8/10/06
We are in China. We made it here after a very long train ride from Moscow. Since I couldn't type journal entries while on the train, I wrote them down longhand (apparently that method still works as a way to communicate) and will now give you, dear reader, an account of the Trans-Mongolain Express.
7/26/06
We set our clocks one hour ahead every day as we make our way east. This way, after so many days on the train, we will be on Beijing time. I've read Russia has 11 time zones, and somehow I don't think my watch will be correct by the time we make Beijing (author's note: it wasn't).
We left Moscow last night at 9:30 p.m. I was sick all day (possibly from bad vodka) stuck in a coffee shop watching Sarah email people. I slept eleven hours in my single top bunk and only awoke once when another train rocketed past ours in the opposite direction, the sound of which made me believe the world was ending. I got up and shut the window at 4:30 am and the sky was already well lit.
Today we sat on our lower bunks all day reading. I finished "Treasure Island" and moved on to "The Tortilla Curtain" by T.C. Boyle.
A conductor came around after lunch with some beers in a wet pillow case. We bought two for two dollars. They were slightly above warm. I nursed mine for about two hours believing he would come back with the second round. He didn't.
We don't have a map of Russia, but do have a printout of all the stops we're supposedly making along the way. However, none of these stops are corresponding to the times on the paper, so I have no idea where we are. All I see are fields, rows of trees, and sometimes an industrial towns that probably made the Germans think twice when they came this way. Still, it's beautiful.
I was expecting food vendors at all these stops, but the last few were deserted. It looks like the dining car for us tonight. I think I may try the beefsteak.
7/28/06
No beefsteak. I did however have the chicken fillet. Breaded and fried on a bed of rice. I'm getting that again tonight. We have been hanging out in our car watching the scenery and heading to the dining car at night. It's about a five minute walk through seven different cars and forty nine doors. It takes a bit of balance and resolve walking between the cars. Especially since you can see the tracks flying by just beneath.
The conductor this morning was a bit heavy on the brakes. I think they may let the new guy work the early shift. I woke up a few times around 6 am to the violence of cars hammering together. It's very disturbing.
Siberia has expansive cloudy skies and is dotted with tiny villages every hour or so. I feel so relaxed, albeit a bit funky without a shower in three days. I secretly like not showering. It's like camp.
I finished "The Tortilla Curtain" and am now working through "White Fang" by Jack London. I realize now I've read this before. When I was nine.
7/29/06
I have a problem. I can't take care of business. Last time I "got some time to read the sports page alone" was Tuesday morning. It's now Saturday afternoon. I'm sure it's because I've moved about four feet in the past day. I think Sarah is worse off with her allergies. This morning she sneezed eleven times in a row. I think it's the Mongolian dust outside. I didn't sleep well last night. The god damn conductor needs to ease up on the brakes. I thought we were crashing more than once. I dreamt about a nonexistent 70s era motorcycle daredevil movie for which I composed the soundtrack. I am beginning to lose my mind.
We are headed straight into the desert. This morning I looked at my watch a noticed today is the 29th of July. I figured it had to be the 30th since we're getting into Beijing on the 31st. As it happens, somewhere in Russia, we forgot the train is a six night ordeal rather than five night one. It took some mental reorganization to let that one sink in. We get in forty eight hours from now.
Some of our carriage mates include a Korean family with two teenage girls, a guy from Taiwan who is shooting a documentary on horses (or so he says) and a girl (Canadian?) who talks a lot about Jehovah.
7/30/06
It is our two month travel anniversary. I bought a rock today from a little Mongolian girl while the train stopped in the town of Choyr. Sarah bought some cookies and soup. I am pretty tired this afternoon. I think it's because I got up at what my body thought was 4 a.m.
There is nothing in Mongolia but endless green desert and the spare horse.
