28 June 2018, Thursday

After the late night yesterday, I slept only for about two hours before I was roused awake by my alarm clock at 4:15am this morning. After washing up and checking out of my hostel, I booked an Uber car at 4:45am to take me to Nizhny Novgorod railway station. Luckily, I was able to book a car at that early hour and it cost only 80 RUB (S$1.90).

Despite not having much sleep, I was very excited because I will be on board the Trans-Mongolian Railway for the next four nights before arriving at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. This is where my European journey ends and the Asian leg begins. I will be entering the “wilderness” as I traverse across the vast Russian and Siberian landscape without much Internet connection and contact with the outside world, as I spend four nights sleeping in a train cabin.

At 5:44am, the bright blue and red train number 6 pulled up at the platform. This is a Mongolian train and all the attendants on board are Mongolian. I found my carriage and showed my ticket and passport to the attendant for inspection before boarding the train.

I had booked a second class, four-berth cabin (kupé) for €437 (S$730.48). This was the single largest expenditure for my entire trip. Even my one-way air ticket from Singapore to Athens on Scoot cost only S$530. It is expensive, but remember that the Trans-Mongolian Railway journey covers a distance of 5,805km over 92 hours. That is more than four full days of travelling.

If you’re interested to find out how to go about booking your Trans-Mongolian Railway ticket, you should visit the excellent Real Russia website (click here). It is a treasure trove of information with detailed timetables of the different train services plying the route. I had booked my ticket through Real Russia and collected the physical ticket from their office in Moscow a few days earlier.

You may have heard of the famous Trans-Siberian Railway but maybe not the Trans-Mongolian Railway. To put it simply, the latter is an offshoot of the former. The full Trans-Siberian Railway journey runs entirely in Russia, from Moscow in the west to Vladivostok in the east. The Trans-Mongolian splits from Ulan-Ude and heads down south to Ulaanbaatar (or Ulan-Bator) in Mongolia before ending at Beijing in China. There is also a Trans-Manchurian Railway that takes a longer roundabout route to Beijing via Harbin in northern China. This handy graphic from Real Russia will show you exactly what I mean:

When I planned this trip, this was the trickiest part to navigate as I had to coordinate my departure date from Russia and arrival date in Mongolia, bearing in mind that the train does not run every day. Train number 4 departs from Nizhny Novgorod on Wednesdays while train number 6 does so on Thursdays. These are the only two trains that run directly from Nizhny Novgorod to Ulaanbaatar. This means if I missed the number 6 train today (Thursday), I will have to wait for another week before I can catch the next train (number 4 next Wednesday).

It also means that I had to plan my accommodation in Mongolia carefully. I had booked a homestay for the first two nights in Ulaanbaatar via Airbnb. It was not an ordinary Airbnb apartment but a traditional ger in the grasslands 100km outside Ulaanbaatar, so I needed to make arrangements with the host to get a driver. This came with a cost, so I had to be very careful to make sure that I arrive at Ulaanbaatar on time.

Lastly, the Trans-Mongolian Railway dates also impacted on the FIFA World Cup matches I could ballot on. When it came down to picking the dates and cities of the matches, I played it safe by picking one match in Moscow and one match in Nizhny Novgorod, as these two cities fall on the Trans-Mongolian Railway route. Thus, I was restricted to choosing matches only in these two cities.

From these two cities, I selected the two matches that were in “medium” and “low” demand as indicated on the FIFA website during the balloting process (Denmark vs France and Switzerland vs Costa Rica respectively), hoping that I would have a higher chance of securing the tickets. When I received the email on 24 February 2018 that I was successful in not one, but both of my choices, I was overjoyed! I then booked my Trans-Mongolian Railway ticket on 12 April 2018 and my Ulaanbaatar Airbnb on the same day.

