This train is much nicer than what I was expecting. It has air conditioning and the bathrooms are basically clean and it's taken the better part of 20 hours to run out of toilet paper. We've so far had a four-bed compartment to ourselves and the beds and pillows are comfortable enough. Under the tables of the cafe car are giant huge bags of carrots and potatoes, which is kind of fun. The other people in our car are some French people who assume everyone speaks French, a Dutch couple who've come all the way from Holland on trains and are going all the way to Beijing, and various Russians including Mikhail, a Siberian mechanic who's been drinking since at least 9am. He even takes his beer to the bathroom with him. When everyone was off the train at a station he asked if I speak Russian and the conductor lady standing nearby told him nyet before I could even reply. Not sure if she thought she was doing me a favor or just being nosy -- I thought I'd been faking it okish in Russian so far. Mikhail didn't have much to say besides "USA good," anyway.
Remote Russia is the kind of place where people come out of the woodwork to sell things on the platform when a train comes in. In addition to snacks and all manner of alcohol (Mikhail stocked up on beer) there was a guy selling pine tree branches. Maybe they were the kind they use for flogging in Russian massage, but there's definitely not a Russian bath car on this train.
This sounds like such a fun trip. Though I think it won't be official until one of you vomits or pees on somebody.
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