Joan
 Ubide
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Here is where the real experience begins. Crossing Russia along the Trans-Siberian route from Saint Petersburg, and then getting to Beijing along the Trans-Mongolian route.

Until we set foot in Saint Petersburg it was crazy. We were always on a hurry because our visa to Russia had a lot of restrictions. Crossing 8 countries in one month and a half was hectic. From that moment on, I have time to do what I want, spend several days, without hurries, to know and take pictures to all those places, without packing and unpacking every two days.

I want to tell you briefly about a personal experience shared with many other travelers we found along the way. It is a bit critical, but real, so that it can be useful to those who want to know this great country.

I think that there are two completely different ways of traveling to Russia. You have organized trips and the “do it yourself” approach. We chose the latter; we had no tickets or bookings at all…

If you want to visit Russia trouble-free and have everything under control, go on an organized trip. If you’re not used to traveling by yourself, you will go crazy and may end up loathing this country.

If you’re adventurous and don’t want to travel in group, get ready because Russia has all the elements to turn your travel into an odyssey…

As a rule, don’t expect any help at all from Russians, especially those who work at the train ticket booths. It’s pathetic how difficult getting a train ticket in Russia is. There are no points of sale for tourists, nobody speaks English and they do no effort at all to help you. When they see you take out your map, they simply look down and ignore you. They even shout at you while the person queuing behind you tries to move you off. They’re very disrespectful at queuing. We had to take it easy, there was no other way…

How can I buy a ticket at a Russian train station in a relatively easy way?

You can go to a travel agency. I recommend Sidbad, in Saint Petersburg, 2nd Sovetskaya ul., 12-17, ask for Maria! She’s great, speaks perfect English and will help you in everything you need. Another option is looking for a young native who speaks English and tell them what you need and ask them to help you buy the tickets. I think this is the best way to move around if you want to experience some “adventure”. Obviously you can find wonderful people everywhere. Here I have to give many thanks to Maria, from Sidbad, and especially to Daria and Snezhana for all their help in Saint Petersburg. In August there are few tickets to cross the country, so you have to adapt yourself to what’s available. When it’s your turn to buy the tickets, it can take like half an hour. Check all the details of your ticket, I know a guy who was sent to the other end of the country…

The Trans-Siberian

The Trans-Siberian is, without doubt, the most legendary train of all times. It is a railway connection between Saint Petersburg and Vladivostok, approximately 10.000 km. So that you can get an idea of how long that is, I can tell you that the train crosses 10 different time zones. Attention! Trains in Russia move according to the Moscow time zone! We crossed Russia via Saint Petersburg - Moscow - Irkursk (Trans-Siberian rail track), and then got the Trans-Mongolian rail track.

There are several trains, actually, the Trans-Siberian train doesn’t exist. Its real name is Rossiya, and the authentic one, if I’m not mistaken, is the Red Star. Traveling aboard that train can cost you up to 3.000 Euro. At every stop, the train is welcomed with the Russian national anthem at full blast. The good thing about the train is that they hold you by the hand and the train waits for you at every stop.

Given our limited budget… we chose the traditional trains. We paid 500 Euro (Saint Petersburg-Moscow 1st class, Moscow-Irkursk 2nd class, Irkursk-Ulaanbaatar, 2nd class). In those trains you can find the most peculiar people, and also the great problem… vodka. Everything was more or less ok, good feeling on the trains, until one morning we had a sudden wake up call. The door of our compartment opened and in came this guy with gold teeth who shouted something like a welcome cry (aaaaaaarrrrrrrrggggghhhh!!!!!), and started to laugh while offering us his bottle of vodka for breakfast. Pulling our blankets up to our necks, we stared at him, and after several minutes of body language and “guttural gesticulations”, I made him understand that, when it comes to breakfast, I very much prefer coffee and toast to vodka. Then appeared his friend, a 2 meter tall former wrestling fighter… No comment… They were nice people, but they followed you at all times along the coach. A quiet coach where you could stroll along and see a kid with a scooter turned into a deserted place, where everybody was locked up in their compartments, terrified, and waiting for the two guys to collapse in their beds. We affectionately called them “the anthropophagites”.

As a whole, I’ve liked Russia. Cities are monumental, and if you leave aside the alcoholism issue and the few help tourists receive, the general impression is good, especially in Irkursk and the Lake Baikal.

Irkursk and the Lake Baikal

The city of Irkursk is in the east of the country. It’s an amazing industrial city to take pictures. There are several wooden houses, many of them in ruins, but even so, a fascinating place, although it’s unadvisable to go out at night there. From Irkursk we got a boat to the Lake Baikal, where we wanted to relax for a few days. It’s one of the largest lakes in the world (600 km long) and the deepest, with 1.700 m. It has one fifth of the drinking water of the whole Earth. It is also the oldest lake of the planet, about 25-30 million years old. With Jordi and the friends of the route we were always joking, like: “If someone is teasing you when you get home, you look them straight in the eye and ask them: Have you ever swum in the Baikal? I have…” It’s amazing, people are not so “serious-minded” as in the rest of Russia. I would love to know this area in winter. When temperatures plummet to minus 40 degrees Celsius, the white landscapes must be breathtaking.

People

In this stage of the trip we met many people and shared good moments with them. Among them, the group of Sicilians: the two Andrea, Alexandro and Sangmin, from Korea. In Moscow we found two Spaniards, Cristina and Ixchel, who were traveling with Margaret, Ana and Katharina. We had a great time with Cristian, Veronica and Matteo from Milan, and also with Jason, an Irishman who was quite a character. To him, everything was “excellent”. We also met Ano, from Finland, good friends from China in the Irkursk Port and Eric, a German who showed up at the Irkursk train station the last day, just after he had had his wallet stolen, together with all the money and credit cards.

So…

Another train is leaving. We’re heading to Mongolia. Christian and Eric are traveling with us, and Jason is departing in a couple of days. Mongolia is one of the stages of the trip I’m really looking forward to. I want to get lost for a few days in the nomad settlements and take real pictures.

Until now I have seen too many cars, trains and smoke. Now is the time to enjoy this craziness…

Here you can visit the album