Siberia, Russia, Part 9 - Chita

After deciding to move to Siberia for a year to teach at the Chita State Technical University, I embarked on a travel odyssey unlike any other. In this entry, we pick up the last stage of the seven-day trip to get there.

Siberia As Seen From A Train

In preparing for my trip, I had actually done some preparation. As a common man, I know most of you female readers will find this hard to believe, but I swear it was so. Yep, I had read up on books, rented movies and so on. I was familiar with the tundra, the forest and the perma-frost of Siberia. And I was going to see it all during the three-day train ride across Siberia. Au Contraire!

Apparently, the untamed wilds of Siberia are a bit farther north than where the Trans-Siberian Railway runs. During our train ride, we saw no forests, no mountains and pretty much nothing. It was like taking a really slow train ride across Kansas. There just wasn