Have you ever wondered if you could survive in temperatures of -17degrees? Well you can – provided you are wearing all your clothes, including scarf and hat, and are buried in two sleeping bags and a throw. All because Mr L fell asleep and let the fire go out!. The only part of my body exposed – my nose – was so cold I thought it would drop off. Thankfully at 6am the man came and restarted the stove and heat and body temperatures were restored.
Sleep had been fitful not least because one of pesky dogs kept barking and spoiling the otherwise soundless environment we were in. We discovered later that there were wolves in the area and an ox had been killed. Good doggie!
After breakfast of eggs, some indiscernible meat and Mongolian tea –warm milk with sugar and salt - the horses were saddled up for us. Now it may surprise you to know I'm not a natural horse rider, or particularly horsey, so you may wonder what an earth we were up to. But this setting was so beautiful it was the most natural & traditional way to explore our surroundings. My athleticism was quickly challenged when I was required to put my foot into the stirrup which was set at a height my leg had not achieved in sometime. However with some helpful hands, I was unceremoniously dumped into the saddle. Mr L got up without too much trouble although that was an achievement considering he was at this point wearing 7 layers of clothing!
We set off through the valley in the glorious sunshine (still well below freezing) occasionally passing other nomad homesteads with cattle, goats and horses roaming freely and the dogs running alongside us. Ama singing the occasional song as we rode. After about 1hr we stopped for a walk up a ‘little’ hill. I declined. The air was so cold that I was sounding like a 60 per day smoker every time I started to walk up any incline. Mr L managed it with ease and saw the remains of the ox killed by the wolves, as well as the circling vultures, Eagles and other birds. The dogs too got stuck into the ‘treat’.
When they came back down we saddled up and continued our trek before heading back to the homestead where Ama prepared a hearty lunch of noodles, meat and vegetables- very tasty (once I separated the fat out) then we were invited into the family home to watch them make the vodka and of course sample the goods! Even more delicious hot! A couple of cupfuls and our body temperatures were bubbling nicely. We also sampled some dried milk which tasted similar to parmesan cheese with less flavour. Nice though. Then it was time to load up and head out.
Out of the valley the more exposed areas had plenty of snow and ice which made the cross country part of the journey more of a challenge but Dando took it in his stride – even taking a phone call as he crossed the wide river. Mr L has a video I am sure he will share with you.
On the journey back to UB we stared out the window enjoying the scenery, when Ama asked if I would sing. To put in context the Mongolian’s like to sing. I scanned my repertoire. What should/could I sing; no place I'd rather be’?‘ reach for the stars’? I settled for ‘leaving on a jet plane’ . It was a surreal experience, singing in a car to strangers but Mr L smiled encouragingly and I got a round of applause at the end.
So tomorrow we say goodbye to Mongolia and hopefully to the cold as we head to Hong Kong.
Ulaanbaatar (UB as it's known) is a young city where the first apartment block only went up about 40 years ago and with new shopping malls, stands alongside the traditional nomadic tents known as gers. The vast majority of Mongolians live here and the roads are so busy they try to control it by restricting access to certain cars on certain days of the week. There is nothing of any specific note other than the rather random discovery of a Beatles monument. So we decided to get out of town and see some real Mongolia.
We booked a guide and driver for a few days. We were hoping to get one of the swanky BMW’s parked outside the hostel. What we go was a beaten up a Russian jeep where the design of the interior was clearly not considered a priority.. Our driver – a 70 something man called Dando was fearless on the road and our guide 27yr old Ama, was out of season, a dentist.
We took in a few sights then broke free of the city. Our first stop was the giant stainless steel monument of Chinggis Khaan. Located about 50km out of UB in the middle of nowhere, it's worth a visit for the views alone and, set against a brilliant blue sky it was a stunning sight. We took an elevator up inside the statue. We exited from what is essentially his ‘private’ area to views across the vast empty plains and distant hills.
