David M. Byrne
Well-Known Member
'It is almost axiomatic that the worst trains take you through magical places' - Paul Theroux
Week 36 and it’s really chilly around here. Having bid Mongolia adieu it was finally time to start heading first further north & then finally west towards Europe, and home. But if only it were that simple. I’m one week into the two+ weeks (with stops, of course) that it’ll take me to cover the 6,500 kilometres between the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator & Moscow, the Russian one. It has been a fun, albeit cold week & here, with the aid of pictures 189-194 in the Mave on The Move series, is a recap of that first week on the rails. But first, and seen as it’s going to dominate this and next week’s entries, here is a quick overview of what is the Trans-Siberian railway.
The Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian is one of the world's great travel adventures. The 9,200km-long line, the continuous track connecting Moscow to Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, spans seven time zones & requires 8 days of continuous train travel, meaning some say it’s a test of endurance rather than an adventure. Various branches off the main route allow travellers some flexibility and the option of sampling different countries, cultures & scenery. The most popular of the branch lines is the so-called Trans-Mongolian, which follows the same route as the Trans-Siberian for most of its journey in Russia before - when travelling in the more popular west to east direction - branching off the main route at Ulan Ude in Siberian Russia & travelling south through Mongolia towards its final destination of Beijing, China. I've been fortunate enough to experience the Trans-Mongolian adventure twice now, both times doing so in the winter months (when else would you want to see Siberia if not blanketed in snow?), both times travelling in the less popular east to west direction & both times travelling totally independently, buying my tickets as I go. I’ve stopped off at various locations en route, taken a few pictures and avoided getting frostbite. So far.
Right, on with the show. Oh, and a word of warning: if you don’t like trains or train travel then you should probably look away now.
Picture 189, Day 245 – Waiting. Naushki Train Station, Russia. November 5th 2012
I spent not one but two nights on this train getting from Ulan Bator to Irkutsk, my first stop in Russia proper. Thirty-eight hours the trip took, an inordinate amount of time to cover the 1,100 kilometres of 5ft gauge, non-standard, Soviet-era railway track connecting the two destinations. There’s a general air of unhurriedness (I think that's a valid word) with cross-border train travel in this part of the world & this train, the daily 263 from Ulan Bator to Irkutsk, certainly can’t be accused of being in a hurry. Drawn-out border formalities (passport & customs checks) first by the Mongolians & then by the Russians, random stops in the middle of nowhere & at every town/outpost unlucky enough to find itself located in this barren, desolate part of the world means the trip could be done a lot quicker. But hey, who’s in a hurry? Not me. The above is a picture is of a provodnitsa (a Russian carriage attendant) stoking the hot water boiler fire on my train carriage as it sat in Naushki train, on the Russian side of the Mongolia/Russia border. The train sat here, the first place I walked on snow this trip (cold as it was there was an absence of snow in Mongolia), for what seemed an eternity (it was actually only 4 hours, give or take) before finally leaving for Irkutsk. The majority of the time carriage wasn't tethered to any other carriage or locomotive but eventually it got some company & we moved on. Naushki, Russia. November 5th 2012 (day 245)
Picture 190, Day 246 – The tracks into Irkutsk train station, Siberian Russia. November 6th 2012
I was really looking forward to my return to Irkutsk in Siberia, my first stop in Russia (I was first here in February of 2006 when, as I seem to remember, it was a lot colder than it was now in early November. But not only Irkutsk - I was looking forward to getting reacquainted with Russia, its distinctive architecture, confusing script & gruff locals. Irkutsk provided all of that – & more – this time around & while the location yielded few other surprises (familiarity does that) it did surprise me with what ended up being the photographic highlight of the city – its train tracks. The above picture was captured from the main bridge over the Angara River in Irkutsk. The bridge, passing right over the busy train station tracks, provided a good vantage point from which to view the rolling stock action. I walked across the bridge in darkness just after 7am on this morning, having just stepped off that 38-hour train from Mongolia. I noted how the scene had potential to photograph well. Being weighed down with bags at the time meant taking pictures wasn’t possible so I returned some 14 hours later. The tracks weren’t as busy as they were earlier in the day but, & with the help of terrible daytime weather, still proved to be quite photogenic. The tracks into Irkutsk train station, Siberian Russia. November 6th 2012 (day 246)
dMb Photography Blog: Irkutsk Rails.
