First things first everybody - there is no such thing as the Trans-Siberian Express. There is, however, a Trans-Siberian rail track which links Moscow with Beijing. If you do it in one go you can complete it in 7 days. Or you can choose to stop in Mongolia & Siberia and to be honest why wouldn't you? Chances are you won't be passing through these places again. I choose to complete the 'Big Trans-Sib' stopping in Ulan Bataar & Irkutsk. My adventures begun with 2 days in Beijing for some sightseeing. First a walk through the Forbidden City where the Emperors from the Qin, Ming and Qing dynasties ruled for thousands of years and then across Tianamen Square where Chairman Mao now rests.

Fiona outside the national history museum in Moscow

Don’t forget to fit in some shopping at the Silk Markets, where you will here cries of “I got some nice watches lady. You want some? Cheap!” and “My price cheap!” followed with “Ok Ok what’s your price?” Prada sunglasses for 7 Aussie dollars, I should have bought more!

At night the streets come alive with markets and food vendors. Fancy trying some fried grasshopper or maybe a scorpion? Then head down to Foot Street not far from the Forbidden City to try all these Chinese delights and more.

A visit to the imperial capital is not complete without a visit to the Great Wall of China. It is 6000 kms long and was built 3000 years ago. You want believe it until you see it. Although the train does pass the wall it does not stop (its not for tourists) so you need to take a day trip to see it properly. And indeed if you want to see more of China than this (and there is lots to see) check out our additional Chinese itineraries.

The Great Wall of China (as if you didn't know)

Train no 23 departs Beijing Central Train Station at 7.40am sharp. I boarded the train and found my sleeper for the night. I wasn’t on my own for long as another western couple joined me for the next two days. We stored our backpacks and got ready for 2 days of train living.

Each carriage has 9 sleepers with 2 upper and 2 lower beds. There is storage space under the lower beds and above the door. We managed to fit in 3 backpacks and daypacks in the storage areas so we were not tripping over them. At the each end of the carriage is a toilet with a washbasin. They are kept relatively clean by the two attendants who are there for your every need (well sort of; be nice to them. On the train they are very important). A boiler will keep you in supply of hot water for your cups of tea or coffee or pot noodles. If you are a coffee fiend then take your own - trust me, take your own!

Ulaan Baatar train station at 5am - we have to be honest; it is not the highlight of the trip!

I was doing this trip in the middle of winter; however on the train you wouldn’t even know it was winter. The train is kept very warm so I was able to take off the thermals and live in a t-shirt. If you do get off the train at stations, don’t forget to rug up! You pay a very small fee for bed-linen which is usually super fresh.

Just so you don’t have to rely on pot noodles, this train also has a restaurant car. From Beijing it has a Chinese menu with a plentiful supply of alcohol. The menu is cheap with a plate of beef and noodles about 10yuan, which is about 2 Aussie dollars.

The restaurant car also served the purpose of a makeshift “Aussie Pub”. As I was eating my beef and rice another Australian couple sat down for a cheap feed. As we had all spent the last few days in China it was good to speak some English! We got talking and before we knew it 2 more Aussies joined us.

The amazing part of this train trip is the scenery and the “real” side of the country you don’t get flying over in a plane. Four hours in, if you look out your window, you will get a view of the Great Wall of China as it stretches over the hills. The train also passes through smaller villages and some industrial towns.

A quick run down on the situation with washing. It's a subject that always get asked by our clients. Well the good news is that many of the Russian trains now have a shower cubicle (please note - we do not guarantee this). It is situated in the wagon next to the restaurant car and costs about US5 to use. The Chinese & Mongolian sections do not have these facilities. The tolilets are kept reasonably clean, have hand-rails and a plug hole in the floor making an improvised wash down very possible.

Sturdy looking trains throughout

At about 10pm the train comes to a stop at a station called Dalanzadgad. This is still in China. The stop is for 2 hours and for your evening's entertainment you get to see the changing of the bogeys. The gauge between the tracks changes between China and Mongolia. You are allowed to stay on board and watch or you can get off. A couple of my companions got off and mentioned it was the highlight of their evening. The restaurant car closes at 8pm so if you don’t get off the train then you will have to retire to your cabin. I was going to get ready for bed but this is also where the customs and passport procedure takes place. Unlike Australia where we do not share any land borders, you tend to forget that you are about to enter a different country by train.

(quick history lesson here. The Trans-Siberian was deliberately built by the Russians with a different guage to its neighbours to avoid invasion. The train was the weapon of mass destruction in the 19th century.)

Just like at airports there is the official passport collecting and stamping procedure. game to go through. Lots of paperwork and forms to fill in. By about 1am I was asleep with the gentle rocking of the train.

The following morning I headed to the restaurant car and was greeted by a new restaurant! While they were changing the bogeys they also change the restaurant!. As we were headed for Mongolia it became a Mongolian restaurant. Accepted currency on board was Yuan from Beijing and Turgitst from when we crossed the border. US dollars is always accepted. It is advisable to bring more $US, as you can’t change currency until you get to Ulaan Baatar. Having said that, Yuan was accepted in the Mongolian restaurant.