Back on the road and after another 100km,as the flat plains were consumed by the mountains so the tarmac disappeared and became dirt road. Then the dirt road became a track and then disappeared as we drove through wooded areas, several streams and rivers – one about 30 meters wide. Now I understood why we had not gone in the fancy BMW. Eventually after a very bumpy journey the truck navigated a steep hill, where we were met with the most spectacular sight – mountains, trees, land, all around us, golden and lit by the sun. At the bottom of the hill was where we were staying; a small homestead of a nomadic family and nothing else. For miles. Its hard to describe or do justice to this area and the views, but to say Mr and L and I were both really moved by it.
There were 5 gers – 3 for the family, 1 for us and 1 for the driver & guide. Inside what is essentially a padded tent with a wooden structure were four beds and the centre piece a wood burning stove. The ‘facilities’ were 40m from our ger- a hole in the ground with a ‘modesty’fence. I had no intention of exposing any body parts in temperatures well below freezing, so I am extremely grateful to F&M for the ‘she-pee’. I won't go into detail but can assure you that all my parts remained safely protected from the elements and prying eyes!
As night fell we moved into Ama’s tent where he cooked a Mongolian BBQ of mutton, potatoes and vegetables. Dando said Mr L ate like a Mongolian- wrestling meat from the bone, whilst I did my best to avoid the fat that they love.
Someone commented that there has not been enough talk of Vodka on this trip. Well that was put right after dinner when the man of the family introduced us to his home brewed milk vodka. It's softer tasting than other vodka but still as strong and apparently aids digestion. All good reasons to sample one or three. It certainly warmed us up!
As we stepped outside to go to our ger the clear black night gave us a view of the stars we had rarely seen. The log burning stove was maximum as we entered the ger and Mr L resolved to keep a night vigil to ensure it didn't go out. Needless to say he would not make a good cowboy. ………
To be continued
For this the last leg of our train journey we were on the trans-Mongolian railway. This meant a different train – much grander than the previous ones - or it would have been about 20 years go. Wooden panelled cabins with a shower room (actually it was a sink with a hose attachment that we shared with the cabin next door) with carpeted cabins and corridors. There were only four cabins occupied including us – all travellers. An Australian couple and an Icelandic man going from St Petersburg to Beijing, a Belgium couple travelling from St.Petersburg to Mongolia and us. It was nice to talk to other people about their adventures and what they were doing next, but for the most part we kept ourselves to ourselves.
At 8.45pm local time we reached the Border town of Naushki which marked the end of our journey across Russia. 5902 km from Moscow. A good time to reflect on our experiences.
Sergei who we met on one of our train journeys asked us, “why do the English and Americans not like us – we are nice people”. He is right. The people we encountered were nice, friendly and helpful. Apart from the odd lad in the bar in Tyumen there were no ‘shifty’ or ‘shady’ characters and we never felt in danger. Many of the cities are too polluted and many of the places we visited have destroyed older parts of the city in their haste to develop. The countryside we saw still retains the old wood houses and unspoilt landscapes. Definitely worth further exploration. Lake Baikal is definitely worth a visit and in better weather it deserves longer time than we gave it.
Things that I could have done without – musical lampposts – several places had music piped out of them – completely unnecessary. Mr L disagrees. He particularly enjoyed ‘strangers on the shore’! Also, an irritation for me – stairs, or more specifically steps. They are never the same size – randomly varying in depth and catching you out every time.
At the border, The guidebook had warned us to be prepared for a long wait. What we weren't prepared for was the explosion of activity that commenced when the guards boarded the train. Everything was opened and subjected to inspection –bags, panels, heating ducts – even our en suite shower room! Then it was our turn. We were required to stand, in turn and be inspected by the guard who shone her torch into our faces and examined them in great detail before walking off and returning with our passports stamped. Then they moved to the other cabins whilst we sat perfectly still, just in case. When the guards finally left the train we pulled off into the night and into Mongolia, so decided to settle down and get some sleep. How foolish we were as about 20 mins later the train stopped and we went through the whole process again this time with the Mongolian border guards. I was so tempted to advise them that if they stopped working in silos and were more collaborative they could make better/more efficient use of their resources but I felt it was perhaps not the time. Maybe I will drop the appropriate departments an email.
