Kazan to Irkutsk

In order to spend as much time as possible on Lake Baikal we decided to go directly from Kazan to Irkutsk. Normally this 3 day trip would be delineated with stops in cities like Ekaterinburg or Novosibirsk on the way, but we did the entire trip in one go, in third class! Our trips so far, from Kiev to Moscow and from Moscow to Kazan, had been in second class. Second class is 4 beds in one cabin which is quite comfortable. Third class is an entire train carriage with open plan beds and extra beds squeezed into the space that would be the walkway.

Perhaps the image above gives the wrong impression. It is quite cramped, but in the end the space you have in your bed is the same as in second class and you have the added security of having more people around you. This may seem counterintuitive but having open plan means it is less likely someone will steal your stuff, there are many more eyes watching. Think of it like “community watch”.

We spent most of our time in our bunks either sleeping, watching something or reading, we also got to have some limited conversations with our Russian neighbours, who were very eager to communicate with us. This is something you wont get in 1st or 2nd class. There was however, one night on the train that was a little different…

Kalashnikov

You can probably guess what happened from the picture above. Mirjam and I decided to go to the restaurant to have a beer and use the extra space to play some card games. While playing we began talking to a Czech group behind us who were doing the same. Eventually some Russians showed up and joined the game of blackjack they were playing. Eager to socialise we also joined. Before long there was a few Czechs, a bunch of russians, one Irish and one Swiss, playing blackjack and trying our best to drink all the beer in the train restaurant.

When the train restaurant closed we were given an offer we couldn’t refuse. The Russian guys, three of which were named Sergey (that’s not a joke), invited us back to their second class cabin to drink vodka. We accepted.

Needless to say the next morning was a bit rough, the remainder of the trip was relaxing although we were very happy to finally get off the train when we arrived in Irkutsk at 3 in the morning.

We stayed in a cheap hotel for the night and the next morning we headed for Lake Baikal.

Some tips for the Trans Siberian

The rest of this post will be a loose collection of tips from my experience on the trans siberian. Here is my breakdown of what you will need when travelling in categories; Entertainment, Food, Comfort / Hygiene.

Entertainment

My main source of entertainment was Netflix. Internet access is limited to areas where you have signal which is only in built up areas. There are large stretches of the trip with no signal. Before you go on your trip, download lots of stuff on netflix. I found myself a series and watched the whole thing on the way.

Charging your devices might be an issue, in third class we only had two sockets in the carriage that we could use, which ment either leaving your device unattended or waiting beside your phone while it charges. We got ourselves a huge 26800mAh battery pack to charge from. The one in the link can also fast charge which is really nice.

The next tip is an e-reader. E-readers use very little power and therefore will last the whole trip. If you like to read then a trip like this is perfect, ou will have a lot of time to read.

Food

Each carriage on the trans siberian trains have a water heater that is free to use. The is your only source of heat for cooking. The most obvious food source is instant noodles, you will be able to buy these at most stations where the train stops for more than 10 minutes, so you don’t need to bring everything with you at the beginning. Porridge is a great option for breakfast. Get yourself a tupperware container, porridge and some bananas. Put the porridge in the container, add some hot water, close the lid and wait. Add the bananas at the end for some flavour. One last tip, there are cups available for free from the carriage administrator, they probably wont speak english, but I’m sure you can figure it out!

Comfort / Hygiene

There are no showers in third class. So that’s a thing. If you are going to be three days on the train you are going to be smelly, but there are ways around this. Wet wipes! Every morning and every night, give yourself a good wipe with some wet wipes.

Changing clothes is also a problem because you are surrounded by other people. My best advice here is to have a change of underpant, t-shirt and socks easily accessible and to change under your sheets, the toilets are a little cramped so its difficult to do it there.