Retirement 101 - Exploring the Big Blue Marble: Trans Siberian Railway

The Trans Siberian Railway

A 5 week Trip - Our longest trip ever:

Below is an outline to be filled in during the Trip
Beijing China (4 days)
2 days on the train
Ulaanbaatar Mongolia (2 days and then 1 day - in a yurt)
2 days on the train
Irkutsk Siberia (3 days)
4 days on the train
Moscow Russia (5 days)
London England (5 days)
Disneyland Paris (2 days for Debbie's B-day)
Paris France (4 days)
San Francisco (1 day)
Hope that adds up to 5 weeks

Day 1 9/5/19 Thursday: Boise to San Francisco on to Beijing, China:

Nick our Son was working ground crew for our flight so he gave us a ride to the airport and even said good bye on the plane right before we left. Makes flying even more special.
Three Ladies with barking dogs in the BOI Airport - Not on our flight - Life is Good!!

Sunrise over San Francisco

3+ hours to wait for our Beijing flight (could have come on a later flight, but better to be early than late) - we have United Club passes so a nice quite place to wait with food and drinks (even beer if I wanted it for breakfast - no I skipped it) (was going to say Debbie had a beer, but no one would believe it - doesn't like beer)

Day 2 9/6/19 Friday Beijing China:

Took about an hour to get our luggage and out of the airport, almost 2 hours to the hotel, so we just looked around the hotel and went to bed early (5 or so) after 20 hours of travel and almost no sleep we were tired.

Day 3 9/7/19 Saturday Beijing China:

Awake at 1 and cat napped until 4 up at 5, I went for a run (really bummed forgot my running watch) about a mile to the train station to check it out, through Great Wall relic park, through another park, than back to the hotel probably about 3 mile run (and walk).

We are going to just explore today around the hotel area. We got a taxi to the Zoo. Spend most of the time at Panda area,

and just walking around the zoo, as much a big park as a zoo - lots of open space. They are having a heat wave so it was hot, about 95, tomorrow is suppose to be 99. Took us a while to get a taxi back, they seem to all have passengers or just driving by, everybody was trying to wave them down to no luck, finally got one.

Day 4 9/8/19 Sunday Beijing China:

Took a walk to the train station

just to look around and get out before it got hot. We are still about 4 hours off on our time (15 hours ahead of Boise), but not trying to adjust to much as our train is early on Tuesday. We are sleeping from about 6 or 7 to 3 or 4 am so it works well.

Day 5 9/9/19 Monday Beijing China:

Got out and took a walk at 5 am this morning - already warm 73 and very humid. Walked about 3 miles retracing my run, but with my watch this time to track us :-) We are off on a tour to the great wall today.

Bill & Debbie on the Great Wall - do we look hot?

It was very hot got to 99 degrees in Beijing.

Looking South

Looking North, very long distance

Walking on the Wall

Lots of guard towers, including the rare three building tower in the foreground.

Back to the hotel to cool off.

Day 6 9/10/19 Tuesday Beijing China to Ulan Bator Mongolia:

Up at 4 am to walk to the train station, about a mile and good walking area - but then we looked outside - pouring rain - really pouring.

So we got a DiDi (China Uber) to the train station, still got wet getting to the train station entrance. We were really early, 2 hours because everybody said the train station was really confusing, well everybody was wrong, super easy. Numbers are the same Chinese and English.

We are taking the K23 at 7:27 platform 6 waiting room 8 (so 806)

Easy very well organized train Station.

Bought bananas, orange juice and a cookie looking thing (we will see what it is – an adventure in food). Tried a gel pineapple thing (OK but not getting another one 😊). Opened the boarding and we go right on and held 5 fingers up for car 5, one guy pointed us the wrong direction, but quick let us know and corrected himself. An attendant at every car and the one let us know when we found the right car, we could not see any numbers on them for car 5.

Debbie ready to go.

Our Compartment with a bathroom and a shower

(and only two people, most have a four per compartment)

The first few miles were Beijing and the outskirts of Beijing and then – WOW – Mountains and with lots of tunnels, would like to video the whole trip 😊 it was so beautiful.

We unpacked what we needed, put shorts, t-shirts and flip flops on and settled into our compartment, very nice with a roomy bathroom (with shower) very very nice (first class). Wow traveling in comfort. We talked with a couple of guys from Perth Australia and a couple from England - very nice. Checked out the dining car – looks great, won’t need our backup food we brought.

The border crossing from China to Mongolia was about 5 hours in the middle of the night. Passport & Customs was smooth ( except being up in the middle of the night for it). The rest of the time was changing the wheels (the rail gauge is different) that was rough with the car jostling frequently, enough to roll you in your bed

. Got better sleep once we were traveling again.

