My wife Roselind and I spend 24 days traveling on the Trans Mongolia Express from Beijing China all the way to St Petersberg. Along the way, we made three stops namely at Ulanbatar, Irkutsk and Moscow. We enjoyed the trip very much and would like to share some tips with other travelers who maybe planing similar trips.
A. Food on the train is expensive. Bring food, drinks and snacks to consume on the train or you can buy food when the train made stops at stations.
B. Bring a plastic bag which you can used to keep the rubbish in the train compartment.
C. The train provides hot water only so you must bring a container to store hot water. You also need to bring cool water.
D. The train time table is displayed along the corridor. Familiarize yourself with the time-table so that you will know at what time the train will arrive and depart from a station. This is good to know because the train make stops at various stations along the way and you need to know how much time you can spend at a particular station.
E. When at a busy train station, keep your luggage with you at all times. When I was at the Beijing Central Railway, I put down my luggage and approached a porter to ask a question. Suddenly a huge crowd came in the opposite, I turned around and realized I can’t see my luggage. I was relived that after the crowd dispersed after a minute or so that my bag was still there.
F. Bring your own toilet paper. The two or three rolls of toilet paper are used up quite fast and these are not being replaced.
G. If you tend to worry about your luggage being stolen while on the train, you can bring a chain to securely lock your luggage. Roselind and I did not chain our luggage and we did not encounter any problem.
H. Bathrooms are only provided in the first class. Therefore other passengers need to bring something which you can used to take a sponge bath.
I. The train schedule in Russia are all set in Moscow time. This means that you need to convert the Moscow time to local time to know when you need to board the train. For example, when we board the train from Irkutsk to Moscow, the time on the ticket is given as 23.30 which is Moscow time but we actually boarded the train at 03.30 which is the local time at Irkutsk.
J. You need to bear in mind that carriage number changes as either more carriages are added or taken off during a stop. In order to board the correct carriage after a stop (especially after a long stop), you must learn to recognize the train attendant.
K. For the Chinese train, you have a plug point in your compartment (second class) and you can easily charge your hand phone or computer at your own convenience. For the Mongolian and Russian trains, plug points are not in the compartment but along the corridor which you need to share with other passengers in the train.
L. Please make sure that you bring the right adapter.
M. If you can afford it, I would advise you to buy second class tickets. For second class, there are four beds in a compartment and you have a door which you can locked at night. There is also a bit of air-conditioning in second class. For third class, everything is open as there is no door and there are six beds with four beds one side and two beds on the other side. Besides the lack of privacy, it is also very hot and stuffy in the third class.
I hope that you will find these tips useful.
!steemitworldmap lat 40.842236 long 116.485305 From Beijing d3scr
!steemitworldmap lat 59.915083 long 30.297564 To St Petersberg d3scr
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Upvoted by @lays order
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That’s a trip I always wanted to go on. I am happy to read your article. I chose to fly to Shenzhen directly and just travelled 4 weeks in China only. I want at least 3 months time for the Russian area.
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I hope you can take this trip one day. it is quite an adventure. Since you have more time, it will be much more interesting for you.
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It's dangerous! You may fall in love into russkaya toska and ballet! xD
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There are so many things to do there
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Sure thing but ballet is the first! Especially 100+ people dancing with unseen human synchronicity. The first step in Moscow should be to Bolshoy Theatre!
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I always wanted to do a similar trip, on the trans-siberian railway from St. Petersburg to the far east Novosibirsk. So your post is very interesting for me!
I already traveled with the russian trains from Moscow to Ekaterinburg and found it really more comfortable because of the bigger compartement (four beds, two on each side) then in Europe (three bed on one side and even a small person like me can't sit straightly). But it only took about a whole day to get there, so 24 hours.
The people on the train were also really nice and liked to speak and visit each other therefore the time on the train passed really quick^^
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That is part of the fun, interacting with the local Russians and other travelers. The stretch from Irkutsk to Moscow is most challenging because it took 4 nights, it was the longest number of nights that I spent in the train. Following you.
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So how did you communicate with the people on the train? Because from my own experience especially most of the russians are not that good in speaking english ^^
I agree, I only stayed about two days on the train from Berlin to Moscow and it was already challenging. But mainly because of the three sided bed order I think... my back hurt pretty much ^^ Already following :D You have great posts!
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They can't speak much English, and so a lot depends on the sign language. One Russian lady who stayed two compartments away could speak English and so as a last resort she would act as our interpreter.
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I think the sign language is one of the most important one in the world for understanding people!!! It is grate that you could communicate even without knowing the same language :D And I still admire your courage for making this trip!
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Thanks for that great post, my wife and I are in the process of booking a trip from London to Shenzhen after we spend Christmas with my family in UK. Russian visa for me almost sorted, she does t need one as shes Thai. The chinese visas were much easier. Will be noting all your tips for this 4 week trip!
Best wishes to you both and I look forward to reading more from you in the future :-)
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I hope that you will find the tips useful. Be prepared for a big adventure and have fun. It was also more difficult for us to get our Russian visas. Glad that we connect and I am following you noe.
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Pleasure is all mine my friend. I dont know how Thais get a free pass in! Some sort of reciprochal agreement I believe, hence the huge amount of Russians in Thailand!
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The Thai are very lucky then.
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How many days did you spend in those cities (Irkutsk, Ulanbator, and Moscow)?
Long time ago I had in my mind to do Transiberian railroad trip, and this adventure sounds like that :)
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At Siberia I spent 2 nights at Irkutsk and another 2 nights at Lake Baikal (world largest freshwater lake).
At Mongolia, I spent 2 nights at Ulanbator and I night at Terejli National Park. I spent 3 nights at Moscow.
You will like it and it is a big adventure for me.
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Thank you
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@originalworks @steem-untalented @gentlebot @cleverbot @resteemable
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Yes, I will. What is your age range?
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Above 50s
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Because I think you have to.
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Have to do what?
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I need to go to bed.
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The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @positivesteem to be original material and upvoted(1.5%) it!
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Thank you so much. Keep up the good work.
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Thanks. Keep it going.
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Thank you so much
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@positivesteem upvoted by @lays order
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Can you tell me about the immigration and what kind of border security check you had to face?
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Both the immigration and customs will go the train to check. Mostly are just routine checks.
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This is a trip that I've always wanted to do. What a great post and thanks for the tips!
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I hope that you will be able to go one day. It is quite an adventure. I am happy we are able to connect, following you now.
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