After deciding to move to Siberia for a year to teach at the
Chita State Technical University, I embarked on a travel odyssey
unlike any other. In this entry, we pick up the trip on the
Trans-Siberian Railway.
The Horror
As my new Russian friend walked down the hall, I reflected on
the information he had provided me with a grimace. The train
ride from Khabarovsk to my destination, Chita, was going to take
three days. I had already been traveling for four days and the
thought of 3 days on a train made me…unhappy.
While reflecting on this development, I had an opportunity to
take a look at my new neighbors, err…fellow passengers. They
were moving in. Literally. Pillows, sheets, bags full of food.
The general impression was we were going to be on the train for
a long, long time.
As we actually cleared the city, I told myself to look at it as
an adventure. An adventure? Oh, yes.
Of Crackers and Grape Juice
Nutrition is an odd thing. Like many, I try to eat a healthy
diet with vegetables and so on. Of course, a stressful day at
work has led to more than a few fast food meals. On the
Trans-Siberian Railway, I would’ve killed for fast food.
Contrary to what another passenger had told me, the food car on
the train was open for business. The woman in charge of our car
told me this in limited English and an exasperated look on her
face. Well, she didn’t lie. The food car was open.
Unfortunately, the only thing it was selling were boxes of
crackers and grape juice.
I’m not a big cracker fan, but I’ll eat them. I happen to like
grape juice…or I did. For the next 48 hours, Grae, a fellow
traveler, and I munched crackers and drank juice. Then we drank
juice and munched crackers. Then we crushed crackers and put
them in the juice. Then we made feverish declarations to never
eat crackers or drink juice again. Ever.
The Funny Part
After 48 hours of crackers and juice, I was more than willing to
starve. I kept having nightmares about the horrible things
happening in my stomach. Grae apparently had arrived at the same
opinion. Cinching up his pants, he went to hit up our fellow
travel companions for some real food.
Part of the fun of traveling is realizing how foolish you really
are. When you are in a country where you don’t speak the
language, you are going to eat a pretty hefty amount of humble
pie. What the hey, we were hungry.
After five minutes, Grae returned to our compartment with one of
those looks on his face. We had lived on crackers and grape
juice for no reason. Yes, we could buy food at every stop the
train made by just walking into the train station. And we
stopped a lot.
As we pulled into a little town, Grae and I were hanging from
the doors of the train. We ran into the station and…all they had
were crackers and grape juice. Just kidding. I am not sure what
we bought, but it was the best food I’ve ever had.
Next stop…Chita!
Read more of this Russian Travelogue at NomadJournalTrips.com
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