The crossing of Siberia by train, realize a dream
The crossing of Siberia by train, realize a dream - .
Our train, the 002 Rossiya, Moscow to Vladivostok , left the Yekaterinburg station late in the day. All trains in Russia come to Moscow time , which can be a bit confusing at first.All stations have clocks to Moscow time too, as well as trains.
It had snowed all afternoon we crunched on the platform as the train pulled in to us, looking our car as it passed This is the time the railway anticipation traveler: .. aboard a train and meet your fellow travelers This train began its journey in Moscow :. will join a sleeper already settled and inhabitedBundling in the hallway of our car with our bags, we found our cabin and we are introduced to Natasha and Valiyr its other occupants. Both Russian Natasha traveling full Moscow to Vladivostok for the first time and was Valiyr until the next stop later in the evening. Tyumen We were able to converse with great success, albeit slowly, with our glossary. In trying to explain why we made the trip, and how we could afford it, we used our old story of travel (used when we traveled through the Middle East and India) that we were on our honeymoon. It usually justified without question.far.Valiyr disappeared. He returned shortly afterwards with a bottle of Liebfraumilch (there was a mother and her baby on the label) and a chocolate bar (had a baby on the label, do not you see a pattern here?).We toasted our wedding, we toasted our future off-spring, we went with it. fully in the festive swing now ubiquitous Valiyr dragged a bag of laundry checked under the seat and produced a dark bottle, homemade liquor. Blackcurrant we were able to deduce it was poured and passed around.We toasted our wedding, we toasted our future off-spring.bottle was returned to the bag and another took its place, this time a spirit pales house it was herby :. We toasted our wedding, we toasted our future off-spring.Natasha, eager to keep things under some control lavished sausage slices of salami-type for men. The bottle is returned in the bag, this time cognac unlabeled replaced.This was powerful stuff, Natasha and I agreed that we had had enough after the first.We toasted our wedding, we toasted our future off-spring.Chris Valiyr and continued with cognac, we were all getting rather merry. Natasha Valiyr and sang for us Russian traditional songs , and then asked us to do the same.Our minds befuddled could not think of anything, they urged us, we watched another and a lighted spark in our eyes, yes, "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, can not escape the reality" There was a vibrant version of Bohemian Rhapsody :. , it blew their minds! Well, it may have been bemusement!By the time the train pulled into the station Tyumen four hours later, Valiyr and Chris were very drunk. Valiyr had to be helped off the train by Natasha! I felt a little guilty with our honeymoon fib , Natasha and Valiyr were so sweet to celebrate. We can use it more carefully from now on! Natasha even made my bed for me that night. Valiyr was replaced by two placid men on the rest of the trip, one after another.
over the next two days the Siberian world through the , it seems similar to the pre-Yekaterinburg travel. The trees, so many bare trees in the late fall.The village occasional wood dusty streets that separate the shabby colorful houses . Orange-clad railwaymen appear in remote locations along the track.We spend a few large cities Ob and Novosibirsk , with blocks of ugly housing, litter and congestion. They have dark gray air compared to fragile villages splashed color wood. The afternoon burning gold. The transparent background of endless large standing birches, turns on the miles , punctuated in the foreground with short low platforms next to the tracks . These rudimentary stations serving small villages hidden in the trees.
