The next leg of my Trans-Mongolian Trip… Moscow to Vladmir. Today would mark the ‘official’ start of my train trip through Siberia although the 11 hour train ride from St. Petersburg to Moscow could be claimed as the starting point. As the world’s longest journey by train, many know it as Trans-Siberian but since I’d be travelling through Mongolia with a final destination to Beijing, its referred to as the Trans-Mongolian Railway. It’s basically the same train, but when you arrive north of Mongolia from Russia, you head south through the Mongolian city of Ulan Bator and onward to Beijing instead of continuing east through the remaining portion of Siberia. Either way, its a looooong train ride! And you had better like instant noodles as that’s pretty much what you’ll be eating the majority of the time.
The train pulling up to the platform, marking the start of my journey through Siberia…
My original plan was to head straight to Beijing from Moscow with only
one stop in Ulan Bator, Mongolia but then I realized how ridiculous that would
be as you pass through so many other interesting cities. So instead, I stopped off
in a few of them along the way and Vladimir, Russia was the first of them.
One of many sights in Vladimir
After just three short hours on the train, a friend and I
arrived in Vladimir and would be staying the night. The weather was
just short of horrible… well for sightseeing anyway. It was cold
and raining the entire day but we braved it anyway. Home to around 350,000 people, Vladimir is one of Russia’s oldest cities being founded in 1108. There is a good bit of sightseeing to do but the highlight of our time there was the restaurant we had found that night as it’s not always easy finding a place to eat in Russia, especially in a smaller city. Typically their are no pictures on menus, everything is written strictly in Russian and there are no English speaking waiters which always make for a challenging experience. But the restaurant we found did have an English menu but I must say it was the most
‘creative’ English food translations I’d ever seen.
Nothing like a good salad to start things off….
This is exactly what I ordered… And the ‘addition of sauce on the basis of beer’ is what takes this to the next level
Afterwards, we decided to stop in to the local market for some ‘train’
food as I’d be traveling on the train almost non-stop from here for the next
four days (bring your wet wipes!) And shopping in a foreign supermarket is always an experience
too, especially in Russia.
Essentially the only ‘hostel’ in town… this would mark the first church I’ve ever spent the night in….
Figuring my friend and I were the only two English speaking foreigners in a city such as Vladimir, it was a bit of surprise to hear the lady behind me ask the grocer for something in English. When I saw she was with a friend, I chimed in with, ‘Hey, where ya’ll from?’ We spoke for a while and I found out she was actually from Texas and had been living in Vladimir for over three years doing social work for orphans.
Can anyone let me know if Nestle is branding chocolate for ‘men only’ back home as well?
She then offered to walk some isles with me in this Russian supermarket which was fantastic as she was the only fluent foreigner I’d met up to this point. She helped me pick out ‘the good stuff’ and also introduced me to my new favorite cheese… I call it Russian cheese, Russians call it smoked cheese.
Basically…its delicious. Its meant to be eaten with a cold beer.
So I asked her just how random it was
that we ran into her in this small market and she told me that there are actually only 49 other foreigners like her living in Vladimir as they are all part of an expat group. We ended up staying in Vladimir just one day and night and left the following afternoon…
What do you do on a train you’re stuck on for the next 96 hours? You teach folks from around the world the wonderful game of Rummy….
The next leg of the trip was actually the longest as the train from
Vladimir to Irkutsk was about four straight days. Yekaterinburg was the
next major stop along the way but I had only a few short hours here
while my friend would be staying the night.
A view I got very used to over the next few days….
Splitting a pomegranate on the train…. It was my first and was given to me by a Russian friend
And this stop was made about
two days after I left from Vladimir so I decided my only real purpose to jump off the train would be to grab some more food for the train. Since I decided not to leave my bags at the station, I took them with me right into the supermarket. And yes, I did get some good stares as I wheeled my luggage up and down the isles but I didn’t care. I doubted anyone in Yekaterinburg, Russia would be seeing me again…
Back on the train, it was another two days before I’d arrive to
Irkutsk, Russia. It was my next major stop along the way and I was
definitely looking forward to it. Four days straight sitting around on
a train can make anyone a bit anxious. The stop in Irkutsk would be
good too as it one of the most popular places to stop for most
travelers on the Trans-Siberian route.
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