Colin Thubron has called Siberia ‘the ultimate unearthly abroad’, the ‘place from which you will not return’.
Colin Thubron has called Siberia ‘the ultimate unearthly abroad’, the ‘place from which you will not return’. Many millions have not — Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn were lucky — but these days quite a few do, and most of them seem to write books about it. The latest is Jacek Hugo-Bader, a Polish journalist who, as a 50th birthday present to himself, travelled from Moscow to Vladivostok in an old lazhi (‘tramp’, a Soviet jeep), driving 12,968 kilometres in 55 days, at an average speed of 43.8 kmph.
That’s when the girls stop walking along the streets arm in arm, the boys no longer stand outside the shop with a beer… and the cars stop moving. The shock-absorbers freeze, the suspension goes stiff … and all the electrical wires become as fragile as twigs.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in