The Trans Siberian Railway: Ulaan Baatar to Irkutsk (1104 km)

At the station,   we find there is only one coach going to Irkutsk; the rest of the train stops at the border. I am sharing a compartment with Claudio, who I shared with from Beijing to Ulaan Baatar, and a young couple who were also on the same train, Robert and Becky. Both are students at Edinburgh Uni and basically doing same trip as me.

The Railway Line into Ulaan Baatar

Ulaan Baatar Station

Evening Sun glinting off the train

All set to depart

This is the only carriage going to Irkutsk

The train leaves precisely on schedule at 8.25pm  and we all turn in for bed about 10.30. At 4.30 am we stop in Sushbaatar, the last station in Mongolia. And stay there. I got up about 7 am to find our coach parked on its own but later a locomotive is coupled up to it. Out on the platform it is cold and misty. 

One Carriage Going Nowhere

At 8.30 the immigration people, in all black uniforms which give them a sinister look, come on and are far more thorough than on arrival, checking everybody's face carefully against their passport photo. Our single coach and locomotive leaves Sushbaatar after the immigration formalities we head across the border into Russia. 

The scenery is surprisingly beautiful, wide open and unspoilt spaces under a clear blue sky with fluffy white clouds. At the physical border there is a post which has a Russian Double headed eagle on it followed by a border fence topped with razor wire, raked earth to detect footprints, some sort of listening devices on tripods and a watch tower. Looking at Google Earth it is clear that the fence runs the whole length of the Russian Mongolian border. 

Russian Border Post

About an hour after leaving Sushbaatar we arrive at the Russian border station Naushki. Here there are two immigration officials to check our passports against our faces and then to stamp them, the passports that is. A woman in a grey jump suit asks us all to leave the compartment while she checks that  no one is  hiding under the beds or in the luggage space over the corridor. Then a Customs official asks "Are you carrying anything, illegal drugs,  weapons etc? Please open all your bags". Then realising that this might take a while she says "What is in them?  Just clothes?  OK, never mind". Finally there is a  man with a dog!  Think the dog was probably the most valuable member of the team.  Finally we are able to get out on the platform to use the toilet where it costs 10 roubles to spend a penny; the toilets on the train have been locked since we left Sushbaatar. Then we sit on the platform or wander into the local park and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and fresh air. Not much else to do. Five more coaches, a restaurant car,  and a locomotive are hooked up and finally at 3.15 pm local time we are off! Getting across the border has taken almost 12 hours and involved a minimum of 7 people and a dog. There are a maximum of 36 people on the train!

Naushki, First Station in Russia

Can I come too? 

Russian Locomotive hitched up at Naushki

At 3.45 the restaurant car is open; not as impressive as the Mongolian one but it looks good. Becky, Robert and I are the only patrons. I order the pork escalope after the woman in charge tries so hard to get me to order the beef which is twice the price and comes with rice that looks like it has been sitting in a pot all day. The pork escalope isn't haute cuisine but it is freshly cooked, real food with rather greasy chips and peas that came out of a tin.  the Baltica beer is cold and ok. 

Cosy Restaurant Car

Cold Baltika

Soon we are passing little  settlements of small wooden houses with brightly painted shutters that look just like the pictures I remember seeing at school or in National  Geographic. The scenery is beautiful, wide open spaces, rivers, lakes, woodland,  almost untouched or so it appears. Would be wonderful hiking country. Not at all the forbidding image of Siberia one tends to think of but sure it must be desolate in winter. Occasionally there is some sign of cultivation, hay stacks and cows but mostly just empty wide open spaces. The scene looks like it hasn't changed for 100 years But the railway only came here in the 1950's so I guess that is when most of the settlements date from.

Goat on the Line

Heading across Siberia

Wide Open Spaces

Looks Idyllic in the Summer Sunshine

Just what I expect Siberian Homes to look like

Just what I expect Siberian Homes to look like

At some locations the wheels on the track create an almost musical sound. Initially we thought it was real music, badly distorted but it is definitely coming from the wheels.

I go back to the dining car for a supper of soup, which tasted genuinely home made, chicken, potato, carrot, onion etc and some bread washed down with another Baltica beer. Realised while talking to Robert and Becky earlier in the afternoon that we will miss the most spectacular part of the scenery on the line, around Lake Baikal, since we will travelling at night. Pity I didn't think of that when I booked the tickets. 

We stop at Ulan Ude about 8.45 where another 8-10 carriages are added behind ours plus the 5 added at Naushki,  so i'ts now a long train compared with the one single carriage that crossed the border.

Went to bed about 1030, slept reasonably well and woke some time after 6 in thr morning, still dark and foggy outside. As it got lighter we could see European looking houses as we passed through the outskirts of Irkutsk arriving at the station at 7.15am. Taxi to the hotel was an expensive 900 roubles (US$1 = 35 roubles) but he spoke no  English and I no Russian so not easy to haggle. The hotel is bit further out of the city than I expected but very pleasant with all the usual facilities. Probably the prettiest hotel I have stayed at. 

Hotel Europa; Pretty in Pink