All language subtitles for Trans3

JOANNA LUMLEY: I'm over 3,000
miles into my journey

and I'm skirting the shores of
Lake Baikal in southern Siberia.

It's minus 25 degrees centigrade

and the rivers have already
started to freeze over.

In 1899, two amazing icebreakers
were built in Newcastle

and they sailed out here,
sailed through the Baltic,

and they came, astonishingly,
across land to come here

to this, the Angara River,
which leads into Lake Baikal.

But, this is absolutely
incredible to see it here.

You can see the front of it, very
sharp.

It can cut through ice
to a certain degree,

not in February when the
ice here freezes SO deep

that you can drive trucks across it.

But, just when it's forming like
now, this could cut through,

cutting out an enormous journey
that could take days and days.

You could go straight across.

Isn't that lovely to think
a little piece of Newcastle,

a little piece of England
is here in Siberia?

My 6,000 mile adventure
started in Hong Kong

which I had last seen
when I was four.

I've crossed mighty China,

where the new world rubs
up against the old...

.. and visited a wild stretch
of the Great Wall.

This is honestly like being
in a dream.

From there, it was on
to romantic Mongolia,

the land of Genghis Khan
with its hardy nomads...

.. mysterious shamans,
a vast, empty land.

Then, I entered another empire.

This is Russia. Speak Russian!

This time, icy Siberia,

glimpsing Russia's undimmed
spirit and troubled soul.

Two guys jumped with Kalashnikovs
in their hands. (IMITATES GUNFIRE)

I'll be meeting powerful oligarchs...

This is so I get the gold flakes.

.. stars of the future.

(ALL TOAST)

.. and enjoy Russian
hospitality to the full.

So, that is a small vodka!

Finally, I push on to Moscow,

which I last visited in the darkness
of the Cold War in 1966.

- Is that a nuclear bomb?
- Yes.

My Trans-Siberian journey,

the adventure of a lifetime.

(TRAIN CLATTERS ALONG RAILS)

Lake Baikal in southern Siberia,

near Irkutsk where
I got off the train,

is one of the world's oldest lakes.

It is over a mile deep and contains
one fifth of the world's fresh water.

Like our own Loch Ness,

there is a legend of a giant
monster living in its depths.

The lake is teeming with
life from the Baikal teal,

to the Baikal seal,

which, like 894 other species,
is found nowhere else on earth.

In midwinter you can drive
trucks onto the lake

as the ice can get up to six feet
thick,

but that's still some weeks away.

I've come to the lake's edge
to the little port of Listvyanka

to meet fisherman Sergei.

Sergei?

(BOTH GREET IN RUSSIAN)

He's going to take me by boat to
his remote village of Bolshie Koty,

or Big Cat, so I can experience life
on these remote, mountainous shores.

The reason we can't see out of
here is because it's lake water

slapping up and freezing at once
as soon as it hits the windows.

Sergei can see out of his heated
window

because he has to see where
we're going but it's erm...

It's quite a little lumpy lake
we're flying up and down,

although Sergei is quite dismissive
about the size of the waves!

There are no roads into Sergei's
village

and when the lake is not frozen,

it takes several challenging
hours by boat to reach there.

Sergei's second in command
is his son, Sergei Junior.

It's slippery!

Thank you, Sergei.

Oh, Sergei. Thank you. Spasiba.

(LAUGHS) Thank you!

Whoo! Well, that was a heck of
a journey.

Look how the ice has formed over
the whole of the front of it

with icicles there
and it's just been chopping on.

I've taken Sergei's arm
because it's slippery

and also because I like him!

Bolshie Koty, a village of
fishermen and their families,

has a population of only 100 people.

Like rural communities around
the world,

they're losing out to
the bright lights of the city.

Sergei Junior and
his wife, local girl Katya,

have decided to stay for now.

They've just had a baby.

Hello, baby mouse.

Hello, little thrush
with your hair on end!

(BABY CRIES)

(SPEAKING IN RUSSIAN)

The remoteness of Bolshie Koty,

meant that her birth
was rather dramatic.

