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I left Irkoutsk on the evening of Friday, the 1st of July, for once making it at the train station in ample time. I very much liked Irkoutsk for its charm, old wooden houses and grand stone buildings.
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The only reservation I would have about it is that the mosquitoes are the size of Mig 29's and do just about as much damage.<br/><br/>
Trans Mongolian
Degrubenc2005-12-09 14:08:59
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I left Irkoutsk on the evening of Friday, the 1st of July, for once making it at the train station in ample time. I very much liked Irkoutsk for its charm, old wooden houses and grand stone buildings.
The only reservation I would have about it is that the mosquitoes are the size of Mig 29's and do just about as much damage.
Before leaving, I filled up on provisions as I had been warned that there was no restaurant carriage on this leg of the journey, mainly cans and packaged products (been told to avoid fresh fruits and lettuce)
I was, by chance, on the slow train which takes a couple of days to reach Ulan Bataar. I left at 15:10 Moscow time (actually 20:10 Irkoutsk time). The Mongolian train is not quite as smart or luxurious as the Trans-Siberian but at least has windows which can open. This was to my greatest relief. The Russian train relied on air-conditioning, which is a bit much for 5 days.
My carriage was, once again, filled with foreigners: a large group of mixed nationalities, all heading from St Petersburgh to Beijing and stopping over for 5 days in Ulan Baatar, and a British couple who lived
in the West End and had left their jobs to travel around the world for about 6 Months.
My compartment was, to my greatest delight, filled entirely with cartons of cigarettes, thousands of them, and, somewhere underneath all that, there were two Mongolians: one Short and Fat, the other Long and Thin. Quite a bizarre pair.
My bunk was covered in cigarettes, the floor was covered in cigarettes and they just kept coming. Every few minutes, a huge box would be brought, filled to the brim with contraband cigarettes. I pointed out politely that, however fond I am of sleeping in a bed of cigarettes, I would much rather have my original mattress. They looked much distressed at this thought and called upon the controller lady to sort me out. She dully trotted
...
See photographs from:
Mongolia Gallery
