Railway station, Vladivostok
Vladivostok literally means "dominating the East". It is the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway, marking the 9,288 km of track from Moscow. It is the largest city in the Russian Far East, and incidentally its window on Asia and the Pacific. In his book Prose du Transsibérien, French writer Blaise Cendrars often refers to Vladivostok as being "at the very end of the journey". Coming from China, for me it was the starting point of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the beginning of the journey.
- My name is Svetlana, I'm 44 and I was born in Irkutsk, Russia. I've been working as a waitress on the Trans-Siberian Railway for three years. I decided to work on the Trans-Siberian Railway because I wanted to travel and discover more of my country. I waited for my children to grow up and become independent before making this decision.
-My name is Galina, I'm 37 years old and I've been working as a waitress since May 2016. I'm originally from Chita, but I now live in Irkutsk. My dream is to become a wagon driver. I have to start at the bottom, but I hope to climb the ladder as quickly as possible.
Svetlana tells me she thinks back to last New Year's Eve, when a circus and singers came on board and transformed the carriage, and then the whole train, into an extraordinary rolling stage.
My name is Sergei, I'm 39 years old. I was born in Vladivostok, but now live in a village on the shores of Lake Baikal. I've been working in the dining car since 2012, looking after coal supplies. Before that, I was already working for the railroads... I've probably spent more time on the train than off it in my life. This train has a life of its own, if you listen to the noise it makes, that "tadam, tadam, tadam"... It's like a heartbeat!
Evija Belanina, 26 years old. Originally from Riga, Latvia.
"When you travel on the Trans-Siberian Railway, you lose track of time. The cabin becomes your home, the train schedule defines your program, the scenery outside the window influences your mood, the stories of other travelers shape your memories. And you realize that the journey has become more important than the destination itself."
[The portrait was taken during a 20-hour train journey from Chita to Irkutsk in Siberia, Russia. 1,103 kilometers separate the two cities].
along Lake Baikal, Irkutsk
Bundid Mienmany, from Vientiane, Laos.
"It's the longest journey I've ever made, spending days and nights on the train covering thousands and thousands of kilometers.... I didn't know much about the Trans-Siberian Railway, just what I'd read or seen on TV. Reality was impossible to imagine, even in my wildest dreams. I feel like I'm learning a lot by sharing this confined space with people from all over the world and the locals, rooted in their daily lives."
Tanya Chong, 27, from London, UK.
"I want to create new memories with everyone as much as I want to see the different faces of the world parade by - I hope to find a good balance between the two!"
Lake Baikal, Irkutsk
Su Myat Naing Aung, from Yangon, Myanmar.
"When I see the vast expanses of land, the imposing mountains and the immense Lake Baikal, whose infinite surface touches the horizon throughout the journey, I suddenly feel that my problems are insignificant compared to these gigantic elements of the Earth. That's when I feel at peace, because I don't feel any resentment towards the past, I don't worry about the future and I simply enjoy the present."
"When I was a child, I often traveled with my grandparents to different towns in my region by train. Since most of the stations were smaller than the one in our hometown, I thought our town was the center of the world with the biggest station of all (and that the world was a flat board about twelve kilometers in diameter). As I grew older, I realized I was way off the mark, but I continued to favor the train as my primary means of world travel. I decided never to stop exploring and discovering all the biggest stations, the longest railroads and the most remote ends of rail networks. The funny thing is, I'm now a PhD student in railway engineering at the University of Pardubice."
Extract of my travel diary
Aloysius Ang Weiqiang, 26, from Singapore.
"All I can think about is the vastness of the land we're crossing. And how strangely soothing the noise and movement of the train is."
