Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Zoobot]

After I'm done my contract, I'm thinking of flying to Beijing, then taking a rail tour of Mongolia and Russia and ending up in St. Petersburg. Any advice, stories, useful info?

[soviet_man]

There are 3 trans-siberian trains:
Train #3: Beijing to Moscow (via Mongolia)
Train #19: Beijing to Moscow (without Mongolia)
Train #2: Vladivostok to Moscow (without Mongolia or China)

Each of the three trains is different.

Train #3 is a weekly Chinese train and the most touristy. Most of the passengers will be Chinese (eg. you will most likely be sitting with Chinese men for a week). You will also need 3 different visas and be prepared for two long border crossings in and out of Mongolia.

Train #19 is a weekly Russian train, although 80% of the passengers will also be Chinese. It is even worse than train #3, but it avoids Mongolia - so only one border crossing. This train also ususually has two or three North Korean carriages attached (although you won't be sitting with them) so it can make for some interesting photo ops.

Train #2 is a domestic Russian train and is by FAR the best - if you are looking for an authentic Russian experience (eg. very few non-Russians use it). It departs every second day from Vladivostok and does not cross into Mongolia or China.

Moscow to St Pete is an easy commuter section with numerous departures daily.

www.waytorussia.net and www.monkeyshrine.com (an excellent travel agency in Beijing) has some good advice.

[friendofIgnatius J.]

I took the #19 train last year. It was throughly Russian, as attested to by the absolute dismal service by all the train employees. I bought my ticket through Monkeyshrine. I met some Austrian fellows who bought their tickets in Beijing for half the price. However, it took them more work because the Russian visa SUCKS!!!! The hardest part of the trip was the Russian visa. Running a close second, eating instant noodles, bread, and sausage for 6-7 days straight. But the trip is awesome. I strongly recommend it.

I think the cheaper option is to buy your ticket in Beijing. But you will need to get your Russian visa here in Korea.

[Zoobot]

I really want to go to Mongolia, though...

I have for a long time...

[joeyjoejoe]

there is far more than just three transsiberian trains.

several dozen trains use that railway, true most of them don't cover the entire distance in one hit, but some others do, but then why would you want to do it all at once when stopping off and heading out into the mongolian wilderness is so great, or spending a week or two lazing on the banks of lake baikal or exploring siberian russia.

generally speaking the lower the number of the train the more expensive the ticket will be (slightly faster and slightly better service, but less colourfull characters). most tourists seem to ride kupe (2nd class) which is ok, although can be boring if you get boring roommates. platzkarte (3rd class) is for those who don't mind living in a crowded open carriage with no privacy, but gives, i think at least, the most authentic experience.

if you're going all in one hit from irkutsk to moscow (a very common way to do it after stopping at lake baikal) then i'd consider flying. a kupe ticket on a firmeny (trains with low numbers and 'good' service are called firmeny, not sure what it actually means) can cost more than an air ticket.

buying tickets from the station is always considerably cheaper then through an agency, but be prepared for headaches when buying tickets in russia. 2 hours lining up and changing lines because you're in the wrong one is common.

unless you're sure of the dates you want to be in russia i wouldn't reccomend getting your visa in korea, as plans can change.
don't try and get your russian visa in china, they won't do it unless you have a chinese green card (or whatever they call it) but getting it in mongolia should be fine.
chinese and mogolian visas are easy to get.

hope this helps

[poof]

I did part of the route from Moscow. All things corruption related in the new Russia seem to be focused in this train. In my case, I ended up being held at gunpoint in the postal van by the ticket inspectors who told me to hand over 500 dollars otherwise they wouldn't hand back my rail ticket. Pretty hairy stuff. In the end, I got out of it okay, but overall, it's perhaps not a good idea to travel alone on that route if you are female. There are all sorts of rough-looking people and lots of gangs traveling on that train. One man just sat opposite me in the dark staring at me all night. Freaky. Another run in was that there were no lights in the toilet, and as I was doing my thing in the dark, I realised that someone else was lurking in the toilet beside me!

