International Railroad Discussion > Trans Siberian Express Trip Part 6

As mentioned some of the off train tours were good an interesting. But many were what I would call "staged" events taking participants to "cultural villages" to see how the "real" people of Siberia live. In the case of the stop at Irtuksk, passengers were taken to the countryside to one such site to see people living in historic wooden houses. Pretty sure they go back to their normal homes well paid following the tourist invasion.  Some of us had had enough. We wanted to see and experience the real Siberia. So we bailed out of the tour for an afternoon of tram riding and photographing. Here are the results.

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For maritime enthusiasts, we also found this preserved ice breaker...now a museum. It most likely got lots of use in that environment.  And this cute little kid in a park. I find I don't take nearly enough people photos other than railway personal!

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Bruce:

That last one is a gem. You bailed on a staged version of how people live and got a real image instead. 

The trams are cool, too. 

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> As mentioned some of the off train tours were good
> an interesting. But many were what I would call
> "staged" events taking participants to "cultural
> villages" to see how the "real" people of Siberia
> live. In the case of the stop at Irtuksk,
> passengers were taken to the countryside to one
> such site to see people living in historic wooden
> houses. Pretty sure they go back to their normal
> homes well paid following the tourist invasion. 

There are many villages in/around the Caucasus Mountain region that do indeed still live like that, althrough they usually have a wooden or even possibly a concrete floor. (think 1-2 inches max.) But that is far south from where the Trans-Siberian railway goes.