Let them eat cake...(posting from the road)

Well things worked out for the green blouse women - we were distracted from plotting our revenge as an opportunity came to disembark from the train itself. We were given 3 hours to explore (and use a washroom) the Siberian border town of Naushki before we had to return for the mandatory passport and Russian customs inspection. The opportunity to stretch our legs was too good to pass, so Tricia and I wandered up and down EVERY single street.

Naushki, like all other towns that we had seen in this part of Russia was a prime example of the Timber Architecture style. Every home had an ornate wooden design and decorative shutters, with the prime decorating colours being green and blue. We ran into a few locals...most with a little too much vodka on board, but overall it was a warm reception. There was a small moment of homesickness for us when we discovered a park in the center of town that had a familiar statue...the moose. It was eerily similar to the Dryden moose (except this one was spray-painted silver and had a headless camel next to him) - we briefly thought of you all back home...

But our day was clearly dragging on...with no end in sight as we hadn't even started the Russian customs yet and then we still had to go through Mongolia long process as well...everyone seemed a little down. What cheers people up more than anything in the world??? A birthday party!
The fact that it wasn't anyone’s actual birthday is irrelevant. Tricia and I found the store in town which had an impressive collection of alcohol and fully decorated cakes. This town is literally 4 streets of ramshackle wooden homes in the middle of nowhere and they have an entire display case of fully decorated cakes. Clearly a party was in order.

So we selected a cake with delicious looking frosting flowers, plus some jumbo beers to wash it down with, and headed back to the platform. Smiles abound as we sang happy birthday (to Pete, he is the youngest and needs to age more than the rest of us) and stuffed ourselves with confectionary goodness in the Siberian sun. It was an odd but pleasant moment.

In our absence, our car was detached from all others – it just sat there all sad and pathetic looking. We reluctantly boarded in plenty of time for the Russian inspectors, customs agents and German Shepards to do their thing through our compartment - and just like that we were off.

Departing Russia we chatted about the lavish palaces we explored in St. Petersburg, the ever-present communist feel of Moscow, the stunning Lake Baikal and the Siberian forests that dotted the landscape as our train slid past. Goodbye dill sprinkled on all foods...goodbye mandatory passport registration fees...goodbye bizarre fashion styles...goodbye inebriated Russians approaching us to be friends...oddly enough we will miss you all.