Jeremiah's Strange Times

"Day 11 - Friday the 16th of December 2012.  The Trans Siberian.    Approaching Nizhny Novgorod. 10:40 (GMT + 4 Moscow Time) We've just slid into Moscow time, so our week of continual jet lag has come to a close. This morning we were still GMT + 6 but now we are +4, so that's exciting. Hanging out   Didn't write yesterday.  Busy/ not so busy day.  Petra, having not appeared the night before, visited fairly early in the morning.  We hung about doing nothing but falling asleep in our stuffy compartment while Wolf showed us something of his Motown collection from his USB." Drinks in the dreadful dining car   " At some point we roused ourselves and headed down to the dining car for an overpriced beer from the grump.  Petra and I then headed back to her cabin to fetch some rice wine.  We happened to be stopped somewhere, and as we searched for the bottle of somewhat dubious liquor, a drunk Russian tumbled in, smellin...

Onwards to Lake Baikal It was only 14.30 (GMT + 9) when we finally got going from Zabaykalsk.  From here to Moscow there was little to do but settle in and enjoy the ride.  That day we would skirt the edge of the Mongolian plateau, all snowy grey grass stretching off and down to the horizon, to the eventual sandier emptiness of the Gobi under the sun and the Himalayas somewhere far off to the South west.  The Mongolian Plateau I don't think I've ever been so Geographically aware as I was on that particular day, something about the wideness of space.  So aware of drawing a line across the surface of the world.  Great distances.  There was an almost foolish desire to see them as empty, just types of land, known land.  Grass then mountains then India.  Like streets in a city.  Known quantities in this great unknown.  My mind raced to place it in context.  A low resolution context.  Simplified.  On our way agai...

New Friends I was sharing my cabin with a German named Wolf, his fear of flying meant this was his second time on the trans siberian that year.  A born cynic, he spent the first evening lambasting my traveling decisions "6 days!, 6 days!" "Why are you doing this?" Wolf had this unusual quality, he was a man who talks quite a bit yet somehow comes across as someone who says little. Somewhat eccentric, for here he was, traveling through Siberia in winter, back to Germany, without even a scarf, just his worn brown corduroy jacket, wooly jumper and shirt.   Wolf His plan on the train was to not eat, smoke or drink, for the entire trip.  This didn't last a day.   A Good man Wolf, couldn't have asked for a better room mate, but that first night, as he arranged his vitamin collection I thought, "Christ, what have I landed myself in?"  No doubt he thought something similar. China Construction That first night, we talked til a...