Trans Siberian Express - Irkutsk to Yekaterinburg

The middle leg of our Trans Siberian tour could perhaps be described as slightly more salubrious than the last. The cabin appeared a bit newer, and the restaurant car was comfortable with a goodish standard of food. Taking photos from a moving train with grimy windows still presented problems. The major difference between the previous leg of our journey was sharing our 4 berth cabin with two Russian men, Grigor and (another) Andriy.

We broke the ice and things went well for the majority of the trip. Grigor appeared slightly gruff and disinterested, but became more animated when he showed us photos of the Sochi Winter Olympics and some of Moscow. When he showed me a statue of Marshal Zukhov, he clearly approved when I demonstrated my limited knowledge of the role this man played in the successful defense of Stalingrad and Moscow during WWII. The Russians appear extremely proud of their country and seem willing to assert this pride, if the need arises. Neighbours of Russia beware!

Somewhat prematurely, gruff Grigor alighted the train before Yekaterinburg. This left Joep and I with Andriy, a seemingly harmless individual. Things started to go wrong when we were joined from another cabin by Maxim, who claimed to be a pancreatic surgeon. Maxim was not the problem – it was his 16-year-old bottle of Laphroaig that started to cause Andriy to unravel.

The combat fatigue wearing Andriy (from a place called Kherson, just to the north of the Crimean Peninsula), became more and more of a problem as he drank. After a few patriotic songs, Maxim, realizing his role in the unfolding debacle, bought the penniless Andriy a tacky pocket watch from the carriage attendant and promptly disappeared. Joep and I were left to suffer constant incomprehensible Russian and unwanted close personal attention. I felt that had we have travelled any further with Andriy, more serious problems may have occurred.

Joep and I neglected to wake Andriy up when we alighted at Yekaterinburg.