30 hours in Platskartny: Part 2- Journey
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The Platskart (Плацкарт/प्लात्सकार्त) Coach
Platzkartny Wagon. Very crowded and noisy but social and fun!
Platzkart is the third class coach in Russian trains that offers modest comfort and a quite cheap ticket to your destination. Each coach is divided into 9 units, each unit having 6 seats – 4 lateral and 2 axial (pardon my technical jargon). The lateral seats form a sortof isolated section of 4 berths – two upper and two lower, while the axial side seats get converted into a bunk at night – one upper, one lower (and is meant for shorter people). I was on the lower side berth.
Lets compare Russian and Indian trains. Russian trains have 4 classes: SV (first), Kupe (second), Platzkart (third) and Ordinary (fourth), while Indian trains have First, Second and Third with subtypes of each. In terms of services, facilities and environment, the platskartny coach is essentially an AC-2 coach of the Indian railways, but with Russian people on it. 
Sharing food, and more
Chai, in a beautiful vintage cup and cup noodles
As soon as the train pulled out of Moscow, the Provodnitsa (introduced in the previous post) announced something and suddenly there was activity. People grabbed their mugs and went to the Samovar (Самовар / समोवर) that was located at the end of the coach. Its a neat machine that pumps out hot, almost boiling, water that people will use to make tea. What’s the drink that Russians drink the most? Vodka? nahh… Beer? naahh… its Tea, called Chai (чаи / चाइ) in Russian.
People also took their stash of food out. All the food I brought with me was a can of cup noodles, and after I finished it within 30 minutes of train start, I had practically no food. But no worries, my table was already getting flooded with food. I had cheese, cookies, smoked beef, pork slices, bread etc. It seems that sharing your food is quite common, especially if you have a foreigner in the compartment.
Samovar, a vessel that makes hot water. Young or old, Russians drink tea ALL the time.
My co-passengers
Sitting opposite to me was Sergei, a 39 yr old guy who was going to Sochi to meet his family which was already on vacation there. He offered me cheese, tea, smoked beef and chocolates. On the other side was a woman with her two teenage daughters. They studied English in school for some years, so they were very excited to talk to me in English. Unfortunately we ended up speaking in Russian because I couldn’t understand what they were speaking. I think if you learn sentence structures in a foreign language, a dictionary will go a long way in supplying words for making good conversations. They invited their friends – 3 guys and a girl (all of them were in the army draft) to talk to me at night. All of them were pleasantly drunk, but very polite and talkative. The sixth person in the unit was an old man who wore the typical Russian hat (I don’t know what its called), and had a long beard. His face was very wrinkled and every time he spoke or smiled (and he did that a lot), the wrinkles multiplied. He gave me a bagful of desserts while saying something that sounded like an advice. I understood the words ‘when’, ‘journey’, ‘never’, ‘tea’, ‘Pryanik’, ‘without’. “If you want to enjoy the journey, never have your tea without Pryanik!”
Pryanik (Пряник/प् र्यानीक्), which sounds quite similar to my name Priyank, are popular Russian cookies that come in a unlimited number of flavors. They make an ideal accompaniment with tea or coffee. They are somewhat similar to शंकरपाळे made in Maharashtra.
Other coaches
I walked the entire train to checkout what was on it. There was a little restaurant on board.
Restaurant. I ate chicken here.
купе – kupe – कुपे: Second Class |
С В – S V – एस् वी: First Class |
The first and second class coaches were very neat. These are small compartments of 2 and 4 people respectively and feel quite cosy and comfortable. I traveled by Kupe later in my trip.
Whenever the train took a stop, people spilled out of it like ants. The first thing to do? Smoke. Smoking is like the national sport of Russia and it’s very noticeable and on-your-face.
Some train station on the next morning.
So that was how I spent 30 very enjoyable hours on the train from Moscow to Sochi, 1400km south, on the Black Sea.
My train, stopped at an unscheduled station.
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Hey Priyank I love your stories. You have so much interesting stuff happening. So your name is very close to the Russian cookies, lol. When I was reading it first I thought may be he was mis-pronouncing your name, lol. Very friendly crowd, I probably would love the third class too. Thanks for sharing your travel story, you are awesome. Anna
↵Hi Anna, thanks for dropping by. You’d love that train too. Do you remember how the trains were from your childhood days?
↵Now whole day I would think of cup noodles.
Will someone who is a vegetarian survive in Russia?
I thoroughly enjoyed the post.
↵Vegetarian? No way! Maybe in the cities (Moscow, St. Petersburg) by chance but in remote areas? nope. That’s why I consciously started eating meat.
↵Love the post Priyank, and smoke if you got em, same in China, and I love that vintage cup, rather have vodka then tea though,lol.