This part of Mongolia looks a lot like Southern Idaho or Eastern Oregon.

Southern Mongolia or Southern Idaho - Hard to tell.

Day 7 9/11/19 Wednesday In-route to Ulan Batar Mongolia and arrival:

Having Breakfast in the dining car - the food was as good as the car looks.

A little walk at a station along the way - 17 min stop and then back on board - would not want miss the train.

Really nice to get up and shower in the morning – a bathroom and shower in our compartment. We thought/hoped that might be the case.

The rails are a rougher ride this morning, in Mongolia than China, but they are getting better.

Ongoing grasslands, with some watering holes and a few horses.

The Train taking a curve

Arrive in Ulaanbaatar, the Capital of Mongolia. Walked around the city a little and then off to bed to get some sleep before several days of tours and sleeping in a Ger (Yurt).

Day 8 9/12/19 Thursday - Ulan Batar Mongolia head to Ger Camp:

We settle into our Ger and then we are off to drive and trek the national park, in search of nature, as the guide said. Lots of marmots, which the driver (through the guide as interpreter) said made him drool a little because they eat marmot.

We then saw some wild horses on a ridge above us. Only true wild horses left in the world.

We starting trekking to get closer (we thought a little closer) we had trouble keeping up with the guide, he was on a mission to show us horses up close, well worth it in the end.

Debbie told the guide that she loved horses, he said he knew of a good restaurant that served good horse dishes, That wasn't what she had in mind.

We see the horses on another ridge.

On we trekked in search of Elk, no luck so back to the van. The van is the small white dot in the middle of the photo and wow did we trek a long way.

We drive on and finally we see a ranger with a spotting scope – stopped and looked at a couple of elk, they are way up the ridge and even hard to see with the spotting scope. We drove just a little further up the road and spotted a whole herd of elk 40 or more in the herd (they look just like our elk). We start off trekking toward them, but they are much more leery then the horses and we stop before they run off.

Back to camp for the night. They lite our stove for the night and I throw a little more wood on it because it was cooling off and suppose to get to 34 degrees at night. Wow a Ger warms right up, we had to open the door for an hour or more to cool off the Ger. Slept until 2:30 when Debbie said she was cold so I re-lite the stove (but was careful not to put as much wood on it). It still get a little too warm. It was not that cold in the morning and a good thing because I could not get the stove lite.

A shower and breakfast in the morning and we are ready to go – well a little stiff from the day before but ready to go anyway.

Day 9 - 9/13/19 Friday Ger Camp and back to Ulan Batar, Mongolia:

Leave the park and head toward the Genghis Khan memorial.

Stopped at a shrine along the way. They build them on little hilltops and bring offerings to them.

We then stopped by a nomadic ger, that was a friend of the driver.

The Genghis Khan memorial is about 2 hours of driving but well worth it, very tall and made of stainless steel, it has a museum and lots of information about uniting the ethnic groups of Mongolia and expanding the borders of Mongolia. The reason the statue is located out in the middle of nowhere is this is where he found the gold whip that inspired him to unite the people of Mongolia.

Back to Ulaanbaatar and boy are we ready for bed, it has been a good day, but a long day.

Day 10 - 9/14/19 Saturday Ulan Batar, Mongolia and in route to Siberia:

Tour of the city this morning. Spent most of the tour at the Gandan Tegchenling Monastery, the largest Monastery in Mongolia. The center piece is an 80 foot tall Buddha Statue. It is a whole complex of buildings with lots of monks chanting and studying.

Then some time in the Mongolian Art museum that has a lot of historical art from cave art to very old Buddha artwork, lots of history to learn here.

Back to the hotel to get luggage and then to the train station. The guides got us close to the station and then found a coffee shop which they said was a warmer place to wait then the train station. Great Chi Latte’s for Debbie and I. Waited in the van until the train showed up and the guides carried our luggage on-board the train and into the compartment, even though we told them it was not necessary.

On the train for two days and one night (although we do two border crossings at night so sleep will be interrupted for about 90 minutes or longer each time with 45 minutes of sleep in between the two.

The border crossings where very smooth, the Mongolian border people were very relaxed as we had been told and we were able to lay back down and get a little sleep even while we where still in the station. Our car is only about 1/2 full so I think that speeded it up.

