Blogs from Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia, Europe - page 11

www.diariodeunviaje.com (todo en nuestra pagina web) TRAYECTO EN EL TREN TRANSMONGOLIANO (21-25/6) (de Moscú a Ulan Bator) Llegamos a la estación de tren Yaroslavskiy en Moscú media hora antes de la salida de nuestro tren y a las 21:35h iniciamos el trayecto en el mítico tren Transmongoliano (167€/pers, en 2ª clase, compartimento de 4 pers). El billete lo compramos desde Madrid por internet a través de la agencia Intelservice de Moscú (www. Interservice.ru). La atención y gestión es muy buena y no tuvimos ningún problema con ellos. Algunas webs útiles: www.seat61.com, www.poezda.net/en, www.russianrails.com, www.waytorussia.net La travesía de Asia en tren desde Moscú (Rusia) hasta Beijing (China), pasando por Ulan Bator (Mongolia), son unos 8.000km. Nosotros vamos a hacer una parada en Mongolia antes de llegar a China, por lo que en nuestro primer trayecto de Moscú ... read more

Up at 3:30am and then some nervous moments hoping that driver Sasha would appear on time. He was a little late but we were glad to see him as we had no contingency options to make our train. The drive took under an hour back to Irkutsk station and the 2 Sashas helped us find our train and carriage. They have been excellent, the guide having extremely good English and being very thoughtful, and the driver being probably the only safe driver we’ve had in the past 9 months. He was also very courteous and eager to be driving us around despite being a qualified doctor - that’s compared to plenty of others with zero education and an attitude that suggests they find driving below them. We would highly recommend them. The train was roasting ... read more

Hi everyone, We have come a long way since my last email we have now covered about a quarter of the world. We have been on 1 plane, 4 buses and 8 trains travelled through 8 time zones, spent 120 hours travelling, slept in 19 different beds and gone 6185km ish and all the transport only cost 202 pound, not bad! and still since we have left Latvia we havent spoken to another english person, so about a month! At the moment we are on the most amazing Island called Olkhon, on Lake Baikal, it is the deepest lake in the world and at the moment the whole thing is frozen. It was a bit of an experience getting here, the night before we left the mainland we met two french guys (one who looks like ... read more

Day 123, 1st October 2001 Murino - Tanhoj - Babuškin White Rabbits! Or, so they say in the part of England I come from for good luck on the first day of every month - we need it! Didn’t have too much of a brilliant sleep but was warm, though. Was up early, made a cuppa, and packed up. Rory and Tobes decided to try and make cheese on toast on an old piece of metal they found while I stood around getting cold, and then freezing cold! I told them I had to leave and made a move because I began to shiver uncontrollably. I left as it began to snow on Toby’y tent. The road was and the wind was slightly behind, and I made it to the first café after about 10 miles, ... read more

Nachdem ich mich in der Zeit in der Trassib an das nette und gemuetliche Leben meiner Mitbewohner gewoehnt hatte, traf mich die Wirklichkeit in Irkutsk umso heftiger. Meine Bahnfahrkarte wollte ich mir kaufen fuer die Weiterfahrt nach Ulan Ude naechste Woche. Nicht so einfach, kein Schalter ist der richtige. Warten soll ich, in einem Raum ohne Menschen auf einem Sofa. Die Schalter sind geoeffnet. Warten, ok. Nach geraumer Zeit frage ich, warten auf was. Kann sie mir nicht erklaeren, einfach warten. Von Freundlichkeit ist natuerlich keine Rede. Ok, ich warte. Es passiert nichts. Langsam naehere ich mich den Fenstern der Schaltern und stelle fest, dass die Damen ihr morgendliches Fruehstueck in geselliger Rund einnehmen. So laeuft der Hase also. Also kein Ticket, ich fahre in die Stadt und versuche eine Bleibe zu finden. Diese finde ich ... read more