My Trans-Mongolia Railway Pictorial Journey Part 1: Escaping From Bustling Beijing To Ulanbatar

in globaladventure •  7 years ago  (edited)

Last August, my wife Roselind and I had the adventure of our lifetime when we traveled all the way from Beijing to St Petersberg by rail over 24 days. We traveled a distance of about 6050 km by train and spent a total of 8 nights on the train. From Beijing we had stopovers at Ulanbatar in Mongolia, Irkutsk and Moscow before finally arriving at St Petersberg. We do not have any train network in Borneo and so the train journey was an adventure by itself and we felt liked were having a holiday on the way to a holiday. In fact the primary reason why this trip was on my bucket list was the opportunity to transverse by train and admire the changing landscape along the way.


It was very crowded every way in Beijing. This picture was taken in a train station on the day that I was leaving Beijing to Ulanbatar.

From Kuching, our first stop was Beijing where I spent 3 nights. It was very crowded in Beijing, more so at the tourist spots. At the fourth day, we were very happy to leave Beijing for Ulanbatar. The following is our train journey in pictures.


The congested Beijing Railway Station was the starting point of our train journey.


I stayed at the Second Class compartment which has 4 bunks. The small table is where I had my meals and had to be shared with the other passengers in the compartment.


The meals served at the dining carriage are very expensive.


The infrastructure even in the rural areas of China are very well developed.


I am not sure what is being cultivated in the eye-catching red sheds.


Military vehicles being transported at Jiningnan.


A beautiful rainbow over wind turbines in rural China.


The train also passed by factories like this one with smoke coming out of the furnace.


Another factory in the middle of nowhere.


Sha Cheng, a beautiful city located in the valley of a beautiful mountain range.


I was very surprised to pass by a church in rural China.


The train arrived at the Chinese border town of Erlian in the middle of the night. We had to stop here for more than 3 hours for the changing of the wheels of the train as the train tracks in Mongolia are different from that in China. We also cleared Chinese immigration and customs here.


A train station in rural Mongolia.


We ate a lot of fruits during our train journey.


A train was carrying stockpile of raw materials.


The scenery of Mongolia is very different. We passed by acres and acres of flat grassland without a single tree in sight.


Mongolian vendors selling their wares at a train station. We often purchased food from these vendors as the prices are much cheaper.


It is very common to see animals such as cattle, sheep, goats and horses grazing at the grassland.


Lush scenery of a mountain breaking away from the monotonous grassland.


A small rural village.


After spending a night at the train, we finally arrived at Ulanbatar, the capital of Mongolia.

!steemitworldmap 39.904980 lat 116.427228 long Escape From Bustling Beijing To Ulanbatar D3SCR


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Thank you so much for sharing this! I am a railway maniac and this is my dream job!

()

I just started following you and hope to read more travel reports!

xx
Elena

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The train journey itself is a major part of the adventure and holiday. I loved traveling and like to explore different modes of transportation. Following you as well.

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Thank you.

So it's possible to travel solely by train from Asia to Europe, I never knew that. Or did you travel by plane and train together, or solely by train?

From Beijing all the way to St Petersberg by train. In fact I can travel all the way from Kuala Lumpur to St Petersberg by train if I want to but it is just too time consuming.

Wow, that's really good to know, but is the cost cheaper when compared to plane travel?

It must be expensive to go there? I wish can touch down there someday

It is not cheap. My wife and I are backpacking and we stay at hostels where possible.

It calls creative traveller 😄

This is a great travel blog post @positivesteem. As one of the editors for @steemitworldmap’s daily #traveldigest, I would love to see this post pop up on http://steemitworldmap.com. If you're interested, simply go to the website, click on code (down the bottom) and add a short description. It will then generate the code you need to copy and paste into your post to have it show up on steemit worldmap. There’s also a FAQ section if you get a bit lost.

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Thank you so much for your suggestion. Now my post is already up om steemitworldmap. Following you.

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Heya, just swinging by to let you know you're being featured in our Daily Travel Digest!

Thank you so much. I am deeply honored to be featured.

Found you through @steemitworldmap feature. Very nice blog, and great stories. Followed :)

I am glad that we are able to connect. We shared the same passion for traveling. Following you now.

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All picture is great and post is awesome

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Thanks

Found you on travel digest, now following. Love trains, done cross-Canada twice and The Ghan recently in Oz (you can find my post on steemitworldmap about halfway between Alice Springs and Adelaide). Great photos and story. Looking forward to the rest of your journey.

Seems that we both loved traveling. Following you to read more about your travels.

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nice your post

I am happy that you liked my post. Do follow me for more. I am following you now.

  ·  7 years ago Reveal Comment

Thank you so much. It was a great trip

It's always good to take time to travel with family as this will not only improve ourselves, it will also improve relationship.

Very true, travel enriches our lives and helps to improve our relationship. Following you.

Most of all, it makes us feel good.

Oh I see. We like to do things that make us feel good.

This is awesomeness 100%

Amazing travelling @positivesteem, have upvote you

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Such a nice post @positivesteem

This post has received a 4.52 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @positivesteem.

That is cool, would love to do something like that one day - did you get much opportunity to get off and see places, or is it mostly all on the train?

Cheers

I've always wanted to do the Trans-Siberian Express. You are very fortunate to have made this journey. Look forward to more about it!

This has been on my bucket list for sometime. I am so grateful that I am able to make this journey. Following you now.
Do check out Part 2. My Trans-Mongolia Railway Pictorial Journey Part2: From The Wilderness Of Mongolia To Splendid Siberia