36 hours from UB, Mongolia to Irkutsk, Russia!
I was escorted to the right platform and bordered the train with ease. It appeared that there were only 5 of us and the attendants in the carriage and I had a berth to myself! It was already 9pm so I had a quick supper and settled in comfort and space - nice after sharing tents/rooms with 5 people in the last week. It wasn't such a great night's sleep, bumpy, sound of the train wheels and then we arrived at border around 5 am and was shunted about so I got up and enjoyed watching the snow fall - it was cold, but I had my hot nescafe and warm blanket and my solitude! At around 8am, it was interrupted by a group of Mongolians and/or Russian who boarded the train with heaps of bags and proceeded to put on and strap layers of clothes to their bodies. I had the company of a couple and their obstroperous kid. I held onto my little space in the corner while their friends all entered our cabin to strap more clothes, sell or give me things but I was not interested (despite not having splurged on fake handbags in China!) A lot of fanfare completing customs forms on Mongolia side and then we set off (lost track of time, could've been around 11am) Arriving at Russian border around half hour later, more forms, more officials, they were very serious, not sure you want to get on the wrong side of them! They didn't take to kindly to our new arrivals and there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and after checking bags of my cabin mates they started to search my bags. fortunately I had had no time to shop in ub and had not accepted any of smugglers bagts so I was okay - phew, brush with Russian officials averted! I continued to chat to my neighbours, Forest and Valerie from us and then all the new arrivals started to leave train, bags and all. I felt a little bad but only for a short while as I enjoyed solitude for remaining journey.
I was escorted to the right platform and bordered the train with ease. It appeared that there were only 5 of us and the attendants in the carriage and I had a berth to myself! It was already 9pm so I had a quick supper and settled in comfort and space - nice after sharing tents/rooms with 5 people in the last week. It wasn't such a great night's sleep, bumpy, sound of the train wheels and then we arrived at border around 5 am and was shunted about so I got up and enjoyed watching the snow fall - it was cold, but I had my hot nescafe and warm blanket and my solitude! At around 8am, it was interrupted by a group of Mongolians and/or Russian who boarded the train with heaps of bags and proceeded to put on and strap layers of clothes to their bodies. I had the company of a couple and their obstroperous kid. I held onto my little space in the corner while their friends all entered our cabin to strap more clothes, sell or give me things but I was not interested (despite not having splurged on fake handbags in China!) A lot of fanfare completing customs forms on Mongolia side and then we set off (lost track of time, could've been around 11am) Arriving at Russian border around half hour later, more forms, more officials, they were very serious, not sure you want to get on the wrong side of them! They didn't take to kindly to our new arrivals and there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and after checking bags of my cabin mates they started to search my bags. fortunately I had had no time to shop in ub and had not accepted any of smugglers bagts so I was okay - phew, brush with Russian officials averted! I continued to chat to my neighbours, Forest and Valerie from us and then all the new arrivals started to leave train, bags and all. I felt a little bad but only for a short while as I enjoyed solitude for remaining journey.
So after the excitement of the border crossing which was actually extremely tedious - almost 11 hours and barely covering a few kms (and no money - only needed 8rubles or 20cents - to go to the toilet - not a pleasant 11 hours) - we set off, snow had melted and it had stopped raining. The scenery was stunning and we did get to see quite a bit as sun only sets around 10ish! very green and plenty trees and a lot more trees in later train journey, and lakes, rivers, a few cows horses and many more town/villages than on Mongolian side. The houses are all wooden with some ornate carving and quite colourful. There were also a fair amount of derelict factories and warehouses - relics of Societ era?? No entertainment and no restaurant car and only US couple to chat to (bade them farewell at Ulun Ude at 11pm). I also chatted to attendant : Pryveet - Hi and Spaseeba - Thank you is the sum total of my Russian vocab even after 5 days!
Arriving in Irkutsk at 7.30am, I was glad to have Lena meet me as 100's of taxi drivers descend on you once you exit the station. We needed to wait for another train so had breakfast - pancakes (nyum) and coffee and then Ben (Belgium) & Robson (Brazilian) from London arrived and we drove 70km to Litsvyanka, a village on Lake Baikal. Checked into a lovely hotel with bedroom, bathroom and lounge - very nice after train and a view of the lake.
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