Trans Mongolian
The Trans Mongolian train is the romantic name for train number four from Beijing to Moscow via Mongolia and the Trans Manchurian the romantic name for train number nineteen from Beijing to Moscow via Manchuria. The best known of course, is the Trans Siberian, which is the romantic name for train number one from Vladivostok to Moscow.
All three meet up in the Siberian city of Ulan Ude from where they join forces on the same track to Moscow, still four days away. Most travellers do not do the journey in one hit but break their journey at various cities along the way. The train numbers then change as you will be taking a different train between any two given cities. Rail passes do not exist within and between China, Mongolia and Russia. You have to buy a separate ticket for travel between any two towns.
I decided on the Trans Mongolian and I did it in winter. Why? Because I like winter with its mantles of snow covered landscapes. And I just love the cold. For the train spotters amongst you, my train numbers were 23, 263, 9 (The Baikal), 3 and I finished by taking train number 35 from St Petersburg to Helsinki. They may not be the fastest trains in the world but speed is not the reason why you are here.
It was a fun trip and one I had always wanted to do. It was full of memorable people, great friendships, generous hospitality and lots of vodka. It was long border crossings, endless birch tree forests, remote villages lost in time and stories to keep me going for the rest of my life. One memory which stands out, however, is the Mongolians and Russians love affair with ice cream. Even in winter at minus twenty degrees Celsius!
And there wasn’t a freezer in sight. The street vendors just sell straight from the cardboard box. Certainly saves on the power bill!
Christmas to me is snow and that is what it did for me on Christmas Day in Ulaan Baatar. Four of us enjoyed Mongolian hospitality and of course lots of Vodka. What more can a Scotsman ask? I then shared New Year’s Day with a Russian family in the village of Listvyanka on the shores of frozen Lake Baikal and celebrated Russian Orthodox Christmas Day with some friends in Moscow.
Border crossings can be both fun and tedious. At the China/Mongolia border the carriages are raised up on pneumatic jacks and the bogies changed as the rail gauges are different. You can either stay in the carriage or go to the waiting room on the platform. It was the middle of the night and our passports had been taken away by the immigration police. Inside the carriage it was twenty five degrees while outside it was minus twenty five degrees.
I went to the waiting room. But it was even colder inside than outside. There was no heating except for body heat. But the duty free bar was open! Beer and vodka only of course. Oh, and some chocolate bars. So when in Rome…
