As I mentioned we were getting weary of Moscow and its snow after our 3 days there. It’s a great city and should definitely be done in the snow but at the same time the trudging and trying to keep warm constantly proved to be exhausting. So it was with much excitement and a tiny bit of fear that we set out for Yaraslovsky station to board the train no 4 from Moscow to Beijing at 21.35. Arriving at the station we obviously got lost as we appeared to be in market that looked the complete opposite of the rest of Moscow ie not very wealthy. Chaos ruled as people were trying to sell us anything they could (most things that in hindsight would have been very useful for this trip) as we tried to politely shrug them off which is not easy when carrying all your belongings trying not to look like a tourist and not look lost! We finally realised after 10 mins of walking that we were going totally the wrong way and headed back until we at last found where we should be (stepping over the various drunken Russians lying face down in the snow!).
Yaraslovsky station was full of Russians all with approximately 7 pieces of luggage each mostly in those fold up white and blue and red checked holdalls. Im guessing most were traders and others were off home for the holidays. We had arrived an hour early and nerves were settling in – as soon as our platform came up on the board we headed over to platform 3 where we greeted with the sight of the train where would spend the next 7 days – beautiful!
We walked down towards our carriage and were greeted with a smiley ‘hello’ by our Chinese carriage attendant – we got to our cabin and were convinced there has been some mistake – a shower? An electricity socket? An armchair? No scary Russian carriage attendant? This couldn’t possibly be for us! The guard came round and asked for our tickets and we waited for him to tell us not to be so ridiculous and get back to where we belong … but no we were in the right place – my excitement went to overdrive as I then found the wardrobe, the lights, the boiling water supply and Dave got started on charging all his electrical items!
Our first night on the train was spent getting used to our new home and trying to sleep amongst all the peculiar sounds, sudden jolts and the constant feeling that the train had just derailed. The next day I got off at the first of the days stops where we were allowed 20 minutes-a few of us got off to stretch our legs and experience our first Russian town outside Moscow. There are traders and sellers on many of the platforms along the route and I was really looking forwarding to picking up some good food – however here was just one man selling oversized cuddly pandas and tiggers – not the most useful travelling commodity! The next station we both got off and were met by around 20 sellers trying to sell us everything from those weird plasticine wool heads to dried fish – we decided to buy from an elderly lady who had 2 bottles of beer and a bottle of water and thats it. We paid her 100 roubles for the beer and then got ourselves some clemetines off another old lady. We got back into our cabin and popped open the beer very happy with our purchase. Two hours later feeling slightly delirious and sitting in the dining car eating in their interpretation of schnitzel I realised that the beer had been very very strong and we think probably not in date… so that’s all I can remember about that day other than beating David at poker!
The two days before xmas passed very nicely travelling through snowy landscapes, getting off to buy more beer and chocolate, playing poker and drinking vodka. Xmas day arrived and a festive excitement was in the air amongst the western travellers on the train– we decided today was the day that the people of the carriage should come together in celebration and get drunk. The train had been especially hot all day and we stopped at llanaskaya station about 3pm grabbed some beers and got a back on the train – everyone was chatting way and David chooses the opportunity to use those killer words………… ‘would anyone like a shot of vodka?’. Everyone obliged and within approximately 30 minutes there were about 5 bottles of vodka circulating the carriage and copious amounts of beer, 30 mins later the formerly quiet chilled train had turned into party train. All bedlam had broke loose with the attendant confused as to why his normally quiet ,strange passengers were making so much noise, the two German women 3 cabins down closed their door (though I know the funny one wanted to come out!) We headed down to the bar where we ordered more beers talked a lot nonsense and probably really insulted some Australian guy who was reading us excerpts from his book the bar tender diaries. There is something quite odd about people who choose to spend xmas on a train in the middle of Siberia and I think we bonded well over this!
Boxing day on the train was very quiet as most people had vodka based hangovers and chose to spend all day in bed – that evening was the first of our border crossings as we crossed over from Russia to Mongolia – this took about 3 hours on each side, with showing of passports, visas, filing in of customs forms, medical forms etc I recommend not doing this on a hangover as the Russians guard are scary and they also remove the restaurant car which meant when I finally felt hungry again (and I mean starving) as there was no food.
The following day we woke up in Mongolia with and probably the best scenery and landscapes of teh whole journey we passed the Gobi desert covered in snow with camels and yurts and I was tempted for the first time to get off. A new mongolian restaurant car was put on in Ulaan Bator replacing the not very popular Russian one and we managed to eat 2 breakfasts each as we were so hungry and then went back later for a wonderful steak dinner. That night we crossed over the Mongolian/Chinese border where they had to change the train bogie and the track gauges are different sizes. We all thought we would be getting off the train as they did this so it came as a shock when they shunted the train into a huge shed lifted us up and did all they had to do with us all still in the carriages!
The final day we woke up to find our first day without snow – we had reached China and the weather looked considerably warmer as we travelled through the mountains on our way to Beijing. We had a free breakfast in the Chinese buffet car (our favourite Mongolian one had been removed) and realised that our sheltered life on the trans-mongolian was coming to an end. Although we were very much in need of a shower and were looking forward to small luxuries such as a clean bathroom with toilet roll and a non-moving bedroom we were really sad to be leaving the train and the little moving community that had formed. We arrived in Beijing and that was it – all over – everyone got off the train and off we went on our separate ways all ready for the next adventure……