And so ooh... So, you're on the boat?

(LAUGHTER)

Nasdarovje.

Nasdarovje. Toast.

Russian hospitality is
the order of the day.

Delicious, local produce is washed
down with quantities of vodka.

Not a sentence is uttered
without a toast!

Sergei, I've just seen
a great, big jar over there.

What has it got in it?

Can I try it?

I wonder what this
is going to taste like.

I can't describe the smell.
It doesn't really smell of mushrooms.

(Speaks Russian)

I'm feeling wonderful!

(Russian toast)
Drinking for the fungus!

I'm not sure what's in
Sergei's fungus drink,

but it seems to be doing
everyone the world of good!

Sergei, Sergei. How old are you?

You look wonderful.

Pleasure trips.

I'll drink to that.

After an evening
of free-flowing vodka,

I need to get my head down.

Sergei built his guest-house
with his own hands,

and after the rattle of the train,
it will be a relief.

Three times? (LAUGHS)

The Siberian stars seem
very bright, very bright indeed.

It's sad to think
that young people nowadays

are probably not following on
people like Sergei who build houses

and sail boats in bad seas.

The same thing is happening
all across the world

where children are leaving
boring farming

and doing stuff their parents did

to go to the bright lights
and the big city

and the real men will become history.

But anyway, I met one tonight
and that was Sergei. A real man!

Lake Baikal is stunningly beautiful,

but its extreme weather
makes it very treacherous

and it claims many lives every year.

The emergency forces have to be
prepared to work in all weathers.

Bloody hell!

It's quite hard to stand up
in this gale.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence
but this large, well-equipped base

is just along the shore
from a mansion

used by the Russian presidents.

Is this normal weather for training?

This year, the winter is late
a little bit from my point of view.

We just...

I expected to see snow earlier
than today.

- Well, today's the day.
- Today's the day.

Pfft!

Tough people.

(WIND HOWLS)

(TRAIN HORN)

From Irkutsk,
I get the overnight train.

As so often at these stations,
some emotional goodbyes

here from young Russian soldiers

being posted far away
from their loved ones.

I'm looking for carriage seven.

(GASPS) It's unbelievably cold here!

Gosh!

I'm getting on and off
trains all the time.

This one, coming from Vladivostok,

has a bar with a rather
tasteful 1970s vibe.

- Erm, coffee?
- No.

No. Erm...

Erm, vodka?

No.

- Small?
- Small.

A small vodka.

I mean, I think that's reasonable...

.. just to have a little...

It's come already like that!

- That's small?!
- Small.

That's... This is for all
the bartenders in London.

I just want to say that is
a SMALL vodka on the train here.

Spasiba.

A little more than I planned!

My next stop is Krasnoyarsk and
still 3,000 miles away from Moscow,

my final destination,
that I last saw in 1966.

(TRAIN HORN)

That's me in the Moscow Underground.

At least, that's where I remember
at the time they said,

this is where the Trans-Siberian
railway sets off from.

I'm wearing a fake fur coat
with a little fur hood.

A phenomenal arched ceiling
with chandeliers.

I wonder if it looks like that now.

I don't look like that now.

So, lashings of full
eyelashes, pale lipstick.

Pretty distressed hair which-
obviously I've kept that going.

Little Jo. I can't remember her.

But, you never lose
who you were, you know.

You just grow around you like a tree
so she's in there, somewhere in here.

I don't recognise her because
that's modelling face.

I never looked like that. I looked
like a chimpanzee in real life.

That was my special
trying to look modelling face.

The journey from Irkutsk
to Krasnoyarsk is 677 miles,

or 17 hours by train.

But, waiting for me there
is an oligarch!

We are all familiar with
the term 'Russian oligarch',

but what does it mean
and where do they come from?

Well, when the Soviet Union
collapsed in the early nineties,

rampant capitalism filled the void.

Clever businessmen,
whether by fair means or foul,

cashed in on this time
of economic upheaval and chaos.

