Blogs from Siberia, Russia, Europe

While travelling from Moscow to Vladivostok by Transsiberian train, you will be crossing the deepest (1,642 meters) and affluentest lake in the world - Baikal. The lake is marvelous during all four seasons and its wild nature attracts tourists all year round.An interesting fact, that on Baikal's bank you can meet the oldest trees in the world: 500 years old ceder and 750 years old larch are growing there. Take a tour to Baikal lake and see the beauty of its nature.... read more

The nine families, nine chums and 10,000 reindeer of the second Yar Sale brigade were on their way north, their annual 1200km migration begun after a six-week winter break in the forest tundra of Nadym Region. To a casual observer who somehow stumbled on the nine conical tents amid the flat, treeless, white expanse of the Yamal Peninsula tundra, it would not be immediately obvious that these Nenets nomads were on the move. To a more trained eye, however, signs were everywhere: the dark skin of the herders, deeply bronzed by the sun after 200km traveled by reindeer-drawn sledge from the forest tundra; the reindeer herd, which during the six-week winter break had been allowed to wander up to 20km from the encampment, now milling around in a depression a few hundred metres away, ready to ... read more

Trekking across the frozen surface of Lake Baikal - class!... read more

This one has been a long time in coming. Obviously there was no internet connection on our train, and once we arrived at our hostel in Irkutsk, the manager asked if we would mind moving on to Lake Baikal earlier as there was a few people that wanted to stay an extra night in Irkutsk. We obliged, at a discount obviously, and moved on to Baikal. Unfortunately, our eco-hostel that we were staying in, was so far up a bloody hill that there was nae wifi available. So now we are back in Irkutsk, it's time to recap the last week of events (deep breath). Think when I last left you, it was our second day in Moscow. After I had finished my last post, we decided to go for a wander in order to stock ... read more

As we stood on platform 9 of Beijing Railway Station, awaiting the departure of the first train of our trip from Beijing to Moscow by the China, Mongolian and Russian Railways, we couldn’t help feeling exited at the prospect of the longest overland journey of our lives. A distance of 7500km stood ahead of us. The first leg of the trip was from Beijing to Ulan Bataar, the capital of Mongolia. Within a few hours of setting off and leaving Beijing behind we entered the hills of northern China. The scenery was immediately beautiful, as we travelled through valleys & over rivers, our eyes constantly glued to the window as we watched the picturesque chinese villages pass by whilst listening to the hypnotising sound of the train wheels turning. As we settled into our first day ... read more