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The morning after departure from Moscow Yaroslavski station, somewhere near Kirov. The full majestic sweep of the 20-carriage long 'Baikal' train to Irkutsk can be seen round this bend. The carriage sign reads Baikal Irkutsk - Moscow. The train is named after Lake Baikal, near Irkutsk - our next destination. Soviet-era electric locomotives waiting their next turn of duty at Balezino A busy scene in the early evening light at Perm station. On the left, our train with a melée of passengers departing and arriving, and the usual food and drink sellers. On the right, a packed local train arrives and is emptied of its passengers, hurrying home. The sun is setting in the distance. Typical busy scenes at Omsk station. Stops at larger stations are often as long as twenty minutes, giving plenty of time to leave the train and buy food, drink and other provisions from locals, mainly women. Much of the food is home-cooked and delivered hot and ready to eat. There is also a wide variety of smoked and dried fish available. It is important to keep alert - the train departs without any warning so you have to be ready to get back on board as soon as it gets close to departure time - the provodnitsas usually start gesticulating if you're cutting it too fine! Krasnoyarsk is a large university town. Despite the vast amounts of space available in Siberia, many of the residents of cities such as Krasnoyarsk live in cramped apartment blocks such as these. However, not far out of the city, the landscape becomes much more rural again.

	I publish new stories here while I am travelling. Click on each title to read the full story. Date Title Written From Wed 19th Jun, 2002 Poland - Looking Back, Looking Forward Warsaw, Poland Wed 12th Jun, 2002 Changing Times, Moving Borders Wroclaw, Poland Tue 05th Mar, 2002 Land of the Mountain People Darjeeling, West Bengal, India Tue 26th Feb, 2002 Toy Trains - the only way to travel Darjeeling, West Bengal, India Thu 21st Feb, 2002 What is your Good Name? Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India Subscribe to receive new stories by e-mail List More Stories...