Missing French men and dying Russians.

Well greetings from Irkutsk in the heart of Siberia. 50 hours on the train, oh my god. Well lets see. I didn't really sleep very well the night before i left because I was afraid that I would sleep in and miss my connection to here. When I boarded the train the lady in charge of the carriage quickly showed me to my berth, each compartment has 4 bunks, two up and two down and then a little table. In the darkness I noticed that there was a lady asleep in one of the lower bunks and in the upper one, an elderly man. Then I started hearing baby voices, I thought, oh no, the place is haunted. But then next morning it was clear that I was sharing my carriage with a mother and daughter.
I really didn't do anything, a lot of sleeping and looking out at the wonderful countryside. I tried to get into War and Peace, a novel as vast as the scenery out the window. It really was magnificent. Huge open plains as far as the eye can see. mountains in the misty distance and the odd little wooden house with a bashed up lada out front and a wisp of smoke coming from its chimney.
The lady in my compartment told me via my phrase book that she spoke no English. Anyway i met up with some Germans, there were loads of them on the train. It's funny the guide book says to be careful or you won't get fed because the Germans do the equivalent of their beach towel thing and block book the dining car. And they did. Luckily for me because there is only me, some of the them let me join them. I refused their offers of dodgy looking Russian vodka and stayed with my trusty Czech beer. The food wasn't up to much but again I wasn't complaining. Over cooked chicken and boiled to death vegs all smothered in a very salty and unappetising sauce.
The drama. The next morning i woke to the sound of a blood pressure monitor and when I looked up the elderly man who had been in the bunk above me was lying on the bunk across from me, his face ashen and him gasping for breath. He was having a heart attack. Well I'm just not very good in situations like that, and I was kind of afraid that he would die or something. So I hop skipped in out of the cabin with my mug and a teaspoon of coffee. There was a party of French people in the cabin next to me, I tried to explain to them, in French what was going on, le homme dans mon carriage une mal de coup ... they didn't seem to understand, i put my hand on my chest and made a choking sound, by this stage they were bemused and looking a little afraid, then i said Cardiac arrest, not me, le homme and i pointed behind me, a sigh and they granted me asylum. My friendship with the French ended abruptly when i whipped out my copy of War and Peace, hmmm not a good move.
Eventually after about an hour of running around and general panic and chaos on the train they stopped at a large town and some doctors got on with a stretcher. The Russians are so weird. Even as the doctors were coming on the train and the passengers knew what was going on they were pushing past and making no exception for the poor dying man. Hmmm yes the poor dying man was next spotted carrying his own bags and hop skipping off the train like nobodies business. It was weird.
Anyway in the meantime the french people who had given me refuge, decided to get off the train for a walk, we were going to be stopped for 20 minutes. I couldn't because i didn't have my shoes and was still in my night clothes. Things calmed down after the old man got off the train and i went back into my cabin had another cup of coffee and charged my ipod. Then the train started up again and we were trundling out of the station when I thought, THE FRENCH PEOPLE!!!! So I checked their cabin, empty, and so I went to the lady who looked after the carriage and tried to explain to her that the french people were missing. She was like, restaurant, restaurant? I was saying neit neit, (I've gotten good at saying that.) So the train stopped and backed back into the station. And about 15 minutes later the french folks were escorted to the train my some rather grumpy looking police men. I had a nap after that.
Of course the Germans had the dining car block booked again that afternoon and I was starving. But I had to make do with some toblerone and coffee. It turned out that the lady and child's grandmother was on the train and she came to our compartment and told me that her daughter was just shy and could speak English, in fact had studied it for 2 years in university. Well I did study french for 5 years and my best bet is parle vous English? I ended up playing chess with them, and I won. Ireland v. Russia in chess and I won. Okay it was the little girl, she was only 6 and it was best of five and I won 3-1. But I won!
They couldn't understand what I was doing traveling on my own so out of no where i made up this story that I was supposed to get married and my boyfriend broke off with me and broke my heart so I am away trying to mend a broken heart. I thought that the old lady was going to cry. She gave me some tea and a chocolate cake. It was lovely.
I have to say these Russians aren't really into the whole tourist industry thing at all. When the guy, Boris, picked me up from the station this morning, I asked him about a tour of lake Baikal, and he was like, neit, i am too busy. So I kind of lost it with him, he was showing all the sites in Irkutsk, I snapped, I've seen enough bloody wooden houses to do me for a lifetime, I have travelling over land for 3 weeks to see the fecking lake for crying out loud. He just said, neit, and went on about the city. Anyway there are buses on the hour out to Baikal and I could also get a taxi. I have hardly spent any money here at all so I might as well splash out I am going to be here again for a while I would think. My god if this was America they would be climbing over you to arrange tours and driving you nuts with their hard sell, whereas here it's like they just don't care, or get it. Where's the happy medium.
The hotel here is fine, I had a nap when I got in and then had a long hot shower. it makes such a difference.
So that's all my news, resting today and will go to Baikal tomorrow and maybe also Sunday.