What I've learnt about Russia so far...

Am sitting in the restaurant of the hotel in Omsk, a city we chose to visit because it sounds like it's almost named after a womble. In the background on the telly is Indiana Jones dubbed into russian... Thought I'd mention a few things I've learnt about Russia so far.

1 - Russians don't smile very often. They are a very serious looking people (or maybe it's just the cold). Still, on a british train there would be lots of nodding and smiling and "good morning"-ing. Here it's a grunt if you're lucky. Still, that makes it all the better when we do something randomly touristy, and a smile flashes across someone's face.

2 - There is a strong glaswegian theme to food - so far we've had lots of meat, precious little fruit and alcohol for sale on every other street corner. Our particular favourite discovery has been pirashok - a kind of savoury doughnut/pastry affair, with fillings varying from potato to cabbage to egg and rice... like a greggs pastie only much much better.

3 - There are more birch trees in Siberia than there are in the rest of the world put together. Believe me, we've seen most of them, over the last three thousand miles. Apparently you get warty and fluffy birch in Siberia, though with the lack of leaves we can't tell the difference.

Siberia is a truly amazing place. You would think that after the first thousand miles or so it would be boring looking out of the window, but the landscape gradually evolves from the bleak barrenness of Far Eastern Russia, with little wooden huts scattered around, looking like they've seen too many winters, through ever changing forests (interspersed by treeless spaces that could be Scotland). Lake Baikal and it's surrounding mountains are an impressive interlude, then back to snow and forests, though the houses gradually move to brick built, and to high rises and grey blocks of flats (another thing Russia has in common with Glasgow).

Time to freshen up before dinner - lets see if we can find any more glaswegian-esque delicacies!