train to ulan ude

Jonas and I headed out around 6:30am to catch the tram to the train station, it would have been a 15 minute walk, but because the tram cost only 40 cents, it seemed the ideal alternative. We picked up some supplies, noodles, cookies, bottled water...just enough for the 8 hour ride to Ulan Ude in the Buratiya province of Russia. Buratiya is a semi-autononous region that is predominantely buddhist, buratyans have a distinctively asian look to them, easily differentiated from the ethnic russians who have european features. The region is split more or less 50-50 between the two groups. Jonas however was heading to Vladivostok, on the pacific ocean and the russian terminus of the trans-siberian railroad, he had about 3 days of travel ahead of him. We spent most of the time chatting and playing different card games that we taught to eachother. After about two hours we hit the highlight of the ride, and the reason why i was travelling by day instead of overnight...The train hugs along the southern coast of Lake Baikal for about 100 kilometers, giving perhaps the most incredible view I've ever had from a train (and i've been on too many trains to count)! The lake at this point seems it's clearest and gives the most gorgeous reflection of the hills and sky that lie above it. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pics of this soon, as I've found some glitches to using proxy servers in China. We were lucky enough to have the train stop at one point which afforded me the oppurtunity to take some photos without the blurriness that comes with the train's movement. Jonas and I stood at the window for some time and just soaked in the panorama.
The train ride was pretty fun as we also had some interaction with our russian carriage mates. Across from us was a man, his wife and infant daughter. They were travelling with many large damp boxes and crates, Jonas and I were wondering what could be their contents, and after striking up a (limited) conversation with the man (who knew about 10 words of english:), we soon found out. He sensed our curiosity and opened the lid on one of the boxes to reveal....thousands of strawberries!!! Occasionally his little girl would reach in, take one out, and hand it to either Jonas or I. We obviously accepted the gifts with pleasure, and without hesitation took some bites...without any doubt the sweetest and most flavorful berries I've ever eaten in my life...and without doubt freshly picked from the forest. Now you can easily understand why I regret not buying them back in Irkutsk,
Later on, three boys, aged between 7 and 9, came to watch us play cards. They had been studying English in school and were very eager to show off what they had learned. They told us their names (forgotten) and where they were from, they counted for us...vun, too, tree...and tried out other small phrases. They were quite interested in America, and knew of Obama, George W, and when i showed them a one-dollar bill, they easily recognized 'George Washington, first American president' a piece of knowledge, i'm afraid to say, is probably lacking from more than a few American kids of their age. Suffice it to say, I was impressed. The kids basically hung around us for the majority of the ride, and even taught us a few russian phrases...the unforunate thing in all this was that the super-hot russian chick sitting next to us didn't speak a word of english, and because of this was not social at all... but at least she presented us with a nice view (to compliment the lake ;).
As we approched Ulan Ude I began to think about how I would find accomodation. You see, the night before I had called a hostel trying to book a bed, but the man on the line didn't speak any english, although it was clear I had reached the right number. I decided to write an email to the place to inform them of my arrival time and inquire about their free train station pick-up, but as of my departure from Irkutsk, i had received no reply, and had been unable, for obvious reasons, to check my mail again. However my concern turned to surprise...after deboarding the train, I stood on the platform for a minute to say goodbye to Jonas and the russian kids, and as i did this a woman came up to me and inquired 'matthew?', i guess once agian my backpack gave me away! She was the administrator from the hostel, she had received (and replied to) my email, and was there to pick me up! These little unexpected pleasures are the certainly some of the best reasons to venture around the world....