The Trans-Siberian

Leaving Mongolia

Lets be honest, the ride started in Shanghai, regardless of all the time it took us to finally get to Siberia in Russia. I can sum up the “Trans-Sake” route from Shanghai to Beijing in 5-hours of steady sleep, never mind the children running up and down the isle 400 km per hour. The Trans-Mongolian, also known as the “Bloody-Bajo route”, sums into 20 hours of queasiness fighting my way back to consciousness and 10 hours of avoiding every single other person on the train that witnessed my attempt to mount the wagon shirtless, wearing my red cowboy hat and holding Karoline’s hand so as not to fall.

Karoline and our wagon

As for the trip from Mongolia to Irkutsk (Siberia) we took the slow train, and lord was that the understatement of the year. We moved at approximately 40km per hour and I was close to suggesting that we put up a ger for the night instead of sleeping in the cart, seeing as there would be a chance to catch the train at the next station 50meter ahead. Around 03.30 in the morning a big Mongolian lady and her tall son entered our wagon and noisily found their beds. Though, not before they dragged me out of bed to open the window for them and help them store their luggage. So, there I stood in my very short boxer, mildly confused and unsure if they could tell what I had been dreaming about, while doing interval baggage lifting and window pulling that would have made my Gyria and CrossFit friends proud. Meanwhile this Mongolian family sat and watched in amusement with astonished smiles on their lips.

Luckily we brought our own food seeing as the dining cart charged Norwegian prices. It tasted GOOD!

The Trans-Siberian stretch turned out to be something entirely different all together and for those of you that have followed my reports of life in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe, I am tempted to rename the rout to “The Russian melting pot”, implying it was HOT! Now, I don’t mean girl-hot or smoking fun hot, just plain hot as our thermometer stayed faithfully between 30-35 degrees the whole 4-days. Add to that the deprived possibility of opening a window, a cart filled with topless and sweaty Russians and you are spot on for the ride of a lifetime.

I’m poring some water while Karoline documents the water poring out of me.

To be quite honest I have to admit that, apart form the heat bearing certain similarities to a hot room somewhere in Chinhoyi, the ride was really good and we where lucky to get the room for ourselves the major parts of the ride. We meet all sorts of weird people from all sorts of countries but spent most of our time reading if we weren’t standing in the hallway trying to get some cool air from the one open window.

Keero getting some air

Seeing as every man on the train discarded their t-shirts and walked around shirtless from dusk to dawn, I was quick to join them in an effort to stay as cool as humanly possible. Lucky for us, one of the homecoming Russian soldiers got drunk and smashed one of the windows in the hallway, making it possible to get a whiff of fresh air in between the constant stream of smokers occupying this little spot of chilly heaven.

The sweet smell of European nature

Some (or all) of these returning soldiers where truly excited to talk to Karoline and happily posed on several photos with her while showing us pictures of their time in the military. I’m not entirely sure what these guys did in the army but they sure had some “interesting” pictures to back up their claims.

Keeero and her Russian army boys

Let me be the first to admit that there has been a lack of exercise these last few weeks and that we found a, possible, valid excuse not to workout in the heat in our wagon. Nevertheless I was able to do some push-ups and pull-ups in the mornings before the sun started boiling us alive, which goes to show that Nike is right and that you just have to do it, even dough you might not get your body temperature down for the rest of the day…

Pullups in the doorway before breakfast and an hour of increase in pulse

All in all, the ride was an exciting experience and a fantastic way of returning gradually back to Europe after spending a year in Africa. Although I have to say that if I am doing this trip again someday, it will be in wintertime…