Picture 191, Day 247 – The church of the sake of Mikhail Arkhangel (St. Harlampy), Irkutsk, Siberian Russia. November 7th 2012
The weather wasn't great during my time in Irkutsk. The sun struggled through the clouds every now and then but for the most part it was overcast and generally dirty, meaning a nice picture of any of the aforementioned quintessentially Russian architecture (onion domes, anyone?) will have to wait. This is a picture I captured in the Church of the Sake of Mikhail Arkhangel (St. Harlampy) in Irkutsk. I liked the setting with the women sitting in the ray of the sunlight coming through the window by which she was sitting. She’s totally out of focus but I think that adds to the overall image (yes? no?). The church of the sake of Mikhail Arkhangel (St. Harlampy), Irkutsk, Siberian Russia. November 7th 2012 (day 247)
Picture 192, Day 249 – Listvyanka, Irkutsk Oblat, Russia. November 9th 2012
'Baikal is not just a lake, but something greater and deeper. It is bottomless and majestic, but not an ocean or sea in which man loses all his visible bearings. There we sense the greatness of nature, feeling at one with it, not alienated from it, which is a rare phenomenon in developed countries. Baikal is a bridge to space. You must see Baikal to be able to say what it is like' - Erdeni Ulanov
There was plenty of snow in Listvyanka, about an hour drive from Irkutsk & where I spent the afternoon of day 249 battling heavy snow and a comfortable night in a log cabin near the shores of Lake Baikal, the Jewel of Siberia. The lake has some pretty impressive statistics: it’s the largest (636km x 80km), deepest (1637m at its deepest point), oldest (20-25 million is the estimate) lake in the world. Oh, and for good measure it also holds one-fifth of the world’s total fresh water, more than all the Great Lakes of North America combined. Not much was known about Lake Baikal until the Trans-Siberian railway was built around its southern shores between 1896 and 1902 but it’s now a popular stop for travellers en route – it’s as close to a must-see attraction as there is in this part of the world and even having seen it at its best (frozen) some 7 years ago I was still keen to see it again. Plenty of snow this time (both on the ground and falling form the sky) but unfortunately no big chunks of crystal-blue ice – the lake doesn't freeze until December and remains that way until around April. So instead here's a picture of some wrapped up locals battling the elements on a street lined with cozy wooden, quintessentially-Siberian houses, the kind you see all over Siberia. Listvyanka, Irkutsk Oblat, Russia. November 9th 2012 (day 249)
Picture 193, Day 250 – Krasnoyarsk train station, Siberian Russia. November 10th 2012
Back on the train. This is a picture I took on day 250 from the platform of Krasnoyarsk train station where we stopped for 30 minutes some 18 hours in to the 28-hour, 1,700 kilometre trip west from Irkutsk to Tomsk, my next stop in Russia. Pauses in the long journeys, & the opportunity they give to get off the train, are good for breaking the tedium of the long trips. You just got to make sure you’re on the train when it pulls off (the Russians won’t wait for anyone). Krasnoyarsk, Russia. November 10th 2012 (day 250)
Picture 194, Day 250 – Platzkart. Siberian Russia. November 10th 2012
I've been, and will continue to be, on a continuous crusade to try and adequately photography my Trans-Siberian trip east. It has been a somewhat frustrating experience so far & sometimes I wish I didn't have a camera with me (but only for a brief second or two!).The usual annoyances (closed or dirty windows) has meant no (good) photography has been possible from the train as it passed through my the wintry Siberian landscape. I’ll keep trying but for now I've been limited to capturing pictures from train station platforms (as in picture 193) or as in this picture, from the within the confines of the train itself… and it’s a job beyond my abilities to make these train interiors look good. This is a picture of the inside of my carriage on the trip east to Tomsk. It’s the inside of a Russian third class, or platzkart, carriage, an open-plan dormitory car with 54 bunks per coach, arranged in bays of 4 on one side (left of the picture) and bays of 2 along the coach wall on the other side of the aisle (right). Perfect for the budget-conscious traveller, the third class fare for the 28-hour trip west to Tomsk was 1,400 rubles (€25). On the train from Irkutsk to Tomsk, Russia. November 10th 2012 (day 250)
Week 37?
I’m due into Tomsk later this evening & I’ll be glad to get off this train. I’m still almost 4,000 kilometres from Moscow, with more than a few places to sample in-between. Check back for the week 37 entry to continue following my latest Trans-Siberian odyssey. I might even have a few more pictures not related to trains. No promises, though.
dMb Travel
You can keep right up to date with all aspects of my trip, including my present whereabouts, from-the-road updates, tweets & archived links to all previous RealPhotographersForum Mave on the Move entries by visiting the dedicated travel page of my photography blog, dMb Travel, a page I set up to specifically chronicle this trip.
