Entry into Siberia

We had been warned, Russians are unfriendly and never smile. Our first interaction was with our train attendant. First she insisted on $20 USD so that we could have our train booth to ourselves, otherwise we were sharing with the very large drunk guy behind (yeah, so our second interaction was with a drunk Russian). So we paid our first Russian bribe before we had even left Mongolia. Very soon after she came back with souvenirs.

I jokingly asked our Mongolian Honcho how big our TV would be in the train, she looked shocked as she replied there will not be a TV in the train - well, jokes on you Aika. Also, Rudolph's on TV.

They were not very good and overpriced. She insisted we buy one each. After at least five minutes of saying no Andrew and I capitulated, we did need her to assist us through the Russian border after all. Soon after she returned, offering her assistance as a tour guide and her friends house for accommodation once in Siberia. We are fairly certain these would not have been particularly cheap options, but we took down her phone number to appease her. 

Look! An ACTTAB on the Mongolian/Russian border.

Many hours later we arrive in Ulan Ude, our first Russian stop. It was about 11pm. We met Svetlana, and older lady who I believe is one of the bosses of the Ulan Ude tour company. She took us to our hotel and then to the only place she could think of that would still be serving food - an English pub. I can not emphasise this enough, contrary to what we were told every single Russian we have met since leaving the train has been awesome. Svetlana even insisted she would cook dinner for us if the pub was no longer serving food At the pub Svetlana introduced us to her son, who was there drinking with mates. It was late and she wanted to go home, but she insisted he would help us get back to the hotel. Another Russian (Ivan) overheard the conversation Svetlana had with the bar staff. He sat down at our table spoke with us in very broken English for a few minutes, then returned with his friends.

Its the biggest head of Lenin ever! It was part of our impromptu night Tour.

He taught us some Russian and a few hours later he and his wife took us on an impromptu tour of the area around the pub before walking us back to the hotel. This was about 1 or 2 in the morning. Sensational!