Tuesday July 31

We arrived finally at 7 pm and our yurt is quite spacious with two large beds and nice decor but no bathroom or shower as do some. We have some rocky stairs to get down and then a nearby building with four steep stairs for our night time ablutions. We have some tentative thoughts that the grass might appeal in the middle of the night. Dinner was held in a central large building and was adequate. It was same as our lunch and was beef and rice and broccoli preceded by coleslaw. Ice cream dessert. Once again we wonder “what were we thinking”. Glad I brought a little flashlight. 
The night time wasn’t as difficult as expected. The yurt remained pleasantly cool not freezing cold. It was lit outside with bright light so trips to the bathroom weren’t as intimidating as anticipated but I used walking poles for the stairs which were concrete and irregular. And I used my down jacket over my nightgown. There were barking dogs during the night and who knows why. This  a m we visit a Mongolian family. 
Back to the train later for our last night on the train. Tomorrow a Chinese train. 
Later.    
Went to see the yurt family home this a m  and tried some delicacies. Some hard squares of pastry and some cheese made from cow’s milk. It was followed by mare’s milk, fermented. Apparently this causes lots of problems in Mongolia with liver cancer due to the alcoholism. Weather quite mild and I didn’t need my down wear. 
Sent from my iPhone🌸

First impression. Very green. Lots of horses and lots of yurts. Russian police checking our passport were officious and at midnightthe Mongolian police boarded the train and we got our passport back at 3:30 am. 
We’ve had many wonderful experiences on this trip and although the train cabin is so small we’ve accommodated ourselves to it only moving when necessary. 
ANd there is sure a lot of standing water and we are supposed to take rain coats and umbrellas. They must get lots of rain with all this green land. 

Friday July 27

what a fun day today in Irkutsk Siberia.  We left the train this a.m. 10:33 and on the bus to go to city centre of Irkutsk then we went to have lunch at a Dacha.  The host said 70% people have Dachas, which seems impossible.  However, it was a lovely place and we were really treated royally.  Lunch was salad, then soup, and then chicken meatballs with mashed potatoes. And of course a shot of vodka .  After leaving this lovely place in the woods, on the river...a bit of a walk to get there through the woods along a rutted path...then back to the city and a concert of lovely music in a house vintage 1800. Lovely! Then a hotel!  So spacious.wow!  And internet. Hurrah
After a vodka and tonic drink, my new favourite, we are having dinner at the hotel leaving tomorrow for lake Baikal.  20 -80 km wide.  600 km.long 750 meters deep! This will be a high light and some may swim.  I imagine it will be cold.  We will have a picnic dinner there.  This has been such a pleasant day. 

Undated musings

Thursday and still no internet.  I’m verkempt!  We are in Siberia today and all the landscape looks like Alberta.  Amazingly so.  
We had a somewhat restful day yesterday although the night before was terrible.  The train was so rough.  It was like we were going very fast and hitting turns and it was bucking and rocking.  I certainly wouldn’t recommend this trip to anyone unless they were pretty fit. Certainly the contortions one has to do to get into bed, especially for Joyce are not to be believed. We basically have no room to move and I’m in the same clothes for three days because the suitcases are at the end of the hall and buried so I need the porter to move them down for me to get in to it.  
Food is interesting.  Much like home cooking.  Not like a cruise ship.  There are three dining cars and each has its own kitchen which possibly serves 40 people.  There are two wait staff.  One girl who is so pretty and runs her feet off.  The other fellow seems to not be as active but who knows.  Last night we four all had the same thing and three looked the same and fourth one was totally different..vegetables different and the pork chop was breaded unlike ours. Coffee served in lovely cups...metal sleeve with glass inserts.  Silver, pewter maybe?  We were supposed to have a day on the train today but instead we are off for four hours until lunch this afternoon at 1:30 on the train.  We have a vodka tasting this afternoon at four, on the train.  Last night a fellow came through our dining car playing the violin with some well known pieces finishing with a famous Russian piece, which I don’t know the name of. We had a couple of small bottles of vodka in our room which we got some tonic for and enjoyed.  We have a bowl of fruit in our room and water is provided and no water from tap is to be used.  Toilets don’t flush when we are in the station.
Weather is slightly cooler and tomorrow we stay in a hotel in Irkutsk..the Marriott..maybe I’ll have internet so all these letters I have written might go.