Until next time.
David M
Week 36 and it’s really chilly around here. Having bid Mongolia adieu it was finally time to start heading first further north & then finally west towards Europe, and home. But if only it were that simple. I’m one week into the two+ weeks (with stops, of course) that it’ll take me to cover the 6,500 kilometres between the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator & Moscow, the Russian one. It has been a fun, albeit cold week & here, with the aid of pictures 189-194 in the Mave on The Move series, is a recap of that first week on the rails. But first, and seen as it’s going to dominate this and next week’s entries, here is a quick overview of what is the Trans-Siberian railway.
The Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian is one of the world's great travel adventures. The 9,200km-long line, the continuous track connecting Moscow to Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, spans seven time zones & requires 8 days of continuous train travel, meaning some say it’s a test of endurance rather than an adventure. Various branches off the main route allow travellers some flexibility and the option of sampling different countries, cultures & scenery. The most popular of the branch lines is the so-called Trans-Mongolian, which follows the same route as the Trans-Siberian for most of its journey in Russia before - when travelling in the more popular west to east direction - branching off the main route at Ulan Ude in Siberian Russia & travelling south through Mongolia towards its final destination of Beijing, China. I've been fortunate enough to experience the Trans-Mongolian adventure twice now, both times doing so in the winter months (when else would you want to see Siberia if not blanketed in snow?), both times travelling in the less popular east to west direction & both times travelling totally independently, buying my tickets as I go. I’ve stopped off at various locations en route, taken a few pictures and avoided getting frostbite. So far.
Right, on with the show. Oh, and a word of warning: if you don’t like trains or train travel then you should probably look away now.
Picture 189, Day 245 – Waiting. Naushki Train Station, Russia. November 5th 2012
I spent not one but two nights on this train getting from Ulan Bator to Irkutsk, my first stop in Russia proper. Thirty-eight hours the trip took, an inordinate amount of time to cover the 1,100 kilometres of 5ft gauge, non-standard, Soviet-era railway track connecting the two destinations. There’s a general air of unhurriedness (I think that's a valid word) with cross-border train travel in this part of the world & this train, the daily 263 from Ulan Bator to Irkutsk, certainly can’t be accused of being in a hurry. Drawn-out border formalities (passport & customs checks) first by the Mongolians & then by the Russians, random stops in the middle of nowhere & at every town/outpost unlucky enough to find itself located in this barren, desolate part of the world means the trip could be done a lot quicker. But hey, who’s in a hurry? Not me. The above is a picture is of a provodnitsa (a Russian carriage attendant) stoking the hot water boiler fire on my train carriage as it sat in Naushki train, on the Russian side of the Mongolia/Russia border. The train sat here, the first place I walked on snow this trip (cold as it was there was an absence of snow in Mongolia), for what seemed an eternity (it was actually only 4 hours, give or take) before finally leaving for Irkutsk. The majority of the time carriage wasn't tethered to any other carriage or locomotive but eventually it got some company & we moved on. Naushki, Russia. November 5th 2012 (day 245)
Picture 190, Day 246 – The tracks into Irkutsk train station, Siberian Russia. November 6th 2012
I was really looking forward to my return to Irkutsk in Siberia, my first stop in Russia (I was first here in February of 2006 when, as I seem to remember, it was a lot colder than it was now in early November. But not only Irkutsk - I was looking forward to getting reacquainted with Russia, its distinctive architecture, confusing script & gruff locals. Irkutsk provided all of that – & more – this time around & while the location yielded few other surprises (familiarity does that) it did surprise me with what ended up being the photographic highlight of the city – its train tracks. The above picture was captured from the main bridge over the Angara River in Irkutsk. The bridge, passing right over the busy train station tracks, provided a good vantage point from which to view the rolling stock action. I walked across the bridge in darkness just after 7am on this morning, having just stepped off that 38-hour train from Mongolia. I noted how the scene had potential to photograph well. Being weighed down with bags at the time meant taking pictures wasn’t possible so I returned some 14 hours later. The tracks weren’t as busy as they were earlier in the day but, & with the help of terrible daytime weather, still proved to be quite photogenic. The tracks into Irkutsk train station, Siberian Russia. November 6th 2012 (day 246)
dMb Photography Blog: Irkutsk Rails.