With sudden privatisation,
a few men made a LOT of money.

In Krasnoyarsk, in the heart
of mineral-rich Siberia,

where business is booming,

one such oligarch is construction
magnate Vladimir Egoroff.

Next to the headquarters of
the construction company he owns,

he's built a little park with statues
to celebrate his success.

- Mr Egoroff is waiting for you.
- Spasiba. Thank you.

OK.

Hello, good morning.

(BOTH GREET IN RUSSIAN)

- Joanna.
- Vladimir.

Oh, it's good to meet you.

- Did you see me?
- Mm-hm.

Did you?

He's checked me out.

Look at these things!

This beautiful egg, Vladimir,
it looks like a Faberge egg.

- Vodka?!
- Vodka.

Ohh!

Being an oligarch
is not without its dangers.

Mr Egoroff had decided
to run for governor of the region,

but at the last minute
the Kremlin made it clear

they wanted their own man in.

Being an astute businessman,
Egoroff stood aside.

You are city councillor.

Would you think of becoming
governor of this region?

Is there a tension between
business and politics?

Is it, is it difficult
to get on sometimes?

Any self-respecting millionaire in
Krasnoyarsk has a house by the river

in the city's most desirable
residential area.

Mr Egoroff has invited me to tea.

Do you like football?

Would you like to own
your own football club?

(JOANNA LAUGHS)

Indeed, he is no Abramovich

and Mr Egoroff is still
only a minor oligarch.

It's said he has a personal income
of merely $30 million per year(!)

Look at this!

How beautiful!

- Joanna?
- Joanna.

(Russian)
Thank you, Natalia.

Natalia is Mr Egoroff's wife

and mother of his youngest son,
Anton.

Oy, yoi yoi!

Oh, look at this! This is fantastic!

- This is the river?
- ANTON: Yes, Yenisei.

The Yenisei. It's beautiful.

Over here, in the circle,
it's a big place for chess.

- For chess? Brilliant.
- Yes.

This is Natalia.

She's got you on a tight chain!

This is a bear!

Gosh, from around here?

- Your watches!
- I think this is the best one.

Sorry, I just have to put
that on just for a second

as my arm stretches down.

Look at that!

I'm so sorry, this doesn't come
off. I'll have to take it.

I'll have to just go with
it. I can't get it off.

As with everything in an oligarch's
world,

only the best will do.

Pomegranates, as if from
a Baroque still-life painting.

Mushrooms, tenderly picked
from the forest.

The finest caviar and a personalised
bottle of a rather special vodka.

Russian vodka.

Look at that.

Egoroff.

(LAUGHS)

Oh, my gosh! This is
so I get the gold flakes.

(GASPS) Look at that!

VLADIMIR: It's vodka.

It's very good of you.

You've opened this beautiful
bottle for me with gold flakes.

(VLADIMIR MAKES A TOAST)

Not all of Russia benefited from
the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The gap between rich and poor
is greater than ever.

Just 111 people own an astonishing
fifth of Russia's private wealth.

(TRAIN HORN)

Krasnoyarsk to Yekaterinburg is
one and a half thousand miles.

Siberia is three quarters
of all Russia,

and if it were
an independent country,

it would be the largest in the world.

Yekaterinburg is Russia's
fourth largest city.

Its placid appearance is overshadowed
by its dark and violent history.

Early in the morning of July 17, 1918

the Tsar, his wife and five children,

three servants, their doctor
and their dog, were shot dead.

Their bodies were taken
away deep into the forest.

What exactly happened
to them remains a mystery.

Father Flavian takes up the story.

The Russian Orthodox Church

has now made all seven members
of the imperial family, saints.

When the Soviet Union
collapsed in the 1990s,

violence once again returned
to Yekaterinburg.

The city became effectively
lawless due to gang warfare,

and hundreds were killed.

My guide, Konstantin,

was only a boy when he witnessed
some of the killings.

On the corner of the street

I saw a dark BMW

and two guys jumped on the street
with Kalashnikovs in their hands.

