Today we left Asia. But not before we had a few hours to kill. We went for a repeat meander of downtown Ekaterinburg. It seemed a good day for an ice cream but yesterday we learnt that everybody tends to drink a beer in public, so we went looking for a beer. All we could find were ice-cream stands. No thank you, that's so Western. Instead we headed somewhere more foreign - a Scottish Pub. A Scottish pub is a curious thing, there's no globally famous beer like Guinness, and the decor is very 'British'. There is Scotch, but that's not really a pub drink. Instead there are just random St Andrew's crosses about the place. And the dozen or so dwarf-sized mannequins dressed in kilts & sporrans in all the window fronts.

After a lunch of Russo-Scotch food we headed to the supermarket. We had learnt our lesson regarding the absence of platform food and the goodness of Zakoosaka on the last train. As such we stocked up on finger food and vodka. Picking vodka is not easy.

There are about 20-30 to choose from, they all cost about the same and have no readily distinguishing characteristics. So we bought some 'pretty' ones. With supplies in hand we spent our last hour or so in the hotel lobby before taxiing back to Ekaterinburg Vokzal.


It was all very familiar on the train by this stage. We were even in the same carriage, compartment and seat numbers. A complete facsimilie of our last trip two days ago. The train stop times were the same as last time. Almost everything was just like 48 hours ago. It was like we had slipped out of the time-space continuum for 48 hours and reemerged now, smelling a little better. And with more vodka. One thing that remained exactly the same was the impact point on Gavin's head of the all too solid head rests.

They are seemingly positioned to deter people from sitting too close to the window. So when you suddenly lurch over, having seen something of interest beside the train, you will connect, headways, with a very solid object. Having walked around for two days with a constant headache from a few such blows to the head on the previous trip Gavin was not keen to repeat the effect. Unfortunately the neurological sequelae of these head traumas was an ironic amnesia. And so he immediately launched head first into the head clunker as soon as the train started to pull away from the station. If any readers know Gavin's Visa card PIN or favourite colour could you please leave a comment - he subsequently has forgotten them. He did not, however, forget a large number of excellent swear words.

If things on the train were pretty much the same, things off the train were changing. A little. The birch/larch/pine forest was a little more diverse with rivers and clearings here and there. There were more settlements including some quite pretty villages but also more industrial areas.

The increasing number of rivers were crossed by numerous bridges. As the day drew to an end we wondered if we would recommend this trip to others. If the long time spent on the trains and difficult visas and challenging communication was all worth it. In short, was travelling the Trans-Siberian worth it? I dunno. We'll tell you tomorrow.