Have you ever been on a train journey for 56 hours?Well if you travelled from Irkutsk to Yekaterinburg in Russia by train you probably have. We left Irkutsk in the afternoon about 3:45 pm. The crowd was big and the security was heavy. After the crew scanned my face she said something that obviously I did not understand. Maybe something about the location of my cabin. No worries I will find it. Compared to the Mongolian train this one seems much modern and more comfortable. The crew also has easily offered me a smile and spoke nicely. But uuurgggh the Chinese group was here as well ; we met them on the last train from Ulaanbataar. The same group, same people with the same annoying noises.
After 4 hours, the train stopped and we could go down for some fresh air.It was a nice summer evening to be out in the open.
It was dinner time and everyone pulled out rte meals and within minutes they had all kind of dishes. Wow how cool that was! I just took the smell as my dish was a fried noodle (Uzbek style) from lunch. It started to go off but I chugged it down anyway as if it was a delicious mee goreng. My diet has been chaotic during this trip and my blood glucose reading jumped up and down vigorously. Halal food is quite easy to find from Muslim restaurants around town. In this area Uzbek food is quite good such as pilau rice, kebab and shawarma. A plate of pilau rice would be around 250 rouble(10 ringgit) but it could go up to 450 rouble for the same dish. This morning I tried walnut syrup on their version of roti jala and it’s just out of this world. The walnut syrup stayed to sweeten your mouth for a long time even as you followed with a potato cake and sipped that warm latte.
10.00 pm(5/56 hrs) .It’s getting late and I should go for solat maghrib/isya . Solat on the move is always tricky and felt incomplete but we do our best and the rest is for Allah to decide. But never skip your prayers no matter what.Airline such as Saudia and Mas have prayer corner on their planes. Airports also started to accommodate Muslims to pray such as Istanbul, Jeddah, Heathrow, Klia, Haneda etc. KLIA is the best one(we have several prayer rooms and one big masjid on the rooftop)followed by Jeddah. Tashkent has one but not really up to standard.
3:40 am.. (11/56 hrs) It has been Fajr for more than an hour. Alhamdulillah still have time to perform solat.I slept soundly last night being cradled by the moving coach. The bunk bed was strangely comfortable ,despite it was a pull-down metal platform with some layers of bedding. I stared at the moving landscape as the morning light started to define the world that passed by.
Where am I going?, I suddenly whispered quietly. Looking for something, maybe, or following a shadow ghosted by my past. The train stopped at some point at a place far from home. Home where my heart is and where I belong. The station was dark only a few light poles were there by the platform. I laid down waiting for the train to move again. The vibrations of the coach has become addictive and the shaking and jerking lulled myself to sleep.
7:40 am(16/56hrs). The sun was already high when I woke up to the train wheels chugging the line. Took the reading and my blood glucose came up at 5.8. Alhamdulillah it returned normal for me after yesterday’s 8.5. Breakfast with egg, croissants,cheese , some fruits and coffee. A complete set ; thanks to my wife, Salwana, for making it possible. As my morning rituals were complete I was back to staring at the window until I go hungry again.
8:50 am (17/56 hrs). The train stopped for more than an hour so we stepped down and stretched our legs, wandered around at the souvenir shops.
6:45 pm (27/57 hrs). Another long stop.The rain suddenly came and it was wet all over. I stepped out when the rain stopped and you could feel the after rain vibes; wet, cold and the awful smell of the streets. In England, where I used to live, we did our chores under the wet and windy conditions. Sometimes the cold wind blew in then we knew winter was coming. An old car pulled out beside me that had a sound of its engine to fall apart. Duh duh duh ktak ktak ktak! Just like my old car. I had several old cars during my Essex days and they sounded all the same. I sold them off for a few hundred pounds.Those were the days.
The sky was gray and gloomy like a punishment from the sins of yesterday. If you stayed long outside your nose would start running and ears went numb. But after a while you would get used to it.When we got back inside the conversation became alive again and we analysed every topic available on the internet. Dinner would be maggi mee or anything of the same category.
1:30am. (34/56hrs) stopped at station Novosibirsk.I slept in for this one; had no energy to be awake at this early hour. Took my med and went back to sleep.
The sun was out behind a cloudy sky. Ouside, the morning seemed calm, the scattered trees on a vast field stood serenely. Rural Russia portrayed a picture of innocence and naivety. But I am sure it has witnessed brutal history that remained unknown to the outside world.
At 8:44 am (42/56 hrs) I was done sleeping . The train was chugging along smoothly with little shaking and jerking. Everyone seemed to enjoy the cozy morning leaving me with the sound of the wheels hitting the railroad.
Soon the sun disappeared and the sky was back to be unforgiving yet again. Waiting to unleash the wrath of the universe. I sat silently, undisturbed with the world outside the window, waiting for the time to pass. The train seemed to make the world go faster within the little time I had. Like fast forwarding a scene from the movie that you don’t want to see.
Honestly,I needed to get away from the boredom of doing nothing. From the unnecessary drama and heartaches.From the failures and mistakes of the past.However, like the sin of the past, they stayed in the shadow behind me.
This Transiberia Railway Journey should be in the bucket list of “One thing you should do before you die”. Due to the distance it covered and the unique experience and challenges you faced along the journey. Old person like myself can still follow the rhythm of the group ; sometimes left behind for being less energetic. But you tried your best and kept the pace. So far it’s been great. alhamdulillah.
12:24 pm (45/56 hrs) Lunch time. We all pulled out our last RTE meal before we arrive at Yekaterinburg. Well only if we could hang on for another 11 hours.
5:11 pm (50/56 hrs) Tymen stop. Went down for a fresh air. Started to see big crowd with people getting on and off the train. So far we stopped at smaller stations with lesser crowd.
10:58 pm (56/56 hrs) Arrived at Ekaterinburg.Alhamdulillah everyone was still in one piece.
