Day 1: Moscow - Vladimir
Rail km’s 0 - 191
Train departure set at 21:30 Moscow time. And of course, at 21:00 we’re still at the wrong railway station, Leningraskiy! A quick look at Aleksi’s Trans-Siberian Railway handbook reveals us that the right station is Yarovslavskiy, but luckily just a walk distance from where we were. At last, we found the right train, a Chinese one leaving always on Tuesday. We were lucky not to miss our journey…
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| Two trains starting the journey across Siberia; Trans-Siberian to Vladivostok on the left and our train, Trans-Mongolian via Mongolia to Beijing, China. |
Next step, our conductor shows us our 4-berth 2nd class cabin. We had the impression there would be some kind of an air condition; A necessity right now in Russia, where temperatures reach almost 40c. In reality… The air conditioning is just a regular propeller, circling the hot air in our cabin. Marvelous! Oh well, we’ll just have to deal with it. Only the 1st class cabins had normal air conditioning.
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| First sights of the countryside after Moscow |
A beer later in the restaurant car, we headed back to our cabin to watch a stop at Vladimir station. It was an empty one because of the arrival time, 00:20. We saw one local drunk being moved by militia couple of times, but we were pretty sure he had no understanding where he were. After that, it was time to get some sleep, because of the darkness there was nothing to see outside.
Day 2: Vladimir - Nizhniy Novgorod - Kirov - Balyezino - Perm
Rail km’s 191 - 1436
I couldn’t sleep much on the first night and woke up just after sunrise. Heavy smokes from the forest fires had disappeared after Nizhniy Novgorod and for the first time in our trip the weather was cool, probably around 25c.
Aleksi was still asleep when I ate my morning porridge, so I just enjoyed the views and the rolling noise of the train. This is where I realized how life works in this train. Throw out the normal sleeping rhythm out of the window and eat, sleep and watch the views when it’s convenient. The day rolled on just like that, three one to two hour naps and wake up just before the next station to stretch your legs outside.
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| Shaggy villages beside the railway tracks |
At Perm station, we had a quick but serious adrenaline rush. All passengers were minding their own business at the station platform like at every stop, buying groceries and all kinds of items from local sellers, when suddenly without any warning the train started to move! All ran quickly to the doors, but as 20 passengers were trying to get inside into a moving train, the process slowed down and we had to run for the next available door and just got in before it was too late. Seriously, I can buy a whistle to the conductor so he could actually inform passengers when to jump back in!
After Perm stop we made a stop in the restaurant car and decided to eat dinner worth of 300 roubles. Salad, bread, stroganoff meal, pineapple juice and water was just what we needed. However, as our roubles are quickly disappearing from our pockets, that was the last time before Mongolia when we could have a real dinner.
After our meal, it was time to head back to our cabin and make some mix of Vodka Putinka (of course, named after Vladimir Putin) and orange juice. At some point sleep took us to it’s gentle arms once again…
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| Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk) train station at night |
Day 3: Perm - Yekaterinburg - Tyumen - Ishim - Omsk - Barabinsk - Novosibirsk
Rail km’s 1436 - 3335
Waking up, watching the views, eating noodles, taking a nap… You already know the story.
If you’re looking to have a relaxing vacation after a stressful year at work, I can’t imagine a better place to spend it than in this train. You have no other option than to relax and just on the third day you start to feel that it really works. The sound of the train and the railway tracks is so soothing, that after you get used to it - You’ll always fell asleep at the time you want. I haven’t had a sleep this great in a long, long time what I had last night…
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| Our luxurious bathroom for a week |
As it was the third day of the journey, we started to feel… Well, not so fresh and so clean, clean. Aleksi made a brilliant discovery (he is an engineer after all), that cutting a big water bottle in half makes you a portable shower! So, locking the bathroom door meant a perfectly private washing moment, and man did it feel good to shower off three days of dirt. We’re not sure if it’s something you are allowed to do, but we really didn’t care.
Once again, our day ended with Mr. Vladimir’s spirit, but as the bottle emptied and another Vodka bought from the restaurant car already half way, I was ready just to pass out.
Day 4: Novosibirsk - Mariinsk - Krasnoyarsk - Ilanskaya - Nizhneudinsk - Zima
Rail km’s 3335 - 4940
You didn’t expect to wake up because you’re cold, but during the night the temperature had fallen to 15c as the corridor temperature meter showed us. It was probably a couple of degrees warmer in our cabin, but nevertheless seriously chilly! However, apparently during my sleep I had changed my pants to longer ones, put on socks and a t-shirt. Not bad!
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| Aleksi buying groceries from a local seller at a train station |
This day was surprisingly mostly about taking naps and then taking more naps. Hangovers in a train are not too pleasant and it took a long time to recover. Not to mention that our cabin was heating up slowly, I even tried to turn all the reading lights to generate some extra heat.
Just after Nizhneudinsk, a disappointing stop as there were no local sellers on platform, it also started to rain for the first time. Now it’s just another time to relax before (and after) next stop, Zima, at night.
