As we dumped our backpacks on the platform at Beijing West Railway Station and looked at the train, my friend remarked: “It looks so romantic.” The dark-green train was gently lit by a dim autumn light and smartly dressed guards standing next to the carriages gave it a sophisticated edge. Dressed only in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, I felt a little under-dressed for the 30-hour journey to the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator.
There was already a lot of activity on the station and more and more passengers were beginning to crowd on to the platform. In front of us, one stern-faced female guard checked passenger tickets as a vendor sold last-minute items like fruit, nuts and water from a wooden cart nearby. The train blew its whistle.
My friend and I had been planning a train journey from Beijing to St Petersburg for many years. We had chosen to travel now because I was moving to London and wanted to approach England overland through Asia and my friend was a PhD student looking for a study break. We had traveled separately before but were now in the mood for a proper adventure and a railway journey seemed ideal.
As we stood on the platform looking at the train, I admit that the scene did look cinematic. However, while train journeys are deliciously slow, invite contemplation and are about sharing vodka with fabulous strangers in the dining car, they are also smelly, cramped and hot and should never be called romantic.
The first leg of our journey was across the breath of Asia on the trans-Mongolian railway. After leaving Beijing the railway travels north through China, then cuts across Mongolia and the Gobi desert. It then winds through Siberia, the historic city of Irkutsk and Lake Baikal, the deepest and largest freshwater lake in the world.
At Ulan-Ude on Lake Baikal’s eastern shore, the trans-Mongolian railway meets the historic trans-Siberian railway, which connects the Russian cities of Vladivostok and Moscow. The line then continues on to St Petersburg.
The journey from Beijing to St Petersburg is more than 8,000 km and we chose to break up the journey over 21 days. We traveled on four different trains, with the longest journey being a 77-hour trip from Irkutsk to Moscow and perhaps the greatest exercise in patience that I have ever endured.
On the train to Ulan Bator, my friend and I were surprised at how quickly you settle into train life. It is very easy to sit for hours and be mesmerized by the endlessly barren landscape.
One of the highlights is the 5-hour stop as the train bogies are changed at the Mongolian and Chinese borders. Mongolia and Russia have a different gauge railway network to China and Europe.
After exploring the curious city of Ulan Bator - which has an expensive monument to the Beatles in the middle of the city - we traveled by bus across the grasslands to spend two nights in a traditional Mongolian tent or “ger”. We were repeatedly bombarded with images of Ghengis Khan, who is intimately linked to Mongolia’s sense of national identity, and whose name is used to sell everything from vodka to hotel rooms.
Afterwards, it’s back on the train for our journey toward the Russian border, Lake Baikal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Irkutsk, known as the “Paris of Siberia”.
By now that gentle chill that required a light jacket at Beijing West Railway Station has developed into frost and snow. It looks like poorly applied cake icing as the train whizzes through the endless nothingness.
Meanwhile, inside the carriage, the characters are as bright as a Tokyo night.
The entire rail network is set on Moscow time and the train dcor becomes more pink and kitsch the closer that you get to the Russian capital. The guards are well known for their abrupt, head-mistress attitude and it becomes a game to get anything more from them than a grunt.
The woman in charge of our carriage resembled many of the other female guards. Her make-up was thick, the perfume was strong and her large stature made it appear as through she would have no problem throwing vodka-fuelled passengers from the train. She insisted on keeping the window blinds closed all the time and refused to turn the temperature gauge below 30 C.
Sometimes for a change of scenery we would head to the dining car where passengers had similar experiences with guards in their own carriages. We laughed and shared vodka and stories about our evil guards, who were probably just fed up with the passengers. After stumbling back through several carriages to the cabins, the train gently rocked you to sleep.
The border crossings are tedious and can take up to 12 hours, sometimes in the middle of the night. The luggage of Chinese and Mongolia traders and of foreign travelers is checked more carefully than others. You learn early in the journey that the toilets are locked for 20 minutes before and after you reach each stop.
From Irkutsk, the train passes through industrial cities and the Ural mountains before arriving in Moscow where you can explore the Kremlin, Red Square and St Basil’s Cathedral.
As the train travels further into Russia you encounter more of the young Russian soldiers returning from Vladivostok and more Babuskas who sell dumplings and other delights on the platforms. Vodka is the common language on the train and the long journeys provide plenty of opportunity to make new friends over a drink. We learned too late in the journey that it is also a great way to get a smile out of the train guards.
There is food for sale in the dining car, which also offers more room than your cabin for reading or simply watching the scenery. Unfortunately I found the car offered little of the culinary delights I had come to expect from central Asia and Eastern Europe. Meals costs about 25-30 yuan and are delivered with the same affection displayed by the train guards.
Our fourth and final train took us to St Petersburg, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, to experience the opulence of the Hermitage Museum and the Summer Palace.
Train travel is an achingly, beautifully slow journey filled with eating, sleeping and reading. It is about patience and appreciation and it is also a very raw way to travel. It is not for those who want cocktails and long baths, but it definitely offers adventure.