Since we left Moscow we spent one night on a train to Ekaterinburg. This was the first leg of our Trans-Mongolia adventure. After settling into our cabins and getting u
sed to the confined space we decided to be a bit adventurous and look for the dinning car which we found about 4 carriages down the train. Nothing entertaining was going on so we walked back to our cabins, likely causing a stir along the way with our loud and excited chatter. We all settled down to one 
of many naps we would be taking. After waking up, Jeff, Greg, and Johainah decided to go back to the dining car to play some cards and have a beer. That was where they met a few local friends and initiated the night with their first shots of Russian vodka on the train. With a mixture of sign language, using Jeff's Iphone russian translator, and the basic english words the locals knew, they had our own party going. Since they weren't allowed to drink the vodka they brought with them in the dining car, and the vodka on the train left much 
to be desired, they quickly moved the party back to our carriage and hung out by the door. They polished off the second bottle along with the orange juice chaser and decided it was time to pack off to bed before things got too friendly.
sed to the confined space we decided to be a bit adventurous and look for the dinning car which we found about 4 carriages down the train. Nothing entertaining was going on so we walked back to our cabins, likely causing a stir along the way with our loud and excited chatter. We all settled down to one 
of many naps we would be taking. After waking up, Jeff, Greg, and Johainah decided to go back to the dining car to play some cards and have a beer. That was where they met a few local friends and initiated the night with their first shots of Russian vodka on the train. With a mixture of sign language, using Jeff's Iphone russian translator, and the basic english words the locals knew, they had our own party going. Since they weren't allowed to drink the vodka they brought with them in the dining car, and the vodka on the train left much 
to be desired, they quickly moved the party back to our carriage and hung out by the door. They polished off the second bottle along with the orange juice chaser and decided it was time to pack off to bed before things got too friendly.The next evening we arrived in Ekaterinburg. Ekaterinburg is mainly a university town and lies close to the Euro Asia border. It is an interesting place because we really started to notice the locals are starting to look very mixed. I suspect from now on, the local people will start to look more Asian as we move east. We spent the next day on a guided walking tour of the city where we saw the Church of Blood, where Tsar Nicholas' family (4 daughters, 1 son, mother and father) was assassinated/murdered. We visited the local parliment, and went to a stone museum of a private collector. In the afternoon we took a trip out to visit Euro Asia border.
The next morning we prepped for the next leg of our journey, two nights on the train to Irkutsk, Siberia. The two day journey from Ekburg was quite an experience. We boarded the train and settled in. A little more experienced and a little more comfortable, we were ready for the next two days. Jeff and Joh had two cabin mates who had already been on the train for two days and had another 5 days to go. They even had a plant in the cabin to provide some greenery and watch something grow! With only two days ahead of us, there was not much to complain about. We passed the time chatting, looking out the window, reading, listening to music, playing Uno and other card games, and napping. It felt like a real vacation of rest and relaxation was starting. The first evening on board
we spent the better half in the dinning car competing at Uno. Towards the end of our match we were invited to join a small Russian feast of smoked salmon with onion, borcsht, and pie which was to be eaten only after taking shots of Vodka. This time however, we were joined by the second captain of the train, a military officer who had a good living at 1000 dollars/rubles (???) a month and an Afgan Russian man who just had a baby. Russians were very friendly people, especially after some vodka, they all of sudden spoke more English and the universal language of hand gesturing. We closed the dinning cart and made it back to our cabin just before two in the morning. The next day moring, barely awake we received knocks on our cabin. It was the Russian guys from the night before. They came ready with another fresh bottle of Vodka and were rea
dy to party at 0815 in the morning. We now can offically say Russians are crazy! We however, did turn them down…We spent the rest of the day doing the usual, napping, reading, cards, and such, and the next morning looked forward to disembarking later that day and get to some much needed showers. By this time we were all smelling pretty ripe. With the eagerness to get off, we almost did so at the wrong station but Joh's cabin mates stopped us. At the correct stop we got off, met our local guide and started our journey toward a resort town on Lake Baikal in Siberia.
we spent the better half in the dinning car competing at Uno. Towards the end of our match we were invited to join a small Russian feast of smoked salmon with onion, borcsht, and pie which was to be eaten only after taking shots of Vodka. This time however, we were joined by the second captain of the train, a military officer who had a good living at 1000 dollars/rubles (???) a month and an Afgan Russian man who just had a baby. Russians were very friendly people, especially after some vodka, they all of sudden spoke more English and the universal language of hand gesturing. We closed the dinning cart and made it back to our cabin just before two in the morning. The next day moring, barely awake we received knocks on our cabin. It was the Russian guys from the night before. They came ready with another fresh bottle of Vodka and were rea
dy to party at 0815 in the morning. We now can offically say Russians are crazy! We however, did turn them down…We spent the rest of the day doing the usual, napping, reading, cards, and such, and the next morning looked forward to disembarking later that day and get to some much needed showers. By this time we were all smelling pretty ripe. With the eagerness to get off, we almost did so at the wrong station but Joh's cabin mates stopped us. At the correct stop we got off, met our local guide and started our journey toward a resort town on Lake Baikal in Siberia. 
with no visible front lobby). The hotel is in the City Center, as we were corrected by our driver, it's not downtown.
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