Trans-Siberian Railway | StrippedPixel.com

What to read on the Trans-Siberian Railway

Posted on November 25, 2011 by strippedpixel / One comment

<p style=”text-align: justify;”>What with all that passing taiga sending you delirious, and the 24 hour vodka party you expected conspicuous by its absence, with up to seven days on a train if you’re planning on not stopping, time is something you won’t be finding yourself short of when on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Assuming you’ve exhausted all topics of conversation with your Mongolian or Russian carriagemates, given that you had your fill of passing birch trees after day one and can no longer imagine how you ever functioned in stationary society, you’ll likely find yourself faced with several crucial choices.</p> Read More →

Crossing the China-Mongolia border in Erlian

Posted on November 23, 2011 by strippedpixel / No comments

Having been granted your Mongolian visa, you are now free to head to the China-Mongolia border to cross from Erlian to Zamyn-Uud. The Chinese border crossing in Erlian opens at around 08:30 and closes around 18:00. It is no more than a ten minute drive from the centre of town. There are plenty of taxis buzzing about and it will only cost a few Yuan. Ask to go to the guómén (literally, nation door).

Getting a Mongolian visa in Erlian

Posted on November 22, 2011 by strippedpixel / 2 comment

For those of you intending to cross the China-Mongolia border and travel from Erlian to Zamyn-Uud, the first thing to note is that, unless you are exempt, you will need a Mongolian visa in order to do so. I tried entering Mongolia without a visa in the mistaken belief that I didn’t need one. It didn’t work. Get one before you travel.

You can apply for a Mongolian visa before you reach the border, usually in Beijing or even in Hohhot. As of 2008, you can no longer apply for a Mongolian visa in Hong Kong. If it is not possible to get your visa before you travel, you should get one when you reach the China-Mongolia border in Erlian (Erenhot).

Getting a Russian visa in Hong Kong

Posted on November 22, 2011 by strippedpixel

Getting a Russian Visa in Hong Kong for travelling the Trans-Siberian Railway shouldn’t be a problem. With the required documents correctly filled out, and assuming that your reason for visting Russia isn’t listed as espionage, terrorism or political assassination, you should be able to pay your fee and receive your visa within the allotted time.

As a UK passport holder, getting a Russian visa was a relatively painless affair. If you can negotiate the almost comically foul-tempered staff that work at the Russian consulate in Hong Kong, then whatever passport you carry, you should likewise have no problems getting everything in order for you Trans-Siberian trip.

Hong Kong to UK by train debriefed

Posted on November 21, 2011 by strippedpixel / No comments

It may have looked the unlikeliest thing on the agenda for the majority of the trip, but after all the drama of the previous two and a half weeks travelling through China, Mongolia, along the Trans-Siberian Railway and finally through Europe, I reached Manchester at the expected time, on the appointed day, on the train I’d originally intended. The immigration bureaucracies of several nations along the way had tried their best to thwart me, but whatever source of fortune had sustained me on my course, it held good enough to get me home on time and still (pretty much) alive.

A Trans-Siberian termination

Posted on September 4, 2011 by strippedpixel / No comments

After 90 hours of trans-Siberian incarceration, it was the last that lasted longest. All packed up with nowhere to go, bed made, sheets gone, shoes on and waiting, as we trundled through the outskirts of Moscow towards our journey’s end. We weren’t institutionalised quite yet, but after four days living by timetables and routines, doing whatever we could to pass the time, rejoining the real world would still be an eye-blinking experience. In less than forty minutes we’d be released into a new and disorienting capital. I had no idea what to expect.

Somewhere in Siberia

Posted on September 3, 2011 by strippedpixel / No comments

What day is this? Is this our second or our third day? What time is it? Is that Moscow time, Beijing time or local time? It’s almost eight o’clock by my watch. Outside it’s as bright as if it were four. Maybe it is four. But it can’t be. In Moscow it’s four. And we’re still two Trans-Siberian days away. Maybe it’s six o’clock now, here, in Siberia, as we travel through what seems like the same forest of birch we’ve been travelling through for the past 2000 miles.

From Ulaanbaatar with a train full of Buryats

Posted on September 2, 2011 by strippedpixel / No comments

After Irkutsk the train had emptied. Most of the Mongolians that had been travelling Trans-Siberian train 005 from Ulaanbaatar had left us at the station. Since then, we’d been travelling less than half-full. But still, the majority of passengers were Mongolian and on their way to Moscow. They were Buryats, I suspected, a Mongol people comprising over 400,000, that is, about 30% of the population of the Buryatiya Republic near the Mongolian border. This made them the largest indigenous group in Russia.

Erlian to Zamyn-Uud: For real this time

Posted on August 29, 2011 by strippedpixel / One comment

The Mongolian visa office at the consulate in Erlian opened at 8am. I was there at twenty-to. There was only one other guy there. Another arrived at around ten-past. The office still hadn’t opened and there was no one that looked like doing so. I needed to get my visa and get from Erlian to Mongolia forthwith.

It got to about 8:20 before someone emerged from the rear door. From shoes to belt he was as uniformed and official as could be. From belt upwards, it was vest all the way. He was a young guy with a cigarette hanging from his bottom lip as casually as he was dressed. He told us to come back at 9:00. The office would be open then. I wasn’t going anywhere.

Trans-Siberian Railway facts

Posted on August 18, 2011 by strippedpixel / No comments

The Trans-Siberian Railway was conceived by Tsar Alexander III and construction began at several locations simultaneously in 1891.

The main St.Petersburg to Vladivostok line was completed in 1903, with the first trains running in 1904. The railway was officially declared finished, however, in October 1916 when the bridge over the Amur river was opened and the route’s infrastructure was finally complete.

Hong Kong to UK by train

Posted on August 17, 2011 by strippedpixel / One comment

And so it’s almost time. After a couple of months planning and a couple of years dreaming, I’m finally ready to hit the rails and travel from Hong Kong to UK by train on a journey home that Odysseus would be proud of. By train or bus or boat or car or my own two legs – anything that isn’t airborne – I’ll be leaving on Monday to embark on my seventeen day, 8885 mile, nine train trip through China, Mongolia, along the Trans-Siberian Railway and finally through Europe towards home.