The Trans Siberia-Mongolian Train

The Trans Siberia-Mongolian Train

Greetings! If you are reading this, it’s thanks to Christine’s Mom and Christine's most wonderful, intelligent, and good looking brother, Peter, who have posted on our behalf as it turns out many sites such as blogger, facebook, twitter and various news agencies are blocked and inaccessible from China. Also, Christine will be unable to attach pictures to the post as she normally does, but photos from our journey on the Trans Siberia – Mongolia Train can be found here if you are interested: http://picasaweb.google.com/christine.root/TransSiberiaMongolianTrain

On our last day in Moscow the sun shone bright and the sky was clear blue. It was a pleasant day that we spent doing a bit of casual wandering around the city, emailing, and buying a few things to prepare for our train trip. After spending most of the day taking things pretty easy, we returned back to our Hotel to get our things and head to the Trans-Siberian train. During our time in Moscow we used pretty much every form of transit: taxi, shuttle bus, metro, and city bus. So when we had to take a bus and a metro to get to the train station, it was little challenge, except manhandling our bags around all the people. When we arrived at the train station stop, the metro was probably one of the fullest stations we have seen in Moscow. The two different metros would pull into the station at the same time and disgorge all of their passengers into the station. There is a mad rush for the escalators and the floor is completely packed in the swarm of people. Then just as the last of the masses are getting to the top platform and there is a small window of space, with only the arrivals waiting for the train in place. Moments later two new trains arrive and the hordes begin again. It is pretty common in metros, but this particular setting seems like something out of a movie.

In total, the train journey was 6 nights, 7 days. The train takes 4 days in Russia, crossing into Siberia and passing through places like Irkusk (a name that will be familiar to any Risk players). The train enters Mongolia on the 5th night and travels for about 24 hours through Mongolia. On the 6th and final evening, the train enters into China and travels straight through to Beijing. Many of the people on the train spent a few days in Ulan Batar, the capital of Mongolia, but given the chilly weather and lack of activities, some expressed regrets at spending so much time in the Mongol city and surrounding areas.

Back in Moscow, Russia, we arrived at the train station a couple of hours before departure to ensure that we didn’t have any trouble locating our train. We were quite excited about getting this long train ride started and enjoying a bit of a slower pace for 6-7 days. Christine loves trains and the thought of a week traveling by one was pretty exciting for her. Our train was a Chinese one, and staffed almost completely by Chinese men, with the exception of a Russian woman in the meal car who prepared the food and a Russian conductor. The food in Russia was Russian, and when the train crossed to Mongolia and China the menu and dining car changed to the native country. Each train carriage had an attendant and ours was a very nice young man. He looked out for us, checked in to make sure we were onboard when the train left a stop, cleaned up the carriage and did general such duties.

Our room was small in some ways, but large enough and well laid out. After spending most of the last 7 weeks in a tent, the set-up was pretty good. We had our own table and comfy chair, two bunk beds, a small closet, and a shared sink and shower with the room next door. The bathroom was right next to our room and was usually kept quite clean. The shower was very entertaining as it flows at a trickle pressure and takes about twice as long as normal to have one. However, we were very fortunate to have a shower for ourselves as most of the other carriages do not and after 6 or 7 days things can get a little manky. The temperature inside the train was often quite hot, and there were some windows that open in the hallway, but not in our room. All in all it was very cozy and a pleasant place to spend a week. Sleeping aboard the train was quite pleasant and the rocking was somewhat akin to sleeping on a boat. One small nuisance was that with the snow on the tracks the train sometimes lost traction and as it powers up to try and gain momentum, the train slips and jerks. One particularly snowy night it was happening quite frequently, which subsequently lead to a sleep of fits and starts.

The samovars and the carriages were heated with coal, and the attendants were constantly shoveling more fuel in to keep things pretty warm. The stops often had coal trucks running down the line of the train to drop off fresh supplies. What this often meant was that there was a distinct scent of coal hanging in the air, and it became quite pungent when passing in the space between the different carriages.

Train life was pretty relaxed and casual. There isn’t a lot to do, except sit, lie down, read, nap, and make new friends. While I spent much of the day reading, Christine spent a good portion napping. At one point while I was writing this she was busy having a nap, it was perhaps her second nap of the day, but certainly not her last. We saved our foray into the very back of the train until the second day and didn’t even think about over-taxing ourselves to the front of the train until the fourth day. Unfortunately, on our way to the front we were stopped 2 cars short of the engine by a carriage attendant, apparently the first two were staff quarters and storage of food and coal and who knows what else.

