"The Trans-Mongolian Train" Moscow by funky_pigeon

We boarded the train at Beijing Central train station, which was early morning at around 7am. The Trans-Mongolian train leaves at 07:40 Beijing time, so we did the tourist pictures next to the name of the carriage.

As we travelled through China you could keep getting glimpses of the Great Wall of China as we followed it North up to the borders with Mongolia. The further north we travelled the more desolate the landscape got, we did hope to be able to get off the train, but its difficult to understand when the train is stopping for more than 5 minutes and at the border crossing with Mongolia, we were behind in the schedule so the conductor of our carriage were reluctant to let anyone off just incase the train had to move swiftly.

The trains are very russian. The interior is old looking although kept very clean by the conductors of the particular carriage, although they seemed to keep the large bathrooms for themselves and one toilet is only opened for all the other passengers on the carriage. Hot water is provided and is kept warm in samovars which are heated with coal, you wouldn't find any other train restocking with coal to keep the boilers for hot water warm!! The engines are actually diesel locomotives and its hard to spot the steam power locos though there are still 300 in use in russia on the tracks used primarily for shunting. We shared a cabin with 2 other fellow travellers, one Canadien and the other French. Narada (French doctor) was leaving the train the following day to stay in the capital of Mongolia - Ulaan baatar for 2 weeks!

The Train - Engine

At the mongolian border the train had to change its bogeys as the tracks become 10 inches narrower and it was quite interesting to watch the train carriages being split and hoisted up by hydraulic lifts and the new bogeys placed underneath on which we were lowered. The process is quite labourious and it seemed an age before we were finally on the move once more.

For the most of Mongolia it was like being in a country which consisted completely of desert, with only the occasional herd of cattle or horses. If you had the patience there were opportunities to spot camels we saw a couple of 2 humped camels. As we were approaching Russia, it began to get really cold and although we were still in the desert conditions the ground was covered in a light sprinkling of snow.

In the late evening of the second day we crossed over the mongolian border and then arrived at the Russian border, where we stayed for quite a while whilst customs checked all cupboards and roof spaces for stowaways, most of the officials were women, and there was no smiling when these guys were around. As we left the station in the early hours of the morning 03:00, they saluted the train as we past through and we waved!

Siberia - Depths of Russia

We are now on Moscow time, even though we are still about 6 hours ahead of Moscow, but it gets too confusing changing the clock almost every couple of hours. We past by the largest lake in Russia - Lake Bakiel, the largest expanse of fresh water, you could see the snow-capped peaks in the distance, and we were now glad of the warmth the coal fires had in the cabins, even though you did feel at times though you were getting smoked out. This is the third day now and its starting to tell, we only have three people in our cabin, and we are really glad that we have the extra space to spread out.

The last two days on the train were basically just counting down to when you could get off the train! we met some great people and had a snowball fight at one of thew stations much to the disgust of the local russians. Siberia is very remote and only as you start to approach the out skirts of moscow do you see the new developments and more developed roads, the villages we past through on the way to Moscow were really quiet and covered in deep snow, which must cover their villages for much of the year.

• Pros:Easy, see the landscape, meet the locals
• Cons:Takes 5 days, variety of food, Cabins