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By Pete 12-20/06/2019 The train pulled out of Irkutsk at 5.00pm on its 30 hour journey to Novosibirsk 1,800 km west. We had a 4 berth second class hard sleeper that we shared with Arthur a 30 year old tattoo artist from St Petersburg who had been in Irkutsk for a tattoo convention. He was well spoken with exceptionally good English, so KC immediately put him to task teaching her Russian. Karen, who is just a little competitive had been learning Russian since she landed in Vladivostok. She was using an online program that ranked her progress against others and had recently slipped out of the top ten and was, in fact, in danger of relegation so Arthur’s assistance was greatly appreciated. As this would be our longest journey, we decided to do it with a little style so at 6.30pm we adjourned to the dining car for cocktails and dinner. Unfortunately this is not the Orient Express so the cocktail choice was limited to beer, and dinner, well, my medallions of steak had been cooked several times, most recently the week before, and reheated in the microwave! Bea faired a little better with the salmon in a white sauce. After a patchy nights sleep we spent the day rolling through the Siberian country side, large swaths of forest occasionally broken by small villages or farms. We spent the day idly staring at the scenery slipping past the window, reading or sleeping, occasionally KC would wonder off and brew a fresh round of coffees. Every few hours we would stop at a larger town where you could get off the train and stretch your legs along the platform. We again adjourned to the dining car for dinner that night where, learning from yesterday I ordered the Borsch soup.
When we returned for dinner that evening we were surprised to see a talent show being held on the river side which we discovered was part of the ‘Chekhov day’ celebrations. Dinner was delicious, we shared dishes of lamb cutlets, herring and beetroot salad, a rolled and stuffed eggplant dish and cheese stuffed bread. On the table next to us were a group of Architects, urban planners and landscape architects from Holland who were in Tomsk working on a new residential precinct, As part of their commission they were also guest lecturing at the university which I felt was a really cool concept. It was great to chat to them, over a couple of glasses of Georgian style Grappa, about design in Russia, they were all very optimistic for its future.
We woke to a grey, overcast Novosibirsk day. We met KC, who had headed out earlier, for brunch at a very stylish cafe in Pervomayskiy Skver park, quite close to the Opera. As it was Sunday they were offering a free glass of sparkling wine with every brunch, a nice bonus. As we sat eating brunch and again later at a cafe over coffee Bea and I first reflected on the changes and similarities we have seen since our last visit. We had come to Russia (Moscow) on our way to England in early 1993, Yeltsin was in power and the old USSR had only dissolved a year before. Back then we saw the first signs of the new market economy, young students were selling T-shirts to tourist and making more money than their lecturers, ladies were selling their shoes at tube stations to get money to live. While we were there the older generation were protesting, desperately wanting a return to the old ways. The shops and cafes were austere, un-embellished and utilitarian. You bought your bread, you ate your meal, you didn’t seem to hang and chat.
Russia is still poor, poorer than we had expected, but there seems to be an air of confidence in the post soviet generation, people like Katia in Khuzhir or Arthur on the train, that bodes well for Russias future. After a final designer cocktail served by a bearded hipster at ‘Friends’ we boarded the train for the overnight trip to Tyumen then onto Tobolsk.
Tobolsk was also the town that the Romanov family was sent to after the Bolshevik’s took power. The house, in the old town, where they spent there last few months together has thankfully been restored into a fascinating and well presented museum dedicated to the short time they lived there.
The original reason for stopping over in Perm, our next stop, was to visit an ex-gulag, limited research prior to booking rail tickets meant we did not realise until too late that the gulag was in fact 100km from Perm and would cost $150each to visit! Niet! So we now had a day to explore Perm.
The overnight train to Moscow was the final leg of our Trans-Siberian odyssey and one Bea wanted to celebrate in style. On the way back to the hotel we picked up champagne, Gin and tonics, Caviar, smoked salmon, fresh rye bread, cream cheese and salads our final dinner on the train was going to be an epic picnic. We were in a second class sleeper which we shared with a Russian guy about our age. He had a friend in the next cabin so often greetings he spent the time next door, I feel he may have been glad!!.