That is a lot of backstory, but I just wanted to share with you a little about the planning process that went into my trip. I would have loved to watch popular teams like England, Brazil or Argentina play at the World Cup but those were “high” demand matches and my chances of getting tickets would have been slim. In the end, to be able to catch two matches in two cities was already a blessing and it felt like everything fell in place for me. And now, I’m about to embark on one of the greatest train journeys in the world, and I couldn’t be happier.

The 4-berth cabin I was allocated to was empty. In fact, I would be alone in the cabin for the first three nights, so it was as good as First Class comfort at Second Class prices. Thankfully, it was more spacious than the sleeper train from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The upper bed was retractable and there was sufficient headroom for the person in the lower bed to sit upright when the bed was deployed. Of course, since I was alone, there was no need to deploy the upper bed so I had plenty of space.

No matter what, the lower bed is better because you can readily use the table and power socket. I couldn’t choose when I booked my ticket through Real Russia, but thankfully, they were experienced enough to pick the lower bed for me.

On top of the seat cushion, there was an additional thin mattress for added comfort. A bed sheet, pillow case and blanket were also provided. There was a small table by the window and only one power socket under the table.

As this would be my home for the next four days, I then went to inspect the other facilities on the train. I found that there was a free hot water dispenser in each carriage so I could cook instant noodles or make hot beverages at my convenience. The toilet was clean but there was no shower, so be prepared not to shower for the next four days.

At 6:00am sharp, the train departed Nizhny Novgorod and my Trans-Mongolian journey began. I was so tired that I went straight to bed and slept till 12pm. The bed was wide enough and it was super comfy. At 12:09pm, the train made its first stop at Kirov for 15 minutes. I went down the train to stretch my legs and get some fresh air, before we moved off again at 12:24pm.

Anyway, the most important thing on the train is the timetable. It shows all the stops and the duration for each stop so you know how much time you have before the train moves off. Some stops are as long as 55 minutes while some are as short as one or two minutes. I learned that these breaks will come in very handy as you take the opportunity not only to stretch your legs but to buy some snacks from the local vendors. Each stop becomes a milestone to look forward to.

One important thing to note is that the times indicated on the timetable for all the Russian stops refer to Moscow time. As the train travels across Siberia, there will be time differences as we cross time zones. For example, even though the timetable indicates that the arrival time at Irkutsk is 2:13am, the local time is actually 7:13am. However, the local time is not shown on the timetable.

Only when the train crosses the border to Mongolia, the time for all the Mongolian stops then refer to Ulaanbaatar time, which is five hours ahead of Moscow. That is why you see the time changes from 17:00 to 22:05 after crossing the border, with reference to the timetable.

After departing Kirov, the train attendant came to my cabin. Each carriage had a dedicated attendant, who was a Mongolian lady dressed in a smart white and blue uniform. It was a little challenging as she didn’t speak English, but from her gestures, I understood that she needed to retain my ticket for safekeeping during the journey. Shortly after, Russian officers came around and they checked my passport and ticket, in the presence of the Mongolian attendant. Satisfied that I was a bona fide traveller, they left.

I then decided to talk to my neighbours who were occupying the cabin next to mine. They were Ray and Anthony (aka Tony), a father-and-son duo from Canada. They were very easy-going and we became friends quickly. Ray shared with me that the attendant lady could cook dinner for us, a simple meal of rice, meat and vegetables for 300 RUB (S$7). It was a private arrangement, like an unspoken kind of thing where the attendant could make some side income.

I had brought along some food rations but they would not last me for four days, so I told Ray that I wanted to try it out too. He then helped me to place my order with the attendant to cook one more portion for me. That’s what good neighbours do!

At about 1:30pm, I decided to check out the restaurant car, located at the end of the train. Whilst in Russia, the restaurant car attached is a Russian one. I asked Ray and Tony if they would like to join me but they already had food, so I went alone.

There was a notice at the door displaying the restaurant’s opening hours. It seemed that they were having a “technological break” then from 13.30 to 14.00 (and also later from 18.30 to 19.00), so maybe that was why the restaurant was empty when I visited. I guessed that most people also preferred to eat their own food, which was cheaper than eating at the restaurant. However, for experience sake, I wanted to see what the restaurant offered and try out their food.