As the sun rose over the mountains our train pulled into Ulaanbaatar.
The stretch of the trans-Siberian railway between Irkutsk and Ulan Ude is said to be the most scenic and we have to agree. A substantial part of the 7hr journey, in which we had the cabin to ourselves, runs alongside the clear blue waters of Lake Baikal and, with the snow along its shores and the occasional fir tree capped with snow, it was hard to take your eyes off it.
So why did we chose to stop in Ulan Ude? Well originally we thought it was in Mongolia and so it would be our first taste of Mongolia, when in fact it will be our last taste of Siberian Russia. We also thought it would give us another opportunity to explore Lake Baikal. The reality is visiting Lakes is a summer pursuit and our visit/adventure with Jack was enough to satisfy us for this journey at least.
We arrived in Ulan Ude to bright sunshine, little snow but plenty of ice and below zero temperatures. Our accommodation – the prestigiously named ‘Clean Hostel’ - a stones throw from the train station and a 10 min walk from the centre. These are probably its best assets. After we checked in we took a stroll around town to visit the Lenin memorial. As this will be our last Lenin it was great to go out on a high. This town didn't waste valuable stone on legs, arms or even a body. This statue is just a giant Lenin head. It's the sort of thing you can probably see from space.
So, then we did something I have been trying to do since we arrived in Russia – we went to the theatre. We actually tried to buy tickets for a one hour ballet production the following day but ended up with tickets for a two and a half hour opera & ballet ‘extravaganza’ event that evening. I really enjoyed it & Mr L only nodded off twice which is quite impressive.
The following day we visited a few churches and museums – the staff got very excited to have tourists from London and wanted to show us everything which was sweet but exhausting – once you have seen one rock/stuffed animal/bone etc they start to look a bit samey. We also made two food faux-pas. We stopped for a cuppa and ordered what we thought was a cake. It turned out to be a liver and onion pie/ cake in white sauce. I can't tell you what that did to my taste buds. The second was we bought what we thought were seeded bread rolls to have with cheese and they turned out to be jam filled sweet bread. We should have used Mr L’s latest discovery – a Google translate app that works off line. You hold the phone to the words and press the camera on the app and it reads and translates them into English. It's brilliant and is highly recommended.
Today we ventured out of town to a Buddhist Temple on a local mini bus (no.130) which seats 14 but there were at least 22 on our outward journey. The temple was interesting as was the canteen we took shelter in from the cold and had tea, stew & mash which was delicious.
When we returned to Ulan Ude we found a bar on the 12th floor of a hotel with 270 degree views of the city and decided it was a more civilised way to explore the rest of the city on a cold day.
We have enjoyed Ulan Ude. It's where East meets Far East. The buildings, food and people are influenced by so many different cultures but they integrate well and make it a richer more diverse city than we have experienced so far on our trip.
Tomorrow we get back on the train and head for Mongolia.
Irkutsk is known as the Paris of Siberia. I am not sure why and the only evidence we saw was a pink plastic effigy of the Eiffel Tower dangling at a jaunty angle from the ceiling of the shopping mall in the town centre. Anyway it matters not because we like Irkutsk. It's got character and not too many fumes .
It's a university town and tourism is something they are very keen to encourage. They have a green painted line around town that tourists can follow which takes you to all the historic buildings and places of interest without having to get your guide book out. Lazy tourism some might say but a great idea nonetheless.
No snow here yet but the thing about Siberia is the wind. It's cold. Very very cold. it laughs at your base layers and Uniqlo down-filled jackets and when you breathe in it freezes your lungs. Even when the sun is out as it was for most of the time we were here.