Forest soils are dusted with snow that has become small drifts on the slopes. time is lost as we travel across time zones, we eat by the sun and the days are short. continues the process is that we sink in the dark, time to curl up and read.the next morning, there is a lot more variety to the outside world, many colonies of logging and forest poker straight pines. The train crosses rivers, frozen on the banks platforms and stations, we pass through the brilliance with the gel. As we get much closer to the Irkutsk logging increases , the terrain becomes hilly and most diverse forests.traffic on the roads and trains many goods. We see foxes, their big bushy tails disclose. A Zima the train stopped for thirty minutes giving us plenty of time to get some fresh air needed on the platform. Our diet on the train consists of noodles and soup powder, Brown bread, brie, pickles, crackers. Packets of instant oatmeal are complete breakfasts, made with water from the samovar bags Three-in-one instant coffee wash everything down. - I know, shocking but oddly quite addictive!Chris enriches the diet with hot food that brought down the train: donut rolls filled with hot dogs or meat
Crossing Siberia by train
The pleasure of standing in the hallway of a car bed watching the world pass by the window one of the reasons why I love long-distance travel by train, being serenaded by the rails, I could rave forever. For a train lover wandering, the Trans-Siberian route is a long-aspired dream . To travel slowly through the vast plains of Siberia, to take a train to London and with some changes coming weeks in Asia.If it can be done, it must be done, it must be traveled.This step of our rail trip to Vietnam was to be the longest, Yekaterinburg to Irkutsk . Three days, two nights, 3373 kilometers and four time zones. I craved this trip! I booked our seats in a (4 beds) Kupe using the website Russian Railways (English bit) . This worked for me, but I understand that all credit / debit cards are accepted by it, especially American ones.You can book an internal Russian train on the site and it gives you a registered exit ticket you print that you give to the attendant when you board, I could not believe how easy it was! Our train, the 002 Rossiya, Moscow to Vladivostok , left the Yekaterinburg station late in the day. All trains in Russia come to Moscow time , which can be a bit confusing at first.All stations have clocks to Moscow time too, as well as trains.It had snowed all afternoon we crunched on the platform as the train pulled in to us, looking our car as it passed This is the time the railway anticipation traveler: .. aboard a train and meet your fellow travelers This train began its journey in Moscow :. will join a sleeper already settled and inhabitedBundling in the hallway of our car with our bags, we found our cabin and we are introduced to Natasha and Valiyr its other occupants. Both Russian Natasha traveling full Moscow to Vladivostok for the first time and was Valiyr until the next stop later in the evening. Tyumen We were able to converse with great success, albeit slowly, with our glossary. In trying to explain why we made the trip, and how we could afford it, we used our old story of travel (used when we traveled through the Middle East and India) that we were on our honeymoon. It usually justified without question.far.Valiyr disappeared. He returned shortly afterwards with a bottle of Liebfraumilch (there was a mother and her baby on the label) and a chocolate bar (had a baby on the label, do not you see a pattern here?).We toasted our wedding, we toasted our future off-spring, we went with it. fully in the festive swing now ubiquitous Valiyr dragged a bag of laundry checked under the seat and produced a dark bottle, homemade liquor. Blackcurrant we were able to deduce it was poured and passed around.We toasted our wedding, we toasted our future off-spring.bottle was returned to the bag and another took its place, this time a spirit pales house it was herby :. We toasted our wedding, we toasted our future off-spring.Natasha, eager to keep things under some control lavished sausage slices of salami-type for men. The bottle is returned in the bag, this time cognac unlabeled replaced.This was powerful stuff, Natasha and I agreed that we had had enough after the first.We toasted our wedding, we toasted our future off-spring.Chris Valiyr and continued with cognac, we were all getting rather merry. Natasha Valiyr and sang for us Russian traditional songs , and then asked us to do the same.Our minds befuddled could not think of anything, they urged us, we watched another and a lighted spark in our eyes, yes, "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, can not escape the reality" There was a vibrant version of Bohemian Rhapsody :. , it blew their minds! Well, it may have been bemusement!By the time the train pulled into the station Tyumen four hours later, Valiyr and Chris were very drunk. Valiyr had to be helped off the train by Natasha! I felt a little guilty with our honeymoon fib , Natasha and Valiyr were so sweet to celebrate. We can use it more carefully from now on! Natasha even made my bed for me that night. Valiyr was replaced by two placid men on the rest of the trip, one after another. over the next two days the Siberian world through the , it seems similar to the pre-Yekaterinburg travel. The trees, so many bare trees in the late fall.The village