5. THE STOPS AT THE STATIONS

In order to get to China (Beijing) I took the Trans Mongolian Express. This had always been one of my childhood dreams and now seemed a fine time to fulfill this wish. So, through the internet, I booked with Tiara Tours and found myself going from Amsterdam to Moscow by plane and from there to Beijing by train. 

Of course I had heard stories about this trip and now I was to find out for myself.

On July 2oth I started at Schiphol (NL) where I first had to collect my passport with the visa for Russia, Mongolia and China. This is a bit tricky because you never know whether it's there or not. But, fortunately, it was and my trip got off with a good start.

Getting through customs in Moscow however was something completely different. Since our plane took off with a delay of about 25 minutes, we only had 5 minutes in Vienna to get on the plane to Moscow. Luckily they said the plane would wait for our luggage. Now in Moscow there was a huge crowd waiting to get through customs and it went very very slow ! Almost 2 hours ! And then we found out that our luggage hadn't come with the plane at all. They had sent it on an Aerophlot plane and we had to collect it somewhere else. This place was hard to find, but in the end we (Margot, Irene and I) did find it. Okay, the luggage was there, but ............ not mine !! After a little searching it turned out it was still on a conveyor  belt. Oomph.

Getting to this place, we had to go through customs at the "things to declare" stand, because we had heard that we had to fill in a form declaring the currency and (electronic) stuff we had. This, because of the fact that we came in by plane, but would leave the country by train. The man at the desk was obviously too tired or too bored to let us through and pointed to another place. But we stood firm and wanted some stamps. To be rid of us, we finally got them and were in the clear. But after we had collected our luggage we had to go through customs again. This time at the "nothing to declare" stand, where all the luggage was scanned and opened. This was something I had no wish for, so waving with the stamped papers I walked right through. And nobody stopped me !

We then all joined at a meeting point, but two persons were missing. They had been seen, but nobody knew where they had gone. So after waiting for a while, we decided to go to the hotel, where we checked in with the help of Alexander. our guide in Moscow, who told us everything he knew of Moscow during the busride, but who didn't notice that hardly anybody listened.

That evening we had dinner in the hotel, but is wasn't much (both quantity and quality).

I had an encounter or two with the local "cops". First on the red square. I knew of course that you had to be careful with taking pictures, but at one moment I saw a nice sign with something in Russian. See picture.  I immediately had to come to some officials and they wanted to know what I had done. Luckily for me with a digital camera you can instantly show the pictures you've taken. That got me off the hook :) The next encounter was somewhere within the Kremlin on a big square. There were a lot of people standing "in my way" and I walked just on the wrong side of a rope. Nothing happened. Going back I wanted to do it again. Just as I wanted to step on the square I heard a whistle right beside of me. Hey, nothing wrong there. But as I continued the whistle got sharper and I noticed the official standing next to me and making me realize the whistle was meant for me ! No walking on the square !! Well, knowing that I paid more attention to all the whistles I heard and there was a lot of them !

After that we had to go the station. There was a real crowd there and we had to wait before we could go on the platform. Unfortunately one of us was robbed there from his wallet. So, if you read this : try to avoid large crowds, don't let someone get you into a discussion (about the price), because then you're distracted. And certainly make sure no-one sees where you're money is put. Best thing is to have some handmoney at that point. (Another man of the group -by the way- was already robbed in St. Petersburg, where someone bumped into his back, after which someone in front of him took his wallet. So again, be very very careful ).

Well, that made our entrance to and in the train very awkward and nervous. Irene and I were the only two persons who already had our traintickets and who knew where to go (what carnumber). That put us with two other Dutch persons, a couple of Brits, a couple from Chile and ............. people from Mongolia. And that was the best thing that could happen to us, because the ride as with regard to sightseeing is quite dull, but the things that happen on the train .................. Beautiful, thrilling, curious, humorous etc.  

I had the luck of being in a car with some nationalities, esp. Mongolian. It's nice to have them on board, although you may not want them in your compartment, because then you have no more privacy. They come with all kinds of merchandise (trousers, t-shirts, shoes, lamps - and in the compartment next to us for instance- pills ! Thousands of pills ! So it's a constant coming and going of people. Not only your privacy is gone, but also your luggage space. I have never known that there are so many places in a train where you can hide stuff. So it's nice to have them around you, but not with you. 

What good are they then ? Well, they brings things to life. First of all, after some time you'll learn when the train reaches a station. About 15 minutes ahead these Mongolians come alive. Merchandise comes out of the hidingplaces, people are  getting nervous and there is a queue formed next to the door to the platform. Even before the train has completely come to a standstill, stuff is being sold ! (also after the train has already started to ride again!)

