Off the Rails

St Petersburg

ute — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 19:03:00 GMT

We arrived in Moscow in the early evening somewhat tired, but after three days and three nights on the train, there was no way we were having an early night - we were going out to celebrate the official end of our trans-siberian adventure! Having made some new friends on the train, we arranged to meet at Red Square (where else?) and have a bite to eat and a drink somewhere in town. And it was the best decision we could have made.

We caught the metro into town, and wandered in the general direction of Red Square. Twilight was falling, and on every street corner, we caught a glimpse of another amazing vista - the imposing Kremlin walls, onion domes glinting golden in the sun's dying rays, red stone buildings that seemed dusted in snow, not to mention the most stunning sight of all - the candy-coloured domes of St Basil's church. We were so busy gaping at all the sights, we almost missed meeting up with our friends. But meet up we did, and soon we were toasting our grand adventure.
The few days we had in Moscow passed in a whirl, trying to cram in as many sights as possible. We visited Lenin's tomb, viewed the Tsar's treasures in the Armoury (to our dismay, the Kremlin itself was closed for some reason), and spent several enjoyable hours in GUM, the state department store that is one of the prettiest buildings in Moscow. But for many of us, the unquestionable highlight was the Moscow metro. When they started constructing the metro in the 1930s, the Soviet authorities set out to make the stations an international showcase. as a result, many of the stations are breathtaking works of beauty, each with its own character. Novoslobodskaya has gorgeous stained glass windows; Komsomolskaya is all chandeliers and marble; Mayakovskaya has wonderful ceiling mosaics depicting a day in the life of the Soviet Union; while Ploshchad Revolutsii is home to an impressive selection of bronze statues celebrating the heroes of the revolution, including workers, soldiers and so on.

While we would have loved to see some more of Moscow, we were all excited about the last stop on our trip - St Petersburg. The overnight train journey felt very routine, after our lengthy overland journey; we arrived in the early morning read to see the best of St Petersburg. We'd had no time to visit any museums in Moscow, but were determined to make up for it in Petersburg. The don't-miss attraction is of course the Hermitage, the world's most famous museum, but there's so much else to see. There's the Church on the Spilled Blood, possibly the most spectacular church in Russia, with its mosiac interior; the gorgeous imperial palaces just outside town, and the divine Yusupov palace in town; the picturesque canals; and dozens of other museums as well, from the astounding Museum of Zoology (home to several woolly mammoths), to the Kunstkamera of Peter the Great, which boasts a disturbing number of fetuses in jars. With so much to see, there's no chance we'll get bored.

Moscow

ute — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:39:00 GMT

One of the benefits of long-distance train travel is the opportunity it gives you to discuss any given topic in great detail. One of our favourite topics on this trip has been the question of which route is superior: fom Beijing to Moscow, or Moscow to Beijing. There have been plenty of arguments on both sides, not least the fact that the shopping is better in Beijing than Moscow, therefore it's better to finish there, than to lug all your bargains with you the whole way. However, I've been fully converted to the opposing camp, and now am firmly of the opinion that starting from Beijing is the way to go.

What made me change my mind? The train from Irkutsk to Moscow, that's what. It was in every way superior to any of the trains we'd experienced thus far. This is definitely the way to spend the last leg of your trip, not the first leg - no doubt about it. With elegant blue-upholstered carriages, a swish art-deco inspired dining car, and (miracle of miracles) clean toilets, it makes a comfortable home for your three-day, three-night journey.
The only area in which I admit that the Russian train has some room for improvement is in the food area. At the beginning of our journey, despite being fully armed with snacks and supplies (pot noodles were a general favourite), we set ourselves the task of sampling the delights on offer in the dining car in every train. The Chinese dining car set a high standard - although its menu was a trifle heavy on the pork, it did have some vegetarian options, and the food (when it arrived - the service wasn't exactly top speed) was delicious.