They just began to like...
(IMITATES GUNFIRE)

He shows me the gangsters'
ostentatious memorials.

This is the leader of Uralmash.

Oh, my gosh! What's on the tree?

- It's a camera.
- A camera?

Yeah. Somebody looking on us
at this time.

I think it's from
families and friends

because they think something
can happen with the graves.

Somebody would desecrate them
from the old other gang?

- Yeah, maybe.
- Yeah.

I think somebody's watching us now.

Will they think that would
be suspicious that we're here?

It can be suspicious.

It's Russia!

Next morning as dawn breaks,

the train from Yekaterinburg takes
six hours to the city of Perm.

Even on a relatively short journey,

endless forest and the enclosed
space of the compartment,

can give one a sort of cabin fever.

The hotel had this
this morning, celebrity news.

And, I see to my shock and dismay,
that new Bond film announced.

And guess what? I'm not in it again.

Still, there's time for them
to call me in

for a little fantastic scene.

I don't want to be Moneypenny
but maybe there will be a scene

of some cruel and rather
beautifully dressed dowager.

(RUSSIAN ACCENT) I'm giving her
a bit of twist of Russian here.

She's quite amusing,
she has great house on hillside.

She treats people badly
but why should she be nice to people?

People have not been nice to her!

Ha, here comes train!
Maybe I'll blow it up for fun.

Just, 'Boof!'

Sergei, bring the bomb.

Spasibo bolshoe.

If I'd been permitted

to get on the Trans-Siberian railway
in the sixties

I certainly would not have
been allowed to stop in Perm.

In Soviet days,

this city was completely
closed to Western visitors.

A major centre for
the manufacture of arms,

it's now quite open about its past.

This poster from the local
Communist Party

celebrating Stalin with a quote from
Churchill, is near a military museum.

So, it's all the more intriguing
that alongside missiles and bombs,

it has long been producing some of
Russia's most famous ballet stars.

(PIANO PLAYING)

In this nondescript building,

thrives one of the greatest
ballet schools in the world.

As a child, I thought about
becoming a ballet dancer

so this almost feels like home.

(PIANO PLAYING)

(TEACHER GIVES INSTRUCTIONS)

I'm not sure whether nowadays
in the UK

ballet teachers are allowed
to be quite so hands-on!

How old are these boys?

- Twelve.
- Twelve?

Do you think that you are a tough
teacher?

Erm, yes.

(BOTH LAUGH)

(PIANO PLAYING)

When they are 16 or 17,
they are still not fully formed

but I'm pretty sure I can spot
a star of the future when I see one!

(MUSIC ENDS)

How old were you when
you started to dance?

I understand you have three gold
medals, two silver medals?

Bravo. Thank you very much.

- Spasiba and good luck.
- Spasiba.

The students are worked
all day and most evenings.

Today there is a dress rehearsal
in the school's small theatre.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

They all come under
the unforgiving scrutiny

of dance principal
Vladimir Tolstukhin.

For those 40 places,
they receive hundreds of applicants

and they now come from all over
the world.

- Tell me, what is your name?
- Valentina.

- Where do you come from?
- From Miami.

- From Miami. And your name?
- Joy.

- From?
- London.

- No, I'm from London. Whereabouts?
- Clapham.

I'm in Stockwell
so we're near neighbours.

How fantastic.
How long have you been here?

- Three months.
- Three months.

As soon as this? So really early.

- How old are you?
- Sixteen.

- And you? Sixteen, yay!
- Sixteen.

What's it like studying here?

It's really difficult.
It's challenging.

It's very difficult.

It's very hard to get used
to a different climate,

being away from home.

The teachers are very demanding
here.

Joy, what made you think of Perm?

I've got to say it was a Russian
city I'd never even heard of.

Well, in my old school I had
a teacher who graduated from Perm,

so I had the influence from her

and she said that obviously
this school is really good.

And Russia is the best for ballet.

- Does dancing run in your family?
- No, not at all!

You're the only one!

My mum is a mental health nurse
in the NHS.

