Overnight into the second day on the train, there was the enormous land of Siberia out of the window when I woke up. According to the timetable, this train seemed to have stopped at Vladimir and Gorki-Moskovski stations while we had slept. The stops of today would be Kirov, Balezino, Perm and Sverdlovsk stations.
We ate bread and drink we had bought at kiosk yesterday for the breakfast. But black bread was sour. Though I think that bread was not rotten but had such taste, that was terrible food... On the other hand, white bread was not so bad. After breakfast, we walked on the train.
This is the aisle of the first class car. There are double rooms on the right side. After all, the aisle of sleeping car was narrow as the Blue Train(the Blue Train is the nickname of Japanese night train).
The capacity of the first class car was 16(=8 double rooms). Chinese characters are wondeful for us! (Japanese character is similar to Chinese character)
This is a Samovar, so-called water heater. So we could always get hot water. Thought we didn't trust at all because it was a Chinese train running in Russia, hot water was served rightly until Beijin. Because pots were prepared for all rooms, we could cook instant noodles and tea in our room if we put hot water in the pot.
This is a double room of the first class. There were a bunk bed and a chair in the room. A closet was also but the room itself was small. Incidentally, this picture was taken a few days later though the room in the picture is messy. We didn't mess the room overnight:p
Kirov
At 10 a.m. in Moscow local time, we arrived at Kirov station. Because the stoppage time was long, we got off the train, took pictures and shopped. As might be expected, it was very cold unlike Moscow. The temparature was -20 degrees C level.
This is a platform of Kirov station. There was no roof, and it was windswept. But this mood which seems to be on "See The World By Train"- the documentary TV programm- is nice. It's not too much to say that we went to Siberia in order to this! We wouldn't be able to see such view in Japan. Incidentally, the left train is the train No.4, and the right seems to be freight train.
This is a sideboard of our train. This was written in three laungage-Russian, Chinese and Mongolian from the top. There was not English as might be expected. Incidentally, it says "Beijin-Ulan Bator-Beijin" from left.
This is a bogie of our train. Because this train also had buffers between cars, the riding comfort seemed not to be so bad...
This is the phantom PET bottle beer bought a kiosk. Though we had a question "no problem on the quality?", it was normal beer. Because the brown color of the bottle shields from light, it would has no problem. But it looks like only chemical... Though we heard that beer is same as water in Russia, it was not drinking beer as water, but the prices. Incidentally, the right PET bottle is water, and the lower-left red cup is a Korean instant noodle bought in the same kiosk(it was very hot!).
Balezino
After 1 p.m. in Moscow local time, the train stopped at the next station, Balezino. The stoppage time of Balezino was also more than 20 minutes. So we got off the train, took pictures and got fresh air.(Note:Because of too low temparature, it's danger if getting air too much)
A train on the right in the picure is an electric locomotive. According to Mr. K, the feeding system seemed to be DC 3000V. Incidentally, he also said the feeding system around Moscow was AC 25000V. The Russian stile, AC in urban area and DC in the country, is opposite to Japan. He studying power system can recognize it if he looks overhead wires and insulators. Indeed, I also studied like that, but the specialist is different. Incidentally, the track gauge in Russia is 1524mm and boader than "standard gauge"(1435mm) used for Shinkansen and so on. So it's called "broad gauge".
It passed a whole day since we had taken the Trans Siberian Railway. Come to think of it, we wouldn't be able to experience spending a whole day on the same train without any accident or event in Japan. When I think of it, I think we really travelled a long way. There were five days before arrival to Beijin. I wish we enjoy the journey!
By the way, though strange Chinese music sometimes started, was it specifications? It was very scratchy.
This train run very fast despite passenger cars driven by a locomotive and then stopped at where there was not a station. Was is also specifications? We decided to name this "toilet stop for operators". We said "toilet again?" every time the train stopped.
