Trans-Siberian Express

[neversummer 0]

I'm thinking of doing this from Beijing to Moscow next year and wondered if anyone else had ever done it?

 

Starting in Thailand, going to Loas, then Cambodia, Vietnam and onto HK. Taking the train to Beijing where the real journey begins.

 

Going through Mongolia rather than around.

 

Any info would be helpful.

[enderzero 0]

Wow! That is quite a trip. How long do you plan to spend. It will take you a month for just the SE Asia portion unless you really fly through. Sounds like quite an adventure though. I am interested to know more about the railroad.

[damian 0]

I have not taken this particular train, but train travel is very romantic. I have been fortunate and done quite a deal.

 

I do not so much mean romantic in the sense of "between the sheets' girly/boyish romantic, more so it has something about it that is really special.

 

As a young fellow, about 10 yrs old, I remember zig-zaging Europe in a train. My brother and I had our own cabin and I would sit and watch a different land and community of people pass my window each day. I remember the nights the best. Sleeping on a train in a bed is fantastic, it just rocks you to sleep. When the train stops, the stillness wakes you up. I remember once waking up in the middle of Prague at 5am. I opened my curtain and was blown away. I was on my way to Greece from Paris and had seen so many great things, but Prague was the best. After Greece we spent about a week on the train wondering around a viariety of places.

 

I also traveled for quite a while through Africa by train. As a little boy, that was incredible.

 

So go for it, and if you have kids then take them with you, they will remember it forever.

[spook 0]

my girl and i are going from bejing to st petersburg in may next year, and i'm pretty excited about it

 

i did quite a bit of research into it, trying to work out the best deals and what to do, alot of it depends on how you want to travel

 

it seems that getting a russian visa is very hard, and pretty much the only option is to book your trip through a company that can organise everything for you. most of the trips we found we either hideously expensive, based on a fixed and inflexible itineray or on a group tour type thing.

we ended up finding an oz company that could set up the trip to allow us to go where we wanted, its not part of a group tour, and pretty cheap. all the places we're going to be staying in are homestays, which should be fun

 

there is a good lonely planet book on the trans-sib which has a heap of info

[mattlucas 0]

This is not related but I have heard the trip from Murmansk to St Petersburg takes 24 hours. Which is all well and fine until you realize that 24 hours is stop and go the whole way. Kind of like a local train here.

 

Not sure if it is the same for Trans Route but a number of weeks of local train travel would get very irritating.

 

Russian Visas are very difficult to get. You have to have proof of where you are staying everynight. I would love to hear more about this as I love Russia and really want to go back. Maybe Kamchatka though.

[Ocean11 0]

If we're reminiscing about trains...

 

I found that the heat and shaking of one of the Interrail trains I rode homewards had a curiously stimulating effect on one of my extremities. Attracted by the blood pulsing through said extremity, a mosquito alighted and took liberties while I drowsed. I awoke to find some red and itchy patches there, never a good sign, especially if you've just had some unprotected romance in Europe as I had.

 

Alighting in London I took myself to one of those dreary clinics where a nice Pakistani doctor was most skeptical about my mosquito worries, at least until the tests proved negative.

 

So mind the mozzies! (and the romance)