Catch up (Part 2)

I'm back from eating dumplings, visiting a monestary and buying a big warm coat from the market:)

... so where was I... oh yes, so we ended the first night with all our Russian friends wobbeling from more then the swaying motion of the train! ... we snuck out to our cabin (when the couple with the baby left I managed to wrangle my way into their cabin with a bit of pigeon Russian, "Pajalsta, Pajalsta, moj druzya, eta mesto" (translation: "please please, my friends, this place")) and slept... now I had escaped the Russian train drivers cabin (for, however nice they were, it is exhausting having all the inter-nation conversation flowing through such poor a vessel as me), we spent the next two days chilling, reading (just finished the magician by Feist... bloody great... although it's got me speaking a bit of the ye ol' english), eating noodles, playing Settlers of Catan, and listening to Art Burt... it was lovely, with the occasional 20 minute stop at a station to go out and stretch my legs on a platform... the stretching of legs was more of a problem for two other passengers in our carriage... the first cabin had a husband and wife... a dalmation and a cat... a dog and a cat on the train for 4 days... to be fair, the dog got a walk at every long station break and the cat occasionally got carried to the carriage's toilet!

This was how our life on the train carried on until the final night of four... then our Russian friends popped their heads into our cabin and said, "Why don't you visit?" ... the emotion and rejection was leaking out of these burley Russian train drivers right in front of us... just as I had time to mutter the international word, "um..." I heard Robert di Nero say in Russian, "They read, come on." as he pulled the others away from our door... he was their ring leader of sorts... they would all respond to him and do as he said... just as you would one of di nero's characters... if some younger member of their group approached his cabin after one to many vodka he would say, 'Go away'... and if that didn't work, a gentle push got them going... ... ... needless to say, after the exchange with us we felt a little guilty for not visiting them for 2 days after that first night... so we made our way to the restraunt carriage, asked for three plastic bottles of their least expensive beer and made our peace offering... needless to say, all was forgiven! ... ... Then, just as we thought that things might start getting a bit out of hand, a new passenger joined their cabin... a pregnant women... they all knew the drinking was over for the night... time for our last sleep... but not before Two-wives asked me, "Wake me when you leave." as we arrived in Irkutsk at 7am!

... We woke and we left... all the guys were there asking for photos and we even had a group shot in front of our train carriage in the morning (I'll upload it once I reach a place where I can plug my camera in)... as we walked away with shouts of "Das Vidanya" and wishes of good health, I looked at Two-Wives... shaven headed except for the fringe, fag in the side of his mouth... and what looked like a reddening of the eyes, a glassy look perhaps as he bade his English friends farewell... ... ... of maybe he was just hung-over!

... ... ... so that has us up to Irkutsk... so I'll post this before I contrive to delete this post:)