Wednesday - April 16th 2003 As I write this we are about 40 minutes from Chelyabinsk. It was an 11-hour ride and not too bad. The sleeper cabins are comfortable enough and I was able to get about 8 hours sleep, have a coffee and find a place to plug in my laptop. Our journey took us through a corner of Kazhekstan and across vast stretches of… well, nothing actually. Winter is slowly turning to Spring which (here) means the snow is giving way to frost and the small fields are being tilled and planted. I also noticed (trivia time) that the telephone poles (and there must be millions of them) have all been recently replaced and I idled away some time imagining what it must have been like to do that out there in the wilderness. Travel Tip… if you travel by train in Russia (and it's not a bad way to travel) always insist on reserved first-class space and, in the case of overnight rides, a sleeper compartment. It's really inexpensive (certainly by Western standards… our St. Petersburg-Moscow first-class sleeper was only $35.00 per person) and it makes a huge difference! For most of the world these trains would seem old and a little bit past their prime but for people from the UK they would appear totally luxurious!! (sorry again Your Majesty!!) When we get to Chelyabinsk we will have some breakfast and then drive to Magnitogorsk and I'll pick up the story from there!! Hope you are enjoying reading this little "diary" as much as I am enjoying writing it. The drive is about three hours and I am now in the back of the car, looking out at… well… nothing again!! Man this place is huge! Here and there are little "pockets of existence" and you can see signs of construction too but it's mainly a landscape of land and kazillions of silver birch trees. Ha! As if to break up the monotony, we just got stopped for speeding again! I'll find out how much this one cost and get back to you! We are now about 30 minutes from our destination and are recklessly navigating what I can only describe as a three-lane pothole!! We are in a very nice car but, as Andy Pyle once said "a luxury vehicle doesn't work… it's a luxury road we need" or words to that effect anyway! Next day...

Copyright © 1996-2003 Ken Hensley Comments? Write to: webmaster@ken-hensley.com