The opulent delights of the restaurant car!

After two days of playing cards and drinking vodka and Chinese beer we arrived in to Ulan Baatar, the Capital of Mongolia; the most land locked country in the world. I was meet at the station by my guide and whisked off to a Ger Camp for the next 2 days. A Ger is made out of camel-felt and are effectively, tents. About 70% of Mongolians are Nomads and live in these tents. At the end of each season they pack up the tents, families and herds and move on.

Elesti Ger Camp is located 1 hour from Ulaan Bataar. It is a traditional camp experience. Very quiet and relaxing. A Ger will sleep up to 4 people. Inside the Ger is a heater to keep you toasty warm in winter, a table and chairs and a washbasin. All meals are included.

My favourite activity at the camp was horse riding on Mongolian horses. Yes, they are different to other horses- they are smaller, just a bit bigger than Shetland ponies. My horse didn’t go extremely fast but he picked up the pace when required. The next activity was horse sledding. Like dog sledding but with horses obviously a winter activity, as you need snow! Other activities at the camp include archery, hiking, visits to other Ger camps and Nomad communities.

Ghengis will be turning in his grave!

Before boarding the train I spent one night in Ulaan Bataar to explore the city. It’s not a big city unlike its neighbour Beijing but there is enough there to keep you amused. It may be a smaller city but there seems to be more cars then people! No indicators, nobody bothers to give way and when crossing the road even at the designated pedestrian crossings – run! Because they don’t stop!

My guide took me on a walking tour starting at the Gandan Monastery were you may hear Monks chanting and people wishing for their good fortune for the New Year and on to the city square. Here you will meet the Mongolian National Hero, Ghengis Khan. The big man sits on the steps of the parliament building facing the city. I can also recommend the National History Museum for history in a nutshell.
A late dinner of Mongolian BBQ and a couple of Ghengis Khan brand beers and I was ready for a good nights sleep.

(history lesson 2. Until the 1990's Mongolia was effectively part of the Soviet Union which is why you do not change bogeys at the Russian/Mongolian border. The secret police made a brutal effort to stamp out opposition and Mongolian monks were a particular target)

The following evening I boarded train number 253. This will take me to my next destination and third country; Russia. I will have two nights and 1 full day on this train. Again, I will not be alone as my English friends will also be on the train with me. Although the trains were dominated by locals, there is usually a few western travellers on board especially during the northern summer.
We left at 6.40pm sharp! With four of us in this cabin we stored the backpacks and extra bits and settled in for a game of cards and a couple of drinks.

The setup on this train is the same i.e. toilet at each end, hot water on demand, the only slight change is that there is no restaurant car. Before I left I stocked up on supplies of pot noodles, tea bags, instant coffee and vodka.

Next stop was the first station over the Russian border. Russian passport control took place here. This took approximately 2.5 hours. The toilets on board were closed so we ventured out to use the station toilets, which you had to pay for. Unfortunately, they only accepted Russian Roubles and I didn’t have any. So back on board to wait until we got going to use the train toilets! Let me explain the train toilets. Like washing on-board it is a subject everyone likes to ask about. It is a proper toilet with a flush action. There is no sewerage therefore when you flush it goes straight on to the track. Therefore 20 minutes before the train arrives at a station the toilets are locked. For obvious reasons.

Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake

The entertainment on board come courtesy of a little Mongolian boy. He had perhaps never seen western folk, let alone four at once. He became quiet fascinated with us and would stand at the door listening to us chat. When we looked at him, he would run off and peep around the corner. This went on for hours!

More card games and vodka took us through the afternoon. We all had plenty of food too, so we didn’t starve.
Another night onboard and we arrived into Irkutsk the capital of Siberia, at 8am. It was -22 degrees C. For me this was the coldest I had experienced ever in my life. Its colder than a Hobart August night!

From here all three of us went straight to a village called Listvyanka one hour north. This was to be home for the next 2 nights as I was doing a home stay option. This is where you get to stay with a Russian family in a traditional Siberian home. The homes in this area are called Izba, a log-timbered house. The house is built around a brick stove that heats the house as well as serving as the stove to cook meals. As there is no pipes because they freeze over in winter, there were no showers or indoor toilets either. Traditional in Russia is a banya or a dry sauna. Very cleansing as you sweat it out then have a wash down.

Siberian sauna in the background. Siberian dunny in the foreground!

Staying with a family is great way to learn the culture and see the sites. My host was a great cook. I tried borsch soup for the first time and loved it. As you are free to come and go as you please, it was very relaxing and my host was easy going.
The village of Listvyanka is located in the Lake Baikal National Park. Lake Baikal is the largest fresh water lake in the world and the oldest at 20 million years. One quarter of the world’s fresh water lies in this lake. It also has the only fresh water seal and his home to fifty different fish species. It completely freezes over in winter (although there are reports that last winter was the first time that it did not completely freeze).

Activities in the summer include fishing on the lake and walking around the lake and in winter you go across the lake on a snowmobile. Two days and 3 nights in the village without a television, Internet or phone. You are made to relax and think about life.
	Siberian snow mobile - included in our full on trip options that stop in Irkutsk (in the winter of course).