- My dad's a computer technician.
- Oh, lovely.

Look at you both standing like this,

both standing in gorgeous
positions neatly.

Beautiful carriage and posture.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(MUSIC ENDS)

You sometimes think about your life
if you'd taken a different course.

When I was ten, I was offered a place

at the Sadler's Wells School
of Ballet and I didn't take it.

Coming here today to see
the dedication

and the hard work and the beauty
of these young dancers,

it's just made me think,
"What if I had done that?"

"What if I had become a ballerina?"

I would have been tall at 5'8"
but nowadays they are getting taller.

But would I have had
the staying power?

Would I have had the discipline?

It's not enough to say,
"I want it more than all of my life."

You have to work
like these little ones.

You could see even the tiny ones
sweating.

Absolutely disciplined.
Straight, hard centre core.

Building up the muscles,
the flexibility and pliability.

You can't just wish it, you've got
to do it or you won't make the grade.

Today we've seen some people who are
going to be the stars of the future.

It's been fantastic.

I'm actually standing in the third
position as I talk to you now,

and now I shall go down the stairs
in as graceful manner as I know.

(CLASSICAL MUSIC)

The best of those aspiring ballet
dancers could join the company

and dance on the main stage
of the Perm Opera House.

Tonight, it's not ballet,

but the great Russian opera
Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky.

(OPERATIC SINGING)

One of the positive legacies
of the Soviet era

is that opera and ballet
are assumed to be for everybody.

With the ticket prices starting
from only a pound,

it's completely sold out.

I rush away from the opera to catch
my very last overnight train.

This penultimate leg
of my journey takes 18 hours.

(TRAIN RATTLES PAST)

You might wonder why I look
so amazingly fresh and gorgeous.

The truth is, when you are
sleeping overnight in a train

I think you are allowed
to keep your old face on

and in the morning put
a bit more on the top of it.

Clean your teeth etc,
but not the face.

Just put a bit more,
thicker, thicker.

If I had to do this whole journey

I suppose I would take
my make-up off once,

but maybe by the end of it

after seven days,
seven nights on this train,

I'd just have a face
literally an inch thicker.

A new face, a mask.

It's very comforting.
Dusty Springfield used to do it.

If it's good enough for Dusty,
it's good enough for me.

The small city of Vladimir was one
of the ancient capitals of Russia

and it's stuffed full of
the most stunning architecture.

I've been invited to a remote
location outside the city

to visit a church that's said
to be the most perfect example

of mediaeval Russian
architecture in existence.

Bumpy old cart we've got here.
(LAUGHS)

Think of it, travelling for miles
like this in the old days.

Evgeny Lebedev is the son
of a Russian oligarch

and owns a couple of British
newspapers,

The Independent and
the London Evening Standard.

He has a deep personal reason

for wanting to visit
this amazing church.

I was brought here
by my grandfather Vladimir,

who was very close to me.

He took upon himself my upbringing
to a certain extent.

And, he brought me here
when I was nine.

That solitary figure over there.

In shorts and a vest.

- Is that you?
- That's me.

That's so sweet.

It's an exceptional little church.

It looks simpler than quite a lot
of the Russian churches I've seen.

- It's 12th century.
- Ooh!

It's built very strategically at
the intersection of two rivers,

and looks especially
imposing in the spring

when all the ice and snow melt

and the rivers
are particularly full.

- So, it floats like an island?
- It floats like an island.

In the spring
it looks like it's floating.

Here we are 25 years later.

- For me.
- Twenty-five years!

Look how beautifully it's preserved!
Look at those carvings.

The features look very, very
Romanesque.

- Don't they?
- Those rounded arches.

It's very possible the architects

were sent over by
the Holy Roman Emperor.

Here we are.

It's beautiful,
the simplicity of it.

Evgeny, what were churches
like during the Soviet era?

Initially after the Revolution
and the civil war,

the state was very anti-church.

During the war and during
the invasion of Germany,

the Great Patriotic War
as we call it,

Stalin supposedly turned
to religion himself

because all else was lost.