The Russia border crossing which we had heard (online) can be difficult, was very smooth also. Online they said it was best to stand, but we started to stand up when they came to the door and the very friendly middle aged customs agent said “no no please sit” She was all smiles and cheery. She asked where our suit cases were and I reached under the bed to get one out and she said OK before I even got the first one out. The conductor had ask us earlier if the suite cases were above the hallway and seemed pleased we had them under the bed. Then the border agents came on board, walked down the hallway with a dog, but did not come into the compartment. Then two border agents (very young, one really tall and the other really short) asked us to step out of the compartment and lifted up the beds to look under them with flash lights, looked at our suite cases but never opened anything. Spent most of there time looking above the hallway storage (we had nothing up there). The conductor, a very cute young lady, then came and said they were done and we could go to sleep, and we did, right way.

I slept until 8 and Debbie until 9, thank goodness for black out shades 😊

Only 4 other couples on the train, just ½ full and another couple said they walked the other cars and about the same. Most people take the through train not the short run from Mongolia to Siberia, but on to Moscow. We talked about the midnight border crossing, they said that it just adds to the experience by entering Russia in the middle of the night – what a positive way to look at it.

Day 11 9/15/19 Sunday On Train in route and Arrival Irkutsk Russia (Siberia)

The country side has changed to more hills, aspen and pine. Reminds us more of Colorado now.

Traveling along Lake Baikal this morning. Irkutsk, our destination today is on the other side, it will take us 6 hours to go around just the northern tip of the lake – huge lake. (up the left side the top 1/5 or so, then around to Irkutsk and down a little to the hotel on the lake, see below)

From Train Station to Mayak hotel on the shores of Lake Baikal about 1 hour out of town.

Our Hotel the three windows on the fifth floor with the black railings on the round section are our windows.

Sunset from our room

Day 12 9/16/2019 Monday Lake Baikal, Russia (Siberia) :

I went for a run/walk along the lake in the morning, we then have a good breakfast and spend the day walking around town and doing some shopping at a large outdoor market, until it starts to rain and we walk back to the hotel in the rain. We go back to our room and dry out and have a lunch/dinner.

We take it easy during the evening in our room and stay out of the rain.

Day 13 9/17/2019 Tuesday Lake Baikal to Irkutsk on Train to Moscow:

Tour of Irkutsk in the morning, the guide was great, but she had lots to tell us and she talked really fast (not sure she took a breath during the 2 hour tour) and walked really fast for two hours (she did a great job - good tour) She worked in adoptions, which Debbie did the paper work for Russian adoptions when she worked at the Secretary of State's Office so they talked about that as well as the tour and then off to the train station for our 4 day and 3 nights on the train.
The train is delayed 1 hour 50 minutes when we arrive and later it changes to a 2 hour 20 minute delay - Major problems today the train is delayed and Debbie broke a nail :-) boy a rough life -I am sure we will all be OK :-) not a big deal.

Tour of city with fast talking lady that had a lot to tell us. She spoke excellent English even using some expressions which is unusual in non native speakers, asked about it she said that is what makes languages fun, so she looks for and learns expressions.

Off to the train station for our 4 day 3 night train to Moscow. The reader board shows a 1 hour and 50 minute delay (thanks to the tour guide we would not have understood the column with the 1:50 in it the arrival and depart columns still show the original times. Some other travelers we have been on the trains with said they heard it would be more then a 2 hour delay. We enjoy the train station and wait – it changes and shows the delay as 2:20, but that is only about 45 minutes (6:15) away so we are close. There is quite a few people waiting for the same train, some even speak our language, so lots of eyes on the board. All of a sudden it shows platform #7 on the board, everybody sees it all at once and we all stand and move together to the tunnel to the platforms. Down the stairs and up the stairs to the platform, no train but the staff is all there and ready to go, minutes later the train arrives and only have to walk a short way down the platform to car 12. As we were boarding we wondered how they have time to clean and change the compartments, when we board they are rapidly cleaning changing the linens, and tell us 5 minutes. They are quickly done and we move in, and boy do we move in, it looks like we are living here, well we are for 4 days.

Compartment photo

Nice compartment, bathroom down the hall and no showers, but that is OK, we expected exactly that. They bring by a little kit with tea, sugar, wipes, and a really really good and big dark chocolate bar. Ask when we want our one included meal, tomorrow at 5 sounds good.

Day 14 9/18/19 Wednesday on the train to Moscow.

Wake fix breakfast (oatmeal, orange juice, pear fruit cup) that we brought with us. Wonderful scenery rolls past our window, with 100 of miles of birch forests changing to a yellow color, with small towns and train stations along the way. We stop at quite a few of the train stations for a few minutes. Right on time our dinner arrives of Borscht, chicken stroganoff, bread. The Borscht is made with beats and is very good, Stroganoff with mashed potatoes is good, the bread is very dry (like all the bread we have had in Russia, don’t know if that is the way it is or just what we have had) we go and get some butter and jam, that is better. Well off to sleep we go.

