Moving Westward...Siberia in a nutshell

Irkutsk to Krasnoyarsk was a streamlined overnight ride. It was our first time riding "platzkart" which is the 3rd class sleeper. Until now we've elected (or had no option) for koupe. The difference between the two is basically the number of bunks per carriage and the fact that koupe has a door for each compartment and platzkart does not. In koupe there are 9 cabins, each with 4 bunks. The cabins are arranged on one side of the carriage and a hallway occupies the other side. In platzkart everthing is compressed; there are still 9 compartments along the length of the carriage but the bunks are a little shorter which, along with a narrower hallway, leaves room for an extra 2 bunks per cabin along the other side of the carriage. So along with a more open atmosphere(no door for privacy) and 18 more people you're also more cramped, especially on the upper bunks. For cyclists, however, there is an added benefit in the luggage department. The upper bunks in the 'cabins' have less room in part because there are shelves above them. These shelves are absent in koupe. We could basically slip 2 bikes in from the hallway and bridge it between the two shelves. The particular shelves in the Krasnoyarsk leg were very spacious. The height was more than adequate and the shelves were open to the hallway. Note: this was an older model train.

The highlight of Krasnoyarsk for us was a visit to nearby Stolby park. I had seen a climbing video about this place and it made such an impression that I specifically made this middle Siberian town a must-stop on our trip. Bus loads of people make their way to Stolby every weekend to make a 7km hike to the clumps of rocks aptly named 'Stolby 1', 'Stolby 2', etc.. It was very refreshing to see a city population making such great use of an outdoor area. On these clumps of rocks were the hoards crawling all over like ants. Some taking it slow and with great care and some bounding along like mountain goats. And from the forest one could hear groups of teenagers breaking out in song. A few folks, including Andre who also has a beard and befriended me, climb up and down the steep chimneys without ropes. I've seen (and participated in) solo rock climbing before but this was a little different...it was more wierd! Climbing down a chimney upside down (head first) was something I had not seen. It was half nutty soloing and half showmanship. Another neat thing about Krasnoyarsk was that the main street had Russian music playing all of the time.

After Krasnoyarsk came another train ride to Tomsk. The overhead compartments got a little smaller on this platzkart journey but we had the benefit of being bunked up with a couple guys from California so we could explain in english what the hell we were doing. Tomsk was a nice little city with a relaxed atmosphere. We mainly walked around and looked at stuff, the highlight being the amazing Siberian wooden mansions. The culinary highlight was pancakes with bilberry sauce. We also got lucky with accommodation. Two of the bigger hotels were completely booked up but B charmed one of the receptionists into calling around and we ended up in a really nice small place that was reasonably priced. Tomsk was also the location of our fashion awakening. Having only our grungy cycling pants we continually felt self conscious about our attire. Russian people generally dress as well as they can and we'd routinely get the up and down scan. We reached our breaking point and each bought a pair of jeans at a market. I also bought a cap. We then strolled the walkway along the river and took pictures of each other just like the Russians do!

After Tomsk came a town called Vladimir. The ride was a longer one, two nights in the bunks. Our bunk-mates were a nice older Russian couple. They didn't mind about our bikes hovering above them the whole time and the (large) man was even keen to help load and unload our stuff. When I was initially manoevering the bikes into position with a degree of gentleness he waved me off and proceeded to use his still somewhat formidable power to squish them in. I didn't have the Russian vocab to say that bicycles are not compressible and by the time I made some gestures to be careful the second bike had been excessive-forced into place. Voila, our new best friends! I hope the carriage attendants don't see the scrapes where the metal on metal force relieved the compartment of its newish paint job! Even with limited language skills and not much in common we managed some nice time with these folks. She particularly enjoyed feeding me pancakes that she had made. "Bleen?" she would say. "Da!" I would say nodding and out came the pancakes and home made apple sauce. She did all the food duties for the two of them and the appreciation for it probably faded years ago so that's where I shined. The more she fed me the more I appreciated it (honestly...they were really good!). I'll never forget that look she had on her face as I gobbled one particular pancake while making all sorts of yummy noises and nodding my head...I looked up and it was as if she was in a tanning salon with a smile on her face...basking in the positive feedback like a deer in the headlights! We had a few short stops along the way, 20-30 minutes at various towns. Novosibirsk was long enough to get out and explore the large station and get some yummy cabbage filled grease buns out front. We also zipped over to the railway museum to get a quick look. The guard was rather unimpressed with our approach but when the fact we were Canadian was discovered he rushed off to see if he could get us in ASAP. I think it may be the whole large land mass + northern thing + old hockey rivalry. Anyhow we only managed a 10 second glance and then had to get back to the train. The disembarking at Vladimir was a reversal of the embarking. The duffels were ferried with big-man's assistance and the bikes were ripped from their housing like a bandaid on a hairy leg. After hugs and good-byes we assembled the bikes, dusted off the white paint, and headed into a new town. The next two days were spent exploring Vladimir and Suzdal. Churches. That's what they have to offer! Lots of churches of all shapes and sizes. We also got an unintended bus tour of Vladimir. The hotel guy said "trolley bus number 5" as we left. This would get us to the hub where we could transfer to a bus that would go to Suzdal which was some 30km or so out of town. Along comes a bus with #5 on it so we hop in while making a comment that it wasn't a trolley bus. Well, as it turns out there is a difference and we went on a great loop around the city and eventually arrived where we started. From Vladimir, we took an early morning train to Moscow which only took a few hours. It was a 'hard seat' commuter type train and we put the bikes between cars with no haggling required.