Peaceful Sunrise in Siberia
Today was funny, i woke up super early with the sun as i like to do. My body clock is all wrong as i’m still on Moscow time a bit but in real time we have moved 4 hours ahead so far. So i was knackered from staying up late but not so tired that i could go back to bed again as it was nice and sunny. So i captured the last of the sunrise over the station and clambered back into bed for a few hours. No one else had surfaced so I made the most of the peace taking pictures out of the window as the landscape changed. Then hogged the bathroom to get cleaned up and ready for the day.
The lack of hair washing facilities aside the washing situation isn’t all that bad. Having been on a few sleepers in my time now. I know what to expect, i have all the things i need to be able to stay fresh and happy. The hair question came up for all the girls this evening though. One of them only washes her hair every 6 days… She was horrified that i wash mine more than that. Well, yes… i exercise a lot so i have to! Then she revealed that she had to cut a load of her hair off as it was too long to manage and she had a dreadlock at the bottom. So not your average hair wash cycle i’d say…
Average, what is average? That’s a question i have been asking myself today. Most of the people on this train are on a short burst travel adventure, going away for 2 – 7 months to see a few countries and then go home to whatever job they do at home. When they ask me when i am going home and i say i don’t know. They immediately flinch. Why is it not OK to be moving to somewhere new in a positive light? “Don’t you have a job to go back to?” is a frequent question that i have been asked in the past few weeks. No, i don’t. What does that say about me as a person in their heads? I don’t care, i think it says a lot more about them than it does about me that they have a negative reaction.
There is lot’s of well i HAVE to go back. They have chosen to live in a way that means they have to go back. I have chosen to live in a way that means i will keep going forward. It’s that simple. Yes i do plan to return to the UK at some point, but i don’t know when that will be at the moment. For the foreseeable future it will be for visits only and not to live.
I feel like they are suspicious of me for not having to follow the mould that they have all set out. Some are on mega tight budgets, eating tasteless noodles just because they are cheap etc. I am not into that, this part of the adventure is a holiday for me, i am not back packing. Food is a rich and insightful part of the experience. I have some crappy pot noodles and instant potato as back up but they are not my main source of food. Why do that to yourself? I would rather go somewhere for a shorter period of time and have a nicer time. I certainly don’t try and make other people feel bad for managing their life in a different way. Someone very clever once said “Food is such a simple pleasure, i don’t know why people take drugs” Good, bad, as long as it’s well cooked i’l try it and it gives me great joy to do so.
I was about to drift off into what i think other people think about me, without having heard any of this actually from their mouths. A whole bunch of “What ifs” I stopped myself. It’s rolled off me. I fell into a weird mood this morning where i woke up and felt like i had to “survive” on the random snacks that i had bought at the train station for breakfast. Yes i did eat some mandarins and juice when i woke up. But anyone that knows me well will account for the fact that i will be a horrible person if i don’t have a decent breakfast. Whenever i have the time i will do some sort of baked, poached or coconut oil fried eggs etc. So i just took myself off down to the ever so friendly and accommodating Vladimir for some eggs.
Vladimir (Incredulous that he has been disturbed) “You want BREAKFAST??”
“Yes please” (Trying to be nice without smiling, my natural disposition and also finding the situation very funny knowing that he think’s only crazy people smile in public)
“WELL I ONLY HAVE EGGS AND HAM” (Like he expects me to say, OK no thanks then!)
“OK, that would be perfect”
And he serves up some day old bread with butter and cheese followed by some freshly cooked eggs and oodles of smoked bacon lardons with coffee in the traditional Trans-Siberian cup. I had the carriage to myself so it was a tasty and peaceful way to kick off my day. I’m glad i did it. The Russian charming customer service was a bonus!
Aside from my morning wobble I have had a wonderful day. The scenery has been stunning in parts, a gloriously sunny start to the day made for a beautiful sunrise picture. We’ve had moody snow/sleet and rain throughout the day as we’ve moved further east. As we cracked the 4 hour+ timezone we finally saw proper snow that we will be able to make snow angels out of when we next stop (hopefully!)
It was wonderful as we all saw it at the same time as 10 of us were crammed into one cabin for the carriage party tonight.
10 in a cabin on the Trans-Siberian train, despite the minus temperatures outside it was boiling in that little room!
There was oodles of beer and a game of guess who. Which took us 4 hours!!! It was funny though, we had to keep opening the window as it was so hot in the room.
I also finally started reading my Paolo Cohello book about love today. It was fabulous to finally get stuck into it and be able to translate far more than i thought i would be able to without the use of the dictionary. It was a really enjoyable afternoon. I am loving the peace of not checking my phone and not feeling like i have to check in with anyone (Sorry Mum!) I am getting back some me time to relax and just do all these things that i have wanted to do for so long. Like reading that book. It’s so simple, but it gave me so much satisfaction to do. I just hope i don’t finish it before i get to Thailand as i will need reading material there too! Fat chance of that at the moment, as the social diary gets full just going to lunch took me 3 hours today!
A tired, happy and sleepy Cake-Lady
Ciao e Baci x x x
