Trans-Siberian Railway Beijing to Moscow Travel Stories

The Tsar’s Gold
by Sandra Beckett

"We have long wanted to travel the Trans-Siberian train and after enjoying several Bunnik Tours, we decided now was time! Because of Visa problems (I hasten to say no fault of Bunniks!), we had a delayed beginning to our tour arriving in Beijing only a few hours before joining the Zarengold (Tsar’s Gold) train. There were only 12 English speakers on board so we soon bonded and quickly became friends.  

Mongolia
Our trip began in Beijing, where we travelled through the night and over the border into Mongolia where our first visit was to a huge dinosaur ‘cemetery’. The area surrounding it is marked with enormous full-sized replicas of many different dinosaurs, there must have been well over a hundred placed randomly and with pre-historic trees dotted around the effect was excellent. In the evening, at the station we were treated to a performance by two young men gorgeously dressed playing Mongolian fiddles and throat singing.  It was an incredible sound they produced and the music ethereal, so much a part of the countryside. The Gobi Desert is not like the Sahara, more like a vast dry plain with very sparse vegetation. The capital, Ulaan Baatar, was interesting - it has much development and building although some buildings were unfinished due to the global financial crisis.

After a visit to a Temple, and a show of musicians, singers and contortionists, four of us travelled to the countryside to spend the night in a Mongolian ger (or yurt). An astonishingly beautiful place with rock formations and such peace and quiet! Dinner was served about 9pm and it was still reasonably light – a long twilight! Our ger was warm from a very efficient little stove – so much so that at 11pm, we were gasping and opening the door to let out some of the heat. The fabric of the ger was two layers of felt, one of plastic, then another layer of felt all covered with canvas and bound around the diameter with thick straps. The top of the ger was anchored down with ropes attached to large rocks. The ger was simple but comfortable and we slept very well. The silence was absolute and the blue sky and fresh breeze restored the senses. Our ger for the night (photo taken at 10.30pm!)

In the afternoon we were treated to a mini Naadam festival with archery, horse and camel riding. Also a race with young children as jockeys on the small, tough Mongolian ponies. They raced furiously about 3 kilometres back to where we were and we were surprised at just how young the kids were. One, I’m sure, would only have been 4 years old.

During the bus trip back to Ulaan Bataar we stopped to visit a traditional home of a nomadic family - a young couple with a daughter about 3 and a baby. The ger was spotlessly and very neatly kept. We were served a snack of milky tea, dried kurd and a form of Mongolian soft biscuit. It was the family’s summer ger so didn’t have power for a washing machine, etc. which they have at their winter place where electricity is available. They did have a solar panel which powered a small TV and lighting but otherwise a small central wood stove provided heat for cooking. Furniture was traditional and painted with brightly coloured flower designs. Only 2 beds so children slept on bedding on the floor. As we left, the father arrived home – not on a pony but on a motorbike - to farewell us. At the rear of the ger was parked an old model Mercedes car! Nevertheless it would be a hard life, I think. Some nomads pack up the ger and move with the seasons, but this family only moved in summer and winter.

Very early next morning we reached the Mongolian/Russian border. After getting through authorities we pulled into the station at Ulaan Ude in Siberia. We had a short city tour and a walk around the historic ‘tea-market’ area. Architecture has begun to take on the typical Russian style – unpainted wooden houses with brightly painted window shutters. Older Soviet industrial buildings were mostly dilapidated and abandoned – hundreds of them!

Lake Baikal
Arrived about 6pm and our first walk around was at Port Baikal, a moderate size village right on the lake. We then took a cruise on the lake in lovely sunny weather but with a bitterly cold wind. The train then moved on around the lake to a position for the barbecue/picnic dinner outside. A beautiful spot with a small beach to the lake. However any thoughts of a swim vanished with the sight of icebergs floating around! A nice hot day but the ice still hadn’t melted even by the last day of Spring. Walking back around to the other side of the train we were able to stroll though the small village and were invited by an older Russian lady in to see her home. She looked about 70 but her daughter said she was 84. Neither mother nor daughter could speak English but with lots of smiles and sign language, we communicated. Another English couple and we two were invited to share a glass of vodka followed by a piece of tomato or cucumber. We managed it! It was just a lovely experience.

Back to the barbecue now where a piano-accordionist played and sang Russian music. Some partied, some walked around the area, some sat and looked at the changing patterns on the lake and river and enjoyed the overwhelming peace and beauty. It was a most enjoyable experience and we loved it.