This time we are staying in a hotel (2 star) in the town with mod cons such as your own toilet/shower, two chairs - one each - and slippers. We even had towel swans on the bed when we arrived. You know you are in a great place when that sight greets you.
For the first few days we decided to kick back, get the travel washing line out and do a 'big wash'. We read and watched some films (YouTube). We ventured out on Sunday to visit the obligatory Lenin Statue and visit an area called District 130th which is a collection of wooden buildings they have either preserved or recreated to house shops and restaurants. We found some great bars - one called the Library that did excellent DIY gin and tonics and a few beer cellars some with more character than others.
We decided it was time to get out of town so we booked a trip to Lake Baikal. I know from things friends had told us that it was a fabulous place to visit and they weren't wrong. We were joined on our tour by the first English speaking people we have met in 3 weeks - Cynthia and Tony from San Francisco. In their mid seventies but extremely well travelled and great company. Our guide Jack was great too (sorry - spending time with Amercians makes me over enthusiastic).
Our tour started on the outskirts of Irkustsk where we visited a monastery and church that has been beautifully restored and then onto the lake. We hiked up a trail for about 30 mins where we had a great view of the lake and then later after we had eaten lunch at a local restaurant we walked along another trail at the side of the Lake itself.
It was at this point I wondered if Jack's mission was to dispense with us, as on several occasions I came near to death. The trail was at points as wide as the balance beam with a sharp drop down to the sea and took us to a viewing point - a jutting out piece of rock balanced precariously above the sea. It was a good view. A very good view. However Jack wanted us to see an even better one 'just up the hill' a bit further. The 'hill' was an almost sheer rock face. Mr L says I'm exaggerating here but it was very steep and rocky. The only thing that kept me from bottling it was the fact that there were two seventy something's wearing inappropriate footwear not far behind me. Thankfully we all made it up to the next level and Jack was right it was an amazing view. Jack told us that the Lake freezes every year and the ice gets to approx 80cm thick. Then they open up an ice road to the island and in March they hold a Marathon event when the temperature is still around -20. Anyone interested?
We got down from the trail in one piece & back to Irskutsk to pack. Tomorrow we are back on the train.
The train from Novosibirisk was not due to depart until 8.42pm so we had another full day to fill. We wandered around a few of the parks - there are plenty of parks and squares with monuments and statues - and paid a visit to the regional art museum. Some interesting pieces but it was very hard to fully appreciate them as the main source of light was from the windows dressed with festooned net curtains! Some of the attendants obliged by putting on the monstrous strip lights but for about £1.40 each it's hard to complain. We boarded the train without too much drama. This time we were sharing our cabin with two people - who 'kept themselves to themselves' - which troubled me slightly as that is usually a euphemism for murderer but the night passed without incident and sadly without much sleep.
We arrived in Krasnoyarsk at 8am and were met at the station by Svetlana - the owner/manager of the hostel. She had offered this free service as, she said, it was a difficult place to find. Yes, that is true. However I suspect it might have been that people took one look at the outside and ran a mile! The hostel was a converted apartment in a large apartment block on a housing estate made up on large, grey concrete apartments on the edge of of town. The entrance was something you might see on a TV cop programme where they are doing a drugs bust - metal door into a dark lobby up a few steps to the apartment. Inside it was fine - clean, basic (very basic) and for one night at £14 or so it did what it needed to do. Although I do question how it got 9.4 score on booking.com.
With only one day here we headed off to explore. The obligatory Lenin statue on lenin St was our first stop. We are getting quite a collection of Lenin pics - then onto Krasnoyarsk's own Gorky Park. It actually looked more like what I was expecting in Moscow - lots of fairground rides mostly shut, actually looking quite sinister. We walked along by the river for some distance to a footbridge that took us over to a nature reserve then we headed back to town. We eventually found somewhere to grab some soup and checking my 'steps' we realised we had already done 10 miles - and this was meant to be a pit-stop town.
