See all Posts in the Wanderlust – A Travel Blog Series
What makes a journey truly epic? It is more than simply traveling to a remote destination and visiting a great natural wonder or an interesting historic site. Epic journeys are not about the destination, but rather the journey itself. They may have some element of risk, mystery, adventure or romance. Maybe all those things. A truly epic journey will change you in some way.
One such journey for me was the Trans-Siberian Railway, which spans over 5,500 miles across the continent of Asia. I made the trip with a group of well-traveled Rotarians and friends in 2016, during a much simpler geopolitical era. A similar trip would be quite challenging today due to the sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
It may be surprising to learn that the Trans-Siberian rail journey is not one route. You have choices. The classic (Northern) route starts in Moscow and ends in Vladivostok. The Southern route travels south through Siberia. The Trans-Manchurian route loops south through China, finishing in Beijing. The Trans-Mongolian route heads south through Mongolia, also ending in Beijing. There is even a branch that runs further south into Kurdistan. Some travelers start in Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan and travel west, rather than east.
We planned our trip to allow time in interesting places along the way. We started in St. Petersburg, a part of Russia that looks and feels more European than Asian. St. Petersburg competes with Moscow for the title of Russia’s cultural capital. The Winter Palace (near St. Petersburg) is an iconic showcase of Russia’s rich history and imperial splendor.
Many of us were Rotarians, so we arranged a private tour and concert at the historic Hermitage Museum with members of the St. Petersburg Rotary Club. Most of them spoke some English, and one fascinating gentleman had served as a negotiator on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) between Russia and the United States in the early 1990s. We had arranged a donation of a park bench (compliments of the Chaska Rotary Club) for just outside the Hermitage Museum. We also had the opportunity to meet and spend time with a former Chaska Rotary Youth Exchange student and his family for a taste of authentic Russian daily life.
Our rail journey started with the midnight train to Moscow. Yes – there really is a midnight train to Moscow. In Moscow, we toured Red Square, the Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral, their amazing subway system, churches, and museums. I had been to Moscow in 1980 and I was struck by how much the city had changed since then. In 1980, Cold War Moscow was drab and grey, with a distinct feeling that Big Brother was watching over your shoulder for the slightest misstep. Moscow in 2016 was colorful and festive. People were dressed up. The restaurants and shops were lively, and the food was delicious. It was more like Paris than the Moscow I remembered.
If you have ever traveled by train, you may be familiar with the uncertainty that comes from standing in a busy rail terminal, trying to figure out which platform and track you need. The Moscow train station is vast and doesn’t really cater to foreign tourists. In other words, nothing was in English. Collectively, our group of seven travelers managed to break the code and board the correct train. I am not 100 percent sure I would have gotten this right on my own.
We settled into cabins with seats that folded into beds for the overnight stretches and a little table that was perfect for idling away the hours playing cribbage. Our train attendant was a sour-faced, matronly woman, whom we affectionately dubbed “Babushka,” although not to her face, as this is not considered a compliment.
One of our entourage had studied Russian for two semesters in college, about a million years ago. His translation and communication efforts earned our whole group elevated service and affection from our Babushka. At one point in our journey, she hustled us off the train during a stop and led us to a food stall a few blocks off into town. She bought us some freshly cooked fried chicken that was a big step up from the standard dinner fare on the train.
On another occasion, she chased down one of our group who had wandered into the station and hustled him back onto the train. Moments later, another train came rolling by that would have cut him off and left him stranded and alone in the middle of Siberia.
The Trans-Siberian rail journey takes you through eleven time zones. Siberia alone spans seven of those. People think of Siberia as a vast wasteland where criminals and dissidents are exiled. While it is vast, it is anything but a wasteland. The rolling hills and bucolic farmland bore a striking resemblance to rural Wisconsin.
My favorite stop in Siberia was the town of Irkutsk, renowned for its beautifully crafted historic wooden houses. Not far from there is Lake Baikal, which competes with Lake Superior in terms of both scenic beauty and claims to be the world’s largest lake. While Lake Superior has a larger surface area, Lake Baikal is significantly deeper and contains more water than all the Great Lakes combined.
Mongolia was an unexpected highlight of the trip. We took a break for a couple of days to stay in Yurts on the Mongolian steppes and visit Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s beautiful and modern capital. Mongolia has a complex history, being a landlocked country that has been claimed by both Russia and China over the last century. Mongolia became an independent multi-party democracy in 1990 and currently maintains a policy of neutrality, carefully balancing relationships with the surrounding superpowers.
The strikingly beautiful high desert plains of Mongolia reminded me of Wyoming. The Yurts were surprisingly cozy and comfortable, as long as you could avoid smacking your forehead on the low entryway.
Our Mongolian guide taught us to play “Ankle Bones,” a dice-like game played with actual ankle bones from sheep. We hiked and rode horses that roamed free on the steppes. The horses did not want to be caught or ridden, so it was quite a spectacle to watch the skilled Mongolian horsemen chase, lasso, and saddle them so we could ride. The Mongolian people are generally smaller in stature than Americans, and the horses were sized accordingly for local riders. It is no wonder, then, that the horses were not happy to see us.
When we entered China, we had to have our railcars raised and transferred onto different gauge rails for the last leg of the journey. We crossed the desolate and sandy Gobi Desert and made our way to Beijing. Tours of the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City rounded out our trip before the long flight home.
All the elements of epic adventure were there. We experienced the uncertainty of boarding the wrong train in a foreign land and the risk of getting cut off and left behind in Siberia. We had the romance and adventure of riding horses in the footsteps of Genghis Khan. We developed an appreciation for the vastness of Asia and the diverse ways in which societies organize themselves. In short, we gained perspective. That perspective colors my view of the world to this day.
