M-whY

That's not to say all business came to a halt. While rolling, some of the Russians on board walked up and down the carriages, picking things up at what the considered bargain prices. A couple times, my cabin mates would hold up a pair of gloves and look at me as if to say, "Do you want to buy?" I'd smile and shake my head. I'm not a believer in buying stuff I won't use (and can't get a kick out of) just because it's cheap. And I already had a pair. Purchased in Beijing from a street peddler, I was sure it didn't have a 'retail' markup.

For most of the morning - again, morning by my watch - I sat in Eduardo(left) and Alexandr's(right) room. All the Mongolians in the carriage seemed to know each other, and at any given moment, there could be 6-8 people in my room. Eduardo and I agreed: It's a cultural difference. They weren't bad people, in fact, they sometimes shared their food with me, but having all those bodies and inventory in a small space wasn't exactly pleasant. Alexandr and his wife were extremely friendly. They shared their cookies and insisted on making coffee and tea for everyone. Communicating wasn't easy; It involved a lot of flipping through the Chilean's Russian-Spanish pocket dictionary followed by translation to english, but it was all laughs as we massacred each other's language.

Ekaterinburg's police were more lax. The mall was allowed to open, though we were still told no photography. We got our pictures anyways, because as Eduardo pointed out, they couldn't really do anything once the train started rolling again. Ekaterinburg also happened to be Alexandr's stop. Once their bunks were free, I moved my things over. For a day, it was interesting to be in the thick of things, but for reasons mentioned above, I was ready for a change.

30km later, 1777km away from Moscow according to the distance markers, we crossed into Europe. The moment whizzed by. I barely got a picture of the obelisk marking the spot. Is it a milestone that deserves more attention? Probably. It's been seven months since I last crossed a continental border. However I didn't feel any different. And certainly nothing on the train changed. Sellers were still hawking goods at Perm, buyers were still gobbling themup. In a couple new twists, I noticed the provodnitsas themselves were joining the action, and we also saw a fight break out in the mob, but all in all, it was more of the same ol', same ol'.

As Maureen held her video camera out to record the melee, we heard a man jokingly shout, "Buy your camera!" The three of us looked at each other and grinned. Eduardo verbalized what all of us were thinking.

"Next time, we should bring some of our own clothes to sell. Then maybe we can earn back the cost of our train tickets!"

Thanks to everyone for their support and comments! Knowing people are reading keeps me motivated to continue the updates!