Diane Draffin 🌷

Undated musings

Today, Thursday we had a vodka tasting.  We tasted four kinds of vodka, and now in a bit of a fog.
The fields are covered with wild flowers.  The landscape decidedly prairie like.  Saw fields of potatoes growing in gardens. 
Dill is a favourite herb.  Looks like it is growing in the ditches outside the train window.
The town we saw today, with an unpronounceable name is hosting the next Universiads and are busily trying to improve the appearance. There is a huge river there with a kilometre long bridge over it.  This train goes at unbelievable speeds and lurches every now and again like a drunken sailor.  I wonder if the tracks take a beating because of the winter weather and frost heaves.?
The bus drivers are uniformly a sullen bunch..nary a smile or welcoming glance.  Is that a Russian trait ? Amsterdam was different for sure. 
Gas is approximately one dollar per litre and cigarettes cost the same per package.  Our little guide, Anna, works at the university in Moscow teaching German and her wage is 20000 roubles per month which is less than $500.00. She has inherited her grandmother’s apartment so is fortunate. Taxes are a flat rate of 13%.
No flowers to speak of coming from apartment decks or few seen in public spaces...where there are public gardens, there are flowers but no where else.  Everyone lives in apartments.  Huge looming things.
Tomorrow we are staying a hotel in Irkutsk...the Marriott.  We will be glad to spread out.  We are having lunch with a family first, on a farm, I believe. 
Anna our little guide, is like a mother hen crossed with a guard dog.  Yesterday Joyce and I thought we would separate from the group in the half hour left before meeting the bus and go across the street to the shopping centre in search of a Starbucks and wifi.  She appeared from nowhere and before we knew it, we were shepherded in the direction of the bus. 

Diane Draffin 🌷

Undated

Today, after a somewhat fitful night sleep, interrupted by lack of air conditioners because the train was in a lay by, we had our first adventure of the day trying to shower.  Our shower locks from inside and as such locks both doors, limiting access either way.  However, when one tries to exit, it is impossible.  A malfunction I believe. Yesterday when trying the mechanism , I locked myself in and then exited through the neighbour’s cabin, who fortunately were out, especially as they are total strangers.  This a.m.  I found it impossible to use the shower...no water came out...finally discovered the secret only to discover another problem ...how do you get water that wasn’t boiling hot?  Joyce, on the other hand, could only get cold water!  Breakfast was adequate and we then left for the Kremlin in Kazan.  Saw beautiful mosques More walking! 5200 steps.  I forgot to take some Advil and suffering as a consequence!  We wish we had the cheapest accommodation which would have been twin beds...shower and toilet both down the hall. The upper bunk here is impossible to access and now when we would both had liked a rest, only one can lie down.  
We had a wonderful lunch..saw more of Kazan than necessary but interesting that there were flowers, window boxes and hanging planters all over.  Moscow, has nothing like that.  This is a Tartar city with both Russian  and Tartar populations.



Diane Draffin 🌷

Musings..undated

Tonight we are on the trans Siberian railway.  You can’t imagine our surprise to find our cabin on the train.  Train car #6 cabin 5.  I’ve never seen anything so tiny. 8x6.  We had no idea what to do with our 2 big suitcases and a carry on each. We sat there and laughed.  The solution was take out a few things, put under the bed in the single drawer, and the suitcases went to the end of the hall.  Next to the toilet. We have a chair and a bench seat which makes into a bed. There is an upper bunk which is accessed by a stair case..not a ladder.  We are both absolutely bone tired, having done 7000 plus steps today.  We drove in a bus to see the Kremlin, the Gum store where I had a delicious ice cream cone for 100 roubles which is the equivalent of two dollars. Saw another church or two.  We got a bit of a rain storm today and visited a marvellous church which was most beautiful inside.  Tomorrow we are in Kazan and off the train at 9 until 4:30. We share a shower with another cabin and bathroom down the hall a short way.  Dinner was lovely, well served and enjoyable.  Caesar salad, beef stroganoff or something like that, with rice, and dessert which was a cake of some sort.  Both Joyce and I have swollen feet and ankles.  This trip is not for the marginally fit.  It takes a huge amount of stamina.  By and large the weather has been pleasant, not too hot or cold. Rather humid, however.  No internet until I don’t know when.  
Joyce is in the upper bunk and will have to stay there as there are three stairs...the upper stair too far from the bunk for me to access it, challenged as I am height wise.  I would need a step ladder to get there.  Well, this is an adventure isn’t it? 
We are lying in bed and the train is jerking like a bucking bronco.  Have no idea what that is all about!  We are laughing but wondering what we have got ourselves into. 