We decided to visit the regional museum nearby which randomly had an Eygptian themed exterior - with no actual Eygptian artifacts or references inside at all! The layout and displays were however really good - recreating what life was like for Siberians through history from ice age to present and even had a 4m high woolly Mammoth skeleton. Again it was ridiculously hot - and many of the museum guards were fast asleep!! We contemplated trying to smuggle the mammoth out but decided we couldn't get it in our bags.
We were pretty shattered when we got back to the hostel so grabbed something quick and a couple of take out beers (55p a bottle) and called it a day.
When we woke the snow had well and truly arrived so it was a good time to head off. We got a taxi to the station and boarded the train. Well I nearly didn't. The train guard refused me entry as the number on my ticket did not accord with my passport. She was adamant. So was I. We got on the train! Our sole cabin companion, a man, climbed into his bunk as we left at 1.24pm. He didn't look like he had the energy to be a murderer so I felt safe. It was nice to be on the train in the day to see the views. The landscape has changed quite a bit and you can see some hills In the distance and long expanses of land. By the time we arrived in Irskutsk we had crossed another timeline now 7+hrs UK and we are 5185km from Moscow.
Departing from Tyumen train station was not too stressful although when our train number appeared on the departure board there were two numbers for the platform. Mr L suggested we follow a fellow passenger who looked like he was getting on our train which was a good hunch. Apparently the first number is the platform and the second is the track number. Now we know. On board we were relieved to have bottom bunks and we met our fellow passengers for the journey - Sergei and Denis. Sergei spoke some English Denis did not. Sergei was happy to chat and share pictures of family etc although after a while I zoned out and left Mr L to carry on. Next I was aware Segei was showing Mr L a picture and trying to pronounce a word which Mr L helped him with - Caesarian. I didn't dare catch Mr L's eye but could only imagine what pictures he was being shown. Thankfully everyone retired to bed early and I reflected on the fact that I was sharing a cabin with Mr L and two unknown Russian men. A first.
When we woke the view from the train was of snow and plenty of it. Sergei shared some tips on Novosibirisk and recommended a rock opera on at the theatre. Then he proceeded to sing one of the songs to us. For several minutes. He had a pleasant enough voice but in a cramped train carriage it was an awkward few moments. In my head I begged him to stop which eventually he did.
On arrival at Novosibirsk we said our goodbyes to Segei and Denis and headed to our hotel I would describe its style as Russian realism. Concrete. this is Russia's third most populated city, nicknamed 'Chicago of Siberia' as it is an industrial/manufacturing/sales town. We were expecting to find some old historic, cultural parts to the city but unfortunately there was little to be found. It says much about the place when the key attraction is the zoo. So it was on Monday we set off in the snow and freezing temperatures, making full use of our thermals to the zoo.
For the first few hours we were pretty much the only people there and very few animals willing to put their heads out for fear of getting hit by tree branches which were falling off all over the park and across the city under the weight of the snow. Eventually we found some animals willing to give us our monies worth (entry fee was about £2.40 each) and surprisingly we spent a pleasant 3+hrs there before heading back to the hotel.
Day two in Novosibirisk - we walked around the few sights on offer and visited a USSR museum - described as housing a collection of Russian memorabilia; essentially bric-a-brac, probably purchased from car boot sales. The lady showed us around, shouting into her phone on Google translate, to describe items. We were then left alone in the basement area where we spent time trying on Russian hats and uniforms and taking selfies!
The temperature difference is quite hard to handle. Outside its -1 during the day and every building has the heating set at about 80 degrees!
In the evening we found a cocktail bar, a place to eat and headed to a live music bar all good and the people were friendly and helpful as have all the people we have encountered in Novosibirisk. As a city though it does not have much to keep the attention and the fumes from the cars and industry hang heavy in the air and leave a bad taste in the mouth. Tonight we get back on the train.
