Moscow to Irkutsk

5185km
78 hours
5 timezones
4 Belarussians and
1 pack of cards

The cast:
Oleg(20) - Language student, English speaker, "translat-o-r" and musician.
Aleksey(10) - School kid, lucky at cards and games, wants to be a footballer.
Yuri and Lubia - Parents of Oleg and Aleksey, both in Russian Army. Yuri likes ACDC and Lubia is partial to a bit of Dickens.

The story:

9:30am - Jolted awake by a bumpy section of track
9:45-10am - Attempt a full body wash under a strangely engineered Russian tap.
10-11am - Rota system for breakfast round the table.
11-11:30am - Poker school with the family; 7 matchsticks maximum bet.
11:30-11:50am - Train stops. Wander platform checking out the local produce. Buy some mashed potato cakes.
11:50-12:30pm - Read some Dostoevsky, Pushkin and Jackie Collins.
12:30-1:30pm - Russian/English lessons with Aleksey.
1:30-2pm - Eat noodles, salami, bread, cheese and fruit.
2-2:30pm - Watch the family eat noodles, salami, bread, cheese and fruit.
2:30-3:30pm - Gaze out the window at gingerbread houses, haystacks, cows and endless forests.
3:30-4:30pm - Learn and play some Russian card games with the family whilst enjoying the 70s and 80s music being piped through the carriage.
4:30-5:10pm - Snooze (dream about noodles and salami)
5:10-5:30pm - Train stops. Wander platform checking out the local produce. Buy some caviar bread, a bottle of vodka and a toy tractor.
5:30-6pm - Get thumped at chess by a ten year old.
6-8pm - Discuss/compare life in Russia/Scotland, covering topics including politics, sport, films, music, education, crime, the environment and hairy haggis hunting techniques.
8-8:20pm - Train stops. Wander platform checking out the local produce. Buy a goatskin scarf, half a marrow, 2 cedar cones and a cut glass vase.
8:20-9pm - Eat noodles, salami, bread, cheese and fruit.
9-10pm - Play cribbage.
10-11pm - Write journal.
11pm - Jolted off to sleep by a bumpy section of track.

The ending:

It was sad to be leaving our adopted family on arrival in Irkutsk; we'd become quite attached to our cabin and our cabin-mates. Clutching our gifts (Belarussian raisins and Russian cedar cones) we wandered off into the sunrise. Next stop Lake Baikal and Olkhon Island.

Cribbage Update: First break of service, Jools 1 Kev 2