The rainbow never sets

When I came back, Alison was agitated. Something was wrong again. "You only paid 100 Yuan. You should have paid 200."

"But you said 100." "Yes, 100 each."

"I am sorry, that was a misunderstanding, but 200 Yuan is far too much. We haven't got that much money. Please accept this as our fine."

The interpreter seemed quite sympathetic and I had the impression that he eventually persuaded the officer to accept this.

Meanwhile the whole train had been waiting for us. The procedure had taken rather a long time. As soon as we were back in our car, the train pulled off. What a fiasco! The only explanation we could think of was that the Embassy in Canberra had given us a three months visa from the date of issue, without telling us. Well, 100 yuan was still better than 200!

When the train arrived on the Russian side, we had a repeat performance. Swarms of Russian military descended on our train, taking our passports first, then someone wanted to see all our reading material, but they couldn't find anything offensive. Finally our apples and tomatoes were inspected, but we could keep them. 'Better than in Australia between the States,' I thought. Then the bogies had to be changed, because Russia is the only country in Asia and Europe with a wider gauge. The cars were lifted by a heavy crane, while the passengers were allowed to remain, the old bogies removed, new bogies rolled under, then the cars were lowered back on them, and finally everything was bolted together. The whole procedure took about four hours.

By then we were hungry and sleepy. But again we were rudely wakened by some Russian passengers who wanted to come into our cabin. Ivan came to our rescue. He suggested that Don and Leslie, the New Zealand couple from next door, moved into our cabin. They were very gracious to share the compartment with us. Really a wonderful couple, and it was a privilege to get to know them better. Don had just sold his lucrative and successful design and engineering firm, built up by himself, and Leslie was an English highschool teacher. They were now on a year's vacation and we got on very well with them and had a lovely time together until Moscow.

From the border all people on the stations looked European. I was wondering what the Russians had done with the original inhabitants. The landscape had also changed from the steppe to fields and woods, mainly birches, poplars and pines. Forests covered 500 million hectares in Siberia, a territory larger than Europe, supplying enough oxygen for a quarter of the world's population.

What a thrill to hear the first lark singing away with not a care in the world! Childhood memories came flooding back. The villages looked also similar to some of those in the backwaters of Poland, and the women wore head-scarfs just like ours used to do.

The Russian dining car was good. Excellent Borscht, the famous Slavonic beetroot soup, and chicken or beef Stroganoff. It had been a very

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