Gobi or not Gobi?

Gobi or not Gobi? Day 75 to 82

So here is the deal: After days in the Trans-Siberian, and a bit of a weird time off in Irkutsk, we are in Ulan Bataar debating a trip to the Gobi Desert. I have been to the Gobi dunes in 2006 and knew that:

• they are 900+km away from Ulan Bataar
• there is pretty much nothing to see on the way – vast nothingness is the beauty of it for many
• you travel in the almighty ‘russian van’ – manufactured with little regard to comfort or aesthetics
• there is (almost) no such thing that could be decently described as a road.

 Conclusions:

• Unless you have an unlimited amount of time, can skip a meal for a day or two and are ready to hitch a van , a horse or a goat: you need to get a tour, or a least a driver to get there.
• We decided to go there for about a week!

To be honest, this trip is the kind of trip that was pretty horrible in many ways (not much to see, lack of comfort even in our low standard, booooooring) but that will remain nonetheless as an amazing memory afterwards…like, this kind of trip!

First, we made the trip with an alumni from my school, what were the odds for that?
Two, the Gobi is a rare place in the world (the only?) where sand dunes meet ice even in summer time: the scenery is unreal

Finally, the highlight of the trip came on the last day when we spent an evening with a nomadic family, and despite being against this kind of ‘touristy’ experience, I have to say that this was very special to be caught somewhere in time with them during that evening.

This was not part of the plan – since we cut our trip short by one day – we just showed up out of nowhere and asked them if we could benefit from their generous hospitality and camp out on the floor of their ger for the night.

Luckily we were inside before the sandstorm hit!

No money was exchanged, just a bottle of vodka and some food that we had on us. It was probably not so special to them, they had foreigners recently: 10 years ago, they said!

So we sent them that special souvenir (its hard to believe it will reach them when its addressed to “Mr Daansaaran…in a lone ger in the middle of nowhere”):

Next stop: Back to reality, direction China!

Photo updates: Eastern Europe and the Trans-Siberian

We have updated our site with photos from Romania, Moldova , Kiev, Moscow the TransSiberian

Happy Friday!!

Irkutsk to Ulan Bataar

Overnight train  from Irkutsk, Russia, to Ulan Bataar, Mongolia, Day 73

The overnight train leaving Irkutsk past Ulan Ude to Mongolia is quite comfortable. Circumventing lake Baikal by the south,you get a good view of it for several hours, then head south to a more arid landscape.

The journey was uneventful and the border slow and painful, as expected. Strangely, and this has been a constant in this trip, it has been more difficult to exit countries than to enter them.

I had the chance to visit Mongolia in 2006. It has changed: now there are a few roads and a few buildings. Given the size of some cars, it seems the the mining boom has benefited some. However, judging by the number of people still living in misery, it seems the mining boom has been foreign to most…

UB is a very foreign city to a westerner. It might sound harsh but apart from the exoticism, there is not much good to it. The people are rough, the food is limited to sustenance, the decor is pretty uninteresting. You would visit Mongolia mainly for its vast countryside, whether to the west for its mountains and lakes, or to the south, to visit the Gobi desert.

We went for the latter.

Stretching leg in Irkutsk

Irkutsk, Day 72-73

One month in trains, deserts and…China go a long way to explain some lag between a blog’s update and its author’s current location. Add a bit of laziness and here we are filling one month of silence!

We decided to break our Moscow/Beijing train trip in three legs, and therefore, if you can count, have two stopovers: in Irkutsk and Ulan bataar. The idea was to enjoy the immensity and variety of the decor, and probably limit the risk of killing each other while being locked up together for 7 straight days…

 

So here we are in Irkutsk after our first trans-Siberian ride, nearby lake Baikal, far east of the world, with the weirdest jet lag ever encountered to date. We had the luck to arrive at a very interesting time in this otherwise pretty uninteresting city: the color festival. I am not gonna pretend I know what it was about, not that I care, but for some reason, people were throwing paint at each other. I was way too phased out to be sociable.

