Trans Siberian

Trans Siberian & Europe

1st of April 2007 - 30th of May 2007

Beijing  1^ST April 2007 – 7^th April 2007

On the first of April we (Robin, Wencke, Gary who are all from Lismore Australia) and myself) met at the Beijing airport to start our trip with the Trans Mongolian- Siberian Railway. We arrived from 3 different directions (Korea, Malaysia, Singapore) and were able to meet within 1 hr at the Starbuck Coffee Shop - Beijing Airport.
We stayed at the Zhongan Hotel (located near the Beijing Railway Station) and went to Tiananmen Square, the Ming Tombs in Shisanling, walked the Great Wall in Badeling and visited the Forbidden City and Summer Palace. We did last minute shopping and we all agreed that China is a shopping paradise. We enjoyed eating Roast Duck (Peking Duck) near the Silk Market and on the 7th of April (which was my birthday)our journey with the Trans-Mongolian-Siberian Railway began. On the border of China and Mongolia the entire train was lifted up and the wheels were changed due to different track sizes in Mongolia and Russia. This took a while and happened at night. During this time we were not able to use the toilet. We were woken up by Chinese Officials for exit paperwork and again by Mongolian Officials for passport and visa checks - all our documents were in order.

 

Mongolia 8^th April – 13^th of April 2007

We arrived in Ulaan Bataar (UB) (capital of Mongolia) on the 8th of April and enjoyed watching the steppes of Mongolia from the train window. The steppes are large and open and we saw many nomadic herders with yaks, goats and horses. Before UB we even saw a Genghis Khan portrait on one of the distant mountains. We were picked up by the staff of the UB Hostel together with other travellers. The hostel was managed by a friendly and helpful Korean/Mongolian couple. While the hostel was located in a traditional building with basic furniture, it was clean and tidy and had many bathrooms. Wencke did comment that this place was certainly not the "Ritz" but she was happy to stay. Our first goal was to find an ATM machine to get some Tugrugs (Mongolian currency) which was not an easy task. Had to use my traveller cheques as I was unable to use Maestro or my Korean bank card. Visa Plus and MasterCard seemed to work. We decided to organise a tour and the staff at the hostel provided us with all the information. The next day we had a driver with a Russian van and Darva our English guide from the hostel who accompanied us for the following 4 days to the small Gobi. After a long drive (very rough) we arrived in Kharakorum (old capital of Mongolia). We had our first night in a traditional Ger (Felt Tent) and drank salted tea (green tea with milk and salt) and airag (fermented mare milk) and ate home cooked dumplings. The following day we visited the Erdene Zuu Monastry in Kharakorum and then went on our adventure driving through the Mongolian Steppes. We women went shopping for meat and veggies in a Mongolian village. I was offered a 10kg stomach which I politely rejected. We drove through water and up and down mountains and I wondered how the driver does navigate as there were neither roads nor signs. After a long trip in the car we arrived in the most beautiful place in the middle of nowhere. We stayed there for 2 nights and enjoyed living with our Mongolian host family. I went one day horse riding and my horse (Tchepchil) carried me up and downs cliffs and through frozen waters and I was amazed how safe this small but sturdy Mongolian horse carried me for 5 hrs. I enjoyed Mongolia very much as it was so different to what I knew at the time and the people were so friendly. On the 13th of April we left Ulaan Bataar and arrived at the Russian border at night. We were woken up by Russian officers - our carriage was checked twice (we had to move our entire luggage onto the beds - we did all this half asleep) by Russian officials (all women) and our passports were taken but surprisingly all went well and again our documentation were in order.

