With love from Russia

Hello hello, or should I say, privyet! drasvutche! (or spelled something like that)

Paul and I are currently in a town called Omsk, which is a bit before Russia stops being Asia and becomes Europe. We have a day here (got off the train at 830 this morning) and then back on to Moscow tonight at 10:30, arriving in Moscow on the 3rd.

We have had a great adventure so far. Our first few nights on the train went really well-- we were on the Rossia, which is the nicest train of the trans-sib, it was very modern feeling and we had a kupe to ourselves. We took "train showers" bought food from vendors on the platforms during 20 minute stops, and I put a good dent into Dr. Zhivago while Paul studied Japanese. The only hiccough was when we left, and our cabin-lady person charged us money for a pillowcase and towel that we never got. Frustrating not to be able to explain ourselves, but in the end we just paid and hoped our luck would change. and it did! we had a great tour of Ulan Ude, by a guy named Sayan who is Buriyat (aka the Russia Mongolian) who was 18 and interested to learn as much as he could about foreigners while telling us random things about what we were seeing. We also sampled fermented males (yes, horse!) milk alcohol, which was kind of like drinking milky looking, cheese flavoured boooze. It was served out of a jerry can, for extra authenticity.

We had a 3 day stop in Ulan-Ude and so we decided to use our time to go to Lake Baikal, the largest freshwater lake... in the world! we arranged a stay at a mini-resort, and as we were doing so another Russia booked the same trip for her and her mother, and wouldn't you know it, she is a tour guide who speaks Japanese and some English. Paul's innate nerdiness paid off and Polina turned out to be an amazing asset for our trip to the lake. We had 2 days there with set meals (think meat. and potatoes. and meat.) and were just a 10 minute walk from the lake. Sadly the famed clarity of the lake was to be believed but not seen, as it was pretty wavy and there were no boat tours. We did however brave the icy cold water on the 2nd day and went for a 2 minute dip (That was how long it took for our feet to go numb). Another Russia family who was staying at the mini-resort decided they wanted to show us around, so they took me, Paul, Polina and her mother on a car trip to a very scenic river and bridge, to the lake (but at a nicer spot where the men jumped in to prove their manliness) and then to a hot spring. Polina came in great help when we found out that we didn't have a ride BACK to town to catch our train, and she negotiated a deal with the mini-resort owner to drive the 4 of us back for the same price as the bus.

Equipped with supplies for the 2 day journey ahead of us, (nice cheese, classic brown bread, instant noodles, fruit) we hopped on our train, this time a less classy version, but more authentic, authentically gross bathroom, but still with down pillows.I finished Dr. Zhivago and started Anna Karenina. We had the kupe to ourselves again until about 1am this morning when 2 Russians joined us, but I didn't realize this until about 4 am and realized something different was happening in the room, namely the 2 upper bunks were now occupied.

Now in Omsk we will wander the streets, after staying at an ibis hotel that just opened last Monday, for a quick shower and nap in a bed that was particularly wonderful, due to it's king size nature and wonderful down duvet. (other beds have been of squeakier, smaller and usually included a wool blanket). It's been quite nice and warm weather, until we got here and walked off the train to 5degrees. Brrrr. It is Siberia I guess.

So far Paul and I are getting along well, and sometimes he's nice enough to leave the room to fart (it happens a lot). I'm excited for Moscow, and an end to the days and nights spent on a train-- it's nice, but so is showering.

Alright, time to find a cafeteria (they being cheap, and require no Russian, just pointing!) some Lenin statues and some grocery shopping for the last leg of the train times.