A Ride along the Trans-Serbian Railway
I had the incredible experience of riding the Trans-Mongolian Railway, starting in Beijing with a terminus in Irkutsk, Russia. It was an amazing journey rife with delectable food, interesting travel mates and thrilling adventures.
For those interested in traveling along any branch of the Trans-Siberian, take note that layovers lasting more than the regular rest stop require individual tickets. For example, if you are taking the rail from Vladivostok to Moscow and wish to have a three-day stopover in, say, Irkutsk, you will need to purchase a ticket first from Vladivostok to Irkutsk, then another from Irkutsk to Moscow. The more stopovers you make, the more individual tickets you will need to purchase.
Booking is relatively painless, provided you do it in advance. The website www.seat61.com proved an invaluable resource. It links you to all the reservation sites needed to organize the seemingly-daunting trip across more than 6,000 kilometers of rail.
Another thing to consider before traversing the Trans-Siberian railway is the number of visas you will need during your travels. Use www.visahq.com to make your final decisions. My trip required a roughly 300,000 won investment in single-entry tourist visas for China, Mongolia and Russia. While researching the respective application procedures, I nearly abandoned the plans for a much simpler vacation itinerary. Luckily for me, Eun-ju Lee of Rtour Inc. looked after all my paperwork and got it back to me before I departed.
If you find yourself starting off in Beijing as I did and hope to see the Great Wall, consider visiting the Mutianyu area, which is not nearly as busy as Badaling, yet still refurbished enough to give an idea of how the wall originally looked. If you walk far enough in any direction, you will be able to find “dead wall” sections that have been left to the elements and are in various states of decay. I actually found these much more beautiful than the rebuilt portions. One gets a real sense of history bringing closure to itself.
Wander around the streets and find yourself some authentic street fare. There are sections where you can sample oddities such as deep-fried starfish, seahorse on a stick or filleted snake, but these are tourist grabs and do not represent traditional Chinese food. For that, look for tiny hole-in-the-wall shops to play the Asian food lottery.
The rail between Beijing and Ulan Bataar, Mongolia takes roughly 34 hours to traverse but is well worth visiting. The Chinese landscape changes every couple hundred kilometers from gorgeously rugged mountains to elegantly vast plains and back again.
One interesting experience is the changeover of the train carriage wheels. They do this because the rails in Mongolia are slightly wider than the rails in China. The process takes several hours, so passengers are encouraged to disembark and wander around the Sino-Mongolian border. However, many people stay on the train, despite the serious border officials, just to see the procedure.
There are several sleeping arrangements available on the Trans-Siberian: the two-berth, the four-berth and the six-berth. Couples who value privacy should invest in a two-berth room. The four-berth is excellent for some amount of privacy, since each compartment can be closed off by a door. I personally opted for this arrangement and enjoyed some hearty conversation with my roommates, a jovial New Zealand couple and a talkative British gentleman.
Most travelers along the Trans-Mongolian branch will end up in the highly recommended Ulan Baatar. Travel there for a last chance to see the old Mongolian tradition before it is replaced by shiny new international development. The Mongolian capital has been contracting Korean engineers to design and oversee the development of a vast modern infrastructure.
If uncharted lands are your preference – and you have limited time – consider making your way to Terelj National Park. This gorgeously-rugged reserve covers thousands of square kilometers, featuring green hills and rocky plateaus as far as the eye can see. Toss in the chance to encounter wild horses and camels, and you have got yourself a trekker’s paradise. There are numerous Mongolian families looking to rent out one of their gers to visitors. The easily assembled ger is the traditional sheepskin tent used by Mongolian nomads for traversing the plains.
My next destination was Ulan Ude, a relatively quiet city with few offerings in the way of flashy tourist traps. Rather, it is a wonderful backdrop as you read a book and sip freshly brewed Russian coffee. Do take a walk around, however, as the monstrous Lenin head in the central square and the various Russian Orthodox churches are well worth seeing.
The train ride between Ulan Ude and Irkutsk, my final destination, took roughly eight hours. I opted for a third class ticket, just to see what the journey would consist of. While not deplorable, the experience left me relieved I had not opted for the cheap ticket for the Beijing-Ulan Baatar leg. The fold-down beds were narrower than the average school desk.
As for snacks on the train rides, I was fortunate enough to sit with an elderly Russian woman and her grandson. Using gestures and small phrases I had picked up over the previous few days, we managed to agree to split some smoked salmon and fresh strawberries sold to us through the windows of our train at one of the rest stations. It was a curious experience to see men and women basically lunging out windows with fists full of cash and coming back in with packets of fish and berries.
Upon arriving in Irkutsk, I made a split-second decision to visit Olkhon (Orkhon) Island, a spit of land in the middle of the sacred Lake Baikal, the largest body of freshwater in the world. The water was clean enough to drink directly from the source; crisp and refreshing.
The trips back to Irkutsk and the airport were bittersweet. Sweet because I was excited to see my loved ones in Korea again, but bitter because I had enjoyed myself so thoroughly on the Trans-Mongolian Railway. I will be sure to return.