East of the city is lake Baikal. Don’t bother to go to the nearest town, it probably feels like a (very) cheap northern Europe sea resort. Camping away from the town seems a much better option. Since we traveled light, there was not camping for us this time, but it might be a good option once we have been everywhere in the world and have no idea what to do with our time, or want to retreat where nobody can find us…

 

Hop Hop, next train: cross border to Ulan Bataar in Mongolia!

The Trans-Siberian train ride in 10 defining facts

A few more hours…

I am exited and from my watch point, I try to spot backpackers searching for the platform. Like minded fellows who got lost in Moscow for the sake of going halfway across the world via one of the most mystical and last mean of transportation.

The night is about to fall and it is time to check a major item of my bucket list….

The trip
Moscow to Irkutsk in the Trans-Siberian, Day 68-71: Everything and anything has been said about this trip. Here is my own account, in 10 defining things

Emptiness

It was a surprise, not so say a big disappointment, to see that very few people boarded the train. It is summer and Nadaam festival in Mongolia starts early July, so to all accounts, this should be the most busy train of the year. It seems there are only a few romantic travelers left?

Luck

The longest train ride we will ever make and we got lucky with the compartments – paid for a 4-berth but were assigned a private 2-berth. Result!

134

A fellow traveler on the train has been to 134 countries. He has a normal corporate job. He does hate it, but still, he is a real normal guy and not a lost rover.

I hate him. By the way, he is thirty so feel free to hate him to too.

Small world

What are the odds of meeting somebody in the train who is from a completely different country and have a common friend with him?

Meaning business

Definitely do not have their business right. The restaurant car is empty whereas it could be the most interesting part of the train.

Rude, not

Russians are not rude. We, westerners, just do not understand them.
Ok, no, they are just rude…

Sounds like deja-vu, isn’it? (more about Ukraine and Moldova here)

Boredom

This might be the most boring ride you’ll ever do in your life. Or you can see it as I do, as a way to feel or go through the immensity of our planet. Forgotten places with forgotten souls.

Wifi

One guy was annoyed at not having wi-fi, arguing with the restaurant waitress about how scandalous it is to pay such a high fare and not having Internet. The lady, with her very little understanding of English replied in a theatrical manner with these few words: “holiday, relax, no internet, drink beer: good”

Time

Going for 3 days, 4 nights across 5 time zones (and with no Internet), you definitely loose the track of time. The days and nights are rhythm by the rocking of the carriage and the sense of immensity of the landscape you pass by.

And you know how it feels? It feels like nothing. Like natural. Like good.

100 not 600 

We paid approx 100 euros for our tickets. Yes, 100 Euros, not 600 euros.

The trick? Simple – we did not go through an agency but bought them direct on the russian rail website! Duh!

 More info on that when I release all the costs of the trip!

The Trans-Siberian train ride in pictures

Moscow to Irkutsk in the Trans-Siberian, Day 68-71

Quote from Railway Bazaar

 “The trains in any country contain the essential paraphernalia of the culture: Thai trains have the shower jar with the glazed dragon on its side, Singhalese ones the car reserved for Buddhist monks, Indian ones a vegetarian kitchen and six classes, Iranian ones prayer mats, Malaysian ones a noodle stall, Vietnamese ones bulletproof glass on the locomotive, and on every carriage of a Russian train there is a samovar. The railway bazaar, with its gadgets and passengers, represented the society so completely that to board it was to be challenged by the national character.”

The Station

The train

The People

The Staff

The View

The Way

The Happy travelers

Moscow: in the starting blocks for the Trans-Siberian

Moscow, Day 65-67

Warm up ride to Moscow

With our great experience riding to Ukraine, we decided to book a 3rd class to Moscow (more info about this trip here)

1st mistake: Russian rails tickets are priced like airplanes ones: the more you wait the more it costs …

2nd mistake: there are many more people who travel from Kiev than people traveling from Chisinau…

That trip was about heat, sweat and smelly feet. I will skip the details, you got my point. Fail.