Next stop Moscow.
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By Pete 04/06/2019 We left china on a Mongolian train, we left Mongolia on a Russian train- headed to Ulan Ude. This leg of the journey was a ‘hard sleeper’ (basically 3rd class) I would like to say we took this to save money or for the experience but in reality it was because the soft sleepers had sold out! It was in fact very comfortable, 4 bunk cabin, with just the 2 of us. As the train pulled out of the station, one of the well wishers saying good bye had her cup and spoon and blessed the train for a safe journey. A nice touch.
The train to Irkutsk the next morning hugged the edge of Lake Baikal and again the views were magnificent, traveling through forests and hamlets. The lake edge on the right and snow capped mountains on the left. We were picked up at Irkutsk by Valeri, the owner of the apartment where we were spending a couple of nights before heading to Olkhon Island in the middle of Lake Baikal. I was keen to take the ferry to the island so after dropping the bags we headed to the tourist information.. unfortunately the ferries only run twice a week.. and wouldn’t start until end of June anyway, bugger we would have to go by road- it worked out just as cheap to get a cab for three as it was take the bus so we booked a car while we were there.
After a breakfast of home made kedgeree (my first attempt) spent the next morning meandering along the riverside promenade watched a businessman take a ten minute break for a spot of fishing, seriously- he came down in his suit and briefcase, flicked the line in for no more than 10 minutes then headed off again... cool! Before arriving at the train station to buy our onward rail tickets. Bea and KC went to the counter and after 20mins came back with the first leg!! We adjourned to Harat’s Irish Pub for lunch and to emotionally recharge before booking the rest. With our itinerary now written out and translated into Russian, and confirmed by the bar man, Bea and KC once again approached the ticket counter and managed to get the rest of the tickets (Note- I am writing this on the first leg and it is nice, we have now learnt to read the tickets and it appears we are in lower third class hoval for the remainder of the journey, a situation we hope to rectify tonight when we arrive in Novosibirsk) We had discovered a wet market the day before (hence the kedgeree) so having finally got the tickets we headed there again via Karl Marx Street, a lovely pre-soviet era street that had only partially been gentrified. The plan was to use the apartment facilities to cook dinner so we picked up what we needed at the market and headed home to cook. I know a good tradesman never blames his tools but I’m not good and the oven temperatures were completely false. Anyway the slow roasted leg of mutton was ok, just! After reheated (improved) Kedgeree for breakfast Igor, our cabby, picked us up for the 5 hour drive to Khuzhir, the main town on Olkhon Island.
For our last dinner on Olkhon Katia served me meat coutlets with rice and salad while the girls had fish!
Sergei drove us back to the ferry the next morning where Igor was waiting to return us to Irkutsk to catch the train to Novosibirsk. By Bea It felt great to be boarding the Trans-Mongolian. I’m not sure if it was the anticipation of a new country or the start of our Trans-Siberian rail journey, a trip that has been on our bucket list for over 30 years. The Trans-Siberian was once referred to as “the fairest jewel in the crown of the Tsars”. It is the longest rail line in the world, spanning 9,289km from Moscow to Vladivostok and `crossing seven time zones. The route we were taking, however, starts in Beijing on the Trans-Mongolian and passes through Mongolia before joining the traditional Trans-Siberian near Lake Baikal.