Our second leg, from Ulaan Baatar to Irkutsk, left in the late afternoon, and we deliberately neglected to pack snacks, figuring we'd enjoy sampling the Mongolian dining car. So we were somewhat distressed to find that no such carriage existed on the train! Fortunately, the thoughtful folk at Mongolian Railways provided each passenger with a dinner pack, consisting of two bread rolls (one savoury, one sweet), pre-packed salami, a bottle of water, and some potato chips.

After that experience, we packed plenty of pot noodles for the Russian leg, despite being heartily sick of the things. However, we discovered we had plenty of other options- so many, that it took us a day to even get to the dining car.

The first option was buying snacks from the babushkas who would sometimes be waiting at the station when the train pulled in to a scheduled stop. These stops were in themselves a highlight - a chance to get out, stretch your legs and breathe in some fresh air. At some of the stations (not all of them), we'd be met by an army of babushkas, selling everything from homemade ice cream cones to crayfish. Most popular buys were boiled eggs; homemade piroshki or pies - sometimes available in potato or meat varieties, always available in cabbage variety; and boiled dumplings |(served still piping hot in a bag, eaten quickly with fingers - yum!)

That took us through our first few meals. then we decided a visit to the dining car was long overdue. Our first visit was a bit chaotic, as the menu we were given was Russian only. Fortunately one of our gang has a few words of Russian, so we were able to order an omelette and something called "pureed potato", which turned out to be cream of potato soup. Unfortunately for our resident vegetarian, neither option turned out to be meat free: the omelette came with sausage (and in true Russian fashion, the chef refused to make a meat-free version), while the potato soup also had bits of meat floating in it. However, both were quite tasty.

Our next visit was much more successful, as this time we were given an English menu. While many of the items listed on the menu turned out to be unavailable, the dishes we were able to order were all fairly tasty. True, they took an awfully long time to be served (our record was an hour's wait for fried potatoes), but then, on a three-day train journey, you're not exactly pressed for time.

There's always plenty to occupy you, scenery-wise. To our great surprise, Siberia - a place that always sounds forbidding and frigid - turned out to be not only warm, but beautiful. Rolling forests, wide rivers, tranquil wooden villages - there was always something new to look at. Sometimes the sights were more sobering- a shocking number of decrepit factories and plants, simply left to rot, provided plenty of evidence that life in Siberia doesn't always live up to the most optimistic assessments - but on thing's for sure: we were never bored.

Now we've landed in Moscow, and have a few days to explore this mammoth city, Europe's largest. Can't wait to see what's in store.

Irkutsk

ute — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 16:20:00 GMT

Some people might think long train journeys are monotonous: sitting there, watching the scenery go past. They have no idea. What's really montonous is sitting in a train for 12 hours, not going anywhere at all - and not being able to go to the toilet, either. Which is what happened to us at the Mongolian border.

The journey from Ulan Baatar to Irkutsk shouldn't be a long one. When you look at a map, the distance is just a fraction of the distance between Beijing and UB, a trip that took us 36 hours. Yet this much shorter trip ends up taking the same amount of time, not least thanks to our border stop.

We arrive at the border around 3am, having left UB at 7.30pm the previous night, and clank to a stop. We've been warned that we won't be able to use the train's toilets until we've crossed the border. What we haven't been warned about is that we will now sit here until the Mongolian border officials' morning shift clocks on at 9am.

This is when the fun starts. The train is packed with Mongolians who are either professional merchants, or making a bit on the side. They've come so laden with stuff, there's sometimes no room for us in our carriages. Several of our group have had to physically remove Mongolians' baggage to actually fit ourselves in our cabins; others in the top bunks have had the pleasure of trying to fall asleep with half a dozen salami dangling centimetres away from their noses. As the border officials come on board, some Mongolians start hunting for hiding places for their excess items. Several times we have to prevent people from other carriages hiding their goods in our compartment. Some, more resourcesfully, hide bags of who-knows-what in the bottom of the rubbish bin. Others even hide things in secret compartments under the floor. Unfortunately for them, the border guards are wise to this one, and find every skerrick hidden down there (although the parcels in the rubbish bin make it through intact.)

