17.02.2018
The first train on my TransSib-BAM-Adventure was scheduled for 09:45 Moscow time. All train schedules in Russia are running on Moscow time, I suppose otherwise it would be a right mess with all those time zones that have to be crossed. Vladivostok is +7 hrs Moscow time, so 16:45 the train was leaving.
Of course I had to get my photo taken at the famous monument commemorating the completion of the great railroad at km 9288!
Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway in the world. It was built between 1891 and 1916 to connect Moscow with the Russian Far East. It spans a record of 8 time zones. Tsarevich Nicholas (later Tsar Nicholas II) inaugurated the construction of the railway in Vladivostok in 1891. Russian engineers however started constructing on both ends of the line and worked towards the center. The completion of the railway brought with it millions of migrants from the Western regions of Russia and the Ukraine. Today the Trans-Siberian line remains the most important transport link within Russia. 30% of Russian exports travel on the line. And while it attracts many foreign tourists, it gets most of its use from domestic passengers.
My train was # 351Э going to Sovetskaya Gavan at the very end of the Baikal-Amur-Mainline. However, the first section was going along part of the TransSib line north to Chabarovsk, then it took a connecting track to Komsomolsk-na-Amure even further north, where it met the Baikalo-Amurskaya-Magistral and turned east towards the terminus of the BAM. I was only going to Komsomolsk-na-Amure, through. I was not sure if attempting going that far into the touristic no-mans-land East of there would be such a good idea in winter. So Komsomolsk-na-Amure was my next stop and I had an e-ticket for the train – Yes, they have e-tickets here! Unbelievable!
I had coach 11 upper bunk 20. The Provodniza checks the tickets and passport before anyone can get on the train. Every coach has 2 Providnizas who take shifts. After the train left perfectly on time, she came again to check the ticket and scan the e-ticket and brought fresh bed sheets and towel. Those come in a sealed pack.
I struggled to lift my way to heavy suit case up to the storage space above the door. But I did it! The bed has a mattress and a pillow and even a duvet. I made my bed and then sat on the lower bunk watching the world fly by, taking photos through the somewhat mucky window. I was lucky I was the only one in the cabin for now. The train was very well heated – Let’s say, it was very hot! I had to shed 2 layers of clothes before getting comfortable. The voyage from Vladivostok to Komsomolsk would take 25 hrs for 1155 km.
Leaving Vladivostok the rail line goes north and skirts the Amursky Gulf of the Pacific Ocean for a while. The gulf is huge and it was frozen. I enjoyed the ride very much and had some Vodka to celebrate the start of the grand adventure.
I retired to my bunk early to read and then sleep. The train stopped often at small stations even in the night.
18.02.2018
Sometime in the middle of the night other passengers moved into my cabin. I slept all through it. In the very early morning there was a 1-hr-stop in Chabarovsk which I also slept through … Oh, well, it was very early in the morning and probably very cold, outside anyway. The constant rattle of the train lets me sleep very well and probably too much!
The train is seemingly an older model. There is no outlet to charge the mobile phone. Good thing, I have my power banks! But anyway, up here in the wilderness there is no mobile reception. The train stopped at every little station, but only ever for 2 or 3 min. The weather was beautiful, blue sky, sunshine and lots and lots of snow. In my cabin was now an elderly couple who were very friendly. He spoke 3 words of German and with my 3 words of Russian we got a long very well. I am sure they told me their life story along the way, but in such rapid Russian my head was spinning. They were going to Komsomolsk to work. The 4th bunk was occupied by a young soldier. There were many soldiers on the train. They were all going to Sovetskaya Gavan.
Every now and then the train stopped for 10 – 20 min in a bigger station and it was time to stretch the legs. There was usually also some mobile phone reception in those places. The old man from my cabin would always get ready to go smoke outside, so I always knew when it was time to put some more clothes on. It was around – 16°C during the day. We passed a lot of forest, more forest and some little settlements in the snow. All this snow on the little wooden houses looks so pretty, but is probably hard for the people living there. But then again, they are probably used to this kind of snow living in the Russian Far East.
There was no snow in Vladivostok, they said they do not get much snow there. But up here way further north there was a lot of snow!
At one of those longer stops some Babushkas sold pirogues and I bought a couple to munch on. They were very tasty, filled with cabbage, but a little greasy. Good thing, I still have vodka!
On another station there were some dogs on the platform and the Provodniza fed them cookies or such. They were very funny and danced for her on two legs in circles und jumped in the air just to catch some treats. It was the right entertainment for the passengers.
On all those longer stops the Provodnizas and their helpers had to clear the undercarriage of the coach of ice. I think the breaks or whatever. Some banging and clanging was involved in that. Probably no easy task either.
The train was right on time. So about an hour before the scheduled arrival everybody started to prepare. The Provodniza came to make sure nobody who had to missed to get off. The bed sheets had to be taken off and brought to her office.