Russia 14^th April – 2^nd of May 2007

We arrived in Irkutsk on the 14th of April, bought our train tickets to Moscow before going to our Hotel (Irkutsk Hotel). Our plan was to stay in Lake Baikal the following day. We got rubels from the ATM, went to the Irkutsk Downtown Hostel (they seemed to be more helpful than the hotel we stayed at) and received all required information of how and where to go in Lake Baikal. Russia was certainly much more expensive than China and Mongolia. The next day we went to the bus station to go to Listvyanka which is a small village located near LakeBaikal. The lake was frozen but the feeling of this place was so peaceful, calm and surprisingly quiet. We found a Guest House called the Green House which was managed by a friendly couple and stayed there for 4 nights. Lake Baikal is the deepest and largest lake by volume in the world where the only fresh water seal (the Nerpa or Baikal seal) lives. We ate smoked Omul, went for long walks, visited the museum, went to Port Baikal, ate Borsch and Solyanka and enjoyed the easy going, relaxed lifestyle. Went back to Irkutsk on the 19th of April for one more night but stayed in the Irkutsk Downtown Hostel. On the 20th of April we went on the train to Moscow - the longest train trip (3 nights and 4 days) without a stopover. We got all cosy with each other in our sleeper, played cards, drank vodka (difficult to feel when you have enough), beer and wine and still had Gary's cough medicine (some sort of rice wine he bought in Beijing), ate instant noodles, anchovies (Robin could not get enough of it) and looked out the window to see birch forests after birch forests and the occasional village with old houses covered in snow. We arrived in Moscow on the 23rd of April and Gary and myself together with 1 Swiss guy and 3 Aussies (we met them on the train) stayed at the Napoleon Hostel in Kitai-Gorod for 5 nights which was located 5 minutes walk from the Red Square and the Kremlin. Robin & Wencke stayed in a Hotel located in another area of Moscow. It happened that Boris Yeltsin died at the age of 76 the same day as we arrived in Moscow wich was broadcasted on TV just when we checked into our hostel. The following day Gary and I explored Moscow together and I visited Vladimir Lenin's Mausoleum where his embalmed body is on public display since he died in 1924 - he looked like a doll. We then visited the Cathedral of Saint Basil the Blessed on the Red Square and just walked around to get a feel of the city with it's overwhelming buildings. The principal sights seem to be organized around the Red Square. Opposite the Kremlin and the Mausoleum of Lenin was a large Department Store (Gum) facing the Red Square. On the 25th of April I went together with Narendra (Indian guy who lives in Brazil) from the hostel to the gold-domed Christ the Saviour Cathedral (located 10 minutes away from our hostel) to pay our respect to Boris Yeltsin, visited the Kremlin which includes 4 palaces, 4 cathedrals, Kremlin walls and Kremlin towers. In the evening we then went all together with other travellers from the hostel to the small Bolshoi theatre (the big Boshoi theatre was under renovation at the time) and watched the Russian Opera of Boris Godunov by composer Modest Mussorgsky. On my last day in Moscow I went on a boats trip along the Moscow River togehter with Robin and Wencke and by myself to a Russian Banya in the evening, which was an interesting experience. Russians use dried birch branches to beat up the body for good circulation. Some Russian girls offered to cover my body with ground coffee, salt and cream which felt strange but my skin felt smooth like a baby after I washed it all off. On the 27th of April we went on our last train journey - to St. Petersburg. Unfortunately Gary's video camera was stolen possibly on our way to the train station. This should not have happened. We arrived on the same day in St. Petersburg and Jude (Lismore-Australia and girl friend of Gary) and Christy (Brisbane-Australia) came to welcome us at the train station. We then went by taxi to our Hotel named Pribaltiskaya or Park Inn, where 3 rooms were booked for us. St. Petersburg was certainly much colder than Moscow - we even had one day of heavy snow. We went to the Hermitage (one of the biggest museums I have ever been), watched a ballet La Sylphide, talked with a ballet dancer who sat next to me, went on a City Bus tour looking at all the important sightseeing, visited traditional markets, went on a boat cruise, ate borsch, solyanka, piroshky and got together with everyone else in the evening to catch up and have a drink with nibblies. Unfortunately Robin's good camera was stolen out of his backpack in St. Petersburg which again reminded us to be more careful. On the 2nd of May Wencke left for Oslo and the remaining 5 of us went to the bus station to catch a bus (Euroline) to Tallinn in Estonia. Good Bye Russia

Estonia & Latvia 2^nd May to 6^th May 2007

It took about 5-6 hrs to drive from St. Petersburg to Tallinn in Estonia. Euroline was comfortable to drive with and Christy and I met a Russian who kept us company by talking and talking. He was drunk but still charming and kept kissing our hands. We arrived in Tallinn early evening and stayed in the Reval Express Hotel for 2 nights. The hotel was located near the old town and had nice facilities including free internet and printer usage. The next day we all took a city bus tour and it happened that we had the bus and tour guide to ourselves. The young woman guide was very nice and informative and we found out so much about Estonia. She told us that the Estonians did sing themselves to freedom. At the time there were many police around because of the riots caused by the removal of a particular war memorial. The Russians were not happy about this decision. Estonia was either ruled by the Germans or the Russians in the past. There are many Lutheran churches in Tallinn. While Robin, Gary, Jude and Christy stayed for another night in Tallinn I had to leave for Riga in Latvia the following morning. We had a farewell dinner together and said good bye to each other. The following day I went with a Euroline double-decker bus to Riga. My seat number on the bus was just next to an English teacher from England who used to work in China and whom I met in Lake Baikal. We had a good chat and caught up on our travel experiences. I stayed in the Argonaut Hostel, which is located in the old town of Riga and managed by an Australian. The hostel was booked out as there was some sort of Public holiday on this particular weekend. I met a group of Norwegian students doing cultural studies together with their teachers and they seem to have such a great study program for High School students. After talking to a few interesting people at the hostel, I went to a local music festival in the evening which was located near the river Daugava, took some photos and had a nice dinner. It seems that many tourists are coming from England as alcohol and lifestyle is cheap in Riga (one of the staff members in the Hostel told me) In actual fact my dorm was occupied by 4 English guys, one Mexican and an Italian guy. I did enjoy visiting Tallinn and Riga and would love to come back one day for more sightseeing. In the morning I went by bus to the airport and checked in with Ryan Air - was so happy to be within the limits of 15kg luggage. Arriving in Frankfurt Hahn I experienced a temperature change of about 10-15 degrees. No use for my winter coat anymore.... A new stage of my trip began.