A necessary pain

Moscow was a necessary stop on our way to the Trans-Siberian train: We would not have chosen to go there otherwise. Our first impression being a 5 euros for an average cappuccinos in a less than average place, it is hard to believe that prices have been halved recently by the rubble depreciation. How do people live here?

We did not discover anything that made this second trip worthwhile: our highlight was still to wander around Gorky Park.In hindsight, I’d rather have spent my tourist dollars on that special toilet paper we found in Ukraine…

If you ever visit Russia and like cities, St Petersburg is a much more beautiful city in our view.

All the pictures from our Moscow stay here.

Just 3 more days and we will be in the train!

[Travel Info] 7 truths about (amateur) travel photography

I have spent a few hours wandering around with my (semi) expensive and certainly heavy SLR kit. I saw beautiful scenes and shot, shot, shot. When I loaded them on my computer, it looked a bit different…(some pictures are still good though!)

I hope you will feel a little like me while you read this:

1. Whatever the brand and sophistication of your camera, you end up taking pictures with your phone
2. You never have the right lens on for the picture you are about to take
3. Your camera and lenses do not fit in that special bag you just bought
4. If you happen to find the best place, light and time for a ‘national geographic’ worthy picture, there is dust on your lens.
5. …and if there is no dust, your battery is about to die
6. …and yes you have a spare battery, but you did not charge it
7. You know that the best pictures are taken at golden hour: sunrise and sunset, exactly when you sleep and want to have dinner

Any other Murphy’s law applying to amateur photography?

— here are the links to see our updated itinerary and travel pictures—

Turkey in pix

As we disappeared for 6-7 days in the trans-siberian train and then in the Gobi desert south of Mongolia, it is about time to share this long overdue post about the pictures of our trip.
Here are the pictures from Turkey!

Enjoy!

 

— here are the links to see our updated itinerary and travel pictures—

Ukraine – en route to Moscow

17 hour journey in the Chisinau-Kiev train & Kiev, Day 63-64

Getting to Ukraine in 3rd class:

After a very animated discussion with a lady at the Chisinau ‘international ticket counter’, involving words as complicated as ‘Today’, ‘Train’ , ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘How much – price – money’, a lot of hand gestures and even more bursts of laughter, we managed to put our hands on what seemed to be 3rd class sleeper tickets to Kiev. This outcome came at the great despair of the counter lady, who thought going 3rd class, which implies no door on your cabin, was real cut throat.

The train

Since the beds were actually comfortable, the landscape lovely and the only persons to share the whole coach with were a Ukrainian girl who lived in London and the two cabin attendants who were quite amused to have two foreigners lost in their train, that low class ride felt like a real luxury.

Kiev

Kiev was an anticipated stop on our trip, since we have friends from there and got world class recommendations. “Local friends = better than the Lonely Planet”.  It is hard to believe that such a beautiful city has been off the travel radar. Exquisite buildings (the orthodox cathedrals are particularly stunning), great food, a mix a culture and nightlife, easy access and good transport, rude people…sorry beautiful people.

Canteen orgy!

Our favorite past time was lounging at katyusha canteen chain, trying everything on the menu while people-watching, leaving stuffed all for a 10 euro-ish bill…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and for those who wonder: Kiev is very far today from the ‘troubles’ with Russia but it remains a good place to stock up on toilet paper (with Putin’s face on it) for the long train rides ahead. Just make sure its packed out of sight of the Russian border officers: safe travels!

Maidan square and its new memorials

Chernobyl, really?

There are people who are in Kiev for the sole purpose of going on tour to Chernobyl. If you are like me, you will probably re-read the previous sentence and think ‘What the…???’. Difficult to understand. I suppose nowadays, if you say or post on social media ‘I am in Rome’ or ‘Traveling to Spain, can’t wait’, you might get comments like ‘Loser’, ‘Been there, done that, worn the f#cking tshirt’, ‘So common’ …

You might not have this problem if you post a picture of a broken reactor of Chernobyl or a selfie freezing yourself to death on Franz Josef island. I guess this is the price to pay for being original today.