the landscape stretches wide through the window. it is stunning and impressive. on both sides are hundreds of miles of pine forests with no visible boundary. occasionally, right by the tracks up pops a small town or village, normally made up of rusting industry from a previous time. metallic cylinders rise from the bleached concrete and white paint flakes from brick factories and mystery facilities. railway sidings fling out from beneath us and head through arches in the rotting buildings where all shapes and sizes of rolling stock sink into the clasping undergrowth.
these graveyards are held within gatherings of wooden shacks. homes. well-weathered people amble amongst the sagging industry, growing their own root vegetables in the abandoned shipping-yards. this is a bit more like the russia i expected. the rural part anyway.
it amazes me that the little decrepit wooden buildings can successfully shield the occupants against the harshest of winters, but i guess these fellows are a lot tougher than us western folk.
the one industry through the television window that appears to be still active is lumberjacking the enormous expanses of pine forest. but it barely seems to be making a scar on the visually infinite tree-scape. you can almost empathise why macdonalds doesn't understand the extent of it's damage to the rain forests. and the others. these forests are just too enormous for an individual to work out. you can't visualise the far edge.
it's big. and crossing it at a maximum of 45kph so the train doesn't fall off the tracks only enhances that.the sun is behind us now and there is a hint of a drop in temperature. there is a feeling that we are gaining altitude. tonight, while the darkness folds over us we will cross the ural mountains and wake up in asia.
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