24 September

Day dawned at about 0530. I resisted the temptation to rise and rolled over, but by 0745 it was light outside and there was scenery to be scene (or should that be seen?). Off down to the toilet (no shower, that I can find) and a sponge down of the important parts, a dry off with the towel (Formule1-size) and dress in a track suit (I’ll try that for the duration). Then it was get a cup of tea, load it up with sugar, and slowly drink it.
After a while Sharon woke up, so to celebrate our first morning on the train we had a chocolate Teddy Bear biscuit. Then it was prepare for the day (neither of us knows what it will contain).
At about 1035 we stopped in Kirov (Vyatka) for fifteen minutes. Here was a chance to stretch legs, get away from the overheated carriage, buy some goods (coke in my case, two litres for 80 py6, but no bread) and see the souvenir sellers. Quite a few left the train, including a couple from two cabins down, where the man spoke some English but the woman spoke quite good English. Just before we left, the TransMongolian train pulled in, with Chinese (male) staff in comparison to our Russian (female) staff. Here I ran into a couple from Sweden who I had met briefly yesterday evening on the platform at Moscow. It looks like our trains will be travelling parallel (or nearly so) until our routes separate just after Ulan-Ude. They are slightly behind us and pull into stations on another platform if there is one available. The Chinese staff smile and seem friendly (this is the train I will be returning on). The provodnitsa warned me we had only ten minutes stop, so I was back on in plenty of time.
Oncc out of the station, we passed more woodland with some open fields and the occasional village. The cleaning staff vacuumed and changed the bed linen in the vacated cabins and everyone looked busy (though I had no idea of what they were doing). Sharon and I had some more tea, I had some more coke, and time passed as did more scenery. The autumn colours are very scenic on the trees, but the windows in the cabin (double glazed) are not too clean on the outside, so photography through them is problematic.
At our next stop (Balyezino) I got a bread roll and some cakes for the day’s meals. As the afternoon progressed on, I ate the roll and some of the cake, we had more tea, I had some more coke and the day, overcast, continued. Later in the afternoon we stopped at Chetspa for about fifteen minutes. On the platform I met some fellow Australians who are in Car 8 (I’m in Car 7, Berth 4) – but they are not going all the way.
Not long after we pulled out, I downloaded and processed today’s photos (not very many) but couldn’t do anything more except update my blog. I haven’t come across any open wireless networks, nor do I imagine I will. Then darkness descended gradually and evening settled in.
Just to vary life a little (as a routine has been established by now), we went to the Restaurant car and shared a bottle of Muldovian white wine (note to Cindy if you’re reading this – the train has a wider-named selection of wines than the ship). During the first glass the lights went out (not a power failure, just the restaurateur’s way of telling us to hurry) and then back on again, but at the end of the second glass, the restaurateur pointed to his watch and made it obvious he wanted to go to sleep (even though it was only 2100 Moscow time but 2300 local time). We retired to the cabin and settled down for our second evening on the train. Before midnight local time I was asleep.