If there is one thing travel guidebooks warn you NOT to do in Russia is to travel in Platzkartny, the third class train compartment. Indeed, the few Russian people I spoke to prior to the trip made all possible efforts to dissuade me from doing this, but I was quite adamant. Then I was taught how to ward off overly friendly travelers who will force you to have some vodka with them, and guidebooks scare you with stories of theft, dirt, noise and (lack of) security etc…
I’m pretty sure that none of them have traveled in 2nd class trains in India. 🙂
Train ticket
My train ticket: Moscow to Adler. Impossible to understand unless you look carefully and know some Russian
Tatt Прийанк Шрикант (Thatte Priyank Shrikant)
Вагон 01/П, Места 051 (Wagon 01/P, Seat 051)
Москва Каз – Адлер (Moskva Kaz – Adler)
22.10, 09.21 (date and time)
1105.0 РУБ (1105 RUB, about $55)
I think that was enough information to have. 🙂
Kazansky train terminal
With a backpack, wearing baggy shorts and a tshirt, as I was waiting for my friend Evgeny at the Kazansky train terminal in Moscow, I never felt so much out of place. Did I mention that Russians dress quite fashionably? And fashionable might mean Eurotrash but certainly does not mean American backpacker look, which I was drenched in. Anyway. Evgeny got my ticket ‘authorised’ from some place and we found my train waiting to be boarded. Then I was alone with a bunch of people staring at me. “Yes I’m from the Indian movies you watch all the time on TV”
Main hall at Kazansky Train Terminus, one of 9 long-distance train terminals in Moscow. There are obscure booths here n there providing train services.
Train platforms at Kazansky, where is my train…?
Trains and people
I was quite shy and hesitant of taking pictures since it was my day 3 in Russia and I didn’t know how people would take it. Well there is nothing to worry – forget what the guidebooks tell you about overly vigilant police who are waiting to prey upon foreigners.
Ah there it was! Clearly marked АДЛЕР (Adler/आद््ल्यर)
My train
I’m fascinated by rail engines, and this one was diesel… so rare to see! Very cool.
See the lady in the uniform with a drag-queen hairstyle? She was the Provodnitsa, the attendant, of my compartment.
Provodnitsa, (प्रोवोदनीत्सा) the lady who was in charge of the compartment, inspected my ticket, tore off a part marked контрол (kontrol), asked for my passport (which she couldn’t read), looked at me (I look different from the picture) and let me in. I dutifully tried to butter her up after the train started (as the guidebook advised) but she was very stern and a I-don’t-ever-smile type person who was very proficient at saying a loud and clear ‘Nyet‘. Only after 8 hours I made her smile with my broken Russian while asking if it was okay to plug my battery charger in an electrical socket in her room.
I will take you on a little tour inside the platzkart coach and the train in my next post. I was happy to be on the train and I smiled to myself as it chugged off 5 minutes later to a destination 1,400 km south on the Black Sea.
Ha-ha, “out of place”? No surprise, wearing shorts when it’s close to freezing point 🙂
LOL, hey it was +5ºC .. I checked. 🙂
Nice one…catching up on your posts after a long gap. H1N1 madness in Pune right now.
Thanks Shantanu, and take care!
Russian trains! Sweet! I knew Прийанк Tatt will be riding in one somehow. And yes, that lady really looked like a drag queen.
Have you seen the movie “Trans-Siberian?” That was rather thrilling, and the provodnitsa also looked like a drag queen.
I haven’t seen the movie, just remember seeing couple of trailers and read a review. Its fun, isn’t it! 🙂
well..the station seems to be quote neat n clean and not much crowds..atleast by indian standards, its quite an ok crowd!!!…
Hi SS, yeah it was empty… lol. But metro system in Russia is VERY crowded. 🙂
I enjoyed the ride and saw the provodnista smile at you while she let you use the socket in her space 🙂
Happy Independence Day. Probably you dont even remember any more.
lol that was nice of you Trisha~! 🙂
That train hall looks more like an opera theater! Train stations make for such lovely pictures!
Isn’t it beautiful? I’ll post pictures of Moscow metro later. These places are like museums!
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Heeei lovely,
The general grumpiness of all state clerks in postsocialist countries is well known (as you mentioned here & talked some other time) but it’s just a reflex of the fact that they were in a lot of control and power in the previous regime (communist regimes had to keep the resources, not to sell them). In this note, let me tell you, that in Romania some categories of state employees, like policemen, for example, will get 15% more to their wages for just smiling while doing their job. 🙂 See, it’s nothing implicit here. 🙂 Next time, it will be 20% for not taking bribery & 30% increase for actually doing their job. 🙂 The future sounds…luminous, right? 🙂
Hi Oana!
LOLOL That’s funny, I can’t believe they actually pay them more! 🙂 Imagine jobs in the future will include “smiling” in the Job Description otherwise people will refuse to do it… crazy indeed!!
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Russia Train Terminus reminds me of Grand Central Terminal, New York!
Ah, I shall visit that terminal soon then!
[…] took a 30 hour train journey to Sochi, on the Black Sea, in a second class compartment. It was […]
Platskartny is the way to travel, I have used that class quite a few times myself through Russia. Its an experience!!