Sunday 16 October 2011

Travel Moment - Russia

THE TRANS SIBERIA RAILWAY

This photo of an exhausted Dane was taken on the Trans-Siberian Railway as we travelled nearly one quarter of the globe from Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaator to Moscow in Russia.

We booked a 2nd class ticket so that we would be in a shared cabin and spent the trip bunked up with two young Mongolian guys headed for Russia to join the police force. It was one of the most bizarre, intimidating and interesting trips we've ever taken, almost an endurance test towards the end as the days became a crazy blur of Russia, food, sleep and books. In total we spent over 110 hours on the train.

Dane - somewhere in Russia...

A few interesting Trans-Siberian Railway facts:
  1. The railway is the longest in the world - over 9000 kilometres of train tracks!
  2. It spans 8 time zones
  3. Lake Baikal, right near the Mongolian/Russian border is known as the Blue Jewel of Siberia. It’s the deepest lake in the world which contains 20% of all the world's fresh water!
  4. The train crosses the Urals mountain range which marks the geographical boundary between Europe and Asia. There is an obelisk near Pervouralsk where it’s possible to stand with one foot in Europe and the other in Asia.
  5. There is a lot of vodka in Russia.

Ulaanbaator - Lake Baikal - Pervouralsk - Moscow...

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