Our second Trans-Siberian (technically, Trans-Mongolian) railway segment was from Ulaanbattar to Irkutsk, Russia (the capital of Siberia). Just as airlines have different aircraft/service levels on a given route, the Mongolian and Russian train systems have different trains. Our original plan was to take a soft-sleeper berth on the medium-good train (by Russian standards). Its not Orient Express by any stretch of the imagination (the standard Amtrak and SNCF sleeper cars are far superior), but it appeared to be somewhat manageable. Unfortunately, that didn't jive with our schedule, so we ended up on Train 263, a Russian-built, Mongolian-managed commuter train that stops at virtually every station along the way. As you can imagine the configuration was slightly different:
- Here, our 6 foot by 5 foot berth consisted of: 4 lightly padded benches, a window that opened (no fan or a/c), 4 reading lights that only worked at night and that required the assistance of our provonista (cabin attendant that resembled Rosanne Barr, except less cordial) to turn on/off. In the accompanying berths were groups of REAL hippies (the don't wash their feet kind).
- The amenities provided were: 2 wool blankets, a package of fresh sheets and a pillow case (but no pillow), and pre-packaged "meal" containing warm, stale yogurt and a mystery meat that dogs wouldn't even eat.
- Our non-smoking train carriage had: 1 functional bathroom (the 2nd one was closed) which was NOT cleaned/maintaned throughout the trip, did NOT have running water or a shower, and could NOT be used when stopped at a train station. Potable "hot" water (more like luke warm) was available at the end of each carriage.
- No dining car on this train
In anticipation for some of these delays, we stocked up on a breakfast of champions (petit dejeuner des champions) consisting of Pringles, Cup-O-Noodles, Ramen, Haribo candies, Lu cookies and bottled water. We also purchased a considerable number of books, magazines and DVDs (assuming we could use our Mac to watch them). What we didn't anticipate was the lack of electricity, which made it impossible to read at night, nor watch more than 1 movie. We also didn't anticipate that the "hot water" would not be hot enough to make Ramen. Fun stuff.
Mongolian - Russian Customs:
If we thought the China-Mongolia border was rough, this one takes the cake. The process of going through Mongolian immigration and customs, Russian immigration and customs and waiting for connecting train carriages took 10 hours. Furthermore, Russian immigration questioned whether I was the person pictured in my passport, and 3 different people came to verify I am indeed who I claim to be. And finally, like at the China-Mongolia border, during this time the bathrooms are closed, there is no electricity in the train and yes, this is standard operating procedure. Someone really needs to introduce Six-Sigma to the Russian and Mongolian train people!!!
In their defense, after the first 5 hours, the train pulled up to a station to wait for connecting carriages to arrive; so, technically passengers are free to walk around. However, the provonistas do not tell passengers what time the train will actually leave (and of course there are no schedules posted anywhere). Also, its not possible to lock the berth with all one's luggage/stuff in it. All that was going through our minds was "we paid good money for this?" All in all, it took about 36 hours to get to Irkutsk.
Turns out the "better" train shaves 16 hours off the travel time!!!! Lesson learned: if you make this trip, do your homework before purchasing tickets!!!!
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