We hangout relax play some games. Beautiful fall color as a backdrop to our trip. The big event is in the Town of Tyumen station where we change out of our train lounge wear (shorts, t-shirts and flip flops) into nicer clothing and take a 20 minute walk up and down the platform, while our carriage attendant keeps an eye on us (think-you or spasibo in Russian) so we don’t miss the train. Feel good to stretch our legs and get some fresh air.

Day 15 9/19/2019 Thursday on Train to Moscow:

Another Sunrise on the Train

Got up and spend some time talking with a couple of really nice ladies from Vancouver Canada, Donna and Rita, They have traveled a lot and are on the same trip as us except they are going to Saint Petersburg after they leave Moscow and we are going to London. They continue to London from Saint Petersburg.

The train (4 days 3 nights) has been about right for train travel, any longer might be to much and any shorter you don’t really get the experience. Will be glad to get on firm ground again, the train bounces constantly, with some weaving back and forth thrown in. It also jumps forward and back as we speed up, slow down, go uphill or downhill. With various other vibrations at times. All good and normal train stiff, but some firm ground will be a nice change.

Day 16 9/20/19 Friday Train to Moscow and Arrive in Moscow:

The first plan at the hotel the People Red Squire Hotel is a Shower after three days on the train. I found out this morning that there is a shower we can use two cars forward, but we are only hours way from getting off and the hotel, so I passed.

Day 17 9/21/2019 Saturday - Moscow Russia.

We walked the central area of Moscow this morning, taking a bridge across the Moscow river and just wondering the old streets. We ended up on Armot (SP) Street a pedestrian shopping area.

Lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe

Adding photos will add text later, getting ready to go to the Moscow airport and to London.

Then a tour of the Metro Stations a must see in Moscow

Day 18 9/22/2019 Sunday - Moscow Russia

Tour of the Kremlin, Red Squire and the Gum (a giant shopping center)

Napoleon and the French Captured the Kremlin and when the Russians got it back they keep all the French Cannons and display them here.

Communist headquarters, now a center for preforming arts.

Inside one of the buildings

Historic Clothing

An alter in one of the churches

The Tsar's Cannon, huge but just for show

Towers of the private church for President Putin.

The bell towers in Kremlin

Working building the the President

Debbie and Bill in the Kremlin

Tsar's Bell, huge but not a functional bell.

The building it was in caught fire and the people sprayed it with water to save it, but putting cold water on a hot metal bell was not a good idea, it broke it.

Lots of parks and flowers inside the Kremlin

One of the towers of the Kremlin

Day 19 9/23/19 Monday - Moscow Russia

The Rym (Gum) department store.

Inside the Gum

A Bakery inside the Gum

Center of the Gum

Bill & Debbie having Lunch

Saint Basil Church

Day 20 9/24/19 Tuesday - Moscow Russia flight to London

Day 21 9/25/19 Wednesday - London England

When to the Victoria and Albert Museum today - Wow it is huge with history of England, Europe, and the rest of the world (remember the world was English controlled in history).

Then, We had a unique travel experience on several levels. We normally don't know anybody to meet when we travel so it was great to meet a former co-working (Sally). We had a very nice dinner and visit. Then she arranged a unique historical experience for us. It is kind of hard to explain. It was a historic house that was complete set up as someone was living there in the 1600's and had just stepped out and left everything including the candles that gave us the light to dimly see everything, there were sounds, smells. You explore the house in total silence with just a couple of other people. It was kind of like going back in time and exploring someone's house. Very interesting. Sally lives outside London in South Hampton (an hour+ train ride coming and going). Very nice of her to take the time to come and visit us.

Day 22 9/26/19 Thursday - London England

We did the Royal day out today. The Mews (the royal stables for the horses (and the cars), The Queens Gallery and then through Buckingham Palace (the queen is out of town) Wow it is fantastic (sorry no photos allowed) We have done lots of walking all over London. Very easy to get around with the oyster card (transportation card for London).

Day 23 9/27/19 Friday - London England

Kew gardens today - huge garden, we walked a lot and only saw a fraction of the garden.

Relaxed at a Pub by the tube station called "Tap on the Line" really nice people. Then back to our hotel.

It as rained and rained hard sometimes in London, but we have always been doing an indoor activity during the rain, we have been very lucky and not been out in the rain.

Day 24 9/28/19 Saturday - London England

A ride on the tube to the rental car office, long wait (they did not get there cars for the day, we ended up with a dented, car that the windshield wipers ran all the time.

Blenheim Palace - Winston Churchill family home and where he was born and raised.
We started with afternoon tea