Up at 06:15 taxi picked us up at 07:00 and off to the station, it was 11 days ago we were last at Irkutsk railway station. Penny and I both commented it has been amazing staying in Siberia. Train to depart at 08:15 and 07:40 our platform number came up 4. Back in the routine of getting the bags loaded up down a lot of steps and then up again the same amount. Not a long train at all, we were in carriage #5 which was the last one. Showed the tickets and passports to the friendly train lady and off we went to our compartment #4. Got the vodka and coffee/tea out for Penny and got the bags put away under the bunks and overhead. I went to take some final photos of Irkutsk station and a bloody train decided to put a stop to that parked itself in front of me. Penny in her knickers and top in the corridor was also going to take some photos. The compartment next to me this guy and woman come out and blow me down it is Judge Rinder and we got chatting. I did not let on I knew who he was, we both agreed Russia is an amazing place and people so friendly and he mentioned the media had been following him around as well. and they spotted Penny in her knickers. LOL. The train lady again asked for the passports, when she came back, I asked is there any power points in the compartment, no only out side in the corridor, where I am perched on a flip down seat cramped. Then she said there is no food on here. Luckily, we bought some and we stop in Ulan Ude at 15:00 for 40 minutes so I will get some more food then from the platform kiosks. I mentioned to the Judge no food on board he said not a problem we have Vodka.
Some amazing scenery but you get to see much more in winter time, Penny was talking to someone who said their friends did the train trip in the summer time and they could not see much as the trees near the track were covered in leaves. We are passing through some amazing scenery about to take some photos and a bloody freight train goes by in the opposite direction and they are long this has happened numerous times.
Reflecting on the time we had in Russia, a 30 day visa is not long enough for what we are doing 40 days would have been ideal and we would have go over to Vladivostok and spent some extra days at places where we stayed. The Russian people are lovely and at no time did we feel threatened. Trump and the Western world need to STOP the trade sanctions on Russia this only affects the people not the Government. I feel Russia is only scratching the surface with tourism, St Petersburg and Moscow had the main attractions covered. Perm, Yekaterinburg & Irkutsk had tour routes in the cities follow the green and red lines but when it is winter and the pathways covered in ice and snow a bit hard to follow. Olkhon Island the potential is great but the Buryats control things and they seem to live for the day. Certainly, need some bars to cater for the tourists and create more attractions. Penny and I leave Russia feeling privileged to visit this beautiful country with so much history and meeting lovely people. We would like to fly back to Irkutsk one day in February go to Olkhon Island as Lake Baikal is totally frozen over apparently it is amazing to see and experience this and then go back to Listvyanka.
Stopped in Ulan Ude for 45 minutes got off the train to find some food not much to offer outside the station. Bought 2 pasties and a bread roll with some sausages stuck in the middle. That was my dinner for tonight. Around 20:00 we stop for immigration first in Russia. On came the drug dog followed by a lady who wanted to look in our bags, that did not take long then passport man and I had to stand up glass off he took 10 minutes to process me and Penny then another man wanted to look at our passports. Then the train lady gave us Mongolian forms to fill out. Arrived at the Mongolian border town had to pull our blinds down and on came the immigration and customs people. Had to stand up glass off as he looked at our passports. He said to Penny you look much younger with your pink hair compared to the passport photo, so keep the pink hair she gave him a big hug for the compliment and he said to me you need to shave the beard off. I said whilst it is cold it is staying on. One hour 40 minutes later we could open up the blind in the compartment and the train carried on to Ulaanbaatar and off to sleep for us.
Maurice's Travel 