A KGB building in Moscow.
Communism v Capitalism.
This is Dima from a city called Yekaterinburg. He was on his way to Guangzhou in China for business. He sells clothes back in Russia. Mainly designer stuff he imports from China. He makes quite a lot of money.
When I boarded the train from Irkutsk to Beijing, Dima was my roommate. He joked with me that I am a stereotypical Russian, as I drink and smoke. He doesn't. He hasn't for 15 years he said. He has quite a good sense of humour and isn't too afraid to speak English incorrectly. He has a a girlfriend of 21, and was also married (I found out in Guangzhou to a Russian girl who was 37. She didn't look 37 at all), but is now separated he says. He also has a daughter who is 21 in Guangzhou.
He seems to work late at night. He chats on numerous phone calls and at the same time typing figures into his calculator and writing them down.
We also joked about being Zabaikalsk mafia. He taught me to say "chu na da" which means "what do you need?" and "fig nye" which is something like "no problem". We also did the actions of a mafia boss with girls, lighting a big cigar and snorting cocaine off of a knife. A fun way to pass the time.
Dima aslo offered to get me a ticket from his friend to Guangzhou. From there I will make my way to Dongguan to meet Rain. I took him up on the offer.
Some of the people that I met on the train. You can see Sasha at the front in the grey vest.
Anticlockwise, right to left: Sasha, Kris, Alex, Alex's girlfriend and Oleg.
This is a photograph of the timetable of the Trans-Siberian express route through Russia and then into China. It's in Chinese. Each section is headed by a grey bar showing which area the train is entering at that time. The time is Moscow time throughout.I have drawn a red square around an interesting part of the timetable; the train that goes from Russia to Pyongyang, North Korea. It stops 8 times in China, before stopping in a place called Shenyang - 沈阳 - near to the North Korean border. It then stays there for security and general train checks for 502 minutes before moving on to a place called Dandong - 丹东 - on the Chinese side of the DPRK/China border where it stays for 138 minutes for further security checks, then crosses the border in the DPRK. The train then crosses the border and stops again for a further 195 minutes in Sinujiu - 新义州
Over a day to travel just 241 miles.....by train. Like going from London to Newcastle in 24 hours.
Some more Russian students that I met, on their way to Haerbin, to a university in China. Anticlockwise, right to left: Alexi, Tanya, Katya and Kris.
Dima and I leaving the train in Beijing very tired and weary at around 5:30am. I also have a story about our adventures in Beijing...only about 10 hours... You can find it here.
Beautiful domination of the Moscow skyline by Stalinist architecture.
The view from my hotel window in Moscow.
The cabin I shared with Dima on the way to Beijing.
The painful music torture emanates from the yellow building. This picture is taken from Rain's front window.
When you see signs like this you know you're in a country that doesn't speak English. In this case a hotel in "Russia Town", Beijing, China.
Listvyanka - on the shore of Lake Baikal.
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