere during the night, but our first stop of 13 minutes is in Kirov. ****************** Little old ladies, augmenting their pitiful pensions, service these long-distance trains with a supply of wonderfully (looking) fresh fruit, still-warm baked bread, beer and vodka, and other more usual things you would expect to buy on western European stations. My Japanese gathered around the 'bogies' below our carriage, trying to work out how they would be switched on the Mongolian-Chinese border, but they were chased away by officious station managers, who made it clear they didn't want any photos taken. Our attendants ushered us quickly onto the train and then the coal wagon came along. I managed to video these workers: one chipping away the ice from the door seals, the other two shovelling the coal in through the passenger door and onto the floor. Then on to the next carriage. Our attendants quickly transferred the coal to our particular bunker, swept up, then filled two thermos flasks to give to us for... Pot Noodles? Knorr Instant Soup? I settled for 2 UNSWEETENED Nestl Cappuccinos... We unpacked our new goodies back in our compartment and I told the three of them about the wheel-changing in Belarus. We all have to look forward to the reverse procedure as we leave Mongolia for China, but that won't be until next weekend.... from 9th Feb onwards Our second stop for re-victualizing. It's midday, ultra-bright sunshine... and snowing centimetre-square flocks. A very quick stop, so I've come down in my shirtsleeves and sandals. The 3 Japanese have dressed for Ice Station Zebra, but still my compartment-sharer has vividly mimed that his ears are about to drop off.

I said it was midday, but that needs some explanation. In fact, to keep track on some form of reality (and to have some chance of replies to SMS messages within a reasonable time delay) I have kept my watch on Swiss time. On the TransSiberian, all clocks and timetable information are on Moscow time. We've already crossed at least one time zone, but officially nothing will change until we leave Russia for Mongolia, when there will be a jump of several hours (don't ask me in which direction! I'll cross that divide when I come to it. There'll be another shift as we go into China.... then I'll have to lop an hour off again when I go into Viet Naam). So the only certainty I have at the moment is the 6hrs difference between Ha Noi and Lausanne... which doesn't help very much as we are about to enter Siberia! I've no idea when or if I'll be able to upload any of the photos or audio AND/OR video files, but if you can bear with me, I'll do my best... later rather than sooner. Another stop, the same day... but I can't understand my pronunciation of the place name: mitigating explanation... there WAS what sounded like an air-raid warning siren rising and falling in the foreground. There's a guy pushing one of those huge DWK-shaped rubbish skips along the platform, but it's a skip with a difference. He's cut out the metal panelling on the sides and replaced them with glass or plastic. And behind these windows are fluffy toys, 12 inch radio-controlled racing cars, chess sets and faded packets of Pokemon. And the whole thing is mounted on ski runners. I was only interested in buying food, but his enterprise deserved something; I've bought a key ring and a CD of Gregorian Chant. Example: it's ten past three in the afternoon in Geneva, but here it's been totally dark for 2 hours... but (I think) it's only ten past four in Moscow.... and therefore it's also ten past four in the afternoon here, in the middle of the night! I've opened my 2 litre bottle of fizzy 'BuonAqua', which, on closer observation, proves to be the produce of the Coca Cola company... the same bottled water that I drink in Budapest. The Japanese have a different bottled water: produce of the PEPSI cola company. To be on the safe side, I've washed a couple of my Snow-White-bright apples in BuonAqua and then poured vodka over them. I haven't let them dry and the vodka is a decided plus... useful information to squirrel away for the future. Four young Norwegians have just stopped by on their way to the restaurant car. They're off to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, before travelling back via Viet Naam, Thailand and India. One of then, Knud, worked at the same hotel in Torquay where I was night porter during my first summer break from RADA in 1960. The Palm Court, where they also shot a 1960s film about Mods and Rockers. Already the TransSib is making the world a smaller -rather than a larger- place.... I'm nearly a quarter of a world away and my feet have hardly left the ground! A late early night is called for after my home-made smoked beef and pickle sandwiches.