The mattress rolled up, duvet folded on top and pillow as the crown. And better do not forget to put all those layers of clothes back on again! I even dug out another layer, because the weather forecast showed -28°C in Komsomolsk. But I have not reached Siberia yet! I am still in the Russian Far East. Big difference, I learnt.
I had booked a hotel via booking.com – unfortunately Monkeyshrine had no connections here – and it was actually not that far from the station. But the couple from my cabin said – Njet njet, too much snow and too cold to walk! They were calling themselves a taxi, and motioned me to follow them, they would take me. Sure enough there was a lot of snow in the city. We arrived right on time at 17:28 local time, the sun was just about to set. The taxi came and brought them to their kvartir which seemed to be in one of the sovjet style concrete blocks. Thank you very much, Do swidanja, auf Wiedersehen. They waved me off and the taxi driver drove me to my hotel. Neither their kvartir nor my hotel were more than 1 km from the station, but there was sure a lot of snow. The taxi ride cost just RUB 100 and took all in all less than 10 min. An experience nervertheless.
I was booked into Hotel Kosmos and check in was fast. The hotel is nice, seems new and the room is large enough, Russian TV, central heating and hot shower! It cost RUB 2400 for one night including breakfast.
I was hungry after the long train ride and only dropped my stuff off and went in search of a restaurant which I had read was recommended. It was said to be one of the best restaurants in town and was a 20 min walk from my hotel. Off I went and thanks to google maps I found it easily. Chinok Pervach is actually a Ukrainian restaurant, but no problem. Pretty much everybody in the Russian Far East has some Ukrainian roots. Between 1904 and 1916 over 4 million Ukrainian migrants settled here in the Far East and most of them stayed. Anyway, it was a fancy restaurant and came with a cloakroom for all those winter coats. They did have an English menu, but the waitress spoke no English. Unfortunately the English menu was only in English and seemed not to match the Russian menu. But I can order beer in any language! I took the draught beer and then Borschtsch. There is little – actually nothing – you can do wrong by ordering Borschtsch. It is a simple cabbage and beetroot soup sometimes with meat sometimes with potatoes and it is always good. Yes, with smetana (sour cream) please. The beer was good and there came a filled blini as appetizer along with some bread rolls.
For the main course I was pointing to something called “Taiga” with elk meat and got something different, or maybe exactly what I ordered, I do not know, I eat everything anyway. It was something like a meatloaf with cheese on top and mashed potatoes.
The restaurant itself was very cozy and decorated in Ukrainian style. Not many guests were here yet, but I think I was very early for dinner at 18:30. The food was all excellent and I had to have a Samargon afterwards. That schnaps was need after all that food!
The walk back to the hotel was easy. Even though it was very cold, there was no wind and therefore it was OK.
19.02.2018
In the morning I had to pack for the next leg of the voyage. I had to check out of the hotel in the morning and store the luggage. My train was at 10:58 Moscow time, 17:58 local time. But I had first breakfast in the hotel. It was included. I got bread and fried eggs, tea and blinis with sour cream and black currant jam. That was very nice. So yummy!
I stored my luggage at reception and went off to explore the city. It was sunny with blue sky again, almost no wind, but crispy -30°C! I had again plenty layers of clothes on – 3 on the lower body, 6 on the upper. The only thing that was cold was my nose and sometimes my face, depending on the wind. Otherwise I was good and warm.
Komsomolsk-na-Amure has a population of approx. 260 000 and is set along a few grand boulevards. Komsomolsk was built literally from scratch in 1930s and volunteers of the Komsomol (Communist Youth League) were enlisted to built is, hence the name Komsomolsk. The Su fighter jets are still built in the Yuri Gagarin Aircraft Factory in Komsomolsk-na-Amure. Unfortunately it was not possible for me to visit the factory, which is apparently allowed.
I walked the wide boulevards, first Prospekt Lenina to get my traditional photo of Vladimir Iljitsh Uljanov, then Prospekt Mira towards the river.
There is a lot of snow, but the roads and the walkways are clear or the snow is just hard and compressed and not slippery.
There are supposed to be some Soviet area mosaics here and I went in search of those. I found an interesting science mosaic at the side of the Polytechnical Institute.
One World War II mosaic was supposed to be inside the former Dom Kultura, but it is on the second floor and there is a kids’ play area now which only opened in the afternoon. So I had to give that a miss. There were many ice sculptures related to kids and the New Year on the square in front of the building. Father Frost was there along with ice trains and such.
I had a proper Americano Coffee (that is what Russians call a regular coffee) in a small Café. They had a good coffee machine. Probably not many foreigners come here in winter. But I had to use the loo and that is always a challenge with all that clothes on. The waiters watched fascinated, when I peeled off layers and layers of clothes before going into the loo. It must have looked very funny to them. But I am rather too hot than to cold!
