Voices In The Night

Although I’d been on countless trains in Russia but for some reason I was just nervous! Maybe it had to do with the fact I was leaving at nearly 11 pm and had waited all day for my midnight train or possibly just a simple case of the usual anxiety before a big trip. I had two days in front of me before I would reach Ulan Ude in the Republic of Buryatia near Mongolia. Compared to the long haul of Vladivostok to Moscow, which is about six days, this was a relatively small ride, a blip on the radar screen really.

When I entered my cabin everything was nicely arranged with lots of reading material in Russian and a TV with a whopping three channels to choose from! I was expecting a smooth journey……until I lay down to sleep. That’s when I could hear my neighbor playing his TV at what seemed like full volume. I tried to ignore it, but it was a bit hard to.  Eventually after putting in earplugs and awakening at least three times throughout the night the feel of the train jerking back and forth lulled me to sleep.

The two days went by rather slowly. The scenery was pretty much the same with plenty of beautiful birch trees, grassy plains, foothills, and small villages scattered throughout the countryside. The biggest highlight of my day always was the longer stops along the way where we’d get anywhere from 5-30 minutes to get off the train and stretch. I always used my time wisely trying to get in the most exercise before it was time get back on the train. Most Russian passengers though were content just standing around smoking a few cigarettes while looking at their cell phone and then eventually making their way over to the small local store located at every railway station to grab some alcohol, more cigarettes and snacks. I always made sure to get back way before the train left. I knew that if it pulled away out without me I’d be as we say “up shit creek without a paddle”.

Because I bought out the compartment (what can I say I’m a typical American I like my privacy plus I’m an only child) I was entitled to one meal on each ticket I bought. This meant I could choose one breakfast and one dinner for my time on the train. Usually at the start of the journey food services would come by and discuss with me my options. Sure enough about five minutes after I boarded there was a knock on the door. In walked a rather large and muscular Russian woman, with a few missing teeth. She was a no nonsense type of woman and the type who looked as if she could easily wrestle three drunken hooligans at once right to the ground! No way was she going to take any crap! My choices for breakfast were actually quite plentiful and I chose the bliny (thin pancakes) with jam and for dinner the choices were chicken or beef. I chose beef. I honestly don’t understand how anyone who is a vegetarian could survive Russia! In Russia it’s all about meat!!

After 48 hours, several Cokes, two time zones, thousands of kilometers, countless hours of watching awful Russian TV and two deep fried potato pirsoshkies later we pulled up to Ulan Ude! We had arrived!!! As I exited the train there was the usual gathering of taxi touts spread out around the station trying to lure unsuspecting train lagged passengers into their cabs where they’d suck you dry of a couple hundred rubles if you were lucky. Since I couldn’t get the car service “Maxim” to work I called my hotel to arrange for a pickup. They sent out a taxi but unfortunately there had been some disconnect between them and the driver leaving me to wait in the bitter howling Siberian wind. Well I thought, I’m in Siberia what else would you expect, balmy weather? Eventually the driver and I did connect but not without drama.

I’d been to Ulan Ude last year and just like the previous time I noticed a real difference between it and the rest of Russia. Suddenly it was as if I had entered a foreign country, people looked more Mongolian, and there just was a different feel than in a regular Russian city. Rightfully so since Ulan Ude sits only a few hours away from the Mongolian border and the Buryatian people have nearly the same culture.

I reached my hotel with a minimum amount of drama luckily. It was interesting to talk to the driver about the past winter’s weather. He explained to me that they received a lot of snow and had experienced extremely cold temperatures, many times around -39°C, which is where centigrade and Fahrenheit start to come together. I guess that’s pretty average, after all it is SIBERIA and Siberia is not known for mild weather during winter.

When I walked into my beautiful large room with a king bed, a feeling of bliss came over me! I was happy to be out of the small train compartment and overjoyed that I would not have to endure another sleepless night at the hands of my noisy neighbor.

As I was lying there I heard something strange, loud echoing voices. I knew they couldn’t be coming from inside the hall or even below my hotel. The voices kept getting louder, stranger, and more eerie coming from all different directions. They had a spooky sound to them and the echoes of them would reverberate against the cluster of buildings that butt up against the train tracks and train yards. Sometimes I’d just hear a man’s voice, other times I would hear a woman’s voice and then they all would come together as one as if they were arguing with one another. The pitch would go higher, then lower, and then other times it’d be a happy medium and most of the time I just really could not understand anything because they were so muffled. 

Eventually after listening for a while and figuring out where the hotel was located in relation to the train station and train yards, I figured out that I was indeed not suffering from a psychological disorder and that the noise was coming from the across the street! It seemed the announcements would go on all night, which was odd because it wasn’t as if elektrichkas (electric trains) would be arriving each minute. Plus I knew the distinctive sound played over the loudspeakers when trains arrive in Russian railway stations. Furthermore, during the day the sounds were nearly non-existent. I never did figure out exactly the point of all the announcements, but didn’t matter, it only added to the allure and luster of this mid-size Soviet like Buryatian town.