08.03.08
Off the laid track - Tomsk
Our first deviation from the Trans-Siberian proper was in the direction of Tomsk. You may be thinking that I meant to say Omsk .. but no. Tomsk is beside the river Tom, just as Omsk is by the river Om.
So we veered north to Tomsk and were met there by “Kate”. I asked Kate what her real name was and she said Katya .. which in turn is short for Ekaterina. Apparently non-Russians have trouble with her name … seriously .. one extra syllable? Back to the story … since the lady that usually hosts home stay people only had room for two, we were to be staying at Katya’s house. Katya, by the way, is also the representative for travel agency. Someone should really have a talk to her about taking work home! We were driven back to her place, it seemed that they were expecting two midgets going by the size of the car, by a driver and another random person. Seven people plus luggage only barely made it into the vehicle and when we finally arrived at our destination we pretty much burst out of the car.
Katya lives a little out of Tomsk, in an area called Dosaf, with her mother Lusa - short for Ludmilla. They were sleeping on a sofa-bed while the rest of us took up the three bedrooms in the house. As if this wasn’t bad enough, Lisa managed to lock the toilet door. This may not seem to be an issue but it really is when they can’t find the key. To add to this little comedy Cara was also in dire need of a toilet at the time. So while Cara was praying to whatever gods would listen, Katya and Lusa were frantically looking for a key to the toilet, Lisa was apologizing profusely and I was laughing my head off and taking photos. Katya and Lusa turned out to be great hosts, Lusa kept trying to feed us at every turn and she seemed to think we were a group of ten based on the amount of food she put out.
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Our sightseeing in Tomsk was a one day affair .. Kelly and I headed down to the “Oppression Museum” housed in an ex-KGB holding facility while Cara and Lisa went off in search of more churches. We met later in the afternoon to stock up on supplies for our next train journey which was to be our longest at 36 hours. There’s not much to tell of Tomsk really. There are a lot of ice-cream stands, look for the little penguin! It was also one of the few places I managed to find a decent Internet cafe … although given that it’s a University town that’s hardly surprising I suppose. There are at least five major universities in Tomsk and if you do visit then make a trip down to the State University which covers a large area and quite nice for a wander or a nap on the grass. A walk down Lenina Prospekt (Lenin St) will take you to their war memorial which is set up on a hill side which affords a great view of the river Tom winding its way past the city.
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By the way we did manage to locate a key for the toilet. We were Katya and Lusa’s first home stay guests and quite possibly their last. Next stop Irkutsk for Lake Baikal, part of the train ride there involves a seven hour wait while our carriages are unhooked from one train and then latched onto another.