Embarking on one of life’s greatest adventures so far – Trans-Siberian rail

Finally one of my traveling soul’s dreams coming true! Long-awaited and thoroughly planned and researched journey to the other side of the world..by train. 

A journey that has been made by many travellers over the last 100 years. Connecting Moscow with Vladivostok since 1916, the Trans-Siberian rail built under the close supervision of Russian government ministers appointed by Tsar Alexander III and his son, Tsar Nicholas II between 1891 and 1916, is the longest railway line in the world. 9,289 km long, it passes through Russian major cities and towns, from the bustling Russian capital city, through the wildness of Siberia to the far eastern shores of the Sea of Japan, spanning a record of seven time zones.

The main route of the Trans-Siberian Railway begins in Moscow at Yaroslavsky Vokzal, runs through Yaroslavl, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Ulan Ude, Chita and Khabarovsk to Vladivostok via southern Siberia.

A second primary route is the Trans-Manchurian, which coincides with the Trans-Siberian east of Chita as far as Tarskaya, about 1,000 km east of Lake Baikal. It goes all the way to Vladivostok through China’s North-Eastern Provinces (Harbin and Mudanjiang) and is the shortest and oldest railway route to Vladivostok.

The third primary route, and the one we decided to take, is the Trans-Mongolian Railway, which coincides with the Trans-Siberian as far as Ulan-Ude on Lake Baikal's eastern shore. From Ulan-Ude the Trans-Mongolian heads south to the capital of Mongolia - Ulaan-Baatar before making its way southeast to Beijing.

In early 1990s, a fourth route running further north was completed, known as Baikal Amir Mainline (BAM), crossing the Amur River to reach the Tatar Strait of the Sea of Japan at Sovetskaya Gavan.

In the next few posts I will make a brave attempt of summarising the highlights of our unforgettable train journey in August 2015 through three very different countries: Russia, Mongolia and China, which started in the historical port-city of St Petersburg and finished in one of world’s biggest and culturally-rich metropolis – Beijing.  

This will be my personal journey of 25 days of fantastic detachment from every-day life and its stresses, together with some of my best travel buddies one would wish for. Not all the friends could join us unfortunately, but they should know they have been in our hearts all the way from London to Beijing and back.