World Trip

Big, Rolling Trans-Siberian Party

August 3, 2005

It was a mostly quiet day. We were all tired from partying two days on the train, pretty much non-stop. The ride was about halfway done. We had no idea what time it really was, since the train operates on Moscow time and we had passed some undetermined number of time zones and reality was no longer in sync with the clock face.

Started the day off late with a meal in the restaurant, and like usual, we got what we did not order. We even tried really hard to be as clear as possible as we could. We would spy what other people where eating, and try to order the same thing, only to be told that it was no longer available.

I decided I wanted a shower. This was theoretically possible on the train. One of the cars had a little shower compartment. You had to pay 40 rubles (~$1.30) to take a shower. I waited in line patiently and showered. It’s tough really to qualify it as a shower. It felt more like someone was trickling cool water on my head. However, with a little maneuvering I managed to get wet, and somewhat cleaner than I was when I entered. When paying for the shower, the provadnica insisted on filling out some complex paperwork. At first I figured it was a simple receipt, but with three itemized charges and a few signatures and filled in blanks, I figured it was more serious than that. It must have been some kind of cleanliness diploma.

Something amazing happened. The people in Allen and Mysia’s compartment became really friendly. Not exactly sure what it was, but I do remember lighting their cigarettes on a smoke break. We ended up hanging out together for the most part of the day, drinking Pavel’s grandma’s homemade wine and learning about each other, each other’s culture, and the lands we where going. It was more in line with what I had expected. Too bad it took two days for such bonding to occur, but I am happy it has happened at all.

The people in my compartment became more conversational as well. Turns out Olek, the tall Norwegian-looking guy speaks more English than he was letting on as well.

Late in the afternoon I hung out with the Polish group in their compartment and found out the dire news. Apparently, the people around them got really mad, and after much complaining, the director of the train came by and told them that one more complaint and they would get kicked off the train. We do not know if it was an honest threat and they would have followed through, but also did not have the intentions of finding out.

There was another piece of sad news. At one point, Simon and I went to the restaurant car to get some cold beers. Usually, we would order a dozen at a time. Favorite brands where Stary Mielnik and Baltica 7. However, this time, without having to say a word, the restaurant lady said to us says in Russian to us “There is no more beer, you drank it all.” Wow! Words I never thought I’d hear. Well, the reality was that we drank them clean of these two brands, but there were others to tackle as well. Besides, this was not really a problem as it was possible to buy beer on stops.

The biggest problem at the time was that the evening was soon approaching and we would not be able to hang out in the usual spot. The entire time we were extremely quiet and weary of the Russians who we figured where waiting for a reason to complain. Unfortunately, the compartments seemed more cramped as we had to share them with strangers, and we were not sure how our newly relaxed Russian friends would take the idea of a party, so we did not consider coming to our end of the train as a viable option.

We soon found out. The Polish group eventually made it over to our end of the train, and we hung out in the hallway at first. Next, we moved into Allen and Mysia’s compartment. The company was well received and a little party starting. Olek and his friend joined us. After a bit, Irina, Pavel’s wife, decided she wanted to sleep, so we had no idea where to go. So we stormed my compartment. Instant party ensued. Pavel left his wife alone to sleep in their compartment, and came by to hang.

At the next stop we met a nice Russian girl named Ksenia from the next car over, and she joined us for the party. We had a nice unlikely group together. There were about twelve of us. A quick rundown:

It was one of the coolest parties ever, a true East meets West experience. The common bond was being stuck on a really long train ride and the love of a good party. Never in my life would I have imagined such a situation, but it was really the highlight of the train ride.

The biggest disappointment was that we could have fit more people into the compartment. A quick count showed that it was clearly possible to have twenty people in there at a time. Had the rest of the Polish group come by we would have been closer to realizing that theoretical limit.

The party went on for a long time. Of course we got a little yelled at by the provadnica for being loud, but it did not count because the complains where coming from a whole different set of people on the far end of the train, so no one got kicked off the train.

Eventually the party died down at some ungodly hour in the night, and Ksenia and I hung out until sunrise. She was a really cool and pretty girl. I still do not really understand how we managed to hang out so long without literally being able to say one whole sentence to each other.