5 hours at the border crossing

So far, we've crossed seven borders. Entering Russia was no problem. Immigration check was done on the train from Helsinki, it only took 10 minutes, and there was no hassle. The border crossing from Russia to Mongolia, however, was another story.

Our train from Irkutsk to Ulaanbaator departed at 4:50AM. 8 hours later, at around 1:30PM, we arrived at the Russian border, the town of Naushki. The immigration officer entered our cabin, said "I take passport" and disappeared with our passports. He didn't return for three hours! And after a not-so-thorough cabin check, we finally got our passports back. Phew! Border crossings can be so stressful.

The next stop was the Monglian border. It took about 45 minutes to actually cross the border. When we reached the Mongolian border, the town of Sukhbaator, we had our passports taken again and our cabin checked. While we waited, we ate our dinner (instant noodles and bread) and chatted with our Mongolian cabinmates, Tegshee and his father. The language barrier made it difficult but they were very very friendly.

Tegshee and Yoshi

The first difference we noticed between Mongolians and Russians is that Mongolians smile. Russians don't smile much and even the children have stern looks on their faces. We asked a Russian guy we met in Tomsk about this and he warned us, "If you smile at a Russian, they'll think you're laughing at them and get angry. Don't smile at them."

View from train: Northern Mongolia

July 9th Dinner

Menu

Minestrone

Ingredients

100g macaroni

30g green peas (dried)

1/2 carrot

2 tomatoes

1 onion

1 potato

2 bay leaves

oregano

salt

Instant food: none

Lessons learned: Eating vegetarian every once in a while is nice.

July 8th Dinner

Menu

Pork fried rice

Eggplant and pork stir fry

Ingredients

Pork fried rice

1.5 cups rice

2 eggs

2 scallions

80g pork

1/2 pack fish broth

soy sauce 1/3 pack

salt

Eggplant and pork stir fry

1 eggplant (L)

3 scallions

120g pork

1/2 pack fish broth

2/3 pack soy sauce

salt

Instant food: none

Lessons learned: Since we didn't have vegetable oil, we used butter for the fried rice, but now we know, butter is not a good substitute for oil.

a chunk of meat and Facebook

Yoshi's beer snacks

cultural crossroads

Irkutsk is an interesting city at the crossroads of Russian and Mongolian cultures. I can feel we're slowly getting closer to Asia. We went to eat at a local restaurant yesterday and we were so happy to see dumplings on the menu! Pozi, as they are called, are steamed meat dumplings from Buryatia. Fresh pozi with black tea and milk is the Buryat way to eat them. Absolutely delicious!

pozi, dumpling soup, and crepes

cheese-sellers at the market

we bought two eggs and the lady laughed at us

Russian cookies taste really good!

wedding by Lake Baikal -- the deepest lake in the world

Trans Siberian Diary (cont.)

July 6th 10AM
Today, we hopped off the Trans Siberian Railway and spent the day in Tomsk. Tomsk is a university city known for it's beautiful traditional Siberian 'wooden lace' architecture.

July 7th, Noon
Our train from Tomsk to Irkutsk has a much more retro feel to it than our first train. We're sharing our cabin with two Russian guys. Vladimir is a student at Tomsk State University, the first university in Siberia. He's on his way home to Ulan Ude, the capital of the Republic of Buryatia. Ulan Ude is home to many Buryats -- the largest indigenous group in Russia. It's going to take Vladimir three days to get home. Can you imagine? From Vassar, it only took me two hours on the Metro-North! I think he's really excited about seeing his family. He keeps saying, "Two more days, I home. One more day, I home." It's really cute!

The other guy, Alexander, well, he doesn't speak a word of English so it's hard to get to know him. I wish I spoke some Russian. The only Russian words I know are 'da' (yes), 'nyet' (no), and 'spasiba' (thank you). I should probably try to learn some useful phrases.

Vladimir in our cabin

A little bit of history about the Trans Siberian Railway. Construction of the railway began in the late 19th century, mainly to foster industrial development in Siberia. And after more than 10 years, the railway was completed allowing millions of people to migrate to Siberia.

Now there are three lines that branch out of the main Trans Siberian line: the Trans Manchurian, the Trans Mongolian, and the Turkestan Siberian. We will be traveling on the Trans Mongolian line to Ulaanbaator and then to China. Apparently, there are plans to build a Trans Korean line but tensions between North and South Korea is delaying the process. A train trip through Eastern Russia, Harbin, and Pyongyang sounds tempting!

Trans-Siberian Diary

July 4th 10AM

I woke up this morning thinking there was an earthquake. But it was just the train shaking. Maybe I'm still traumatized from the 311 earthquake.

July 4th 4PM

45 days have passed since Yoshi and I embarked on this journey around the world. Time has flown by. Our adventure began with a volcano eruption in Iceland, and after traveling through five countries by sea and land, we are now on the long (very long!) Trans Siberian Railway. Finally, some quiet time to relax. I'm sitting in our cabin, gazing out the window at the changing scenery.

The wonderful people we've met along the way have truly made our journey special. A man we met in Iceland, said to me, "There are good people and bad people in the world, but most are good." I really like those words -- simple yet meaningful.

Before this trip, I have to say, I used to exert too much energy on my career, my things, and my time. Now I have no job, very minimal things, and all the time in the world. I thought letting go of all these things would make me anxious, but I was wrong. I feel so free and confident that I can do anything.

July 5th, 11AM

When you're going east-bound on the Trans Siberian Railway, the days are only 23 hours long. Everyday, you travel through a new time zone. By the time we reach Mongolia, we'll be five hours ahead of where we started. Today is another quiet day on the train. It's cloudy outside. Siberian wooden houses use very little paint, leaving the natural wood color.

It feels great to sit here in my seat and gaze out the window for hours. Life back at home is too hectic to appreciate these quiet moments in life. Letting go of everything... It's a lot harder than it seems.

The train on the right is the one we're on.

Siberian landscape

We have a 4-person cabin to ourselves!

Pork noodles & salami and cheese sandwich

Trans-Siberian journey begins!

Our Trans-Siberian journey has begun! Last night, we took an overnight train from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The Trans-Siberian railway runs between Moscow and Vladivostok (5,753 miles) and spans seven time zones. It's the longest railway in the world. We shared our 4-person cabin with two Russian guys, one was a young worker from St. Petersburg and the other a middle-aged army doctor. The young guy spoke some English, but the army doctor only said, "I don't speak English". He was a very nice man and tried very hard to communicate with us. A great start to a long journey!

Language barrier in Russia

The confusing lockers

On Friday, we took a train from Helsinki to St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg is a city of canals and grand architecture. As the city is considered Russia's 'window to the West', it's good we're starting our trans-Siberian trip here -- a smooth transition from Scandinavia to Siberia. But the first thing we encountered when we got off the train was the language barrier. We wanted to put our backpacks in lockers, but we couldn't read any of the signs and no one spoke English. We literally stood in front of the lockers for 30 minutes trying to figure out how they worked. In the end, we somehow managed!

We spent one night in St. Petersburg. We stayed with Olga, a very nice girl we met in Iceland. It was so nice to have her show us around. We would have been so lost! Thank you, Olga!

The Church of the Savior on Blood

Hermitage

One of the many bridges we saw

Olga and Sahe