Picture 191, Day 247 – The church of the sake of Mikhail Arkhangel (St. Harlampy), Irkutsk, Siberian Russia. November 7th 2012
The weather wasn't great during my time in Irkutsk. The sun struggled through the clouds every now and then but for the most part it was overcast and generally dirty, meaning a nice picture of any of the aforementioned quintessentially Russian architecture (onion domes, anyone?) will have to wait. This is a picture I captured in the Church of the Sake of Mikhail Arkhangel (St. Harlampy) in Irkutsk. I liked the setting with the women sitting in the ray of the sunlight coming through the window by which she was sitting. She’s totally out of focus but I think that adds to the overall image (yes? no?). The church of the sake of Mikhail Arkhangel (St. Harlampy), Irkutsk, Siberian Russia. November 7th 2012 (day 247)
Picture 192, Day 249 – Listvyanka, Irkutsk Oblat, Russia. November 9th 2012
'Baikal is not just a lake, but something greater and deeper. It is bottomless and majestic, but not an ocean or sea in which man loses all his visible bearings. There we sense the greatness of nature, feeling at one with it, not alienated from it, which is a rare phenomenon in developed countries. Baikal is a bridge to space. You must see Baikal to be able to say what it is like' - Erdeni Ulanov
There was plenty of snow in Listvyanka, about an hour drive from Irkutsk & where I spent the afternoon of day 249 battling heavy snow and a comfortable night in a log cabin near the shores of Lake Baikal, the Jewel of Siberia. The lake has some pretty impressive statistics: it’s the largest (636km x 80km), deepest (1637m at its deepest point), oldest (20-25 million is the estimate) lake in the world. Oh, and for good measure it also holds one-fifth of the world’s total fresh water, more than all the Great Lakes of North America combined. Not much was known about Lake Baikal until the Trans-Siberian railway was built around its southern shores between 1896 and 1902 but it’s now a popular stop for travellers en route – it’s as close to a must-see attraction as there is in this part of the world and even having seen it at its best (frozen) some 7 years ago I was still keen to see it again. Plenty of snow this time (both on the ground and falling form the sky) but unfortunately no big chunks of crystal-blue ice – the lake doesn't freeze until December and remains that way until around April. So instead here's a picture of some wrapped up locals battling the elements on a street lined with cozy wooden, quintessentially-Siberian houses, the kind you see all over Siberia. Listvyanka, Irkutsk Oblat, Russia. November 9th 2012 (day 249)
Picture 193, Day 250 – Krasnoyarsk train station, Siberian Russia. November 10th 2012
Back on the train. This is a picture I took on day 250 from the platform of Krasnoyarsk train station where we stopped for 30 minutes some 18 hours in to the 28-hour, 1,700 kilometre trip west from Irkutsk to Tomsk, my next stop in Russia. Pauses in the long journeys, & the opportunity they give to get off the train, are good for breaking the tedium of the long trips. You just got to make sure you’re on the train when it pulls off (the Russians won’t wait for anyone). Krasnoyarsk, Russia. November 10th 2012 (day 250)
Picture 194, Day 250 – Platzkart. Siberian Russia. November 10th 2012
I've been, and will continue to be, on a continuous crusade to try and adequately photography my Trans-Siberian trip east. It has been a somewhat frustrating experience so far & sometimes I wish I didn't have a camera with me (but only for a brief second or two!).The usual annoyances (closed or dirty windows) has meant no (good) photography has been possible from the train as it passed through my the wintry Siberian landscape. I’ll keep trying but for now I've been limited to capturing pictures from train station platforms (as in picture 193) or as in this picture, from the within the confines of the train itself… and it’s a job beyond my abilities to make these train interiors look good. This is a picture of the inside of my carriage on the trip east to Tomsk. It’s the inside of a Russian third class, or platzkart, carriage, an open-plan dormitory car with 54 bunks per coach, arranged in bays of 4 on one side (left of the picture) and bays of 2 along the coach wall on the other side of the aisle (right). Perfect for the budget-conscious traveller, the third class fare for the 28-hour trip west to Tomsk was 1,400 rubles (€25). On the train from Irkutsk to Tomsk, Russia. November 10th 2012 (day 250)
Week 37?
I’m due into Tomsk later this evening & I’ll be glad to get off this train. I’m still almost 4,000 kilometres from Moscow, with more than a few places to sample in-between. Check back for the week 37 entry to continue following my latest Trans-Siberian odyssey. I might even have a few more pictures not related to trains. No promises, though.
dMb Travel
You can keep right up to date with all aspects of my trip, including my present whereabouts, from-the-road updates, tweets & archived links to all previous RealPhotographersForum Mave on the Move entries by visiting the dedicated travel page of my photography blog, dMb Travel, a page I set up to specifically chronicle this trip.
Until next time.
David M
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