The Trans-Siberian Plan is Hatched
To most Americans, the words Irkutsk and Yakutsk are known, if at all, solely from the Parker Brothers game Risk. And, as everyone knows, if you are unfortunate to be allotted these Siberian swaths of earth at the beginning of the game, you will certainly lose (unless you use them as a springboard to Australia). 
Very soon, however, I will not only be visiting said regions, but will be using those words as if I know what the hell I'm talking about. Just hours ago I booked myself a $120 flight from Moskva to Ulan-Ude, deep in the heart of Siberia, on the eastern bank of Lake Baikal, close to the Mongolian border. Yes, that's well into Asia, and is a five hour flight on Siberia Airlines -- that's one hour for each time zone I cross. This flight will almost certainly be the true revealer of how little Russian I've learned and I'm already trying to work up more than one variation of the blank "I-dont-know-what-the-hell-youre-saying-to-me" face. I'm thinking that a combination of this and this may do me well. 
The idea: Drop into Siberia by plane, visit Lake Baikal for as long as I can stand being outdoors, then take the old Trans-Siberian Railway, salmon-like and against the normal touristy direction, back towards Moskva. From there I whisk down the Volga, hitting as many Russian cities as I can handle, then its off to Turkey. I need to find a way to send the snark via cell phone while in Siberia and on the train -- but I still have 24 hours left in dark, rainy, grey Moscow.
posted by rod at 5:33 PM
5 Comments:
I think I learned in Geography 308 that the Trans-Siberian Railway goes through Novosibirsk, which is something like the third largest city in Russia. But if you're headed to the Volga you'll probably pass right through it.
You get a gold star, Jon.
I also heard 'somewhere' that the only people that travese into Siberia are exiles
Another gold star Jon.
I may not know much about Irkutsk or Yakutsk, but I understand that down in Rand McNally, they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people. With golden nuggets of info like that, my globe has practically paid for itself!
(...just some Simpsons humor of the geographical kind for your amusement.)
Hope you have a smooth flight.
Eric
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