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From Moscow to Beijing by train. Part Two : Across Siberia.

9481 Views 26 Replies 22 Participants Last post by  GM
So here is the second thread where I post some of the pics that I took during the transcontinental trip I did last summer.
As a reminder, the link to the first thread about Moscow : http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1228115

The train journey from Moscow to Irkoutsk lasted four nights and three days. It was very strange because as we went on towards east, we crossed five time zones, so each day, we changed of time zone. Nevertheless, in the train and in the stations all along the Transsiberian, the time is always fixed on Moscow.

The train left Moscow at night (at about 01:00AM).
After a terrible first night in the train, I woke up and all I could see was... forests. Birch forests :
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2- Forests !


3- And some other trains :


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6- My room for four nights. I shared it with a French-Swiss man and a Russian family. I slept on the top left bed.


7-Vladislav, my russian roommate, showing me his dinner :


8- Outskirts of Perm :


9- Night is falling on our first day in the Transsiberian. Here is the Kama river :


10- Stopping at Perm :


11- A dog (sabaka) in the Perm train station :


12- Our Provodnitsa :


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14- Second day in the train. We've crossed the Oural muntains during the night. We're officially in ASIA !!!!!!!!


15- First impression of Siberia behind the dirty windows of the train :


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17- Skies of Siberia :


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21- Arriving at Omsk :


22- Crossing the Irtych river :


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26- Along the transsiberian we see a lot of industrial buildings or huge silos which seem more or less abandoned :


27- The vast emptiness of the siberian prairies :


28- Houses :


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31- Stopping at Novossibirsk in the middle of the night, after nine vodkas. We were not very clear anymore...


32- Third day on the train :


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35- Arriving at Krasnoyarsk :


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37- Me, taking the pose at Krasnoyarsk :


38- Our train :


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43- Leaving Krasnoyarsk... it's raining !


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46- Blue sky is back !


47- Another stop in some city of Siberia... here are russian militaries :


48-Buying some food for the end of the journey :


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50- Another stop again... in the middle of our last night in the train before Irkoutsk


51- Fourth day in the train, we're approaching Irkoutsk :


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53- Irkoutsk train station :


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56- Welcome to Russia !


Next step : Irkoutsk and the Baikal lake !
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Interesting and also very nice photos into this thread :)
Well you know, I just took pics of what I saw during my trip. Sorry if you don't enjoy it.
As for me, I absolutely loved Russia... fascinating country.

Actually, I'm not sure of what you meant with your post...
Great photos! Thank you for sharing your trip with us.
I liked the pictures, I think they show many sides of the country! :)
I think it must be hard to stay 4 days in such a small room on the train. I personally think it is hard to sleep on trains.
can u jump off at the stations and have a look around the citys and towns and catch the next train? is does the ticket only valid for the that train?>
A very unusual experience. Thanks for sharing!
I really like pics of places I don't plan to go to. I don't even care about the quality of the pics then, as long as they show me something I wouldn't have seen otherwise. You succeeded in that!

The Russians in this thread should stop whining. If there is another side to your city, take pictures of it and post them here. GM took pictures of this, and pictures don't lie. He might have skipped 'the other side', but don't blame him for ugly cities.
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Well you know, I just took pics of what I saw during my trip. Sorry if you don't enjoy it.
As for me, I absolutely loved Russia... fascinating country.

Actually, I'm not sure of what you meant with your post...
No worries, I've had similar reactions when I posted pics of latin-american cities.

The problem it seems is that many people think SSC is a window to show the "best" or the "beautiful" from their cities/countries. This mindset is hundreds of kilometers away from just trying to show cities as we have seen and crossed them, taking photos where we go.
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I'm also fascinated of Russia. I really enjoy your photos. In some photos, the houses of Siberia are similar to Romanian's village houses. Very great photos!
No worries, I've had similar reactions when I posted pics of latin-american cities.

The problem it seems is that many people think SSC is a window to show the "best" or the "beautiful" from their cities/countries. This mindset is hundreds of kilometers away from just trying to show cities as we have seen and crossed them, taking photos where we go.
Yes, I've also noted that some forumers from some countries are obsessed with the idea of showing how their country is modern, "first world". It's natural to want to show "the good side" of your country, to promote it.
But it can't be a reason to reject all the others things that also make up the reality of the country.

As for me, I'm just a tourist who happened to have a camera (like a lot of tourists). And I just took pics of what I saw, without any precise agenda.
If there isn't any new shiny glass-building of Moscow or Novossibirsk in my pics, it's just because I didn't see them.

BTW, I must say that I'm not a professional photographer, and I did my best to take some valuable pics in a train rolling on, behind dirty and reflective windows.
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can u jump off at the stations and have a look around the citys and towns and catch the next train? is does the ticket only valid for the that train?>
No, If you stop at one station and take the next train you have to take another ticket. For example, from Moscow to Beijing, I stopped a first time at Irkoutsk and then a second time at Ulaanbaatar. So I had a ticket for the Moscow-Irkoutsk journey, then another one from the Irkoutsk-UlaanBaatar journey and a last one for the UlaanBaatar-Beijing journey.

The train stops several times a day. The stop can last from two minutes, up to 30 minutes... so you can always quickly walk around if you come back before the train leaves the station.

I will try to post the third part (about the Baikal lake) tomorrow.
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This is VERY interesting. I'm eagerly waiting for more photos. I'd love to do this trip myself but not sure if this is ever going to happen. Maybe one day.
I don't see ugliness in these photos. in fact they are interesting.
and for some standard, Russia is a rich country.
there are thousands and thousands of acres of untap lands for farming.
the houses and commie blocks are far better than other countries' housings.
the people too are seemingly not poor, judging from they way they dressed up.
this is indeed a great adventure and experience for GM and a great photo tour for us.
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some pictures reminds me a lot southern chile, a lot. not the people but the landscapes and even the houses
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