June, 2010: Day 4 - The Trans-Siberia: We're half way there: Krasnoyarsk to Barabinsk

Over the night, the train crossed the halfway point between Moscow and Vladivostok, passed Ilanskaya station and into GMT+8 timezone.

At daybreak, the train crossed the Yenisey River as it approaches Krasnoyarsk station.
The river would eventually empties into the Arctic Ocean.
While it has been a full day since crossing the border, Siberia so far had not felt like Russia to me. It was either the stations was so deserted or, as in Ulan Ude, the population was more Asian than European. Krasnoyarsk straddles eastern and western Siberia, after crossing it, we are into western Siberia, and things start to look more Russian/European.
It is also here that I got my first Russian welcome. A russian labourer unloading luggages gave me the middle finger while I looked on from the train window. He looked like he had a hangover. He also looked like his parents are siblings.

It's also the first time I got to take a good look at the stuff selling from the platform kiosk. Unfortunately, without ruble on me, I could only window-shop, and try to read the cryllic on the packaging.
Notice the timeslip at the platform, the railroad signboard showing 4:06 (Moscow time), and the red LED sign on the building showing 8:05 (local). Any girl can leap from the platform and call herself the "girl who jump through time".
The scene outside got more European to me. Pine trees, log houses and small plots of farm and garden.
Around noon, the train would had passed the 3932km marker, halfway between Moscow and Beijing.
At lunch time (going by my biological clock, of course), I went into the Russian restaurant car. With pen-and-paper, I worked out the exchange rate for US$ and ruble with the waiter, and settle for what turned out to be waffles topped with smoked salmon. This costed me US$10 with a 20 ruble change. At last, some ruble in my pocket.














After lunch, the K3 crossed the Kiya River (I think),
...and arrived at Malinsk, named after Maria Alexandrova, the German wife of Tsar Alexander II.
The Malinsk station is a solid red-brick building. By now, you would expect each new station the train arrived at to have her own distinct character. Even the smaller ones that the train just whizzed pass have their own charm.

The weather in west Siberia is definitely sunnier than east Siberia, and the landscape flatter, the view less obstructed by the (taiga) trees in the east. The shades of color 'blue' seems to have the 'habit' of getting their names from the places they are associated with. Bondi Blue from the Australian beach, and China Blue from Chinese porcelein. As I survey the summer sky, I start to imagine that the blue of the Russian flag must be the same as this Russian sky.
"I've been working on the railroad, la la la la la la......." (btw, Day 4 is a Friday.)
About 6 hours from Malinsk, tiny stations started to fly by the train. These usually just come with a gate, chain-linked fence along the platform, and simple no-frill benches on the platform. These are stations that serve the suburbs of large cities, along which local lines ply. Once in a while, you will see grannies waiting for a train to take them home from their supermarketing.
After these suburb stations, sign of the city comes into view.

And not just any city. Novosibirsk, New Siberia, the capital city of western siberia, with the largest station in Siberia.

Novosibirsk station takes on a mint green color scheme, which make me want to get a chocolate bar at the kiosk. Too bad I only had 20 ruble with me.
Leaving Novosibirsk station, we crossed the Ob River, one of world's longest. And very likely one with the shortest name.
It says a lot about the size of the city of Novosibirsk, by the numbers of small suburb station the train flied by. So many that the city planner eventually ran out of name for the station. Here's one simply named "3307KM", sort of like our "Ten Mile Junction".
Four hours after leaving Novosibirsk, the train arrived at Barabinsk. I woke from my sleep and peep out the window. It's about 11pm and the platform vendors were covering their carts with blanket and wheeling their wares off the platform.
The train made a 20 minutes stop before continuing into the cold Russian night.