Mongolians aren't the only ones who run afoul of the border guards - one of our group gets her camera confiscated for taking a photo of the officials at work. Only after a lot of pleading does she get her camera back, after she's deleted the offending shot.

We finally leave the border behind early afternoon, but it still takes us until the next morning to reach Irkutsk. Our first sight of Siberia is pretty much what we expected - it's a cool morning wreathed in mist - but the day soon clears to a blazing late-summer day, perfect for our stay at Lake Baikal, the world's largest (and oldest) freshwater lake in the world. Here we're divided into two groups, each group housed with a different Russian babushka, who seems to take it as her personal assignment to fatten us up in the 24 hours we will be here.

For once, our program is profoundly relaxing. After a hearty breakfast (rye bread, cheese, small pancake-type things, homemade raspberry jam and sour cream, biscuits and cakes), we head out for a cruise on the lake. The water is incredibly clear and, despite the singlet weather, incredibly cold - four degrees. We take our shoes and socks off and wade, but after just a few minutes we have to pull our frozen feet back out. After the cruise, it's time for lunch - Ludmilla has prepared a delicious borscht (all veggies fresh from her garden) and omul, Lake Baikal's most famous fish. (80% of the lake's marine life is found nowhere else in the world.)

after lunch we go for a long walk along the lakeshore to try to walk off some of the food and make room for dinner. the lake is blue, the birch forest is a dozen shades of green, and the sun is gloriously warm. this place seems like paradise - after the snow in Mongolia, who would've guessed Siberia would be such a summer paradise? We head back to Ludmilla's for a sauna - sheer bliss after a couple of days without a shower! Then it's time for more food - this time another typical Siberian treat, pelmeni, or dumplings. We stagger around the village in an attempt to work off this latest round of food, then turn in for an early night.

The next day we explore the district a bit more, before heading off on the next leg of our journey. (But not before Ludmilla has one last chance to feed us up with some more soup.) We head back to Irkutsk, stopping along the way at a museum of typically Siberian wooden architecture. Once settled into out hotel, we set out to explore this town, the capital of eastern Siberia. It has a checkered history - founded by Cossacks, it went through a stage as a boom town, and was also shaped by the political revolutionaries who were exiled here. As you walk along its pleasant shady streets, you can see remnants of its various histories, from ornately carved wooden houses, similar to the ones we saw in the museum, to more impressive municipal buildings. This is also the only town I've seen in Russia where there's a statue of both a Tsar (Alexander III) and Lenin still standing. It's a lovely little place, one that is very different from our next stop - Moscow. But first we have three days and nights on the train to get through. I'll let you know how we survive that one!

Ulaan Baator

ute — Fri, 8 Sep 2006 16:17:00 GMT

It's hard to believe it's only three days since we left Beijing - we seem to have crammed so much into such a short space of time! Our trans-mongolian journey began properly in the (very) early hours of Tuesday morning, as we made our way to Beijing's gorgeous South railway station. The waiting room where we waited for the train looked like something out of a 1930s movie - a very glamorous way to set off on a rough-and-ready adventure!

The train pulled out promptly at 7.40am, by which time we were all comfortably settled into our 4-berth sleeping compartments. We had our noses glued to the windows for the first couple of hours, which featured some spectacular views of the Great Wall snaking its way over mountains like some mythical Chinese serpent.

As the hours wore on, the scenery slowly began to change, from the lush green fields of the first few hours, to a landscape that is browner and flatter. The buildings change, too, sitting low and flat in the landscape, hunkered down against the winds that you can imagine sweeping down from the north. Although we see distantly-spaced settlements, we rarely see any people - it feels like one gigantic film set.

