Monday, May 30, 2011
Day 14 - 15: Ulan Bataar
With the parting shot of vodka we shared with babushka our closing taste of Russia, we arrived at Ulan Bataar, the capital of Mongolia, bright and early ready for a rapid 24 hour dip into the vast spaces of this country which has always had a mysterious appeal to both of us.
Walking through the dusty, empty streets of UB at 7am seemed rather surreal as if the town was uninhabited as we navigated our way to the small and comfy (although pretty well hidden) Edelweiss Hostel. Our faces obviously looking gaunt following a week of pot noodles, the staff breakfasted us with camel's liver pate and got us out on the road to the Gorkhi Terelj National Park on the outskirts of the city.
Although close to the urban centre of Mongolia, and many days less travel than many of the country's most tempting parks, Terelj gave us a taste of the vast natural beauty of this sparsely populated wilderness of a nation. We got to ride Mongolian horses, visit a gear (traditional tents still used even in the cities) and one of the temples rebuilt following Stalin's rather brutal decimation (in the Roman sense) of the monk population and destruction of most of Mongolia's original 700+ Buddhist temples.
A good dinner and five hours sleep later time was up on Mongolia and we were back on a train (Chinese this time so no babushka) to Beijing.... more of this next time!
Walking through the dusty, empty streets of UB at 7am seemed rather surreal as if the town was uninhabited as we navigated our way to the small and comfy (although pretty well hidden) Edelweiss Hostel. Our faces obviously looking gaunt following a week of pot noodles, the staff breakfasted us with camel's liver pate and got us out on the road to the Gorkhi Terelj National Park on the outskirts of the city.
Although close to the urban centre of Mongolia, and many days less travel than many of the country's most tempting parks, Terelj gave us a taste of the vast natural beauty of this sparsely populated wilderness of a nation. We got to ride Mongolian horses, visit a gear (traditional tents still used even in the cities) and one of the temples rebuilt following Stalin's rather brutal decimation (in the Roman sense) of the monk population and destruction of most of Mongolia's original 700+ Buddhist temples.
A good dinner and five hours sleep later time was up on Mongolia and we were back on a train (Chinese this time so no babushka) to Beijing.... more of this next time!
Day 11 - 14: Irkutsk - Ulan Bataar
Looking forward to a day off from the train, we walked through the rather ghostly 7am Irkutsk city centre, a city far more developed than the towns we had passed through over the past few days, and successfully purchased our bus tickets from the bus babushka for the 90 minute ride to Lake Baikal.
Holding (according to legend/Google) 25% of the world's fresh water, or enough to supply the entire world for 40 years, Lake Baikal is a monumental feature even on the scale of Siberia's massive landscape. The beauty of the lake is rather successfully tempered by the Soviet style development of Listvyanka, the lake's nearest town to Irkutsk, however only a short hike into the forested hills gives an idillic environment for camping (it is May, mid winter could be different).
Fed with local fish, easily our best Russian meal of the trip, we eagerly escaped the smelliest accommodation either of us have ever stayed in and made a run for Irkutsk where Katya and Tomas (thanks guys) took us in for a few hours before we headed back to the train station for our next train.....a 36 hour ride with all the daylight hours spent stuck on the Russian/Mongolian border... and the spectacular scenary passed in the dark!
Irkutsk - Ulan Bataar: 36 train hours / 1,100 km
TOTAL TO DATE: ~9,390 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 2,600 including Gift Aid - All Donations go to support Doctors of the World
Holding (according to legend/Google) 25% of the world's fresh water, or enough to supply the entire world for 40 years, Lake Baikal is a monumental feature even on the scale of Siberia's massive landscape. The beauty of the lake is rather successfully tempered by the Soviet style development of Listvyanka, the lake's nearest town to Irkutsk, however only a short hike into the forested hills gives an idillic environment for camping (it is May, mid winter could be different).
Fed with local fish, easily our best Russian meal of the trip, we eagerly escaped the smelliest accommodation either of us have ever stayed in and made a run for Irkutsk where Katya and Tomas (thanks guys) took us in for a few hours before we headed back to the train station for our next train.....a 36 hour ride with all the daylight hours spent stuck on the Russian/Mongolian border... and the spectacular scenary passed in the dark!
Irkutsk - Ulan Bataar: 36 train hours / 1,100 km
TOTAL TO DATE: ~9,390 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 2,600 including Gift Aid - All Donations go to support Doctors of the World
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Day 8 - 11: Transiberian Moscow - Irkutsk
So with a dramatic change in tempo we left ouк ( apologies I can't stop this Lake Baikal laptop autocorrecting, and photos will have to wait) mad rush of catching a number of buses oк trains per day for thу serenity of the 5,000 kilometres of Transiberian Route 2, covering 20% of our trip in 76 hours of the rather surreal semi-confinement conditions, with only a one or two chances per day to escape the occassionally air-conditioned Vagon 1 for a slightly anxious 1 - 30 minute (babushka dictated) stop at a variety of generally sparse and dispondent siberian railway towns.
Having passed more trees than anyone can imagine, been subjected to a wider variety of alcohol by Andrujey and Katya our compartment companions than in an average Friday night out in Stroud (doesn't that seem a long way away!?!?), more time to reflect on everything we've ever thought about than in a normal year of being back home, and passing notablу locations such as the crash site of Gary Power's U2, the obelisk marking the line between European and Asian Russia, rather severe looking army bases and many of the towns mentioned by the geographer Humboldt (as of Humboldt current) and a Mr RJ Jefferson who spent much of the end of the 19th century cycling from London to various Siberian locations..... One up on us!
Many more stories to tell, but they will have to wait. We're now at Lake Baikal near Irkutsk for 36 hours break froms trains before heading south to Ulan Bataar.
Moscow - Irkutsk: 5,200 km / 76 train hours
TOTAL TO DATE: ~8,500 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: "GBP 2,200 including Gift Aid - Keep those donations coming!
Having passed more trees than anyone can imagine, been subjected to a wider variety of alcohol by Andrujey and Katya our compartment companions than in an average Friday night out in Stroud (doesn't that seem a long way away!?!?), more time to reflect on everything we've ever thought about than in a normal year of being back home, and passing notablу locations such as the crash site of Gary Power's U2, the obelisk marking the line between European and Asian Russia, rather severe looking army bases and many of the towns mentioned by the geographer Humboldt (as of Humboldt current) and a Mr RJ Jefferson who spent much of the end of the 19th century cycling from London to various Siberian locations..... One up on us!
Many more stories to tell, but they will have to wait. We're now at Lake Baikal near Irkutsk for 36 hours break froms trains before heading south to Ulan Bataar.
Moscow - Irkutsk: 5,200 km / 76 train hours
TOTAL TO DATE: ~8,500 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: "GBP 2,200 including Gift Aid - Keep those donations coming!
Monday, May 23, 2011
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