Germany – Italy 6th May – 30^th May 2007

I arrived in Frankfurt-Hahn where Ute picked me up from the airport on a truly warm and beautiful day. I stayed one night in Gau Algesheim which is situated near the Rhine and about 20km west of Mainz with Ute and her family and enjoyed a fantastic welcome dinner - of potato salad, asparagus salad and Wiener Wuerstchen (sausages). The following day I drove from Mainz with the most luxurious train (ICE) to Freiburg - the toilets were so clean and big with lots of toilet paper. Freiburg is a city in Baden-Wuerttemberg - Germany on the western edge of the Southern Black Forest with a population of about 214000. Uli picked me up from the train station and drove to the Winterer Strasse where his wife Jian was waiting for us. We had a beautfiul asparagus dinner in the evening after visiting Uli's mother in the nursing home.
For the following 6 days I did explore Freiburg and it's surrounding ( Todtnau, Gschwendt, Mengen, Griessheim) and Heiteren in France (Elsass - near the German border) and enjoyed the German culture with eating lots of good food and drinking good wine in the company of wonderful people. 

On the 13th of May we (Ute & I) drove via Switzerland to Italy - Tuscany. Ute drove with her car over the St. Gotthards Pass which is a mountain pass in Switzerland (2108m) connecting the northern part (German speaking) with the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. We had lunch in front of the Cathedral in Como ( Lago di Como - Italy) which is half an hour north of Milan and has a true Mediterranean feeling. It was a strange feeling - sitting there in summer clothes when only 10 days ago I was wearing a down coat in freezing cold temperatures. During our trip in Italy we camped at really nice camping places - stayed 1 night at Lago D'Iseo, Florence for 3 nights then drove via San Gimignano to Volterra where we stayed another night and had our last camping stop at Lago di Como which is near the Swiss border. While we spent many hours in the car - we did see many beautiful places, did some sightseeing, ate wonderful Italian food and drank good Italian red wine. I enjoyed staying in Florence and loved the feel of this interesting city. 

Came back to Germany on Saturday 19th of May with some wonderful memories of Tuscany in Italy. The following day I went horse riding (3 hrs) in Hinterzarten and my horse was a bit more energetic and accepting than my horse in Mongolia. We rode horses from Iceland and they seem bigger than the Mongolian horses. No time to rest - the next day off via the train to the Schluchsee(reservoir lake in the Black Forest near Freiburg)and we (Iska and I) rode a bicycle around the lake. Just before lunch we got caught in a heavy thunderstorm with lots of thunder and lightning. We were lucky and were able to stay in a Restaurant just when the weather started to get worse, waiting for the rain to stop. Had a sore back side after these 2 days of activities. Another day of an outing was to drive to France to see the Butterfly Pavilion (Jardins Des Papillons) which was truly an amazing experience. Butterflies everywhere - and we were told they only live for 2-5 weeks. We went in an open car and I must say I felt a bit like in the movie of "Thelma & Louise" driving in an open car, feeling totally free and happy. One day Uli and I went hiking to Todtnauberg- Stuebenwasen. We got up early to see some wild life. We were lucky and saw a Chamois (a goat like animal - Gemse) ) and and a Wood Grouse or Capercaillie (Auerhahn). To see a wood grouse is very rare as the bird is considered an endangered species in Germany. We walked through a Bannwald which is a protected area of forest and it was sad to see so many trees affected by the acid rain. I also went to an Amusement Park where we all went on a ferris wheel. drove to the Schauinsland, Emmendingen, Malterdingen, Kenzingen and Broggingen (all these places are within 30 min. drive from Freiburg) I experienced so many things, met so many people and just had a fantastic and rewarding time. 

On the 30th of May my trip came finally to an end. I went to Frankfurt and flew with Emirates back to Seoul and on the 1st of June was back in the classroom wondering "What Am I Doing Here"............