As the afternoon wears on and we head into Inner Mongolia, as the Chinese refer to the part of Mongolia they administer, we start to experience the desert landscape (in more ways than one - the ubiquitous dust finds its way through the smallest nooks and crannies!) We've all packed plenty of snacks (that great Chinese favourite, pot noodles, is a popular choice), for which we're all grateful given the lengthy border crossing. We reach the Chinese border around 9.30pm, and it's after 2am by the time we celebrate our first border crossing of the trip.
When we finally wake the next morning, it's in the knowledge that we're in Mongolia proper. The wide flat steppes are exactly as I'd imagined - it's with great excitement that we spot occasional horses, camels or even a yak.

We arrive in Ulaan Baatar in the afternoon, and head straight for a picturesque valley, where we are to experience firsthand traditional Mongolian lifestyle by sleeping in a ger, the felt tent used by nomadic tribes. The tents are larger than we expected - two single beds, a wood-fired oven, a small cabinet and a couple of stools fit in comfortably - and much more comfortable, too. Once we get the wood-fired stoves going, they're very cosy, and we all look forward to snuggling down for the night.

The only downside of woodfires, of course, is that unless you stay up all night stoking them, they will eventually go out. We're all cold when we wake up in the morning, and we soon discover why - it's started snowing! Building up the fire again takes considerably skill, since the wood has frozen during the night. Fortunately, one of our group, Lucie, learned considerable fire-starting skills during her Czech childhood, so we soon thaw out. the falling snow means the planned hike is off the program, so the more intrepid members of our group go for a short explore, while the rest of us soak up a bit more of the ger atmosphere.

Then it was back to Ulaan Baator, where we have crammed a lot into a short stay, including a traditional Mongolian music and dance performance (my highlights included the amazing throat singers, and some pre-pubescent contortionists who were astonishing - I've never seen anyone get their bum on their head before!), a visit to the country's central monastery, the Gandan Monastery (the Dalai Lama preached here two weeks ago), and of course some shopping. Most popular item - leather gloves, to keep off the chill (it's still snowing). Tonight we're getting back on the train. Awaiting us - another border crossing, then the delights of Lake Baikal, the world's biggest inland sea. Should be great (particularly if it stops snowing!)

Beijing

ute — Mon, 4 Sep 2006 16:14:00 GMT

Beijing is big. Really, really big. Even the drive into town from the airport is an epic voyage in itself, taking you along endless majestic boulevards, past massive green parks, and mile after mile after mile of shiny new tower buildings, all being rolled out in time for the Olympics.
With just a few days here, we only have time to see some of the city's sights, but from the vastness of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City to the delicate Ming-dynasty beauties of the Temple of Heaven, it's all been astonishing. Our trip out to the Great Wall yesterday was a real highlight. It took three hours to reach Simatai, but it was worth every second. So many places we visit these days are less thrilling than you anticipate - the sight seems somehow diminished in reality, or is so hidden behind other tourists and postcard touts, you can't take it in properly. The Great Wall, however, is much grander than you expect. At Simatai, it stretches its way over the serpent-like undulations of a rugged mountain range. How many workers died during its construction is difficult to imagine - we were fairly hard-taxed, just walking along it! It was a one-and-a-half-hour rugged climb, uphill all the way, with stairs that are both steep and uneven, so you need to watch your footing the whole way. The reward: astonishing views out over the fertile valley, and a real appreciation for what an impressive achievement the emperors left behind them.

Even the drive out to Simatai was enjoyable, soaking up the views over the tranquil countryside. Plenty more of that tomorrow, when we embark on the first leg of our train journey. It will take us a day and a night to get to Ulan Baator, the Mongolian capital: we'll pass the Great Wall again, as well as journeying through mountains and arid deserts. Everyone's very excited about this first leg (and about the chance to rest our weary legs for a whole day!) Must go do some last-minute shopping: wise heads have recommended bringing plenty of snacks, plus our town toilet paper.

Will send more news from Mongolia!