The train stops about 4 times a day and we get off to stretch our legs and check out the wares of the old women in babushka’s selling various foods to train passengers. The stops are only for 10 minutes or so, but on occasion can be for about a half an hour. Since we largely existed on noodle soup with hot water from the provided samovar, we loved to see if there were any tasty Russian dishes to mix things up. So not only were the stops akin to free time outside, they were also a hunting expedition for something other than noodles to eat. The ladies were polite and not very pushy. Some things like fruit were often overpriced, but there were some very good reasonably priced meals to be found as well.

The people on the train were an interesting hodge-podge of all nations. Christine and I, along with apparently many others, thought the train would be loaded with large, bearded Russian men pounding back the vodka. As it turns out, we saw almost no Russian’s on-board. The people in our car were a mix of Mongolians, Spaniards and an Australian/French couple. A few cars behind us we found a lot of people around our age, and English was a unifying language for conversation. There were a lot of British, Swedish and Australians on the train. One other Canadian, a few Americans and Germans add a bit to the mix. We all took to hanging out together and often filled the dinner car playing card games. While there aren’t a lot of Russian’s pounding the vodka, all the foreigners surely picked up the slack. Every night was like a party, with vodka and beer and snacks and games. Everyone had great travel stories to share, and most people seem to be on long vacations, a couple months for some, 6 months for lots and a few that quit their jobs and are traveling for a year or two, or at least until the money runs out and they get home sick. There was a strong feeling of kindred spirits, and quick easy friendships were formed everywhere. It was sad as some people start getting off in Mongolia or other locations in China, like a loose family breaking up.

The scenery through much of Russia was pretty similar, lots of birch trees, flat rolling hills and run down towns all along the line. It was easy to see the wealth disparity between Moscow and all the little towns and cities that we passed. The further into Siberia we got the colder it got and the thicker the snow hung on the trees. The further we traveled into Siberia, the faster the mercury dropped and the more snow we saw. At some moments when we passed through higher elevations the covering was a dense blanket and hung heavily in the trees. It reminded me of winters in Salmon Arm, except in mid October instead of January. Can you imagine if the ground is iced, the air freezing and the snow fairly thick in the middle of October, how cold it will be in January/February when they are full trapped in the throes of winter? The people must be very hearty hear to endure such conditions. As we drew closer to Mongolia, the snow density began to lighten, but certainly not the temperature.

The scenery was beautiful and very enjoyable from the comfort of our warm cabin. Watching the lazy flakes drift listlessly to the ground became a favourite past time and it was easy to pass much of the day just enjoying the scenery.

On the 5th evening we pulled into the Russia-Mongolia border for a 5 hour stop to get through customs. It was a lengthy ordeal. The Russians came aboard and kicked us out of our room so they could go through it for contraband. We had to pull out our bags and they tossed the sheets, doing a pretty thorough job of it. They even opened up the electrical panels to check for hidden contraband. Then came the Russian soldier with the sniffing hound, trying to find any drugs aboard the train. Christine thought the little dog was cute, but had the presence of mind not to stop and pet it. The Russians took away our passports and we had about 3 hours before they would be back. In the meantime, they were busy switching the engine car over and the dinner car as well to a Mongolian one. We felt pretty secure the train wouldn’t take off without us, especially in the absence of an engine.

Since we were experiencing an unexpectedly lengthy stop, we decided to get out and go for a walk with another couple from the train. Most people chose to stay on the train, I think a few were nervous to stray too far, but we thought we might as well see the border town. This place was a bit rougher than Moscow, and after having a bowl of borsht at a café, we wandered around for a bit. The town was pretty run down and in rough shape, but they did have a well maintained memorial for those fallen in WWII. The Aussie with us wanted to stop by what looked like the only pub in town for a pint with the locals, but there was a private party going on, so we were not allowed in. The small grocery store was a highlight in that it have a bit more variety from that same 5 things that were available on every station platform. After paying, before we were about to leave, a fight broke out outside. Apparently a drunk Russian had dropped his loaf of bread on the ground and so he kicked a car that was parked outside. This did not go over well with the 3 Eurasion Russians inside, so they got out and started a fight. The other guy had a few friends as well, and after a bit of a punch up and some yelling, the 3 men got back in the car and drove off. We figured since it was a small town, they probably knew each other already and perhaps there is some animosity between the white Russians and the Eurasian ones. In any case, we hightailed it back to the train and waited for a bit to pass through to Mongolia.

