Overnight Sleeper Train - Riga to Moscow

After leaving Lithuania, we drove accross the border into Latvia where we stopped for lunch at another ridiculously huge resort/restaurant/fun house with birds flying around inside the building and Latvian food cooking on the grill. The food was awesome and cheap, so it was a good start to the day. The weather was hot and humid, which was fine because we were going to be on a nice comfortable train as we traveled to Russia...right? Not exactly. The soviet era train was lacking in the AC dept. and windows were a no-go, so we sweltered for a bit.

Thankfully it was only a 16 hour ride.

We settled into our cabins, and found them to be quite cozy with four guys to a room. Cozy meaning ridiculously hot. It was a fun experience as we hurtled along the tracks, but things quickly became tense.

Just before midnight we were stopped at the Russian border. We waited patiently, anticipating a

quick stop. Two Russian officers, both female, did a quick look through the cabins collecting

passports. No big deal. But before we knew it, the train was suddenly occupied with up to 15

Russian soldiers with guns and large German Shepherds. They went from cabin to cabin questioning each rider and sending their dogs in to sniff and search. In some cabins they removed and searched luggage. In ours, after a quick questioning and sniffing they left us in peace. We were relieved, but still somewhat uptight from the search... We didn't have anything to hide, but in Russia they'll often make up something to find. Corruption and bribing among the police is rampant, and added to the tension, as officers who find a small mistake in a passport will often threaten jail time unless quietly paid off.

However, all was calm again, and we were ready to press on toward Moscow until we realized... they still had our passports. The tension remained in the air until the soldiers returned and distributed the stamped passports. Moments later we were on our way. The whole experience was awesome. It felt like we were still in the cold war, and at times seemed like a scene out of a James Bond movie. However, in this version, 007 almost peed his pants. If it weren't for the dehydration, I may have.