Day 5: Zima - Irkutsk - Ulan-Ude - Naushki - MONGOLIA
Rail km’s 4940 - 5895
The day for me started from a scare; As I woke up already at 4 am, the railway tracks had gotten seriously bad and the train was hopping up and down, left to right like I was in a rally car. At first I was too afraid to open my eyes, as it was that horrible.
The rain continued and as our surprise, first stops at Zima and Irkutsk there were no local sellers and we had started to run out of supplies - other than noodles, what wasn’t exactly our favorite food at this point. Our “miseries” ended when the train started to roll again and reached the shores of the great Lake Baikal. The views outside the window were spectacular and I can now understand why it contains 20% of the world’s fresh water.
Our trip however changed completely at Ulan-Ude, when our luxurious 2nd class 4-berth cabin was filled for the first time; Two Chinese guys stormed in with huge boxes and without asking anything they just unloaded their stuff where ever they wanted. After that, they started to eat disgusting whole fishes and what ever was included and I can’t even describe how loudly they were smacking while eating!
The first impression was really the passengers from hell, but as we got to the final stop in Russia, Naushki border station, we started to communicate with them just a little bit, as they only knew few words in English. Once all of us opened some beers, things turned much more friendlier.
But then a few words about the Russia/Mongolia border. Not coming as a surprise, but it seemed a lot tougher and time consuming what you’d think. We had to stop at Naushki for about 4 hours, while Russian border officials checked our passports and what ever else they wanted to check, including a thorough search of our cabin. Two drug-trained dogs also sniffed if any illegal substance were being smuggled. At 22:15, we finally crossed the border and entered Mongolia!
Day 6: MONGOLIA - Sühbaatar - Darhan - Zuunhara - Ulan Bator - Choyr - Saynshand - Zamiin Uud - CHINA - Erlyan
Rail km’s 5895 - 7013
We were really tired compared to the part of the trip we didn’t have Chinese people shouting in our cabin, so we missed Darhan and I only just barely woke up to see few seconds of Zuunhara, which was an empty station at 4 am.
We still did wake up for Ulan Bator and it looked great, after seeing several days Russian cities. We would have gladly stayed in Mongolia for longer, but this time the schedule was against us. Rest of the day was about opposites. The bad, our great Chinese friends. As they woke up, the shouting and general bad behavior was just atrocious, not to mention their fishes giving the cabin a foul smell. I hadn’t met people in my life yet, who had no capabilities to take others into consideration, or at least use a proper trash bag for their waste. Their repeat playing of some Chinese song from a cellphone for TWO HOURS was also something that you can’t even describe.
The good, however, made our day. The views in Mongolia from a window were great, with green hills joining perfectly to the valleys and yurts built here and there. We watched the views hours and hours, but to be honest one reason was that our cabin was totally inaccessible because of the foul smell. At some point even the car attendant got fed up and ordered the Chinese to remove the fishes out of the cabin. Yet the smell didn’t disappear for hours…
At some point hills changed to plains and the views outside turned really dull, so I took a long nap before arriving into the Mongolian and Chinese border. When we were successfully typed customs and arrival forms, we had some serious luck; The Chinese power duo were leaving from the train to Erlyan, and once we actually saw it happening we high-fived and ate a surprisingly delicious noodle meal. Hey, never underestimate the power of good mood. Everything was perfect now!
At the end of the day the train reversed into a depot at Erlyan station for a bogie change (China uses narrower axles and all of them had to be changed), which was interesting to watch. All cars were lift up with heavy machinery and new bogies were installed. As a surprise, after the train had briefly stopped at the Erlyan station and we did some beer shopping, a Chinese lady in her about 40’s had joined into our cabin. She was even too afraid to start sleeping and napped in a stool on the corridor, probably not really used to share a cabin with two 7-day bearded guys…
I also need to mention about the greatness of People’s Republic of China. As the train slowly rolled through the border, soldiers were placed on each side of the train to salute us, while Vienna Walz was playing from the loudspeakers. After that, we were given free breakfast and lunch tickets. It‘s all great in China, huh?
Day 7: Erlyan - Jining - Datong - Zhangjiakou - Chanchiang - Nankou - Beijing
Rail km’s 7013 - 7865
Our co-traveller left off already at Jining, so for the rest of the journey the cabin was fully in our use. At first there was not much to see and the stations were nothing compared to Russian and Mongolian stations; Just plain concrete and there was absolutely nothing to see. In 2007 the tracks had been re-routed and the scenery was simply spectacular. The train entered into an amazing valley with mighty looking mountains covering both sides. We started to descend through at least 30 tunnels, short and long, and dropped from 1 kilometer to just few hundred meters in altitude. If I have to choose a part of the journey above others, this was definitely it!
Finally we arrived to Beijing and as a conclusion I have to say that the 7-day journey in a train was completely worth it, even though we also had some bad moments. It took 133 hours and 7800 kilometers to do and there is no way you can “feel the vibe” about the journey without experiencing it yourself. But still, we were really glad to get off the train and the rest of the day will just be bathing and relaxing at our hotel.