Later I walked down to the Amur River. On the way there I found another nice mosaic on the side of the Cultural Center near the river.
The river front was nice.
They had more ice sculptures here. Maybe they were part of the New Year’s celebrations or so. In some of the sculptures there were water plants frozen in. I think that happened accidentally, they probably took the ice from the river. Looked cool, though.
The River Port was of course closed for the winter. The Amur River was frozen solid and covered with snow. If I did not know there was a river, I probably would not have recognized it. But the Amur River is very big. It is the 10th longest river in the world. It is apparently the only river in the world where tropical Asian fish like snakehead coexist with Arctic Siberian fish like pike. I wonder, if they live together under the ice …. Probably not, but you never know.
In the distance I could see ice fishermen trying their luck. I needed to take a closer look! I walked along the promenade looking for a way down. I was after all only going to go the beaten path over the ice. Lucky, they were all fishing relatively close to shore.
The wide stairs down to the bank were covered in snow, but I found a walkway. My thick winter boots have a good grip, so it was no problem. I followed a small path to the first fisherman. He looked at me funny – Strvastwuitje! – Tourista? Excursia? – Da da! – we understood each other perfectly. I think he said, the fish are not biting today. He had a hole in the ice and the indicator was just sitting there not moving… maybe they were frozen in?
I motioned asking which way to go to the next one and he motioned back to follow the footsteps. There was a whole bunch of fishermen lined up along off the promenade. The next one seemed more lucky. He had at least caught already one small fish! He even smiled at me – Ah, Njemka! Guten Tag! – Tourista, ah! By the next stop there were 2 men and they had 3 ice holes to watch and just when I go there one of the indicators started bopping and they pulled the line up.
There was quite a bit of line and then followed a folded net construction. It looked like a smaller version of this washing line thing some people have in their backyards which folds out like an umbrella. Folded up the net fits through the small ice hole and in the water or on the bottom it then opens up as a net and catches the fish. I could not see if they actually use bait, but I suppose so. Anyway, that guy had just caught a small fish and I was there to see it! Mission accomplished!
I walked past some other fishermen and then found a way up to the promenade again. There was a big monument for the Komsomol who built the city and in the park a huge monument for World War II with an eternal flame and a lot of snow around it.
From there I went back to the River Port building because there was a tram station and for RUB 23 I took a tram ride all along Prospekt Mira to Prospekt Lenina. The tram was just one car and very rickety old. Of course not really heated and it just bounced along the tracks up the boulevard. It was wonderful. I got off at Prospekt Lenina by the local market. It was indeed open, at least some stalls. They sold fresh berries – frozen solid – homemade syrup and jam and such things. I could read the names of the berries and most of them I recognized anyway. The Babushka gave me some to try. Very sour! Grrrr. But full of vitamin C, good in the winter. There were cranberries in all sizes, strawberries, raspberries and many more.
Now I was on a mission for find a supermarket to buy some supplies for the next train ride. The trains back here in the wild had no restaurant car and there were not many Babushkas selling food at the stations, either. And I also wanted to buy a bottle of that King Crap Vodka I saw in Vladivostok. But they did not have it everywhere and of course I had to keep the general direction towards the hotel in mind. The boulevards are very long and wide and the distances to walk are long. I found a unimart relatively close to the hotel where they had everything from my Kings Crab Vodka to Amur Beer and cheese and cups of noodle soup and cookies …. Just when it was my turn at the cashier and she started to scan everything, the power went off! Just my luck again! And it did not come back on …. After 10 min, they just closed the shop because nothing worked. Damn! What was I going to eat on the train! Well, I guess I just had to find another supermarket…..
But they did not have everything I wanted in all of them, so I ended up buying vodka in one, beer (I had to have Amur Beer!) in the next and the rest in yet another. There were not many fruits to get in this part of the world. I guess, we are all just so used to having all kinds of fruits year round now, that it feels strange that here they seem to have it more seasonal. There were apples and pears, though, and some sad looking expensive oranges. So I bought some apples.
Around 15:30 I was back in the hotel and did some serious repacking for the next train voyage.
I studied the King Crab Vodka. It is actually called Snow Crab Vodka from Kamtschatka and has seriously extracts of the king crab shell in it! Fascinating! That bottle I would take home as a souvenir! I will have to find another one to try it!
Good thing, I had bought other vodka for the train ride. I buy vodka by the lable, so this time it had to be Chabarovskaya.
I had to charge all my power banks before leaving as well. My old mobile phone with the Russian SIM card did not like the cold here and died on me frequently. Therefore I set it on hot spot and put it in the inside pocket of my jacket. The new phone was OK with the cold and connected to the hot spot I could use the internet anywhere. But they used both a lot of battery power. I had ordered a taxi for 17:00. It cost RUB 160 and took only a few minutes to the train station.
From now on I was going west! Does that mean I am already homeward bound?
