Traveling On the Trans-Siberian Express

December 15, 2014
December 15, 2014 Theo Brainin

Traveling On the Trans-Siberian Express

Traveling on the Trans-Siberian Express

A Romance of Vodka and Plastic Flowers

A journey through seven time zones along 9,000 kilometres of rail. One that starts in Saint Petersburg and goes through the heart of Siberia, then via Mongolia to Beijing. Traveling on the Trans-Siberian Express is the dream of many travellers. Frieda, travel specialist at KILROY Netherlands, tells us about her trip.

Landscape View from Train

By Anne Brugts, Content Manager, Story Terrace 

It had been on her bucket list for a while already, this trans-Siberian and trans-Mongolian journey. ‘I’ve always loved train travel. The combination of looking out of the window, watching the landscape flow by, reading a book. And there’s the opportunity to walk around and encounter fellow travellers.’

Vodka Train

Frieda made use of a travel option provided by KILROY: the vodka train. It carries you through Saint Petersburg via Mongolia to the terminus at Beijing. ‘They make sure you travel with other young people. There were three young travellers in our sleeping compartment, accompanied by one Russian man who didn’t say a word. Only when we left our compartment for a walk around the towns where the train called, would he turn round and ceremoniously bid us ‘Goodbye’.

Passengers sitting in Dinner train carThe train they boarded in Saint Petersburg was made up of nine compartments, with two bunk beds in each of those. ‘It was all very basic. The Chinese trains were slightly more decorated with curtains and so on, including, if you were lucky, a small vase with plastic flowers.’

Playing Cards by Candlelight

Most passengers on the train were locals. ‘There were families, couples, people travelling alone, a very diverse group. Most of them used the train simply as a necessary means of transportation. We spoke to a brother and sister who were on their way to their hometown of Vladivostok. The brother had got married in Moscow – the whereabouts of his brand new wife remained a mystery to us – and they were now on their way back, a 10,000-kilometre journey from Moscow.

The locals aboard spoke barely one word of English. ‘I carried a small book with Russian vocabulary, but that didn’t get me far. People would try to communicate with us, nonetheless. At night, we would play cards and often some curious Russians would come up to the door of our compartment. Waiting for us to gesture to them to sit down on our beds.’Platform at Train Station

On the Platform in a Bathrobe

There was a schedule put up in the train that showed where and for how long the trains stopped. ‘At small stations, in the middle of nowhere in Siberia, that was only for five minutes, but at the bigger towns we would stop for half an hour. Everyone would come out to get some fresh air. Some locals would be walking around in a bathrobe, with outside temperatures of no more than five degrees. Others went jogging back and forth on the platform, wearing nothing but shorts.’

Russians displaying MerchandiseAt the bigger stops, there were Russian ladies displaying their merchandise. ‘These babushkas sold single cooked eggs and also happened to have a stash of vodka available on request.’

The train always left right on time half an hour after it arrived, and there was no whistle, nothing to warn the travellers outside. ‘One time, when I had gone for a walk around the village, I was almost too late. The train had started to move and I barely managed to hop onto the steps of one of the last compartments.’

Magical

One group of travellers follow the route all the way through Siberia as far as their final destination, Vladivostok. Other travellers split off from them at Russian town Irkutsk, bound for Mongolia. The vodka train travellers went to the Terelj National Park.Sunset at Train Station

‘We stayed with a nomad tribe for a few days,’ Frieda tells. ‘They took us horse riding in the vast plains where herds of yaks (an ox species, ed.) were walking around and one of the oldest ladies of the tribe told us about the way they lived. That was amazing. The pristine natural surroundings are magnificent and the people are incredibly welcoming. To me that was the most beautiful part of the journey.’

In total, Frieda’s journey from Saint Petersburg to Beijing took her three weeks. But for those with less time available, it’s possible to do it in two weeks. The best period to travel is autumn, Frieda says. ‘To see the changing colours of the endless Siberian woods – that’s magical.’

For more information about the vodka train and other travel options, check the KILROY website: http://travels.kilroyworld.nl/vervoer/trein/transsiberie-en-transmongolie-express

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This month we serve up stories in our monthly theme ‘Romance of the Railways’. Also read our article about 19th century traveller Simon van Gijn. What’s your fondest memory of train travel?

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