From Lake Baikal to Moscow
After leaving our picnic spot by Lake Baikal, we travelled to Irkutsk for a day’s city and surrounds tour and an overnight stay in an hotel. We were taken to a Dacha to have lunch with a family in their summer home. They cooked for about 20 of us and made us very welcome. Delicious soup, salad, pork, followed by little choux pastry shells (as we would have for cream puffs), into which you spoon home-made jam or some of their fragrant local honey. Absolutely lovely. We have been very impressed with the food through this trip, it has been delicious, very well cooked and presented, even the depressing sounding Cabbage Soup was so nice, I wanted the recipe!

Our overnight stop was in an hotel and we had a large spacious room but best of all we were able to connect to the internet and spoke to our son (and our dog, Jessie!) via Skype, and managed eventually to transfer these notes to the travel blog.

Cashmere – Just realised that I missed mentioning the excursion to the Cashmere factory in Ulaan Baator. The goats in this cold region grow a very soft, fine fur in Autumn to help insulate their coat throughout the harsh winter. In Spring this is combed out by the people and processed at various factories in Mongolia. We visited the Gojo factory and saw the raw product in the various processes through to the finished garment. I was impressed with the various styles and ranges of items – and even more impressed with the prices!

The train continued across Siberia, and we were entertained by talks about Siberian life and lessons in speaking Russian. Also vodka and caviar tastings! We reached Novosibirsk in the  late afternoon and we were welcomed with a traditional offering of bread and salt and a performance of folk dancing. We had a quick city tour but the train fanatics had discovered a model train museum nearby and petitioned Hans, the tour director, to go there instead. One very puzzled Russian guide was appointed for them and was much relieved when an English-speaking guide turned up also. That evening back on the train, an impromptu vodka-drinking party was arranged in carriage 12 for the English speaking group. Much bonding with jokes and laughter over a variety of vodkas and everyone rolled back to their cabins very merry and very late!

This morning – another talk on Russian life and the sad story of the murder of the Romanovs in Yekateringburg in 1918. In the afternoon we arrived in the city and began our city tour. The house amongst tall trees where the murders occurred was demolished in 1977, prior to this it had been a Museum of Atheism. When the bodies were discovered and identified, a massive cathedral was built on the site (Cathedral of the Blood). Extravagantly decorated with side rooms devoted to photos of the Romanovs, it has a steady stream of visitors reverently filing through. Outside on the wide steps and terraces surrounding the cathedral were many brides and grooms posing for photographers. All had been married in a civil ceremony elsewhere but came to this grand edifice to record the event.

The next day we arrived at Kazan, the old Tatar capital on the banks of the Volga River. This city has a Kremlin (Kremlin means ‘fort’) and is one of the many other Russian cities with a Kremlin. Kazan has a European feel to it with more substantial buildings and a tidier and better kept city centre. On the schedule was an hour long boat ride on the river, but as we walked down to the river-side misty rain began, the sky darkened and the river which looked more like an inland sea, turned very choppy. Nevertheless we had our boat ride – all 270 of us on a pleasure boat huddled inside while the rain lashed at the windows and visibility practically nil! By the time we returned the sky had cleared somewhat (as it would!), and a light drizzle remained.

Our last night on the train was tinged with sadness as most of us would be either flying home from Moscow or going on our separate ways for the remainder of our holidays. We all lingered over dinner talking about our trip and how much we had enjoyed it.

Magical Moscow
Next stop was Moscow where we said our farewells to the train staff and went for a tour of the city. First stop – the Kremlin, of course, and the collection of historic buildings and churches within. Gorgeous blue sky showed off this lovely area. The Tsars lived at the Kremlin and we visited one beautiful, ancient little church where they worshipped. Other buildings within the complex were more recent (only a hundred or so years old), and now housed various government departments. Lined up and displayed against one building were hundreds of cannons captured from Napoleon’s army in 1812.

After lunch and a little more city touring, we arrived at our hotel – the Renaissance hotel (built for the 1980 Olympics but modernised extensively in the past 2 years). We had a nice spacious room with big comfortable beds and all mod cons. It seemed huge after our little cabin on the train.  We had a few hours to settle in before our farewell dinner for all our fellow passengers on the Zarengold journey.