There was a staff member doing sums at the table. When he saw me, he didn’t turn me away even though it was supposedly his break time. I told him that I wanted to eat here and he handed me a menu.

The menu was pretty extensive. They had breakfast, a business lunch set, hot and cold appetisers, sandwiches, salads, soups, main courses, side dishes, breads, pastries, desserts, drinks and even a children’s menu. I expected the prices to be quite exorbitant but I was surprised to find that they were actually quite reasonable, considering we were on a long-distance train journey. For example, a main course of grilled pork escalope with greens (like a pork cutlet) costs 400 RUB (S$9.30) and a 470ml Bud beer costs 200 RUB (S$4.65).

Here is a sample of the menu so you can see what is on offer:

I decided to order the business lunch set for 650 RUB (S$15.12) because it was the most value for money. It came with a vitamin salad, a small bun, a cup of black tea, a bowl of borsch soup with chicken and sour cream and a chicken fillet in a creamy sauce with rice. The borsch soup was very tasty! It contained beets, cabbages, potatoes, carrots, onions, chicken, salt, vinegar and tomato paste. It was my first time trying borsch soup and I loved it. Overall, the meal was quite good and worth trying out.

I hung around the restaurant car until about 3pm and went back to my cabin. I wanted to write my journal but the train was quite rocky so it was hard to write. The next best thing to do was to snuggle up in my bed and read my Crazy Rich Asians book that I had bought in Oslo. A book is definitely something you will need on this long train journey, and that’s tip number 1.

The next stop, St. Balezino, was not far away, and we arrived at 3:45pm. We had a 26-minute break here so we all went down to take a walk. There were several stalls on the train platform selling snacks, tidbits, fruits, buns, cup noodles, drinks and even ice-cream. Therefore, food is actually quite readily available so you don’t have to worry about going hungry. The only problem was that I had almost run out of Russian Rubles so I couldn’t buy much even if I wanted to. So here’s tip number 2: Make sure you carry enough Russian Rubles so you can indulge during the journey.

After moving off from St. Balezino at 4:11pm, I went back to my cabin and continued reading my book. Oh, how I enjoyed being able to take things slow after being on the road for almost two months. Whenever I was bored, I looked out of the window and stared into space, letting time pass by without a care in the world.

At about 6:40pm, our dinner was ready. Ray and Tony very kindly invited me to their cabin to have dinner together. We paid the attendant 300 RUB each for our plate of millet with some vegetables and meat. It was a simple meal that the attendant had cooked for her own dinner anyway, so it was just a matter of cooking three additional portions for us.

The millet meal was quite filling and it was nice to have some proper, warm, cooked food for dinner. We spent a good time chatting and getting to know each other better. After we finished our food, we decided to head over to the restaurant car for a beer. I told them that the prices at the restaurant were quite reasonable so they wanted to check it out too.

There were a few other people at the restaurant this time round. I ordered a can of Russian beer for 200 RUB. I managed to exchange 520 Russian Rubles with the restaurant manager for US$5. At the time, I thought it was quite a bad rate, but now, after calculating carefully, I discovered that it is actually an even better rate than what I had gotten at my local money changer before embarking on the trip. In any case, I still didn’t have a lot of cash even after getting the 520 Roubles, so I needed to watch my expenditure carefully.

At 7:54pm, we arrived at Perm for a 20-minute break. This was the last stop for the day so we stepped off the train for a short walk. There were no food stalls open at this hour so we didn’t have a chance to buy any more snacks.

As the train departed once again at 8:14pm, I looked out of the window and admired the sunset. That’s how you pass time on the train…you read a book, stare out of the window, pop by your neighbour’s cabin for a chat, hop off the train to stretch your legs, visit the restaurant car for a beer, then head back to your cabin for more of the same. With that, the first day of the journey is almost done, with three more nights to go.