Week 12 - To Moscow

We stagger onto the Ulaan Battar to Moscow train laden down with the weight of five days of provisions. Five days later we stagger off the train in Moscow not much lighter and with two lean children having become alarmingly skinny. Within hours, Jon Jon is vomiting and diarrhea follows shortly after and becomes a permanent companion, shifting to San San on day four. Our cabin fills with plastic bags of foulness as the bouts of illness synchronies with the regular station stops, when the toilets are tightly bolted shut. We end up washing the sheets to avoid a hefty fine and leave the whole situation behind us with a big sigh of relief.

During the periods when the sick children are asleep, the ride is quiet and relaxed as the train drifts through an endless forest of silver birch, dotted with villages of oval roofed wooden cottages. It's mid April but the trees are bare, there is snow in the air and the rivers are still partially frozen hinting at the long and frigid winter still drawing to an end.

The train is packed with Mongolian traders with cabins full of jeans, jackets, coats, scarves, bags, trainers, shoes, blankets, thermos flasks.... even half body mannequins for displaying trousers and tops. Ten minutes prior to each stop this army of commerce begins to mobilize, queuing down the train with arms full of stuff. The doors pop open and they spill onto the platform and launch into a frenzy of trade with the crowds of Russian bargain seekers who seem to be at every station regardless of the hour. The Mongolian train timetable must be committed to memory across the whole of southern Russia. With only 20 minutes in hand no time is wasted, deals are fast and furious for cash or barter. I note that a thick Chinese blanket is worth two bags of dried fish on the Russian/ Mongolian border... Then the train slowly jerks forward and they all jump back on board - some still selling from the open door as the train gathers speed, customers jogging along side passing cash and grabbing their goods.

At last we are in Moscow and safely ensconsted in a bright and airy four bed dorm only thirty minutes walk from Red Square. Having been cooped up for so long, I'm up at dawn and out for a run, exploring this ancient capital. With the sun coming up over the Kremlin, I head north from the square and smile to see two huge advertisements, the most prominent by far, are for our old friends Hyndai and Samsung...


- Posted by Dave using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Moscow, Russia