Following dinner we were taken on an evening tour of Moscow. Moscow is surprisingly beautiful; we expected more basic box-like buildings, but it is just so lovely with ‘pretty buildings’ (our guide’s expression) everywhere. We travelled on the Metro underground built some 50 years ago to view the interiors of underground stations, they were lovely – marbled and frescoed. Eventually we came up and walked to Red Square and the absolutely beautiful (bizarrely so), St Basil’s Cathedral. It was just stunning, flood light on the painted, twisted ‘onion’ domes and backlit by very dark clouds. To me it was the absolute pinnacle of visiting Moscow and to walk through the middle of Red Square and around the Cathedral in the late evening was quite an experience.

The many well kept parks and gardens in Moscow compliment the beautiful old buildings. Some in the city centre were being repaired and were covered on the front wall with a mesh printed with a depiction of the actual building. This hid the scaffolding and repair work, and at first glance just looked like a natural part of the surrounding buildings - a very nice idea.

The churches and cathedrals were jaw-dropping. Religion might have been banned in the Soviet era, but there has been a recent interest again and much money has been invested in restoration and the building of new churches. Older ones could be quite dark but still extravagantly painted and decorated, whilst newer churches (the massive Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was built only in the past 20 years) are light and bright,  still extraordinarily decorated obviously at vast expense.

In the morning we had tour around Moscow, again to Red Square and St Basil’s, but as the weather was overcast and drizzling, not quite as romantic as it was at night. With rain threatening, we were happy to visit the famous GUM 19th century shopping arcade. Much bigger than I expected, it is now getting to house many up-market shops.

Gorky Park
As we had booked an extension to St Petersburg, we had almost a day free in Moscow. We decided to try our skills on the Moscow Metro and travel to Gorky Park (an amusement park).  We got instructions from the hotel concierge for directions to the nearest Metro station, and then descended down the longest escalator ever to the trains. The lines were colour-coded, but should we board a left-bound or right-bound train? Our knowledge of Russian Cyrillic is non-existent, but a local woman kindly pointed out the right train for us. After a short journey we found that Gorky Park was about another 20 minute walk. It is quite a large park with gardens, shady trees and lots of amusements for both children and adults. Instead of pony rides, there were reindeer rides!

St Petersburg
When we arrived in St Petersburg our first day of sightseeing was a half-day city tour and we had our own driver and English-speaking guide. We were taken to all the major sites and, like Moscow, St Petersburg is a truly amazing city. Gorgeous architecture, brilliantly decorated and painted, parks with shady birch and larch trees and, at that time of the year, lilac trees in full and perfumed bloom. Eventually we came to the Peter and Paul Fortress built by Peter the Great, with its beautifully restored Cathedral housing the last resting places of most of the Tsars through the ages. It also has a small chapel where the remains of the last of the Romanovs (Tsar Nicholas II and family) finally rest after being exhumed at Yekaterinburg.

For our last day in Russia we couldn’t have had a more gorgeous day for visiting the Hermitage Museum. It is an absolutely astonishing place – architecture and interiors are jaw-dropping, and the collections of treasures also kept the jaw well-dropped! Every room we entered had me saying again and again “Oohhh, wowwww!” We had our English-speaking guide from the previous day and she was great at avoiding queues and guiding us to the best of the treasures on display. Even so, we only saw a small part of the whole complex of buildings that make up the Hermitage. Art works included two Leonardo DaVinci paintings, and numerous old Masters – Renoir, Botticelli, Titian, Michaelangelo and Rembrandt amongst thousands of others, also fabulous marble statues, tapestries, lacework and fabrics (some dating from the 14th century), crystal, mosaic floors and also incredible pin-point mosaic ‘paintings’, Etruscan pottery, Egyptian antiquities, etc. etc. When Catherine the Great went shopping, she didn’t just buy one artwork, she bought whole collections and then built another sumptuous building to house them all. We have never seen anything like it. We had a late lunch at the Hermitage café, and reluctantly left to join a canal and river cruise through the city. It was a lovely day and we saw the beautiful buildings at their best and heard the stories about them as we cruised along. Before returning to our hotel we visited a gift/souvenir store and purchased our souvenirs of a wonderful trip to an intriguing and beautiful country.

We have wonderful memories of Mongolia and Russia, absolutely loved the whole trip and highly recommend it!"

Trans-Siberian Railway Beijing to Moscow

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