Russia 5 Life on the train

Aug 9

We had 2 nights and a day on the train travelling from Irkutsk to Novosibirsk. We easily got into the rhythm of life on the train. I made morning coffee using water from the water heater in each corridor.  The provodnista provides glasses in metal holders to each passenger. They are the best way of carrying hot liquids around.  We eat our bread and cheese and veggies. Russian cucumber is tasty with salt.

In the early morning the landscape was misty. The landscape changed over the day, from forest to a wetter terrain. We saw many silver birches and different pine trees. The ground became swampier. We saw many dachas with small vegetable patches. The potato harvest should be good in Russia this year. Around towns there was evidence of light industry with pylons and generators. We passed through 21 stations with a long stop at Krasnoyarsk station. This has a beautiful neoclassical style tiled roof.

The train travels quite slowly, about 50 km/ hr very different to the intercity trains in the Uk. We relaxed and read our books and phones, leant Russian, walked up and down the train and slept. We bought extra food on the stations, pies stuffed with potato and cheese. We drank Kvas, a brown summer drink with a clean cool taste made from fermented rye bread.

We had an excellent supper in the dining car, Ann posted a popular photo of me eating herrings and drinking champagne. An evening storm blew across the landscape and water leaked in through windows left open.

We rose early because we reached Novosibirsk at 6.00 am.

Irkutsk to Novosibirsk 52 hrs

Russia 3 Ulan-Ude : Buryiat culture and skinny dipping in Lake Baikal

Ulan Ude is the capital of the Buryiat republic, a Mongolian culture. Nomads who lived with horses are now settling in cities, 30% of the locals speak Buryiat and it is being promoted in schools. The Buryiats are keen on the sports wrestling, archery and horse racing. We visited a huge Tibetan bhuddist monastery outside Ulan Ude. Bhuddism was partially repressed during the Soviet era but is now flourishing there. We walked round clockwise spinning prayer wheels. The preserved body of a local saint is on view and people visit him for good luck, he looked hunched up and dried out. Many Mongolians were being photographed in their best clothes at the shrine. Many people have Mongolian features with pale round faces and dark hair.

Ulan Ude has the largest Lenin head statue in Russia. We walked round a pedestrianised area beside the cathedral and saw 18 and 19 century wooden houses. The theatre was an Art Deco building with Mongolian additions. Gulag victims were remembered with an affecting monument with faceless woman and child beside a barbed wire fence and the caption “What for” which conveys the incomprehensible horror of the gulag. We had a fine view of the town from a rooftop bar where we sipped Russian champagne and nibbled pickled veggies. The main fountain near Lenin’s head had a 19 century theatre and music timed to its water displays Many people were out enjoying a summer evening.

Lake Baikal is a 2 hour drive from the city. We had an enthusiastic guide, 24 yr old Ivan who is very enthusiastic about the lake. The lake is vast, fed by 300 plus rivers and between 2 tectonic plates. The lake is 80 km at its widest point and more than 636 km. long. It feels like a clean sea. On the west side there are many beach huts. We walked down to the lake and swam, I skinny dipped because I had forgotten my swim suit. Ivan described the beautiful ice sculptures that are formed by ice and wind in the winter.

On our journey back to Ulan Ude I asked him about politics and found that he supported the protests occurring now in Moscow.

Ulan Ude feels both Mongolian and Soviet. One can see the history of the area in the architecture from the 18c to the 21st and the marks of the Soviet era are visible.

Russia 2 Khabarovsk Remote but interesting city

July 31- Aug 1

Our first train journey was from Vladivostok to Khabarovsk, 588 km over 8 hrs. We needed our passports to board the train and the bookings were checked electronically by the provodnitsa. The trains are well appointed in second class with 24 berths per carriage. I slept well in our four berth couchette, with blankets and sheets and neat reading lights and two toilets per carriage. We had breakfast of porridge before getting up. The in carriage samovar has been replaced by a hot water heater that we are using avidly. It was useful to have a short journey now because we know what to expect on the train. I enjoy walking up and down the carriage and looking out of the windows.

We had 2 nights In Khabarovsk located in the Far Eastern part of Russia, beyond Siberia. The town had two dramatic cathedrals with glistening domes. Next to one was a huge modernist second world war memorial with thousands of names, just reading them was moving. We visited an excellent museum with displays about life in Russia across the centuries and depicted a gulag camp in the 1940’s. There was a fascinating display of political carpets made over the 20 century and celebrating political leaders including Stalin and a female cosmonaut on a deep blue background. In the evening we went on a river cruise and saw a huge bridge and sunset whilst sipping Russian champagne.  People were surprised that English travellers should be in Khabarovsk.

We liked the city, it felt remote but laid back and was easy to walk around. The weather has been very changeable, Misty in the morning, then hot at midday and with rainstorms in the afternoon.

New face India

This project went well.  I was in India for 2 weeks photographing patients for the project to create positive images for leprosy.  I worked with Lepra India who are linked to Lepra UK. They are really fired up about the project and gave us great organizational support with getting patients on board for the project and arranging our itinerary.  We had a new photographer, Tom Bradley who has done many leprosy photos. 

We spent a week out in the field visiting patients and seeing them work, one woman was harvesting cotton, another chopping wood.  We saw cobras out in the fields.  People lived in neat clean homes. In Hyderabad we visited patients in the Old City. I was reunited with one of my patients from 40 years ago, a tabla player. He still played for us accompanied by his 16 yr son singing.

Many patients had felt suicidal when they were diagnosed. An educated engineer man described how he felt unclean when diagnosed and self isolated himself from his wife. His sister, a senior bank manager has still not visited him since his diagnosis. 

The violence being perpetrated against women came into sharp focus. Husbands often visit for violence and taking their wives hard earned money. One women who lamented that her husband had left her was told by the male health team that she was better off without a violent partner.  The Indian arranged marriage system creates challenges because a diagnosis of leprosy can be used against a girl to prevent her marriage.  

We had excellent support from the organizations.  Lepra UK have a House of Lords event at the end of Jan and we shall have a small exhibition there and one in India in Feb.  It is great to have such organizational enthusiasm. I think the moniker “new face and positive images” creates a new fresh feel even though we then hear tough stories.  Getting ready for the Jan deadlines will keep us focused. 

Nov 2019