We woke to a changing landscape, the boundless sands of the Gobi desert slowly transformed into the vast Mongolian steppes. The flat grassy plains transformed again into soft rolling hills, dotted with pine forests as we neared Ulaanbaatar. The homesteads, with their Gers (yurts) and livestock that we passed infrequently at the start also became more numerous as we approached the capital. Ulaanbaatar (UB) is a place I have always wanted to visit. I remember it from the world weather, from 40 degrees celcius in summer to minus 40 in winter!! When Pete was commissioned to design a hotel there, I was so jealous, I desperately wanted to join him on one of his visits, but sadly the project was put on hold and I didn’t get to go. That project, that started 10 years ago, was finally finished in 2018, so we planned to stay at the hotel and catch up with Tugi (the client) and his wife for dinner. We disembarked the train and bolted for the exit, heads down to avoid the usual hawkers peddling hostels and over priced cab journeys. We intending to grab a taxi outside the station but not a taxi in sight! We saw one across the road but as we approached he took off. A guy in a parked car asked if we needed help. We reluctantly said we were looking for a taxi. He got out to help by waving arbitrarily at cars! shortly one pulled over and after brief discussion we were in the back heading to the hotel for the equivalent of $2.00. It turns out that this is the UB system you just wave if you need a ride and someone will stop. Like a paid hitchhiking! (But we were warned not to do that at night time).
We met up with Tugi & his wife for dinner. They took us to a traditional Mongolian restaurant (Modern Nomads) a few minutes walk from the hotel. The place was full of both tourists and locals. Tugi assured us, this was good traditional Mongolian food and they ate there regularly. The food looked great, I wanted everything on the menu, but left it to our hosts to choose. We had traditional Khuushuur (like a fried pasty filled with lamb), lamb & vegetable buuz, traditional and common dumpling, and another type of stir fried lamb and vegetable dish. SO good! Pete had fortified himself for a big night, Tugi was a big vodka drinker and they had had some heavy sessions in the past. He used to say “meat for the body, vodka for the brain”. As it turned out, Tugi had made a lifestyle change and was now semi vegetarian (very difficult to do in Mongolia); and teetotal!! I think little relief swept across Pete. No vodka for tonight, just a few beers for the rest of us. We toured around UB in the morning and checked out a few companies offering trips into the Steppes. We settled on a newish company who were able to customized a trip for us, and we could start the next morning - perfect! We booked a 6 day, 5 night trip with a private guide, staying at home stays in traditional Gers (Yurts) some on working farms. With the trip booked, we wandered back to the hotel via a mini market to get supplies for the trip (aka vodka). Given there was so much on the menu that we wanted at the restaurant the night before, we decided to return. This time we had a different kind of dumpling (lamb of course) with pumpkin purée and sour cream; twice cooked sheep’s head; and lamb shanks (are you getting the lamb theme here in Mongolia!?) The next morning, we checked out and were picked up by our guide “Billy” and our driver Ammy in a quite luxurious mini van. Pete was a little disappointed and he had hoped we were going to get one of the heavy Russian UAZ-452 4wd van that he had seen so often.
Our final stop was the allegedly famous Turtle Rock, a rock that, from the right angle and with enough vodka looks like... a...turtle. The rock was pretty cool, and with a bit of hiking we could climb up to get a pretty good view of the valley. (Note from Pete, no it wasn’t it was just two boulders and someone’s overtly fertile imagination that we wasted 45minutes climbing) It was dusk by the time we pulled into Khongor camp for the evening. This wasn’t an actual home stay but a Ger camp site. Billy prepared our evening meal which consisted of salad leftovers from lunch, plus some processed sausage and potatoes panfried with a piece of processed cheese melted across the top. (This set the tone for the level of gourmet dinners we were to get over the next 5 nights!) The owner of the campsite lit our fire inside our Ger and after a few vodkas to warm up (3 degrees) we retired to its toasty warmth and our sleeping bags for a comfortable nights sleep.
Sightseeing in Mongolia is all about the changing scenery, the morning was spent driving through semi arid farmland on the edge of the Gobi. Despite its harsh appearance the landscape was teaming with life, including Pika, Mongolian Gerbils and Ground squirrels along with Steppes Eagles, Golden Eagles and other Hawks. While Billy prepared lunch- spaghetti bolognese (made with processed sausage and jar of salsa). Pete and I wandered around trying to take photos of these elusive little mammals. They would dart from one burrow then disappearing down another. There were hundreds around, but we were having difficultly photographing any. After lunch, we continued north west to Khustai National Park. This place is known as “country of wild horses”. The scenery in this park was simply stunning yet we seemed to be driving through on a mission. Billy had fallen asleep (too much pasta), and we were starting to get a little annoyed as Buzzra didn’t speak English and we were trying to get him to stop for photos. We soon discovered this park had Mamuts which we were trying to get a photo off - also quite an illusive creature, together with vultures and eagles. Great wildlife here.
