General: Russia

*** WHY WOULD ANYONE TRAVEL ON THE TRANS-SIBERIAN? ***
At the start of the year, me and my friend had decided that we'd go on holiday to China for a couple of weeks. Early in the planning we realised that the most expensive part of the trip would be the 2 week return flight to Beijing, at the start of August this would have cost over a grand! So, we decided to combine our trip to China with the Trans-Siberian train, which was something we both wanted to do at some point anyway. The train travels from Beijing all the way to Moscow (4,735 miles!) and takes about 6 days. From there we'd get another train to Berlin then fly back to Liverpool with easyjet. We got a cheap one-way ticket to Beijing and after all the extra visa costs and everything, our train across the globe was much cheaper than the return flight to China would have been!
It's by far the longest train journey in the world and it covers almost a quarter of the globe. Although the stretch we took was probably more likely a fifth, going across Mongolia instead of starting at the far eastern coast of Russia (the true Trans-Siberian trip.) It's one of those journeys that you say "I'll definitely do it before I die." Another inspiration for me was the famous author Paulo Coelho was planning a similar trip this summer. I am a huge fan of his writing, so I thought: if it's good enough for Paulo Coelho, then it's good enough for me! However, due to complications with his Russian visa, he was unable to make the trip. We had no such trouble opting to use a third party company to get our Russian visa (paid a little more, but zero hassle) http://www.russiadirect.net/. Our Chinese Visa had to be done in person in Manchester, our Belarus visa was done by post and our Mongolian visa was picked up in Beijing (cheaper than going down to London to get it!)

*** CHINESE PART OF THE JOURNEY ***
Over our two weeks in Beijing, we fell in love with the city (I will review it soon.) We wanted our last night there to last forever, so because our train left at 7:30am we didn't go to sleep that night, which meant much of the Chinese stretch of the train trip was lost to unconsciousness! I remember finding our cabin, being shocked at how small it was for 4 people, shaking hands with our new roomies, getting under the covers and then sleep. I was rudely awoken by a Chinese guard (who we came to know really well) tapping me on my shoulder; all was forgiven however, as he was giving me food vouchers for the restaurant carriage. Free food! Not the very best food we had in China, but free!
We very quickly adjusted to life on the train, a very relaxing, comfortable life that involved lots of catnaps (due to being messed up by all the time zones! We went through 8!), reading books, playing cards, chatting to new people met on board and soaking up the incredible sights out the window. Our room mates were two Dutch guys who spoke perfect English and were a similar age to us, we instantly got on with each other, and felt as though we'd known them forever.
At around 1am we hit the Mongolian border…

*** INTO MONGOLIA ***
All the borders we went through were horrible times! They have to change the wheels so that the train can run on a different gauge for a different country, the electrics are turned off, so there's no air conditioning and the procedure takes several hours which could be just a little uncomfortable. We were off again at 4 or 5am, which was perfect timing to see the sun rise over the Gobi desert, one of the most awe-inspiring sights of my life. It was just a huge sea of orange that stretched out for miles. A sea of green replaced this sea of orange a few hours later and carried on as far as the Russian border. I didn't see a single tree out the window while in Mongolia!
The great thing about the train is that every 3 or 4 hours we made a 10-minute stop at a station, where you can get off and buy food and drink and whatever you may need for the trip. Mongolia was the cheapest place on the planet and I managed to buy enough provisions for several days - provisions that would become invaluable…

*** INTO RUSSIA ***
It's said that everyone has a story to tell after travelling the Trans-Siberian, ours came on the second day after the Russian border: we had loads of Chinese money, and we had managed to get some Mongolian money, but no-one wanted any of this currency in exchange for Russian Roubles. We had finished off all the food we'd bought in Mongolia and were actually starting to get pretty hungry. We went to the restaurant cart to ask the non-English-speaking lady if she'd accept our Chinese money again. She didn't say no this time, but pointed in the direction of two big Mongolian chaps who had had a few drinks! We showed them our Mongolian money (about 10 pounds worth) and they typed in some figures on a calculator, we handed them our money thinking the deal was done. The money was promptly put in their pockets, we were told to go away - deal over! What?? That's not how it works; we were supposed to get some Roubles back! Luckily for us, two Russians shared our outrage and without asking for their assistance jumped to their feet and choke-slammed one of the Mongolians and tried to get the money out his pocket. After this, a full-scale war broke out, it seemed as though every Mongolian and every Russian on the train came running in to help. This was the restaurant carriage, so there were tables flying, vases smashing - peoples drinks spilling. Me and my friend couldn't believe all this over 10 English pounds! We would have paid at least double that to watch this show!! At one point, I stood up to move away from danger, as the fight was getting closer to me, and the big Mongolian punched me full in my jaw. I had just about recovered just as two Russians pulled him to the floor.
After about 10 minutes of violence, one of the Russians flung the big Mongolian (the one with our money) to the floor and as the Mongolia lifted his head off the ground to get up, the Russian did a huge flying knee to his face! I was speechless; my friend told me later that he thought he'd just witnessed his first murder! Someone rooted around in the unconscious body's pocket and got us our money back! Within a minute, all the tables were neatly arranged and all Mongolians and Russians were sat down drinking beer again, including one with a bloody nose and, I imagine, a very sore head! This story has always seemed surreal, even when it was actually happening, so if you don't believe it, I would fully understand!

*** PARTY TRAIN ***
One of our Dutch room-mates had been travelling the world for a year: Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, China etc, and when we passed from Asia into Europe (for him the first time in Europe for a year) it seemed like a poor excuse to have a party! We had been stocking up on vodka, beer and cigars at the station breaks, so we cracked them open! As the night went on we started being more and more generous with our vodka and the party started getting bigger and bigger, cigars were being passed around and we were trying to play cards with some Chinese students who understood no English - I don't think we were even playing the same game! There were some French girls, some Russian guys, and no one needed to understand one another to have a great time. In fact, I think I enjoyed myself more because I didn't understand them! At one point we had about 16 people in our little four-bed cabin!
After the roaring success of our party, on the following night (the last night) everyone assembled at our carriage for more of the same, this time though, everyone else brought the vodka!

*** SAD TO FINALLY GET OFF ***
Six days had passed so quickly on board the train, and our cramped cabin had become our cosy little home. We were truly sad to get off. In the end we couldn't say goodbye to our new Dutch friends and we got a hotel room with them in Moscow. That night lying in bed, I could still feel the motion of the train, like a lullaby sending me to sleep.
I can't recommend the Trans-Siberian train enough - first and foremost as a-once-in-a-lifetime experience and secondly as a cheaper alternative to flying!

*** COSTS ***
Flight to Beijing: 300
Chinese Visa: 30
Mongolian Visa: 20
Russian Visa: 75
Trans-Siberian Ticket: 138
Ticket from Moscow to Berlin: 130
Belarus Visa: 15
Flight to Liverpool: 25

Total: £733