Day 20 - Further East to Tyumen

We slept in and enjoyed a late check-out before transferring to the train station and saying goidbye to our dear guide, Vadim. He overwhelmed us with his kindness, generosity and good humor. His extensive knowkedge of this part of the world was outstanding and he will be one of those people whose name gets brought up again and again in future stories of our adventures. From over 46 countries, he joins a small group of treasured guides, now part of our family. Davey & Frenchy-Silk Road, Shavkat-Turkmenistan, Monica-Galapagos, Mario & Nicholas-Patagonia, Moses-Kenya, Orhan-Turkey, Ramon-Egypt, Kimthet-Cambodia, Natasha-Russia, Natalia-Yaroslavl, Veronika-Kazan, and VADIM-Yekaterinburg!

We split up into four cabins for our five hour ride to Tyumen. 

The landscape was familuar at this point. Birch and pine lined the tracks with occasional breaks for fields, towns, small farms and country highways. The later filled eith heavy cargo trucks miving from city to city. Electrical easements were wide andsubstantial  indicating huge ususge at some point in the conveyence. There are a lot of people out here. Siberia, as in the lore most of us hsd in our minds is s whole different experience.

Arriving in Tyumen we were met at the station by our  guide and escorted to our hotel. Tyumen is not a tourist town. We are here to break up an otherwise 26 hour train ride. This is an industrial city. Think a very big mining, oil, and technical center with lots of workers. Kinda like the north slope of Alaska...only huge!!  Tomorrow should be interesting. 

The balance of the evening was free to relax. We went to a lical cafe/bar. Dud it sll in Russian. We be pros at this now!!!