We stayed the night with the Batchuluun family, a nomadic family who raised cows, sheep and horses. Like most nomadic Mongolians, they move twice a year, we were staying with them at their winter location. In a few weeks they would pack up and move to their summer camp, 10km away on the flat river plain.
While we ate the cows returned from their grazing and were patiently waiting to be milked. This was old school hand milking, I had never milked a cow before.... I think the cow is hoping I never do it again! Once the cows were milked and calves fed, we went back into the main ger where Orlanda taught me how to make earrings from sheep’s wool, water and soap. So simple and almost stylish! Breakfast the next morning was served in the main ger, milk tea, a soft cheese made from the first milk of the cow after giving birth, bread and jam and a plate of pan fried processed sausage (bread, jam and sausage provided by our guide). As we left the home stay, Orlanda appeared at the door step dressed in traditional dress, with a cup of milk and a spoon and we took off she splashed milk onto the van, blessing it for a safe journey. I have to admit this was my favourite night’s stay. Our destination today was Ulaantsutglan, the highest waterfall in Mongolia, which would not reach until late afternoon however the scenery along the way was stunning. I had wanted a photo of the yaks and finally we managed to get up close to a large herd that didn’t run away from me. We had a picturesque lunch stop (salad sandwich with process sausage) by a small river where horses came down to drink.
This place was a hybrid ger camp cum homestay, the owners had their own ger and some horses that are used for horse rides for guests and about 4 other gers that they booked out as guest accommodation. We went to the guides communal ger to see if Billy needed a hand with dinner. He was making us a soup of veggies and a can of tuna (no processed sausage tonight). Whilst Billy was preparing the vegetables, I llooked over longingly at another guide as she lovingly made mutton buuz for her guests, commented about how lucky her guests were. Later that evening, pretty boy, Billy managed to sweet talk to the guide into offering us a few.
Breakfast the next morning was bread, jam, eggs and processed sausage. I was missing the farm stays of milk tea. The plan the next morning was for me to go horse riding while Pete persuaded Billy and the driver to go back to the waterfall (sans rain). However when Billy said I would ride 2 hours toward our next destination rather than in a pony circle Pete decided, against better judgement, to join. We drove a short distance down the road where we met up with one of the sons from Tons sons with his horses (he had just dropped another group after their ride) Now I love horses and used to ride as a kid so I was looking forward to this. I hadn’t been on a horse in years. We saddled up and the guide lead us off for a 2 hour ride..back toward the camp. Pete immediately picked that this was not the A to B route promised but in fact the B to B fairground pony trot he dreaded, and to make matters worse we were be lead so close that his leg was continuously banging into the guides horse. Now Pete can wear his heart on his sleeve and when he is pissed off he lets you know, even if trying, but failing, I tried to enjoy it but was also disappointed that it wasn’t a ‘horse ride as promised. The guide wouldn’t drop the lead rope, he kept both our horses on a lead so we didn’t have control of our own horse. Pete finally lost it and I agreed, this 2 hour ride would last just 1 hour and we told the guide we had enough. When we got to the van Pete gave Billy a lesson on customer expectation and deliverables (Billy is actually studying Architecture). Billy sat silently in the front of the van for the remainder of the day!!