In 1941, when Nazi troops
got very close to Moscow,

his last resort, having studied
in a religious seminary,

was to turn to God.

So, he turned to this very famous
icon,

the Virgin of Vladimir.

This was a miracle-performing icon.

The legend goes, it saved Russia
from invading hordes many times.

So, Stalin decided that this icon
was going to be put in an aircraft

and flown around Moscow in a circle
a number of times, which it did.

- The Nazi troops...
- This is true?

- This is true. That's...
- Yeah?

And the Nazi troops
never entered Moscow

and after that, religion
slowly made a comeback.

It wasn't fully given the ability

to exist in the same way
it did before the Revolution

but it was certainly allowed
to exist side-by-side

without being persecuted
as it was previously.

(CHORAL SINGING)

My epic train journey is almost over.

My next destination is Moscow.

I was last here nearly 50 years ago

in the most icy years of
the Cold War.

(MAN SINGING IN RUSSIAN)

Dasvidanya. Spasibo bolshoe.
Thank you.

Wow!

Moscow, the epicentre
of Russian power.

It's fantastic to be back
in Red Square.

The great big red walls,
the Kremlin which I remember.

Police cars, I remember those.

They've got a winter fair
at the moment which is rather sweet.

Fabulous Saint Basil's Cathedral.
It's so beautiful.

That, of course,
is Putin's office, his home.

That's parliament in there.

Here you see written
above this great mausoleum,

in dark, gloomy ox blood red,

"Lenin."

Since the collapse
of the Soviet Union,

Moscow has embraced capitalism
with an almost religious zeal.

It has the largest number of resident
billionaires in the world

and every luxury brand is on sale
here.

In 1966 there was nothing to buy.
The food was truly awful.

But, there was one thing
that kept me going.

This is the food area
of this great store, GUM,

and here, 48 years ago,

I bought my black bread
which I absolutely adored.

I loved it so much
I learned the name for it.

Chornee klebph. Chornee,
black. Klebph, bread.

I bought it here but I can't
tell you how different it is.

Then it was just amazingly humble.

You know, simple and plain
and rather scowly.

And now it's just like...
Well, look at it!

It's just so glamorous and huge.

(SPEAKING IN RUSSIAN)

(GASPS) This is it! Da!

That's wonderful. I'll keep that
in there for next time I come.

I'm just completely happy now,
just completely happy.

In 1966 I was practically smuggled in

for my Vanity Fair shoot
for fake fur.

Modelling didn't exist
in Soviet Russia,

but now it's a thriving business.

- So, Olga?
- Yes.

- Inessa.
- It's lovely to see you.

Had you finished your studies
and decided to be a model?

All the time I wanted to be a model
and I think it's really nice.

You can see all the world
and I like it.

- Do you get work?
- Yes, of course.

You do get a lot of work.
And you, Olga?

- You get good work?
- Yes, of course.

Oh, look.

This is darling Inessa, smiling,

and this is moody Inessa with
her scowly face, it looks good!

Here, at one of Moscow's
top model agencies,

photographer Konstantin has arrived

to take some new headshots
of our gorgeous girls.

How long have you been taking
photographs?

Five years.

- Five years. What did you do before?
- Scouting for model agencies.

- Oh, did you?
- For Select in London.

Oh, how interesting.

About 30 years ago, nobody
had heard of Russian models

because they didn't come
out of the country.

Now the world is flooded with them.
Why are they so beautiful?

What is it about Russian girls?

The families were moved from
east to west, west to east.

Let's say like lots of families
from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania

moved back to Siberia.

- Yeah.
- And all this blood mixed together.

- Just beautiful?
- Yeah.

- It seems to take the best of each.
- They started mixing.

- We'll do something like that.
- OK.

Straight flash in the face
so we won't see any wrinkles.

(SCOFFS) She's not got any wrinkles!

Or spots.

- She's perfect but some girls...
- Some girls are spotty.

- So, that's why.
- Good, good.

Good.

