Bits and Pieces...

Monday Morning, August 20. Rain.

This is basically a 'train day' as we do not get to our destination until around 3.00 in the afternoon for a four hour tour of Novosibirsk. We are in the western side of Siberia which is just a very large area in the middle of Russia that is flatter and void of mountains, sort of. Siberia is a Mongol word meaning Sleepy Country. According to our information it is 33,000,000 square kilometres, comprising 77% of Russia and 10% of the world land area. Population 37,000,000.

It is raining out and looks terribly depressing, which I feel is the way it is here. There are no evergreen trees here, just scrub and some patches of birch. The large towns have a look of decay and tumble-downess to them. The expression 'Sent to Siberia' makes a bit of sense to me now. It is a place that only seems to have one purpose. To work! I am sure the residents have some recreational activities and make the best of what is here.

It is a bit like a train ride through the Prairies, or 'The Plains' in USA. Flat, fields harvested of crops and awaiting the long winter methinks. The winds here must be interesting, nothing to stop them for hundreds of miles.

Periodically we zip through very large rail yards with industrial buildings, all very business like and built for a purpose, many of those purposes have long since ceased to exist.

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Last night for dinner, after the caviar, smoked salmon and smoked sturgeon appetizers we were served Cabbage Schnitzel. We all tucked in, looking for the veal. There was no veal. The schnitzel was made of cabbage and cheese, It was delicious, but without the meat.

When I look back at the meals we that have had, both in Moscow, in restaurants and on the train, meat is served sparingly. We are basically eating Peasant Food, deliciously prepared and presented, but food that I suppose over the centuries has evolved to what it is. Basically any farmer could grow this food without having to feed massive amounts of grain to livestock and then eat the animals.  They skip the animals and eat the food. 

When we were farming at our little hobby farm I took a course in raising beef. The conversion rate of grain to meat was about 8 to 1, or more. Meaning for feeding a beef animal 8 pounds of grain you would get 1 pound of meat. This is a North American luxury. Not so here.

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The internet: It appears that Russia seems to have itself pretty well connected regarding internet coverage. So far at least, and we are about 2500 Ks inside it. When we are idling in stations or rail yards in or near built up areas there seems to be a good signal strength internet. Yet out in the middle of nowhere there is 'No Signal'. I am learning to manage and send what I can when I can.

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Time zones and Jet Lag on a Train. There are five Time Zones between Moscow and Beijing according to the people who divided up the world into 24 time zones and organized the world as we know it.

We advanced our clocks two nights in a row, two hours each night! We cannot figure it out except that obviously Russia and maybe China decided to ignore the World Standard and set up their own time zones that best suited their needs.

The end result is that we were just getting over the 10 hour jet lag from Vancouver to Moscow and are now adjusting to 'Train Lag' issues! Fortunately the touring activity has slowed down and we can relax and snooze on the train. However, in Siberia the views are rather dreary at the moment as it is teeming down rain.