After breakfast (bread, jam, egg, pan fried processed sausage), we headed off toward the Semi-Gobi. We stopped, enroute, to visit friends of our driver, the,Oyen-tunglalag’s. He was a Vet and she was a civil engineer but had chosen the nomadic farm life when there kids all decided to work in UB. They invited us in and gave us hot yak milk, from the mornings milking, that was bubbling on the stove. We were also given yak yoghurt, which again I loved, a slightly stronger taste than cow yoghurt (unfortunately she mixed a heap of sugar into it, whilst still creamy and tasted good I would have preferred it not so sweet). This family also made their own cream. It was like clotted cream it was so thick. Supplemented by dried curd and cookies from a visiting monk. What a morning tea feast. On leaving the family, the driver offered Pete a drive of the Russian beast. He can happily now say he has driven a Russian UAZ-452 We stopped at the ancient city Kharkhorun and visited an old monastery. Unfortunately it started to rain so we made our way back to the carpark and a nearby restaurant where we had Huushuur for lunch (a nice change from the sausage), Our evening accommodation was to be in the semi-Gobi, a unique area where an oasis lies between the steppe and the desert. It was weird to see desert, water, green pastures in one frame. Wading wetland birds with camels! We reached the Oasis mid afternoon and went barrelling past! We kept driving, out of the semi-Gobi and back into the steppes. Apparently the family we were staying with would be there... in July, for now they were still at their winter camp, 20minutes drive away. To say Pete wasn’t happy would be a mild understatement, Billy was getting a massive lesson in customers satisfaction!!
This night we stayed at Mr Bor’s (Mr Brown) farm. Dinner, humbly prepared and served by Billy was panfried processed sausage, potatoes and tofu (even the cat that found its way into our warm ger turned its nose up at it).
Apparently the mountains that surrounds this campsite is home to many wolves. So the dogs were on duty all night protecting the sheep - I think they stopped barking around 4am - just in time for sunrise. (Note from Pete who the &*#@ has a winter camp hard up against a mountain range, renowned for wolves, then are shocked when their sheep are attacked... Maybe if you went to the semi-Gobi, away from the mountains, you might not loose your sheep and I would not loose my sleep, oh and there is water there..idiots) The last day of the road trip was just a haul back to UB. Pete listened to the footy, while Billy sat sheepishly wondering how he would fare on trip advisor. We soon left the off road and back onto bitumen and after brief lunch stop, rice and canned smoked fish (he had finished the sausage) we arrived UB by mid afternoon. For a change we had booked the next two nights in an apartment. This gave us our own space, own bathroom, a washing machine and a kitchen. Pete was eager to cook up some lamb and NO carbs, or processed sausage. The apartment was fantastic. Great location, friendly host and just perfect for us. We ended up eating in both nights, we just lounged around both evenings, caught up on our blog (and work), did some washing cooked and enjoyed a bottle of red wine or two. On Tuesday afternoon, we packed our bags and headed for the train 3km away. We knew we could walk it, but we decided to give the ‘hailing a car’ routine a go. A few cars passed before one pulled over. No problem, showed him google translate to go to the train station. I offered him 5,000 Tugrik ($2) and off we went. Easy. In the end when I gave him the 5,000 he gave me 2,000 change, wouldn’t overcharge me! Still nice people around. This time it was a Russian train with Russian Cabin attendants that welcomed us aboard. Next stop Ulan-Ude in Russia. By Bea Arriving in Beijing, it suddenly hit me... this was the last stop on our China leg, that was the last train ride to a Chinese destination. Wow almost 6 weeks here. It’s been good, but to be honest, we’re ready to move on. The differences in culture were beginning to wear. The spitting, the smoking, the lack of situational awareness, the lack of earphones, the lack of volume control! That said, its been great. The people are really friendly and lovely. The country is so vast it was impossible to see it all but the a range of topographies and cultures we experienced surprised and delighted. We have been blown away. In order to have our Trans-Mongolian rail tickets delivered on time we had booked our last few nights in Beijing well in advance and left a few flex days before to allow us to catch up with Doug. It wasn’t until we were just about to reach Beijing that we realised we didn’t have accommodation for that night. Our booking was from the following day! We tried to book an extra day with the same hostel but they were sold out, so we booked a one nighter was to be at the Happy Dragon, not far from the next nights hostel. The reviews were obviously written by people whose first stop in China was Beijing and they were a little thrown for what you got for your money! The place was fine. A little run down, but it was clean, good beds, hot shower and the staff were super friendly with good English. The temperature had risen dramatically. It was now 35 degrees! I feel we may have bought this on ourselves after complaining about the amount of drizzly rain and overcast weather in the last 6 weeks, so we changed into shots and T-shirt’s and headed out. Paranoia over our Trans-Mongolian tickets drove us to go to the next hostel and make sure there were no issues, there weren’t.