As we were passing the border, the attendants gave us some new customs forms to fill out for Mongolia, and they were entirely in Russian. After a good laugh and some guesses as to what was what, we asked some of our carriage mates. Most had no clue, but the Mongolian gentleman in the adjoining room could read and write in Russian and spoke broken English. After he kindly walked me through it, we passed the info along to anyone else who needed some help. When it came time for the Mongolians to search the train, they took a completely different approach. Their focus wasn’t so much on contraband as it was on health. They all wore masks and rubber gloves and had us fill out a health form and gave us a brief look-see to make sure we weren’t obviously ill. It only took them about an hour and a half to clear the whole train and we were off into Mongolia, the time now about 2 in the morning. This was not helping Christine and I to start waking earlier and to adjust our internal clocks 5 hours back, but at least we had some nice time on the train to slowly adjust.

The next day in Mongolia was quite the sight. The landscape was so different from in Russia and the Gobi desert seems all encompassing. The picture out the window was nothing but plains and hills covered with a thin layer of snow and short scrub brush. There were a few tiny copses of trees here or there, but otherwise the landscape was both beautiful and bleak at the same time. The people live in a mixture of brick house and round huts. If you see pictures of Mongolia, the huts are usually colourful and look quite unique. However, in the winter they are all bundled up like a Canadian child going out into the snow. They have this white plastic looking covering that must help keep some of the warmth in. The cows here cling to the sides of fences for protection against the wind and perhaps to draw some warmth from human settlements. One set of houses had a line of clothes out to dry. Though the sky was clear and the sun was shining, I can’t imagine that much would dry in the negative temperatures.

As we were passing through the Gobi dessert, which is not surprisingly very sparse, we happened across a camel wandering along. Christine tried to take a photo, but it was a bit late so blurry, but rest assured it was indeed a camel. The sighting prompted a debate amongst everyone hanging out in the dining car as to the difference between a dromedary and camel, and can camels have more than 2 humps. In the end we all could at least agree that there were two humps on this camel. Apart from the camel and some additional yurts (the proper name for Mongolian round huts) there was nothing much to see, but vast tracts of untouched land. Mongolia is the 19th largest country in the world and only has 3 million people (not surprising considering how harsh the landscape is).

When we arrived at the Mongolia-China border, it proved to be another late night, going through customs on both sides and having a Chinese health nurse decide if we were Swine Flu infected. If she was suspicious we would have had our temperature checked like several other people on the train. After much searching and going through all the paper work we rolled into a shed on the Chinese side of the border to have a bogie change. And no that isn’t a top gun reference to communist fighter jet targets (I know it was Russia in the movie, but I have taken some artistic modernization). A bogie change is when the train wheels do not fit the track ahead. Russia and Mongolia have their own rail line, while China is on the same system as Europe. Once the train was pulled into the shed, the wheels were unhooked, large lifts hoisted the carriages and us along with it into the air, and staff set about changing the wheels on the train. Then we were gently set back down and steaming on our way by about 1:30 in the morning.

Our last day on the train was a pleasant and relaxing one, unlike the previously stress filled 5 or 6 . We packed up, had our first lunch in the carriage car for two reasons, we were sick of cheap packaged noodles and they gave us a free lunch voucher when we crossed into China. The scenery gradually began to change as we approached Beijing and some decent jagged mountains, streams and lakes finally started to appear. We also saw a small bit of the poverty that exists outside of the major cities in China.

Upon arriving in Beijing it was quite the vertical sight to see. The number of tall and really tall buildings is astounding. But what else would we expect from a city that has a surrounding population of 17 million and a city population of 13 million.

Pulling into the Beijing station we finally had to say good-bye to our longest home to date, the friends we made along the way and our trusty carriage attendant Chen. We had a wonderful time and it was a very slow paced and completely different experience from everything else. Now we look forward to our Asian experiences as we explore a bit of China, India and Nepal.