Travel tips for a train across Siberia
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| A long and a winding road back to home... |
Rail km’s 4940 - 5895
The day for me started from a scare; As I woke up already at 4 am, the railway tracks had gotten seriously bad and the train was hopping up and down, left to right like I was in a rally car. At first I was too afraid to open my eyes, as it was that horrible.
The rain continued and as our surprise, first stops at Zima and Irkutsk there were no local sellers and we had started to run out of supplies - other than noodles, what wasn’t exactly our favorite food at this point. Our “miseries” ended when the train started to roll again and reached the shores of the great Lake Baikal. The views outside the window were spectacular and I can now understand why it contains 20% of the world’s fresh water.
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| The shores of Lake Baikal |
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| Moscow - Ulan Bator - Beijing |
The first impression was really the passengers from hell, but as we got to the final stop in Russia, Naushki border station, we started to communicate with them just a little bit, as they only knew few words in English. Once all of us opened some beers, things turned much more friendlier.
But then a few words about the Russia/Mongolia border. Not coming as a surprise, but it seemed a lot tougher and time consuming what you’d think. We had to stop at Naushki for about 4 hours, while Russian border officials checked our passports and what ever else they wanted to check, including a thorough search of our cabin. Two drug-trained dogs also sniffed if any illegal substance were being smuggled. At 22:15, we finally crossed the border and entered Mongolia!
Day 6: MONGOLIA - Sühbaatar - Darhan - Zuunhara - Ulan Bator - Choyr - Saynshand - Zamiin Uud - CHINA - Erlyan
Rail km’s 5895 - 7013
We were really tired compared to the part of the trip we didn’t have Chinese people shouting in our cabin, so we missed Darhan and I only just barely woke up to see few seconds of Zuunhara, which was an empty station at 4 am.
We still did wake up for Ulan Bator and it looked great, after seeing several days Russian cities. We would have gladly stayed in Mongolia for longer, but this time the schedule was against us. Rest of the day was about opposites. The bad, our great Chinese friends. As they woke up, the shouting and general bad behavior was just atrocious, not to mention their fishes giving the cabin a foul smell. I hadn’t met people in my life yet, who had no capabilities to take others into consideration, or at least use a proper trash bag for their waste. Their repeat playing of some Chinese song from a cellphone for TWO HOURS was also something that you can’t even describe.
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| Older and slower part of the track in Mongolia, winding up to cross the hills |
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| Mongolian official securing that nobody gets ran over by the oncoming train |
At some point hills changed to plains and the views outside turned really dull, so I took a long nap before arriving into the Mongolian and Chinese border. When we were successfully typed customs and arrival forms, we had some serious luck; The Chinese power duo were leaving from the train to Erlyan, and once we actually saw it happening we high-fived and ate a surprisingly delicious noodle meal. Hey, never underestimate the power of good mood. Everything was perfect now!
At the end of the day the train reversed into a depot at Erlyan station for a bogie change (China uses narrower axles and all of them had to be changed), which was interesting to watch. All cars were lift up with heavy machinery and new bogies were installed. As a surprise, after the train had briefly stopped at the Erlyan station and we did some beer shopping, a Chinese lady in her about 40’s had joined into our cabin. She was even too afraid to start sleeping and napped in a stool on the corridor, probably not really used to share a cabin with two 7-day bearded guys…
I also need to mention about the greatness of People’s Republic of China. As the train slowly rolled through the border, soldiers were placed on each side of the train to salute us, while Vienna Walz was playing from the loudspeakers. After that, we were given free breakfast and lunch tickets. It‘s all great in China, huh?
Day 7: Erlyan - Jining - Datong - Zhangjiakou - Chanchiang - Nankou - Beijing
Rail km’s 7013 - 7865
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| Spectacular views from a train |
Finally we arrived to Beijing and as a conclusion I have to say that the 7-day journey in a train was completely worth it, even though we also had some bad moments. It took 133 hours and 7800 kilometers to do and there is no way you can “feel the vibe” about the journey without experiencing it yourself. But still, we were really glad to get off the train and the rest of the day will just be bathing and relaxing at our hotel.
Travel tips for a train across Siberia
- Buy a sack of groceries before you start your journey. Something you can easily make in a train, like noodles or other foods that only need warming up. There is hot water available in every car.
- If you’re a drinker, buy enough Vodka in advance. The ones they sell in the restaurant car are horrible, cost five times more and makes your hangovers feel something like never before.
- Buy wet wipes to help with your personal hygiene. Showers are not included in 2nd class.
- Reserve enough local currencies for buying bread, beer, fruits and other items from local sellers at station platforms. It’s also fun to use their services, as you’ll have to use sign language to be understood what you‘re buying. And obviously, the money goes to the people themselves.
- Bring something to read and/or do. If I have to recommend something, Trans-Siberian Handbook is a definitive must choice, as it gives you a very detailed view what’s coming up next.
Nice to hear the trip to Beijing went well, after all. Nearly dropped the chair while laughing to the story of two Chinese fellows. :)
ReplyDeleteTake care!
t. Jani & Päivi