Diane Draffin 🌷

Back on the train after a nice day in Yekaterinburg. Drove to a place where Europe meets Asia and there was a monument there also saw a place where many victims of Russia programs were buried. 180000 fro this town of 1 million people. Saw a marvellous stadium built for the FIFA games of which four were played here. The town seems bustling and energetic. There are six months of winter here. October until April. We were given a box lunch mid way and then stopped at a Starbucks where I had a latte and enough time to check emails but no news. We also had a great little musical show which was fun. They had many unusual instruments and some were given to the audience to play adding to the fun. Back to the train for lunch.  At 3:30 but I’m full. Dinner will be 7:30 and tonight we put our clocks ahead another 2 hours. Altogether we go through 9 different time zones. Today busy again with lots of walking but dinner was interesting when we found out we were in the class of passenger who had no choice with meals. One gal we sit with paid $31,000.00 she has single supplement and is it Bolshoi class. One above ours.
Ticks us off.
Added two hours to our clock today and tomorrow Also. Wow. It’s been awhile since I was up at midnight before.
Sent from my iPhone🌸

Sent from my iPhone🌸

The countryside looks like Alberta. Lots of birch tres and evergreens. Every one lives in apartments. Train goes like a bat out of hell. Lots of fields of potatoes. We had an interesting starter for dinner last night. It was a square of sliced potato on the bottom and theFirst impression on Siberia is one of lots of swampy pools on water on the side of the tracks. The night was one of extremely bumpy tracks. Like being on a gravel road. Train speeding along to make time for the 1580 km trip to Novosibirsk. We arrive at 3;30 and then will have a city tour. We have a tea party this a m 

Sent from my iPhone🌸n some sardines perhaps and then mayonnaise and chopped egg white and sifted egg yolk on top. Most didn’t like it. I didn’t think it was too bad but would venture to say the dining isn’t haute cuisine. 

Saturday July 22

Another hugely busy day.  We walked nearly 12000 steps today.  Weather quite humid, but quite good for sight seeing.  We are just now home at midnight after a night tour of the sights.  We even went on two subways to see the amazingly beautiful stations.  No ads, but one station had painted frescos of the workers and the other was modern with marble in two colours.  We went to an art gallery this afternoon and had lunch at a Ukrainian restaurant.  Meals have been very good.  We leave the hotel tomorrow and that will be another day of sightseeing and then head to the train station for 4:45.  We were well guarded tonight with three guides and Roland the Wells Gray president.  They are looking after us well. My walking sticks most helpful.
One subway station was 73 meters below ground so the escalator going up took several minutes.  Apparently the speed of the escalators vary depending on the time of day.  There are officially 12 million inhabitants but unofficially 20 million.
Joyce and I both tuckered out! Feet and legs swollen.  Hope the train will be more restful.  

Friday

left our hotel in Amsterdam at 4:30 this a.m. and walked a few blocks to get the bus to take us to the airport.  The hotel provided us with a breakfast box prior to leaving.  Our flight left at 8:30 and we arrived in Moscow at 1:30 Moscow time which is one hour ahead of Amsterdam.  Took us a long time getting through customs etc. Finally got to our hotel about 2:30 then had dinner at 4:30 at a short coach ride away.  Traffic pretty horrendous.  It is hot and humid here.  25 or 28. Rains off and on.   The dinner was in a grand old theatre and was very good really but we were all so pooped didn’t do it justice.  After the dinner we went to a performance of Russian folk dancers in a beautiful auditorium that was like the Jubilee.  The costumes were fantastic and the dancing was splendid.  Now back to the hotel for a little longer sleep.  Last night I was up at 2:30 but slept most of the way on the plane and off and on on the coach rides.  There are some huge buildings which look a bit soulless but then some really spectacular ones.  Tomorrow we will see more..even going on the Moscow by night tour via coach, foot and subway.  Must get some rubles, too. 

