The Trans-Siberian Railway – One Way to Return Home after Teaching in the Far East

Many TEFL teachers choose to extend their adventures by taking an alternative route home after they finish a contract.  If you are working in the Far East, you could consider taking the Trans-Siberian Railway for part of your journey.  There are three primary routes, one which runs through Russia the whole way from Vladivostok to Moscow, and the other two which start in Beijing and run north directly into Russia or via Mongolia.  If you didn’t get off the train at all, the trip would take around six days.  Here a British teacher, Dave, describes the highlights of the journey he made in 2002 which took him from Beijing to Moscow with stops in Mongolia and Siberia.

To fly or to take the train, that was the question

When my TEFL contract was coming to an end in Tokyo I was looking forward to flying back to London and catching up with family and friends.  Then someone suggested an alternative way home – one which included exploring the Forbidden Palace in Beijing, passing through the Gobi desert, staying in Mongolian yurts (or gers as Mongolians prefer to call them), sipping vodka on a Russian train watching the Siberian forests pass by; and finally Saint Basil’s and Red Square: the Trans-Siberian Railway.  This was an opportunity not to be missed.  I decided there and then that I’d extend that sense of adventure I’d enjoyed in Japan and head for Beijing. I pocketed the airfare allowance and organised the necessary visas.  By chance, the timing was perfect as it was April: not too hot, and not too cold.  At that time going from Beijing to Moscow was the cheapest route, even with stops it eventually cost me £250 one way [note: today a one-way 2nd class ticket in a 4-berth compartment will cost from £492 and a one-way 1st class ticket will start from £787].

Beijing

The prospect of the train journey was great, but so was the opportunity to explore the fascinating city of Beijing.  In three days I was able to see the highlights: walk around the Forbidden Palace whose audio guide commentary was provided by a very droll Roger Moore; visit the superb gardens and lakes of the Summer Palace – possibly the finest in China; enjoy a delicious meal of Peking Duck, with Yasser Arafat looking down on me the whole time – one of many famous people who’d been snapped in the restaurant; a day trip to the Great Wall of China which you have to actually see to get a sense of the immensity of the 5,500-mile construction;  and an evening  watching the tale of the Monkey King at the Chinese Opera.  And the journey hadn’t even begun yet!

I was catching the early morning train to Ulan Bator so I shouldn’t have been surprised to see my compartment on the train full of three huge Genghis Khan lookalikes.  However, it’s a measure of how efficient the staff were at Beijing’s train station that a conductor spotted me and took me to my real compartment where three fellow westerners were stowing away their rucksacks – apparently they intentionally put certain passengers together.  So, with the sound of engines underway, the snapping of beer cans being opened and a chorus of ‘ganbei’ we were on our way.

When in Ulan Bator, do as the Mongolians do

After just over a day on the train we arrived in Mongolia’s capital, Ulan Bator.  I had 10 days to explore this very unique nation.  My main objective was to travel to the western region of the country which is dominated by mountains, rivers, lakes, and steppe.  After arranging this it was time to sample the nightlife – different, but a lot of fun.  Early the following morning my fellow travellers and I set of west in a minibus.  The scenery didn’t disappoint and the experiences were unique:  washing down a meal of yak and rice with some horse milk beer in a yert; vodka with the host grandmother who we were told was 70 at the beginning of the bottle but apparently aged to 88 by the end of the second (must have been special vodka); riding horses across the steppe; and salmon fishing in one of the world’s least populated areas.  But for me the most memorable moment was when a Mongolian man exchanged a wonderful picture of Genghis Khan he had painted for my copy of the Lonely Planet guide to Mongolia, which his whole family had been captivated by – I still have the painting.

Vashe zdorovye!  [“to your health” in Russian]

The only other stop I made during the epic train journey was in Irkutsk, Siberia.  I was advised to spend around three days here – it ended up as four because we couldn’t get onward train tickets to Moscow that easily.  However, it provided an opportunity to get a sense of life in Siberia.  We visited the Decemberists museum – a touching insight into how those who were exiled here from western Russia lived.  The world’s deepest fresh-water lake, Baikal, is not far away and so we were able to sample the lake’s unique omui fish which they sell straight from the smoking stands. 

On the fourth day we were able to get back on the train for our last leg of the journey which took us to Moscow.  Over the next few days we enjoyed views of the seemingly endless birch forests where it was still snowing in places.  We passed the time chatting, eating borsht and drinking vodka in the dining compartment, reading Crime and Punishment among other classic Russian novels, and just relaxing – brilliant.

Moscow provides a wonderful finale to the trip.  Wandering around Red Square and taking in the sights of the Kremlin and Saint Basil’s cathedral is a great way to stretch your legs after a long train journey.  A visit to the Bolshoi Ballet should be on everyone’s things-to-do list while in Moscow – we saw Spartacus which we all found surprisingly moving.  The vibrant nightlife in Moscow seems to bring together a cross-section of all the different peoples from across the country’s eight time zones and a must for all those who love a spot of people watching interspersed with intense partying.

The whole trip took just under four weeks.  I then took two more train journeys to Saint Petersburg and then onto Lappeenranta in Finland where I bought a second-hand bike and peddled back to the UK – but that’s another story… 

teflhub recommends The man in seat 61 for a more detailed insight into the journeys you could be taking soon!

If you would like to share your travel adventures, send your story to dave@teflhub.com.  If you could please keep the narrative to two pages or less, that would be greatly appreciated.