After one night back in Irkutsk it was back on the train for the long stretch to Moscow with my English friends again.

Train number 53 left a 4.30pm Irkutsk time. Throw your watches away as you go through up to 7 different time zones as you travel across 2000kms of Russian country.
All trains run on Moscow time, which is 5 hours behind Siberian time. The clocks inside the train are also on Moscow time!

The food on board was certainly not great Russian cuisine but we had had enough of pot noodles and cupa soups to last the trip. More card games were to be had along with plenty of reading. There were a couple of MP3 players and speakers between us so that was one source of entertainment. Our other source of entertainment come from practicing our Russian on the attendants who didn’t speak English. It was obvious we didn’t speak Russian but that didn’t stop them telling us off for trying to use the toilets at stations or using their sink to wash our cups. You make your own fun.

Life on board

At 5.30pm Moscow time we arrived into Moscow. As always my driver was at hand to whisk me off to my hotel for a good night's sleep.

The first thing to do in Moscow is to ride and learn the metro system. It cris-crosses and connects over 100 stations and carries more than 4 million people a day! The second thing to learn is Cyrillic alphabet. All the station names are written in Cyrillic and most of the streets too. Some streets do have the English translations. It is not too hard once you understand that B is pronounced V and P is R. The funny square shape is D and backward upside L is G and H is N. Easy. Oh that was my stop. The good thing is if you do miss your stop, then you just cross the platform and catch the next train in 90 seconds to go back the way you come.

Arbat Street station Moscow

So much to see. I had 2 days of sightseeing. My first morning was spent with a buddy/guide who took me on a walking city tour. There is so much to Moscow history that if you don’t know any of it – like me, then you will miss the importance of buildings and statues. The only one I was familiar with was the Bolshoi. Or Big Theatre. Everyone has heard of the Russian Ballet Company, this is where the performances are held. At the moment, however this is being renovated and a new theatre has been built to hold the performances. About 10 minutes on from here we were at Red Square, the historic market square of Moscow. The square is surrounded by Lenin’s mausoleum to one side and the GUM department store on the opposite. Saint Basil’s cathedral and The History Museum are at opposite ends. You can also see the walls of the Kremlin and a clock tower.
My tour finished at Arbat St. A pedestrian street now famous for souvenir stands, many restaurants and cafes. The famous Russian author Alexander Pushkin’s house is also located here. It is now a museum dedicated to him and other Russian literates.

For my last day in Moscow I got the metro back into the city area and went into the Kremlin. This is a city within a city. To enter you cross the stone drawbridge known as Kutafya Tower. Inside there are government buildings, historic cathedrals where Tsars were crowned, the Tsar’s cannon, which was never fired, the Tsar’s bell and gardens. Adjacent to this and a separate ticket required, is the Armoury. Contrary to what the name suggests, no armour is held here. It is the old weapons store and the most secure building in the Kremlin. The armoury now houses the priceless treasures of the Tsars.

St Basil's Catherdral, Moscow

This took up a good 4 hours. I headed back to Arbat St for some lunch and a look at Pushkin’s house. There are many more art galleries and museum in Moscow, but I had a train to catch to get to my last destination.
After a late dinner at the hotel, I went to Lenningrad station to board train number 53. This was an overnight train to Saint Petersburg. I arrived early morning with my driver waiting I headed to my hotel for a sleep before my orientation tour of the former capital of Russia. I think Saint Petersburg is the cultural capital of Russia. There are many ballet theatres, art galleries, and libraries in Saint Petersburg. This city was home to many famous Russian authors such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Alexander Pushkin, Anton Chekov, Leo Tolstoy just to name a few.

Saint Petersburg is built like Venice, on many canals. There is the main river – Neva that cuts the city in half. On the north side is the Peter and Paul fortress and the Cathedral where all the Romanov Tsars and families are buried. There is also a viewing platform here that gives you a panoramic view of the city. The most grandiose building in Saint Petersburg is the Winter Palace and the Hermitage. It was built by Catherine the Great and was the residence of the Romanov familes. The Hermitage was built next door to house the grand art collection of Catherine the Great. It has only been on public view for the last 10 years.

The Winter Palace, St Petersburg

Other important buildings include the Cathedral of the Spilt blood where Alexander the 2nd was assassinated and St Issac's Cathedral where Imperial ceremonies took place.
The art square is the place to see the Museum of Fine Arts and other theatres. A staute of Pushkin
stands in the middle of this square.
The place to hang out is Nevsky Prospekt. This is the main street that runs through Saint Petersburg.
There are bars, cafes and restaurants a plenty.

Finally it was time to leave and my hosts dropped me at St Petersburg airport for the flight home.

The Trans-Siberian Railway is one of the great journeys of the world and I throughly enjoyed the trip.
These destinations are not for everybody however. Western concepts of service & reliability are not recognised in China, Mongolia & Russia. If you accept and enjoy the idiosyncracies however you'll be enchanted. Sure I would have
prefered to travel during the northern summer but the trains, and life in general, go on all year round.