As we continued our stroll back we came across an area of Hutongs. These are the historic lane ways that Beijing is known for. This particular area had been turned into a walking street lined with restaurants, cafes and overpriced snack vendors and was obviously a popular evening hangout. Now I’ve loved Peking Duck ever since I first partook of these delicious pancake wrapped delicacies in London so many years ago and was eagerly anticipating a fine dining experience we had booked later in the week, so what we found little way down the hutong took my breath away.
Early the next morning we headed to The Forbidden City. Pete was dreading the thought of the hordes of people and mass queues. Last time he was in Beijing, he only got as far as the entrance gate, the mass of people was just too much. So we were both surprised at how efficient and seamless the process has become. Impressive, given the staggering numbers of people that visit this icon each day (in fact their website now has a live update of how many people are in the complex at any one time). Kudos.
By early afternoon it was hot and we were tired and hungry. Lonely Planet had recommended a Muslim restaurant nearby that did juicy lamb skewers. It was too hard to resist, so we decided to search it out. Anyone who has used the Lonely Planet will know, finding recommended restaurants is not as easy as it reads, their maps appear very different to google’s! After wandering around we went into a restaurant close to where the one we were looking for and asked, showed them the name, they had never seen or heard of it, more discussion with patrons who could interpret then suddenly some one clicked - right location, right food, changed name this was the restaurant we were after, and It was true, the lamb skewers were tasty... and juicy! After 2 and a half months of travelling and heading into warmer weather I needed a new shirt and knew it was available Decathlon. (We are turning into Decathlon freaks! Well that and Mont-Bell!!). We had visited a small Decathlon in Shanghai which didn’t have what I wanted but the assistant recommended a store in Beijing that apparently is the largest in Asia & not far from where we were staying. Wow, he was not wrong - its massive, has every sport imaginable. Unfortunately what I wanted wasn’t what I wanted after all, but we didn’t leave empty handed! We picked up our bags and moved to the Beijing Drum Tower Youth Hostel. What a lovely place, light, bright, modern, great rooms but yet again staff let them down. If only they had the staff from the Happy Dragon! We were exhausted and decided to eat locally. A short distance from our hostel was the “Beer Guys” a craft beer house. Oh no!! Beijing and Shanghai is experiencing a surge in craft breweries and some of them are pretty cool. After a couple of (expensive) beers we had dinner nearby at a little local restaurant... more dumplings!
The humorous guide gave some concise explanations and instructions in both English and Chinese then left us to our own devices.
We arrived back in Beijing in the early evening, exhausted and in no mood to go in search of food, so fast food it was (and another couple of episodes of Game of Thrones).
Opposite the Birds Nest was The Water Cube (the venue for the swimming and other water sports). Unfortunately the Water Cube was being renovated and being turned into the Ice Cube so they would not allow visitors. We managed to get just inside the door and Pete got to take a few photos of the structure, but they were adamant we were not going further and we were pushed out.
Heading home, we thought we would nip into a cocktail bar that had a good write up. Wow what a find. Revolution is a very hip and crowded dive bar located off a back street on the ground floor of a non-descript residential tower block that serves sensational cocktails. We had to be strong, just one cocktail each!!! We were leaving the hostel the next morning at 5.15AM.
The alarm going off at 4.45am was not pleasant, but exciting, we were heading to board the Trans-Mongolian. |