↵Oh Vodka, but ofcourse! They have special glasses for that too.
↵Wow. Riding trains in Russia sure looks tough. Good thing you blogged about it before I even start thinking of doing the Trans-Siberian.
↵Yeah its fun! You’ll love it.
↵Okay now I totally want to do the Trans-Siberian thingy
↵Yeah yeah, me too… that’s why I insisted upon this train journey. I HAD TO travel by a Russian train!
↵Priyank yes I do. Cabins were like the one you have on the photos for the 1st and 2nd class, however, they all belonged to the same class. I think better class just had upgraded softer seats. Most of all I remember them always being packed in the summer as lot of students traveled on summer vacation, and we used to end up sleeping on the hallways. Sometimes my parents used to shovel us through the window to get a seat. Something a parent would not do these days, lol. And once I had a suitcase fall on me and scrape my nose, but I was brave not to cry, it was just a little scratch. I think I was 4-5 years old. These were the fun memories, travelling in tight spaces and being closer with human beings, lol. Thanks for asking, I almost forgot those times…..lol Anna
↵Hi Anna!!
Really, I agree, no parent would consider doing it these days. It was fun indeed to travel shoulder to shoulder with other other passengers in crowded trains! Thanks for the smiles. Perhaps this revisiting of memories could make a good post for your story blob blog. 
↵Oh you are wonderful. You brought memories to me too, about jumping through the window and “catching” seats for the elders. It was a fun task and I did it only when I visited my grandparents place in summer vacation which was in rural areas. In Mumbai (whereI grew up) there was no such shortcut system…LOL
So funny!!! I need your eyes to see things that come so “natural” to me, like people getting out of trains in various stops just to have a smoke. In India no railway smoking stops?
No Indian parents’ pedagogy to not get out when the train stops? 
In this note, I even remember remote days with high-school guys sitting directly on the train stairs (trains in full time speed), doors open, holding the guitar with one arm and a splendid babe with the other. 
Delightful post! 
HUG!
↵PD: First class is for 2 persons-only…always!
Hii Oana (I refrain from using other loving adjectives here),
Your stories are more than welcome! I’ll make a correction to the first class, it is indeed 2 people.
↵You know what, I never observed, but as far as I remember, smoking on train stations is illegal in India, but I am not sure sine in Mumbai the stations are always crowded and nobody will dare smoke. Also per capita smoking is quite low compared to what I saw in Russia and your story from Romania. Oh I remember sitting on the compartment steps – in the unreserved coach (3rd class in India) such spots are very precious and people will run to grab them. I have romantic memories on the stairs too – but without guitar, smokes and babes.
Hey Priyank, any tornado in your area. Hope you are okay? Anna
↵Hi Anna,
↵I’m safe, thankfully little damage in downtown Toronto. Thanks so much for asking! How are things over in Aurora?
Wow Priyank…nice train…nice post …. and thats a 3rd class wagon u said….for someone who travels such a lot in Indian trains…this doesnt seem tough to me…it seems heavenly…;-)
↵Thanks Janit for the comment and welcome to my blog. This coach is comparable to AC 2 sleeper coach in Indian railways, I think they are very similar. IR’s Second class sleeper is not possible in Russia since you just can’t leave the windows open in snow (hence not comparable).
↵Ah, I was afraid we will never make it to the Russian stories! I have a fascination with Russian trains (and Moscow underground stations), and your post also brings fond memories of 1) a Belarusian room mate I had, drinking black tea all day long; 2) a five year old on the streets of Chisinau, Moldova, screaming to his mother to buy him tea (I was deeply confused: tea? whatever happened to chocolates?); 3) a Kyrgyz friend, never travelling outside the former Soviet Union without a mini-kettle in her luggage. But nothing beats a real, old-fashioned samovar!
Good to know people are so friendly and open with foreigners out there! I hope it is a general attitude, and not just a response to your particular personality!
↵Hellooo Raluca! Welcome welcome and I am delighted to hear from you.
Yeah I finally reached Russia and will write everything about it for next couple of months, there is lots to tell. Have you been there? I am not sure.
I found people very helpful more or less, they may not smile or talk sweetly, but their acts are kind. Only one or two times I had insignificant bad experiences. I am really intrigued by contrasting behavior they display.
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↵wow priyank! that is a lovely post about your journey and that cup of chai looks good
↵Thanks GV! The tea was good.
↵Things were okay in Aurora, Priyank. Tell you the truth I didn’t even know what was going on, me and Matthew took afternoon sleep, lol. But apparently, not far away from us in Newmarket some got nipped by the strong winds. I think its time to start thinking about underground shelter, lol, seems like there is no real weather pattern lately, so we can be surprised with anything these days. Glad all is good! Anna
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