Irkutsk, Siberia, Russian Federation
October 18, 2013
It’s my final day before getting off at Irkutsk, which isn’t until just after 9pm but I’m happy as there is only so much you can take being confined to a train for 4 days. I’ve covered 5 time zones now on this one train and I’m starting to feel it. On a plus note my blisters are much better from all the rest I’ve had.
I wake to find I have acquired a new room-mate somewhere along the line during the night. His name apparently is Steve, he’s Russian, and he’s massive, an absolute giant but he seems fairly friendly although we don’t say much. I sort myself out and get ready and head of to the restaurant car again to chill out read my book and look at trees again.
Most of the day is fairly non-eventful. Steve and Jackie pop in for a beer every now and then and a bit chat but mostly I sit reading my book.
Around four hours from Irkutsk I head back to my cabin to start making sure I’m sorted with all of my gear when I get stopped by a guy in the next cabin. Now this guy has been on a couple of days and I’ve noticed he keeps staring at me and looks a bit shifty but after a while you get used to that and make sure you avoid eye contact with these people as much as possible. He comes up to me and grabs my arm, I’m now worried….and then he pulls out the smallest little English/Russian teaching book I have ever seen and says ‘Hello my name is Alex…nice to meet you’ and then he invites me into his cabin and starts flicking through his book and reading English to me and asking questions. It was such a relief as I was expecting some trouble but Alex was lovely and easily the nicest person I have met so far in Russia….never judge the book by it’s cover, particularly when away in other countries. We sat there for 4 hours, me helping him with the words in his book, him repeating it until he had it right and making changes to his book. He then pulled out a bottle of Cognac which was very nice and shared his food with me that his mam had packed for him. He was so keen to learn and he must have written down at least a hundred new words in his book by the time we had finished. He has a family with a daughter at University and collects stamps and coins which I was very privileged to be given one of each as a souvenir.
I fumbled in my bag and was able to muster up a few British coins to add to his coin collection. Whilst looking through his book I found one phrase in the back that really struck me and we toasted and shared a drink and drank to ‘Peace between Nations’ which was so so touching and warming, a great experience.
I popped for a cigarette with Alex about 30 minutes before I was due to get off the train at Irkutsk. Two young lads also appeared and were chatting away in Russian, I had seen them on the train earlier that day and now I could sense they were talking about me. Whenever we popped for a cigarette myself and Alex wouldn’t talk or make eye contact as he didn’t want the other passengers to know that he was speaking with the Westerner on board. Alex was looking away out of the window but I could tell by his face that what the lads were saying was not good. Back at the cabin Alex was flustered and kept telling me danger! He took my train ticket and went to check something with the guard lady for our carriage. I later found out he was asking how long the train stopped at Irkutsk as the major stations it sometimes stops for 20-30 minutes. The lads had said they were going to mug and knife me when I got off. Brilliant, this is all I need when all I had was a very crude map as to where my next hostel was. The hostel was walking distance from Irkutsk station and that’s what I had planned to do, but Alex said he needed to help me and would make sure he got me safely out the station and into a Taxi and have a word with the driver. I was getting very nervous, in fact I don’t mind saying it I was scared. Alex made me hide my passport and money well. Different cards down different socks, passport in my pants, the lot. I got my bag packed up and coat on and ….well ready to run to be fair. We cleverly scampered down a few carriages first before we got off as the lads knew which carriage I was on. Sure enough when we got off and looked back the lads were waiting outside my carriage. Alex grabbed me by the arm and we ran through the underpass and back up to the waiting taxis. He had a quick word with the driver as he had made notes of my next hostel and bundled me in the back and waved me off. As I looked back the two lads came running out of the underpass. I can’t thank Alex enough for his help and I just hope he was ok and that the lads didn’t do anything to him.
Now I’m finally settled in my room and typing this a much more relieved man. It’s certainly been an adventure so far and I can’t complain with the experience for sure but Russia is definitely a different place once away from St Petersburg and Moscow. It’s tough and it’s hard and it’s easy to come across the wrong people. The hostel I am in is pretty much in the ghetto. Imagine a hostel at the bottom of one of the old garths down Hendon, but with more knives and guns. You get the picture. I only have one more night so I’ve decided to sort a different place for tomorrow. I need a good safe nights sleep and this hostel doesn’t feel the place to get it. It appears to be the local cocaine den and anytime I catch anyone’s eye they look at me like they want to kill me.