Thursday

last night in this lovely hotel.  We leave at 4:30 a.m. with a breakfast box for the trip to Moscow.  We have had a great time here. Today took a coach ride to Delft to see the factory there.  So interesting how they make the molds and paint them, using charcoal to mark the pattern on the pottery, (like stamping for quilting) which is a black paint, which when fired, turns the beautiful blue shade..it is cobalt in the paint that turns it blue.  The pieces in the factory were most beautiful and also expensive.  Then off to a little place where cheese is made...and where there are windmills.  Windmills lift water, and grind grain, or chocolate.  No electricity is produced.  We had a light lunch there and then off to Volendam.  What a pretty place. Small streets, small houses and quaint.  It is by a lake.  Weather perfect again.  We had a marvellous dinner back in Amsterdam.  There are tourists everywhere...many Asians. Amsterdam is not as pretty as I had thought it would be and it is quite dirty.  But it is a big, bustling place full of life and activity.  Saw the Movenpick hotel where we are staying September on our river cruise.
Interesting this afternoon while having a coffee in a bar.  The waitress was carrying a tray from which a bottle dropped.  The resulting glass breakage hit one of the paying guest cutting her.  I didn’t see where, but I think it was in her leg.  The glass just flew with amazing force.  One of the other guests rushed to her aid, and assessing the situation bandaged her up with provided bandages.  He must have been a doctor as he rushed right over.  Did 8467 steps today, and 12,788 yesterday.  This having fun is killing me.

Wednesday

We have had a full day and it’s not over yet.  I’m sorry not to have my Apple Watch to mark the number of steps.  Both Joyce and I totally bushed at 5:15 and we meet for dinner in an hour. We walk everywhere as buses etc cannot come to the hotel.  We took our walking sticks today and they helped.  Cobble streets everywhere.  Bikes, and more bikes.  600,000 in this city.  None of them look flashy all rather pedestrian like.  Haha. This morning we went to the Rijks Museum and saw some of  the Rembrandt’s marvellous paintings. Then lunch and a sumptuous repast it was. Had a light house beer..to wash down the meal.which was creamy asparagus soup which had no dairy in it and was white. Followed by chicken skewers in a peanut sauce and French fries and salad and ice cream for dessert.  The kitchen was tiny and how they produced such a fabulous meal is beyond me.  We then had a canal tour on a boat, followed by the seemingly endless walk back to the hotel.  We are enjoying a restorative cup of tea and even more restorative piece of chocolate.
Reminder to self...never take a duffle bag...wheeled or no.  It’s an endless search inside for everything.
I used a back pack today and took only little money and only a credit card with a low limit as pick pockets are in abundance...apparently.  Sure are lots of people here, too.  Tourists, I guess.  Weather perfect! 

We are a group of 21people..6 who are travelling solo and 4 men in total.  They are a disparate group, I would say.  Two oriental ladies, both of whom are very nice, one is Japanese and the other Chinese. Neither of them has children, which is what I find interesting.  I have now located my walking sticks, and tomorrow will use them.  We go to the Rijksmuseum in the morning and in the afternoon have a canal cruise. We sure were tired when we finally got to our hotel room.
Weather is absolutely perfect.  Beautiful blue sky, lovely breeze.  

Now in Amsterdam after a long day flying. Our hotel is very nice and central. We had a walk around this afternoon and had a light lunch with some very interesting beer. It was quite delicious.   It was Bavaria a beer with lemon juice. It had only 2% alcohol but tasted great. Also had a panini and that cost 15:00 €. Weather is quite perfect with 22-24 degrees and lovely breeze. We so enjoyed getting into our hotel room and just dozed until dinner. 

First day and we are underway.  Stopped at Chilliwack for dinner and it was huge! But good, too.  Bus ride most comfortable and I dozed intermittently as is typical.  Put me in a moving vehicle and I’m off.
We passed a gigantic warehouse which is being readied for a grow op for marijuana.  Unbelievable.
We got our agenda for the trip and we go to some pretty exotic places...Kazan,Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, lake Baykal,Ulan-Bator,Erlian of course, Amsterdam, and Beijing and Moscow.
Lovely sunset right on the Fraser river 

The countdown begins. A week today. What to pack ???