Irkutsk – The Paris of Siberia

I had to leave Lake Baikal to get back to the Trans-Siberian railway route. Irkutsk is the old trading and administrative center of Siberia. In fact it was the gold rush which made the city rich, and it aquired the nickname ‘The Paris of Siberia’ for its high quality of living – but that was long ago….

It is the first city where the Asian population gets lesser and the typical blond Russian ladies appear on the streets. Europe, I am coming closer!

I spent one night here before the train take me across Siberia for over 48 hours to Yekaterinburg later today.

Lake Baikal

After an other night on the train I arrived early morning in Irkusk. I had a good sleep as a Russian on the train shared his beers with me before we both fall asleep. Nowadays, the Russians drink plenty of beer, which becomes more popular as Vodka with the younger generation.

Listvyanka, where I spent the last two nights, is the nearest village to Lake Baikal from Irkusk. Lake Baikal  – The Pearl of Siberia – is the world’s largest and deepest lake (1637 m). As such, it contains one quarter of the world’s fresh, unfrozen water, which never gets warmer as 15 C. The lake itself is a living museum of flora und fauna, 80% of which is found nowhere else on the planet. Most famous are the fresh water seals and a salmon like fish called Omul.

   

In  Seberia the tourist industry is not much developed, that is while I had a homestay with a lady, who cooked fabulous the last two days for me. It was a typical Siberian wooden house; washing was done exclusively in the Banya (Sauna) and for calls of nature there was a drop toilet at the end of the garden.

   

After visiting the Baikal museum (very interesting), I rented with three British tourists a small boat to explore the tunnels of the old Circumbaikal Train route along the south-eastern shore side of Listyanka. The boat ‘captain’ Aleix was enthusastic to show us the beauty of the lake.

   

Unfortunately, it was raining heavily on the second day, so my planned adventure hike was flushed away by the rain. It was extremely cold for me (~10 C), so I stayed in with the homestay lady most of the day.  Next morning the top of the lake surrounding mountains were snowcapped! Siberia for me has always been a snowy city, now I could witness it during summer!

   

The lake water is exceptionally clear and pure, that’s why the locals drink water direct out of it.

Ulan-Ude

The night train brought me to the border town of Russia. The border crossing (in the train) took 10 hours (!!!), as everything was done extremely slowly. I have been told this is the standard time at this check-point.

    

For the last 500 km of the Trans-Mongolian route, I had beautiful weather once again. The train followed the shores of the Goose lake and further along the Selenga river. The landscape changed to green hills with trees. I haven’t seen a tree since we left China! In the evening I arrived in the city Ulan-Ude in East Siberia.

   

The streets were crowded with young folks, so I was heading to the city center – called Soviet square. Only now I found out that today is Independence Day in Russia. A big party with fire works was ongoing under the eyes of the world biggest Lenin head statue. I’m now so far north that it only gets dark at midnight (and bright at 5:00 am).

 

Ulan-Ude is the capital of the Buryat Republic. 30% of the population here are Buryat people; they look like Mongolians. Their ancestors lived here long before the Russian came from the West. Siberia lies in Asia, and its populations were historically Asians. I visited a typical Buryat village an hour drive outside the town. As they have forests here, everybody lives in wooden houses. Beside the housing, the culture and food are the same as in Mongolia.

     

Ulan-Ude is a pleasant small city which is known for its military aircraft (SU planes) factory as well as crosspoint for the Trans-Siberian / Trans-Mongolian railway. I visited the Ethnographic Museum which is located outdoor in a forest and it displays local architecture.

   

Today I visited an other small village outside the town. Tonight the train leaves for Irkutsk – the capital of Eastern Siberia.

Mongolia

Before we start, we would like to apologise for the lack for pictures in our China’s blog. We had problems with the firewalls in China but in Mongolia, we were able to upload our pictures. So please take a look again at our China blogs (with pictures this time).

