Observations from Russia:
If you want to meet a lot of Euros and Aussies while riding accross Russia, take
the Trans-Siberian.
If you want the real Russian experience, fly Samarra airlines from Tianjin to
Irkutsk.
I made a new friend (see first pic) on the plane as we downed a bottle of Scotch with his wife.
I had been very uncomfortable straddling my gigantic carry-on bag on the not-so-ergonomically-designed
Russian plane, until the 3rd or 4th shot of scotch, then no problem. I
think I understood Russians right off the bat.
Lake Baikal has 20% of the worlds fresh water.
Siberians are very proud of Lake Baikal.
Irkutsk averages -26 celsius in the winter, very warm in late August though.
There seem to be a ton of weddings in Irkutsk on Saturday. The bride and groom ride around in a car with 2 giant rings attached to the top. Everyone else
drives around behind them honking.
Siberia smells like diesel fumes, since you're almost always behind some Soviet
jalopy, but other than that is very beautiful.
The Trans-Siberian train toilets empty striaght onto the tracks.
Russians are sometimes rude at first, but then very fun and big-hearted. I think they have
a very similar spirit to Americans.
Siberian women are not un-attractive to say the least. According to the people in Siberia, their women are a lot prettier than Moscow.
They say Moscow agrees with that assessment but I kind of doubt it. (Ok, actually "they" was a drunk Russian dude on the boat who spoke almost no English, but I'm
pretty sure we still knew what each other were talking about.)
Click a picture to see a larger view.