I wouldn't carry any valuables if poss, and I would recommend having emergency money money sewn into your clothes as well as making sure you have made copies of all docs especially your passport in case it's taken from you, just as a precaution. Another friend of mine who did the whole stretch found a tooth in his soup. Food in Russia as a whole is pretty dire. I don't think the train journey itself is particularly exciting, but perhaps if you could make some stops at certain points enroute, you could have a more interesting trip outside the train than in.

[dandoeskorea]

In April this year me and my girlfriend flew to Hong Kong and we travelled exclusively by train to Amsterdam. Originally we were going to book the entire China to Russia part of the journey using the MonkeyShrine web-site, but we found that it was much cheaper to book each stage of the journey ourselves. We used a local Chinese travel agent for our train from Beijing to Dzamyn-Ude (the first stop inside Mongolia, right on the border). From there we travelled on local trains up through Mongolia until we reached the capital, UlaanBaatar. These were ridiculously cheap, but ranged from comfortable to down right horrible! Tickets for these trains could be bought on the day at each station. We travelled on three trains within Russia; the first from UlaanBaatar to Irkutsk, the second from there on to Moscow, and the third from Moscow to Vilnius in Lithuania. We used a Mongolian travel agent for the first and a Russian one for the other pair. The only part of the journey we booked in advance were these three train rides in/out of Russia, but that was only because you need to do that for the Russian visa. PM me if you want details of the travel agents we used.

[JeJuJitsu]

I did the one that criss-crossed Mongolia. I also spent a week in prison once back home. It stinks, the food made me sick, nobody to help you, endless waiting--and that was the train. I'd take the week in prison any day over that train ride, if I had to do one or the other again.

[cazador83]

for summer vacation i went from Irkutsk, Russia to Ulan-Bataar, Mongolia, stayed there a few days...then from there to Beijing.

Definitely recommend it! Very awesome. Pick up the Trans-Siberian Railways by the Lonely Planet.

[dbee]

So basically then, if one is thinking of heading back to Europe on the trans-siberian, the best method is to just apply for the Chinese visa here. Book the flight ticket from Talinn for ... say ... three weeks after you leave on the ferry at Incheon.

And then sort out your mongolian and Russian visas along the way ?

Would three weeks just about do it ?
Should I try to get the Russian visa here in Korea ?
What's the high season for Trans-siberian travel ?

[joeyjoejoe]

get chinese and mongolian visa in korea. russian visa in mongolia. (although if you're only taking three weekes to get all the way to europe you'll have a pretty tight itinerary and you should probably get your russia visa in korea aslo)

i took 3 months coming the other way so getting visa's along the way was the sensible thing to do.

the chinese and mongolian visa are good for entry on any date up to 3 months after they are issued, leaving 30 days after that. the russian visa specifies a 30 day period, you have to enter on or after day one and leave on or before day 30.

visa's take approximately a week to process, so if you're only taking three weeks to get to tallinn then get all your visa's in korea.

i recomend flying from irkutsk to moscow as the train is quite boring and flights can be cheaper than a 2nd class train ticket.

check www.skyscanner.net/map for flights from tallinn to wherever you're going to. cheap flights from the baltics to britain or ireland are common due to massive migrant populations travelling to/from thier home countries. cheap flights can generally be found at pretty short notice, but not usually around weekends or holidays.


high season is summer time.

[hermitQueen]

From my trip on the Trans Siberian last May. Enjoy!

http://fromrussiawithblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/siberian-adventure-part-1-trans.html

http://fromrussiawithblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/siberian-adventure-part-2-from-irkutsk.html

http://fromrussiawithblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/siberian-adventure-part-3-adventures.html

http://fromrussiawithblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/siberian-adventure-part-4-olkhon-to.html