Am pleasantly surprised by the trains here. I was expecting a pretty cramped compartment with hard seats and possibly mild cushioning.

It is possible that some of the trains are poor, I have no way of finding that out. However, the no name #7 train I am on has a pretty decent feel to it. The compartments are pretty tiny but comfy for 4 to sleep in. A bit difficult if you need to constantly shuffle your baggage but once settled in, one can feel a bit of space and not too claustrophobic.

The cushioning is pretty solid. On top, they also provide additional bedding and fresh change of covers. There is tons of room to stow baggage and a lot of well thought out (comes with decades of running the service ) nooks and crannies where one can stow luggage, books, hang clothes etc.

The corridor is a bit cramped but I don’t mind it since it makes more room inside. The place is a bit too warm, would guess 25+C and I have to strip to sleep comfortably. Nice and toasty if you walk in from -20C

The journey has started and it is 56 Hrs to Irkutsk. So it is time to kick back, read some books and in my case, sketch a lot and ge a nice sketching hand and possibly, explore my imagination and draw something interesting.

Walking on water? Well technically, water but realistically, solid frozen ocean of ice.

We met a really friendly couple who were taking a romantic evening stroll. Imagine a nice evening stroll during subset at -15c. Well I was freezing even with 3 layers of clothing, gloves and head-gear and here is this girl telling me that it is actually nice and warm. Incidentally, she comes from Khabarovsk and it is 33 below and the temperature to her is relatively warm.

Well I am happy that I me a nice warm couple in a cold place and that makes my evening.

On my way to the train station, we are stopping at this slightly upscale cafe called bibabo. This is a cool looking joint complete with shisha and waitresses who are cute as peach. Excellent way to crank up the journey. The desserts (the edible kind, in case you are thinking otherwise) look promising and am looking forward to having them.

Also Looking forward to board the trans-Siberia in a few minutes.

Took a flight out of Moscow and cooping up at hotel Vladivostok. This is an old hotel near the railway station and we decided to spend a few hours resting before the train ride.

We have about 8 hrs before the train and so will be going around the town a bit. Sitting in this pub getting some lunch before the walk about. Have great views of the Japan sea with people ice fishing there. The ocean is frozen as far as the eyes can see. Weather is 20 below and we are sitting in this warm room

Should start the proper Russian tour in a little bit.