occasional wood dusty streets that separate the shabby colorful houses . Orange-clad railwaymen appear in remote locations along the track.We spend a few large cities Ob and Novosibirsk , with blocks of ugly housing, litter and congestion. They have dark gray air compared to fragile villages splashed color wood. The afternoon burning gold. The transparent background of endless large standing birches, turns on the miles , punctuated in the foreground with short low platforms next to the tracks . These rudimentary stations serving small villages hidden in the trees. Forest soils are dusted with snow that has become small drifts on the slopes. time is lost as we travel across time zones, we eat by the sun and the days are short. continues the process is that we sink in the dark, time to curl up and read.the next morning, there is a lot more variety to the outside world, many colonies of logging and forest poker straight pines. The train crosses rivers, frozen on the banks platforms and stations, we pass through the brilliance with the gel. As we get much closer to the Irkutsk logging increases , the terrain becomes hilly and most diverse forests.traffic on the roads and trains many goods. We see foxes, their big bushy tails disclose. A Zima the train stopped for thirty minutes giving us plenty of time to get some fresh air needed on the platform. Our diet on the train consists of noodles and soup powder, Brown bread, brie, pickles, crackers. Packets of instant oatmeal are complete breakfasts, made with water from the samovar bags Three-in-one instant coffee wash everything down. - I know, shocking but oddly quite addictive!Chris enriches the diet with hot food that brought down the train: donut rolls filled with hot dogs or meat 
The rest of the trip was uneventful, although I remember standing on the platform in Düsseldorf, and think "I do not know where I am! " . I mean, I could see that I was in Düsseldorf but if I had to have the pin on a map, I could not!I arrived in Luxembourg at 19.29 and started to walk to the hostel. Nobody told me old Luxembourg is a UNESCO certified historic town built in a groove - yes, I would have researched - spectacular as it is painfully up and down the picturesque cobbled streets with my wheely bag was completely exhausting (Google maps is useless here!) and if it was not for spectacular illuminated background bunkers and fortifications I wish I had hailed a cab !the next morning, I left early to explore the old quarter before my next set of trains in Konstanz which left at 13:30
all trains were on time and arrived in Konstanz at 21.16, Chris sat waiting on the platform: we had not seen for over a month 
There was a bit of an epic adventure: 
We certainly arrived in Ulaanbaatar an auspicious day. At 5am, all watery eyes, we got off the train in Russia in the darkness of a Mongolian chills morning and were informed that it was a national holiday. He was the anniversary of Genghis Khan .The train, issue # 362, Irkutsk had left the night before. We had the pleasure of a kupe, four-berth cabin for us and fortunately had Sean and Severi in the neighboring cabin.We bought the tickets for the trip to the station of Irkutsk the previous day. Only this car on the long train we boarded would go to the border in Mongolia.This was a sociable evening but later I could not sleep that the cabin was hot and stuffy. Instead, I went to my bunk, opened the window a fraction and sat peering into the night.The stars were clear and many, it was a magical scene. The front of the train could be glimpsed as we snaked around corners, its light to illuminate our journey.
when we returned to the station our sleeping car was alone, no engine, no. We sat for a while on the platform then returned to the cabin.The toilets were closed during this time, but there were toilets at the station to 20rub.
Just before 16 hours we were given forms to fill out while officials boarded and a series of painless process involving customs and control played passports.We read, we talked, we ate.It became dark when the landing gear, the car had been attached to a motor and this very short train to Mongolia.
we could change our rubles tughriks the train crossed the border, a local passenger gave us good rates {application XE on our smart phone is handy at this point!}. It was the case of his way to bag Hello Kitty before the black market moneychangers boarded.The Mongolian border procedure lasted three hours and was also painless for us anyway. We were able to get to the last hour to stretch our legs while several trucks were added to the train.This gave us the opportunity to make a little more money and go find some beer.it appears that consumption in Mongolia stations is prohibited, you can get a fine, so delayed and may lead you to think that your train departs, when in fact it is just shunt.you can end up chasing the train as fast as you can only laugh by provodnitsa.Yes, it's happened to a couple of guys on the train, much to our amusement.
And so we found ourselves in Ulaanbaatar early the next morning, feeling very glad that we had organized a pickup for the inn.After a hot cup of tea, we could verify and claim our beds. the anniversary of Genghis Khan could wait a few more hours, there was a cozy duvet call me ...
We led to Sukhbaatar Square soldiers later in the day to see some of the festivities, dressed in the parade. We even interviewed us for a local news TV channel