70% of Mongolians still live in gers (camel-felt tents), exactly the sort their national hero Genghis Khan used for himself 800 years ago. Mongolia is barely touched by the 21st century outside the capital city Ulaanbaatar. Half of the Mongolians are Nomads with livestocks consisting mainly of sheeps, goats, horses, camels and cows. Due to the animals needs, they persude the herding life and move every season.

   

By no imagination could Ulaanbaatar be called pretty. After we showered down the Gobi Desert sand, which was all over us after the train ride, we immediately had to leave for a 2 days stay in a ger camp out in the steppe. Only five other tourist were in the camp with us – the pure opposite to the multi million cities Shanghai and Beijing where we were coming from. We spent our free time playing the traditional ankle bone games (bones from the goats) and archery. The highlight was horse riding in the vast open space of the steppe!

   

Still, staying in a tourist camp was not enough for us. We wanted the real thing! So we decided to stay 2 days with a Nomad family. They have a little boy and he does nothing but chase after calves and ride horses! While the parents daily life is herding, milking the livestock and immediately processing all the milk in different products. We had the real ‘home cooked’ meals and mutton was the main dish. Beside a day trip to Erdene Zuu monastry in the ancient Mongolian capital Khara Khorum, we liked most riding the camels.

   

   

Back in the soviet apartment blocks city Ulaanbaatar, we spent half a day sigthseeing. But there is really not much to see! We had a last local dinner (can’t see lamb meat and salty milk tea any more) before our ways split. April had to go back to Singapore and flew off while Marc was boarding the night train to Russia. The blog will continue to follow Marc to Switzerland, where April will join him in 4 months time.

    

Entering Mongolia

The train ride from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar (capital city of Mongolia) was one of the nicest so far. Crossing the mountains in the northern part of China, the scenery changed  and trees eventually disappeared and the landscape became a 180-degree panorama of steppe. The train continued north entering into the Gobi desert.

   

   

In the evening, we arrived in Erlian, the border city between China and Mongolia. As Mongolian and Russian trains run on a wider gauge than the standard gauge use in the rest of the world, the bogies must be change. We decided to stay on the train to witness the two hours process.

 At Erlian, April found out that Singaporean is only entitled to stay in China visa-free for 15 days. Thus, she overstayed by 7 days and had to buy herself off. It was a RMB500 (S$100) per day fine but we managed to get it down to RMB300 in total!

The remarkable journey continued with frequent sights of  gers (felt tents) and livestocks.

   

After 30 hours on the train, we arrived in Ulaanbaatar.

Beijing

Early morning our express train from Shanghai arrived. By local bus, we went into the city center where our hostel was located. It is hidden in a Hutong (historic narrow alleyways) just next to the Forbidden City.

   

On our first day, we explored the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. A pity that most of the tourist attraction are under renovation in preparation for Beijing Olympic Games 2008. The air was quite polluted as Beijing burns coals to generate eletricity.

   

 

What is a China visit without climbing the Great China Wall. We decided to avoid the popular tourist section – Badaling. Instead we took a local bus to Jinshanling which is 150km outside of Beijing city. From there we trekked almost tourist-free to Simatai for 3 hours. The wall was well preserved with many watch towers. The 10 km trail was steep and stony but the experience was worth it.

   

 

The next morning, we went to the Summer Palace. During the ancient time, royalty came here to elude the summer heat that roasted the Forbidden City. The complex is dominated by Kuming Lake and several temples.

   

With one year to go for the Olympic Games, the construction of the stadiums is almost completed. We took a cab to the future Olympic park, which is at the moment a huge construction site, to have a glimpse of the ‘Birdnest’ stadium.

 

The 798 district is a new hangout place for the arty farty (also known as artistic people) with tons of galleries to showcase their art. We also managed to catch the local acrobatic show which was spectacular!

   

A visit to Beijing is not complete without their signature dish – the Peking duck. All around the city were also food tents selling everything from starfish meat to dumplings. 

 

After a busy four days in Beijing, we will move on to Mongolia.

Shanghai

We were fortunate to have our friends Rene and Christine in Shanghai with a guest room for us right in the middle of the city. Shanghai is one of the more developed city amongst its Chinese families. Most sales people could speak a little English and transportation is relatively easy. However, we realised that one would need a passport to change money, irregardless of the amount. Marc, with his charm, managed to get away with just flashing his Swiss ID card and a smile.

