Adventure Travel Siberian Express
“I like trains. I like their rhythm, and I like the freedom of being suspended between two places, all anxieties of purpose taken care of: for this moment I know where I am going.”
Quote Source – Anna Funder
Beijing China to Helsinki Finland via Mongolia & Siberia Russia.
29 days - 7940 kilometres
It is one of the most iconic train journeys you can take and should be on every serious travellers list. We did ours as a hop on, hop off tour in part with G Adventures (and our own bits in China and Finland) and they really put together a good programme of events. We were also lucky enough to take in the “Naadam games’ in Mongolia and the stunning colourful traditional dress, as well as feats of skill, endurance and strength.
The Siberian Express is anything but express, but it is one of the iconic train journeys, and if you love endless step, birch forests and train stations that all look the same then you will love this.
Seriously though this is not what it is about, it is about the journey - the train itself, the people coming and going, and the endless nature of the scenery is the whole point - it’s a bloody long journey! In reality the longest leg on the train was 72 hours on the train and a 56 hour journey and several of a day or less.
We spent time Beijing at the Lama temple and much more relaxing the Beijing Temple of Confucius, The tube is great, easy to follow and get around. The blue line is like the circle line in London and gets you to most places you need to get to. Just make sure you get the right exit roads in China can be wide and difficult to cross.
We also went to the forbidden city, Tiananmen square with Mao Zedong, memorial hall. Everyone is bused in at the same time, and if you wait a few hours they are bused back out again and you won’t be fighting the crowds.
the National Museum of China is well worth the queuing for,`and being constantly shouted at by megaphone from about 1 meter away. You can only get in by timed ticket. The exhibits are a gem, and the jade man and terracotta warriors are worth a look. It is vast, so you will need to be selective in what you see. They have a good website in English so you can pre-plan or do what we did and just wander around. It is not a restful museum as they are thousands of people descending in great hoards at a time, but if you wait for them to go - just before the next hoard you will see what you need to see.
We also stopped over in Ulan Bator (Ulaanbaatar) capital of Mongolia and if you are looking for a special souvenir that go to the state store. It is about 1km walk from the main square. It is set on a grid system so easy to navigate with a city map, but use the one and only subway to cross the road or risk being run over.
There is so much to write about this trip, including Tuul River at Tsonjin Boldog and the giant Chinggis Khaan statue, and we haven’t even got into Russia yet, let alone mentioned the Lake Baikal seals, space dogs Laika and Belka or Moscow and St Petersburg and finally onto Helsinki via the VR train.
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A elaborate over engineered water boiler with dials and leavers and pipes and it delivers hot water - we want one! Making porridge for breakfast has never been so much fun
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What do you do when the gauge of the rails in China are 1,435mm and narrower to the gauge of the rails in Mongolia and Russia at 1520mm. Simple you take the whole train into a giant shed, complete with passengers on board - jack it into the air, and take all the wheels and undercarriage (bogies) off and replace then with the right size. It is an amazing to watch and hear the rumbling beneath. Worth the ticket price alone, a unique experience.
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We really enjoyed Listvyanka in Irkutsk Oblast, located 70 kilometres from Irkutsk, on the Angara River and Lake Baikal. It is worth a dip - if you can take the freezing cold waters even in summer. Winter is likely to be frozen over. Enjoy a Banya steam bath and birch branch beating, a couple of frozen shots of Vodka and a trip to the local market for hot smoked fish.
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We went for the murder place of the Romanovs and the Church of Spilled Blood, a story that is so sad. We loved the constructivist architecture and the promenading along the river Iset with an ice cream. The fantastic Natural History Museum with Mammoth fur. a city with a lovely “feel” could definitely have spent more time here.
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The staff on the train were lovely, the carriage controller, the restaurant car staff. They were a bit reserved to start with, but if you try a bit of Russian they soon opened up and also we couldn't converse a lot they really appreciated you having a go. Even the Mongolian boarder guards were friendly, but professional.
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We wish we had more time here at this interesting city, and the largest in Siberia. The centre is an architectural gem, and the trolly buses and trams a great way to get around if you can figure out how to use them! There is plenty to keep the intrepid traveller interested for 48 hours or more.
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it had changed a lot from when we visited last just after the end of the Soviet period.
We really enjoyed the more relaxed atmosphere, and finally got to see Lenin after several previous failed attempts.
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Skip the line and take a chair lift up. You will get some free time with no one. else there if you go when it just opens as most people take the cable car up which joins at a different point.
We had a lovely couple of hours of peace, mist and drizzle, it was so atmospheric. We had been a decade before it was not a pleasant experience, pushy sellers and crowds, this was a whole new experience and all the better for it. The train skirts the wall for miles, giving you some idea of its size.
What we Loved
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if you want privacy and don’t want to be disturbed by people coming and going at all hours of the night and morning - get a whole 4 berth cabin for two. It is so much more airy and light without the top bunks. Take soft bags to fit under the seats, and a hard case to lock away valuables.
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After a few days on the train, it can be quite an intense experience, so a little privacy and comfort (the trains aren’t uncomfortable just hot and sweaty winter or summer). Book a posh hotel or what you can afford or even a separate room so you don’t have to share. You will be glad that you did.
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Number 1. If it is anything perishable it will go off very quickly. It is hot on the train, chocolate will become a puddle and milk off in about 2.5 seconds. You can buy food on route - they have supermarkets and very good ones too. Pots noodles, porridge with dried fruit and nuts, tea bags, basically anything you can make in a mug or bowl with hot water. We ate in the restaurant cheap for us, expensive for locals, so empty. Fantastic borsch, cold beers and aircon, and a friendly recruiting officer, what more could you want?
What we would do differently
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Clean crisp linen sheets - really nice. Forget bringing a sleeping bag! We loved our starched sheets. Cool too.
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Wow is all we can say, such biodiversity, masses of flowers and insects. Having been though the Gobi desert in Mongolia before, we were not expecting this. Nesting lammergeiers, black wood peckers and a sea of wild flower humming with bees and insects. Deserts are alive too - you just need to be a little more patient with them
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The Wooly Mammoths in St Petersburgh are the most complete you will ever see. It is like they are still there, complete with flaming red hair. If you get to Yekaterinburg there are some good examples there too. They were alive until relatively recently on the Wrangel Islands and may have been there as recently as 3700 years ago. We have a mammoth molar in the Travel Museum collection from Wiltshire in the UK.
Pleasant Surprises
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The solid silver incense burner has archery and flower scenes. Buddhist 卐 or 卍, ancient religious symbol, taken by the Nazis as their swastika symbol. heavily embossed with a handle. Age unknown. Possibly Chinese in origin? 12.5cm x 10cm x 7.5cm
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Exquisitely formed this tiny plain bronze with a mesh style top came from the Lama Temple in Beijing. It measures just 7cm x 6cm x 5.5cm
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2 Tang Dynasty figure representing a make and female in a hight blue glaze The Tang Dynasty Imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, they are made in the naive style but with interesting period hair styles probably Wo Duo Ji with single or multiple buns placed on top of the head from back to front.
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Charoite K(Ca,Na)2Si4O10(OH,F)•H2O is a rare silicate mineral. Not known to most of the world until its description in 1978 it is a lovely shade of pink! Sakha Republic, Siberia, Russia.
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4th Century Buddhist schist, 15th century polychrome carving of the Goddess of Mercy, Guan Yin. Russian Doll with Stalin, Gorbachev (last leader of the Soviet Union, Putin etc, and many more camel hair rope, and Yak cheese, Soviet era badges and emblems including an original Russian FSB label pin from the Lubyanka.