So, what do you do on this train. For starters you look out of your window for a while, thinking "I will miss nothing of all that's out there to see". But after a while the view starts to get boring and after a couple of hours you know what a bark looks like. You then must have the luck of having nice fellow travelers. I had that luck. Of course I already knew Irene, but with us was a young couple (Twan and Carolien) who fitted right in. Both had a good sense of humor (esp. Twan) and both didn't mind the mess we made of our compartment, even better, they made as much ! So the four of us had a hell of a time, talking, sleeping, drinking, eating and making photographs and of course watching the Mongolian doing their stuff.  

For tea , coffee or soup we brought a mug and used the samovar for hot water (if there). But for a beer or for diner or social talk with someone else you had to go to the buffet-car. And there she was: Luna ! The first day on high heel pumps and mini-skirt, but after a couple of days somewhat less sexy. Why ? Because she had to work for 24 hours, day after day. And still she managed to give everyone a warm smile, although her eyes were almost closed  by lack of sleep. We honour her deeply. Although there was little choice in what to eat, it tasted good and the beer (and vodka) tasted even better. The Mongolian thought the same. Every late afternoon some of them gathered in the buffet car and drank and drank and drank. And if they wanted to stop, there would always be a woman who gave the men more. No wonder they often got drunk and (virtually) every day  (night) there would be a fight of some sort. And sometimes an ugly one. I personally haven't witnessed one, but some did.

 contents

When I departed the train and walked to the front of it, some-one waved me and "told" me to follow him. After some consideration I did. But I had to go to another platform. What did he want me to see ? Well, some 100 yards further was a gate with people behind it and policemen in front of it, holding those people back. After some had climbed the gate/fence, the policemen opened the gate and hundreds of people ran on to the platform. Okay, seen that, I walked back and saw a train coming in the same direction as ours. Again a man signed me to come back to the original platform. Okay, okay, I thought, and  thought "what's the hurry". Well, anyway, I started to cross the track again before the coming train was  already there. Thank God ! This train stopped right between the platform I came from and our train and there was no way I could have seen our train departing. Even so, immediately after I had returned to the platform our train started moving. For a moment I thought it would just move a little because of the speed it had. But gradually I realized (seeing not a lot of people on the platform) it really took off. I managed to get into the train at almost the last point, in the last car and had to walk a long way to get to our compartment again. There I found some anxious people, because they had seen me on the platform, while the train was taking off and thought I had missed it. There was a sigh of relief when they saw me again.

Being warned I thought it wouldn't happen to me again. Well, it did ! At Omsk there was a really nice station and Twan and I spurted to the front of this building to take a photograph. Back at the platform every-one was still there and there were no signs of the train taking off in the next few minutes. I then decided to go into the station to make a photograph of the Cyrillic timetable. Again, I did hurry. Any signs of a departing train ? No ! At that point some-one started to ask me some questions about my camera and before I knew it, I had turned my back to the train. After a little while I turned back and.............. saw the train leaving !!!!!! No sound, no warnings, nothing. And I was not the only one ! So, a lot of people ran to the train, to find out that all doors, but one, were already closed ! We all had to go through this door, so you can imagine there was a great deal of pushing and shuffling there ! Looking back on it IN the train is kind of nice, but what if ................

And then of course there was the selling of ...shoes, pants, t-shirts, socks, belts -you name it ! Hundreds of people trying to buy the latest from Moscow and all within some 20 (or less minutes). Try buying  shoes here in the Netherlands in 20 minutes ! Well, most of the time there it went reasonably well, but once I saw a man holding a note in his hands while the train started moving and the seller had to rush for it. And once Margot and Irene were involved in a transaction that went sour, but Irene already had Margot's stuff in her hands and was in the train, while it started moving. The lady on the platform wasn't pleased about at all.

And, of course, there are the locs !

 contents

The landscape in Siberia doesn't change much. However when you reach the border with Mongolia it does. Now you're in the Gobi desert. Unfortunately it's mostly during the night. Again the landscape changes with the crossing of the border with China. Now here the changes are plenty and sometimes you'll have a nice view at the Great Wall. The train even takes a detour just to reach a nice spot for taking pictures.

 contents

Also the tents were quite different. We (Margot, Irene, Martin and I) had a nice one and after it had rained the first afternoon, we still had a dry tent). The day after  it was cold in the evening and an old man came to fire up the stoves in the tents. That was real nice. 

© 1999-2004 Henk Vink and Ilke Harmsen