Finally, my last day in gloomy Belarus. There are some nice sites to see, but it is definitely a trying experience here without much Russian under my belt and dealing with Soviet attitudes.
I got my ticket from Brest to Terespol and arrived at the train station half an hour early. I found cup of coffee and planted my rear end in the waiting room watching a few minutes pass before trying
to find my train. The departure board said track 1, but for the life of me, there was no track 1 anywhere in the station I could find. Finally, with ten minutes left, I showed an older man my ticket and he led me around a corner, through some double doors, down a corridor, then through some more doors, which opened up to customs and passport control.
What?
Well, unbeknownst to me, it happens before you get on the train here. The two cops looked at my ticket and gave me a simple "Nyet", pointing me to the door I just came in.
Two hours later I finally made it through. It was really a trip back in time. These old Belarussian carriages have a coal burning furnace in each one for heat. As you walk in the car, you pass it and feel the open flames pushing the hot air out at you as you find your seat.
During the final ten minutes of the 20 minute ride, two older women came running through the car with about 15 boxes of cigarettes each. Usually two in each leg of a pair of panty hose cut in half. Blazenly, the took all 30 or so, and managed to cram every last one under either the tiling in the ceiling of the car (not unlike a classroom ceiling) or some of the broken sideboards behind the seats against the walls of the carriage.
Somehow, they've got a good racket of getting cheap cigarettes into Poland through the Polish checkpoint. Either they're in on it, turn a blind eye, or have a gaping hole in their security. Thought it rather interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment