A blue sky day greets us, and all is relatively peaceful, other than the occassional noise of the train's lateral suspension, or wheels on rails. Occassionally the wheels crossing track points provides a quaint clank clank sound, otherwise the ride is smooth and quiet. Certainly the Trans Siberian still represents a proud point of Russian identity, and for many towns, a lifeblood of connection and economic activity.
It is 8am Moscow time, so we have travelled over half of the way to Moscow through the night. Prior to spending the next week in the two big, chaotic and historic cities, it is opportune to assess some of our thoughts on the differences in life of Russian people. Obviously this may change post visiting the big cities, much like the lifes in Melbourne and Sydney are often very different to other parts of Australia. However Australia is around 70% urbanised in our capital cities, so is quite different to Russia, which has over 90% living outside the 2 big cities, and has close to 100,000 towns/ population centres.
Obviously many of these are quite small, and the number of population centres is shrinking over time. In recent years the population has also shrunk (and aged) and hence like Australia a generous baby bonus has been introduced, however it is currently only applicable for a second child. Quite the inverse of the 'one child' policy that China instituted for several decades.
The national pysche is changing. Our 2 recent guides, Vadim and Ivan, both lament the fact that much of Russian history is not taught in schools, and hence students have a poor grasp of understanding significant events in Russian history. Vadim in particular was mindful that the mistakes of the past must be remembered in order not to be repeated, and this was particularly the case with the Stalin era.
The towns/ regions we visited were not luxurious in nature, and didn't seem to be sharing in the new wealth apparent in Moscow, which has made it one of the world's most expensive cities. The town lifestyles we witnessed were more simplistic in nature.....such as many of the older generation gardening during the days. I'm just not sure there is much to do in winter, other than read.
The movement from communism to capitalism is still working its way through in various aspects, such as the fact that education is sometimes free, whereas sometimes university courses are paid, particularly for the higher earning industries. Quite a change to Soviet era policy where all education was free, and everyone was taught to read, no matter how remote their location (or their need for reading skills). This resulted in literacy rates in the high 90s in not only Russia, but Mongolia also.
Smoking seems to be institutionalised, and no smoking signs, such as in this trains' dining car are treated with scant regard by most. All restaurants have a small 'non smoking' section, however it is tokenistic given it's proximity to tables of smokers. The prevelence of smoking is an interesting comparison point to Australia, which seeks to lead the world's anti-smoking movement by removing branding on packets. In Russia, smoke stands are conveniently located above each and every checkout in the supermarket with almost billboard sized glossy advertisements highlighting how cool it is to smoke. One more minor point, the cost of a packet of cigarettes is, in Australian currency terms, under $2. No sin tax on this item in Russia.
Petrol is more expensive in relative terms to cigarettes, however at just under $1 a litre it is about 30-40% cheaper than Australia. Given the wage differential, this is still likely to be a major expense for many Russians. Russia alledgedly does have enough petrol supplies to cover itself for several hundred years, and when combined with gas and water supplies, seems well placed compared to many countries.
Outside of the big cities, Russia appears less outward looking than some countries, Mongolia included. Not only is English fairly small in usage, however only some issues (e.g. US Debt legislation) seemed of minor interest in Russia. Westernisation obviously didn't take hold during the Soviet era, however still seems slow to enter Russia's East..... with only 1 Subway and no McDonalds witnessed thus far. The presence of a Bruce Willis billboard advertising something (shampoo?) was the first 'Hollywood' moment witnessed since crossing the Russian border.
The clothing and fashion styles in Russia thus far look like its back to the 1980s. Whilst no perms are evident, the short fringes on both guys and girls are common, and the mullet/ rat tails are still in fashion for boys/ and men. High waist pants, tank t-shirts, and at the beach.... Speedos are common attire on the men. The women are better dressed than the men.... however this is probably the case in virtually every country. It is easy to say that as a whole the men in Russia appear to be frequently 'batting above their averages".
We now await the price shock of Moscow, and hope the restaurants are not so expensive that we have to continue our frequent train dining experience of eating noodles. Speaking of which, I'm getting hungry, time for some porridge.
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