Monday, 26 September 2011

23 September. Crossing Poland into Belarus

Our first morning on the train to Moscow was pretty uneventful. Grey and flat countryside with lots of small farms. No wonder the EU despaired at the cost of supporting Polish agriculture!

The bright spot on the greyish horizon was morning coffee. (top tip for travelling is to carry a nylon stocking - one of those foot only ones - fill with fresh coffee, put in a cup and pour on hot water, in our case from the samovar at the end of the carriage. Wait a few minutes, remove the stocking and enjoy the fresh coffee.

We arrived in Warsaw late morning, where after loosing several sections of the train during the night which headed off to Prague et al, we joined onto more Russia bound carriages and became the 12.07 bound for Moscow.

3pm we reached the limit of the EU at the Belarus border.

An extensive border check by Polish authorities, resulted in a family with 2 children being marched off the train from 3 compartments down from us. Then we entered Belarus through security cameras pointing in all directions. Another more extensive check by Belarus/Russian authorities, not sure which because our visas for both were checked and entry and exit card covered both.

Then came the fun bits!

First we were " attacked" by a swarm of women carrying shopping bags full of delectable Belarus stuff - although the berries looked ok, then we were shunted into a shed to have the wheels changed to Russian gauge, and the carriage hooks changed. A fascinating process involving jacking up each carriage.

A levitating train

New wheels are slid under the carriage as the previous wheels pushed out

We were now trapped, and the ladies with the bags followed us. Welcome to the third world!



In all 4 hours to enter the country.

Once we set off with new narrower wheels and on the Belarus tracks the ride was like being on a rollercoaster.

From the train the country looks poor and the houses little more than large sheds.

No food on the train, so another exciting meal of pot noodles to look forward to!

Tomorrow we are Moscow.

No comments:

Post a Comment