Open a little the mouth
so I can see the tooth.

Fantastic.

(CAMERA CLICKS)

Straight to me, baby.

It's extraordinary to be sitting
in on a model shoot again.

I've done millions of photographs
even when I haven't been a model

but there's something
about remembering this.

Your only contact is
with the photographer.

It doesn't matter who's in the room,
your focus is down the barrel.

He'll give you the tiniest things.

"Head down, slightly
to the side, head there."

Mouth open a little bit more.

At the end of it, one picture
is stolen from that mass of pictures.

That's the one that goes
in the magazine.

That's lovely.

Thank you, Olga. Thank you.

Beautiful.

Moscow has changed.

It seems ironic that just down
the road from this global business

is a remarkable remnant
of the Cold War.

When the world hung
on a nuclear knife edge,

Joseph Stalin wanted to make sure

the Soviet Union's defences
were well protected.

So, in the 1950s,

Stalin ordered the construction of
this extraordinary secret facility,

20 storeys below the streets
of Moscow.

Hello, Joanna.

I'm Harry, General Manager
of Bunker 42. Come in, please.

Bunker 42, the Soviet
Aviation Command Centre

from where nuclear war
could have been ignited

at the mere press of a button.

Minus 65 metres underground.

And all this is made of metal?

Yes, it's steel.

- Steel?
- Yes, 10mm of steel.

It's extraordinary,
this great corridor winding away.

Be careful, Joanna.

Now I'll switch on the light.

Whoa! What is...?

Here we can find
our first nuclear bombs.

In the USSR made in 1949 the first.

- Is that a nuclear bomb?
- Yes.

It's the first Soviet nuclear bomb.

1946. Igor, that's when I was...

- Yes, it was created in 1946.
- But, so was I. I was born in 1946.

How awful! I'm twinned
with this bomb.

Right up until the late eighties,

World War III could have been started

with the push of a button
from this very bunker.

- What, from here?
- Yes.

Oh, my God!
You open a little door here.

And push.

You've fired the missile.

Phew!

More than two and a half thousand
military personnel

used to work in these secret tunnels

with supplies to last several
months if the worst happened.

Big step.

Now, I will open the door.
Come in, please.

Whoa!

This way was used every day
for personnel.

It's the special secret way
to Moscow Metro.

- Is this the door?
- Yes, it's there. Dramatic door.

If we open it,

we can see
Taganskaya railway station.

- The station?
- Yes.

It's so spooky,
this character sitting here

with its gas mask
and this frightening sign.

"Danger. Danger! Keep out."

So, the officers would have arrived
dressed like ordinary people?

Yes.

- Come through the door?
- Yes.

- Dressed in uniform?
- Yes, dressed in uniform.

Then into the bunker.

And they worked there
about 24 hours.

How extraordinary!

(TRAIN APPROACHING)

This is Taganskaya station and
just through doors just like this,

maybe even this one,
it leads down to Bunker 42.

You can imagine 25 years ago,
people were arriving through this.

I wonder how they just blended in?

They probably slipped through,
the door closed behind them

and then they just subtly
moved in with the crowd.

And, this station is only three stops
from my black-and-white memory.

So, this is it,

the end of a journey of over
6000 miles that began in Hong Kong,

which I left as a child in 1950,

travelling through China,
Mongolia, Siberia,

and European Russia
and finally to Moscow.

Now it all ends on a Metro train.

This is beginning to feel familiar.

How appropriate
to be back in this station

with trains on each side of me.

It's just that, this is where I was
in 1966, and it was in this hallway

and I just can't quite remember
where I was standing.

(BACKGROUND CHATTER)

The world and I have changed
dramatically over the last 50 years.

The young eyes that looked
out at the Cold War in 1966

would barely recognise
some aspects of the world today.

But, as I stand here
wrapped in memories,

with Muscovites hurrying past,

it strikes me that
no matter where we travel,

the world is full of surprises.

And although we all seem
to be so different,

people everywhere are
pretty much the same.

Captions (c) SBS Australia 2018