   

 As you know, April is moving to Switzerland in October and has no ski wear. We decided to buy a whole lot of skiing outfits (in May!!!). April was really excited during the whole dressing process as she has never own a ski suit before! The next day, we shipped everything in a box to Switzerland. After a tiring afternoon of shopping, we went via Peoples Park to the Bund.

   

The Bund, also called the Zhongshan Road, is a famous waterfront and regarded as the symbol of Shanghai for hundreds of years. Walking along the Bund, which is at the west shore of the Huangpu River, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower can be seen on the opposite side and also the Jin Mao Tower. Being one of the Top Ten Shanghai Attractions, the Bund is a really beautiful and special place. Marc as Tunnel Engineer needed to take the Bund sightseeing tunnel, connecting the Bund to Pudong area. We sat in a cute transparent compartment and it took us across with special lighting effects that wow April especially.

   

We had pretty good weather during our stay in Shanghai. Breakfast was mostly at the courtyards around the French Concession. We also had the opportunity to dine in Justine Quek Restaurant (he is a famous Singaporean chef) to celebrate Christine birthday.

   
After a few sunny days in Shanghai, we will move on to Beijing.

Pingyao

From Hua Shan, we decided to do it the local way of travelling by long distance buses as there is no direct train connection. From our hostel, we took a cab to the Expressway where we waited by the roadside with locals for a bus that will take us to Shanxi Provience.

After 20 minutes, one local flagged down our bus and hurried everyone. Turns out that buses were not allowed to stop along the expressway legally. We had to run with the moving bus and jumped on it with our backpacks! As there were no more seats left on the bus, we had to sit in the middle alley on the floor. After one hour, the driver chased some passengers including April, off the bus. Before we had anytime to react, the door closed and Marc was left with the bags on the moving bus. April was forced to follow the locals as they made their way towards a taxi. It was only then April realised that the bus was overcrowded and an inspector was approaching for checks. April and Marc were finally reunited after the checkpoint.

When we thought that our little misadventure had passed, our driver calming told us after another 3 hours that they have forgotten to drop us at our destination! We found ourselves again on a Expressway. Finally, we found a local bus that brought us finally to Pingyao.

We were rewarded with a nice youth hostel within the traffic-free city wall. Pingyao was built in the 18th Century during the Jin and Shang Dynasty.

 

The following day we explored the numerous historical houses which all have nice courtyards like the ones you see in Chinese movies. The village can be covered within a day and so we will be leaving tomorrow for Shanghai.

   

   

Hua Shan – Sacred Mountain

As if being a backpacker is not tough enough, April suggested that we do some exercise by climbing one of the Taoism five sacred mountains in China.

After a hearty local breakfast, we started at 6am our ascend from the west side of Hua Shan mountain. The first two hours were relatively easy but once the steps became steeper and more frequent, we bypassed many quitters who were just contented to be at the top of the cable car station. For us, the real climb started here. We were determined to get to the South Peak (2160m), the highest point of Hua Shan. As it is a sacred mountain, many local believed that by placing a golden lock engraved with their wish, it will be blessed.

   

As you know us, we took the most challenging way – the cliffhanger passage. Dangling from a harness on top of a 1000m high vertical wall, we had the most breath taking view.

   

Tired but happy that we conquered the summit, we placed our golden lock with our wish at the highest point.

   

Terracotta Warriors in Xi An

You might have seen these warriors in magazines or on TV before. In the early 70s, 8000 terracotta warriors, horses and bronze weapons from the Qin Dynasty were discovered by a local farmer while drilling for a well. Emperor Qin Shihuang believed that he will maintain his powers in his after lives and therefore ordered his men to built this army to be buried with him. Nowadays, it is listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site and is known as the Eighth Wonder of the World.

   

Together with our new found travel mates, we spent the whole day at this site. Unfortunately, it was time to bid our Israeli and Polish friends farewell as we made our way to Hua Shan.