Joachim Textor complied Travel plan
Departure Beijing on
August 19 , 1998 –
Arrival in Berlin August 31 , 1998
Leaving the middle kingdom towards our mythical adventurous journey trough Mongolia and Siberia.
Km 0 : Beijing
Km 53 : Nankou
Km 70 : Qinglongqiao
After passing through a few tunnels you can see a few wild marijuana plants which flourish near the tracks in this area.
Km : 193 Zhangjiakou
Founded 2000 years ago , this city used to be known by its Mongolian name Kalgan ( meaning gate of frontier ). It stands at the point where the old caravan route between Peking and Russia crossed the Great Wall.
It is today an industrial city with more than one million people .
Km : 371 Datong
Datong is a major coal – mining and rail center that manufactures railroad equipment , agricultural machinery , cement , processed food and wine.
Wheat , sesame , millet , soybeans , corn , tobacco and peanuts are grown .
The nearby Yunkang caves are famous for Buddhist art carved into a hillside.It is the second biggest city in the Shanxi province in the northern China. Whereby it is also the largest producer in cotton. It has also titanium and vanadium deposit. Since ancient times , Shanxi has held a strategic location between China and the Mongolian and central steppes. It came under Japanese occupation during the Sino – Japanese war of 1937 – 45
Population 32.000 people.
Km : 498 Jining
The bulky white station buildings here has also at the side some extensive steam engines in good condition.Travelling due to the south the train leaves the province of Inner Mongolia and enters Shanxi Province.
Km : 842 Erlyan
Passport control and changing of the Bogies by a giant hydraulic lift , which might take up to 4 – 6 hours .
Km : 1113 Dzamyn Ude ( until the border to Russia – Sukhbataar )
Mongolian Border Town
Km : 876 Sayn Shand
This is the largest town between the capital and Dzamyn Ude on the southern border. Main industries here include food processing and coal mining. Inner Mongolia > capital is Hohpot , which is the leading industrial centre of Baotou.
Just for Info : The country is divided into 18 districts.And the railway line is passing through 3 of these ( Selanga , Tov and Dornogov ) .
The Gobi Desert :
This vast wilderness extends for 1000 km north to south and 2400 km west to east. Most of the part crossed by the railway is not desert of the sandy Saharan type but rolling grassy steppes. It is impressive for its emptiness :
Very few towns and just the occasional collection of yurts , herds of stocky Mongolian horses and small groups of camels or gazelles.
There are large reserves of coal , copper , gold ,uranium and other valuable exports. It ‘ s estimated that up to 10 billion tons of coal exist beneath the Gobi.
Km : 649 Choyr
Just behind the station is a statue of Mongolian cosmonaut VVT Ertvuntz .
Crossing wide open grassland with only the occasional yurt to break the monotony, the line begins to descend into the valley where Ulan Bator is situated.
Km : 404 Ulan Bator ( means Red Hero in Mongolian language )
Population 2.4 million people. It became independent from China in 1921. Formerly also known as Urga ( founded 1649 ) . After World War 2 the city expanded greatly. > Largely with the help and aid of the previous USSR.
Almost 90 % is either pasture ( Weideland ) or desert. Located 1310 meters above sea level.
The Train Line between Ulan Bator and Beijing was begun in 1953 with a mixed work force of Russians , Mongolians and Chinese. By the beginning of 1956 the work was completed and a regular rail service began between Ulan Ude and Beijing.
Km : 123 Darhan
Founded in 1961 and is now the second most important industrial center
Km : 21 Sukhbaatar
18.000 Inhabitants , situated at the confluence of the Selanga and Orhon Rivers.
At this Mongolian border town the immigration process might still be a fairly nerve – racking affair. Whole compartments are sometime rigorously searched .
Kyahta and Ulan Ude :
The Russian port town of Ulan Ude is located at the Uda and Selanga rivers
In southern Siberia. It is a major freight and passenger stop for the longest train route in the world.
Founded in 1666 as winter quarters for the Cossacks , it grew in importance following the construction of the railroad in the late 19th century.
Info about Siberia :
From 1891 – 1904 settlers in Siberia were mainly criminals and political refugees.
Did you know ? Siberia has the largest temperature on the earth > winter as
low as – 68 C and summer up to 37 C . ( We were lucky , whilst we stayed at the Lake Baikal / in Listvianka August 21 – 24 , 1998 we had 30 C. , and I even catched a sun burn. ) . no joke
Several rare animals live in the proximity of Siberia. Like > Hazel Grouse , Lemmings ( Biber ) , Pine marten – squirrels , snow owl , musk deer , Wolverine ( weasel family ) weighting up to 20 Kg and capable of bringing down a reindeer .
From here it is until Moscow Km : 5895
Km : 5895 Naushki ( Russian Border )
The border is marked by a menacing – looking electrified fence , about five kilometers beyond the Russian border post. The train may stop for 2 –4 hours for custom officials > visa and currency declaration forms.
Most trains are time tabled to cross this border at night , which is unfortunate since the landscape is attractive.
For further info and Happenings whilst we were passing this place in the middle of nowhere look in the column 3 Singaporeans jailed in Naushki .
Km : 5312 Slyudyanka
Pop 20.000. The station is only about 500 m from the Lake Baikal. From here the train runs along the shore of Lake Baikal about 94 km .
Also it starts here that people are selling you fresh smoked Omul Salmon or boiled potatoes , raspberries etc. between the short stops at the stations.
Km : 5185 Irkutsk / Siberia
Population : 650000
Irkutsk was found in the 16. century as Cossack outpost . It is located at the Siberian Taiga. 65 km away from the Lake Baikal .( Also once known as the Paris of Siberia !? whereby I have my doubts. ) Is near the mouth of Angara River at Lake Baikal > which is estimated that the lake contains about one fifth of the earth fresh surface water. ) It is 1667 m deep 650 km long and up to 90 km in the width. All rivers together in the world would require one year to fill it up ! It is frozen mostly between January – Mai . At that time the ice crust gets as thick as 8 – 10 m .And the traffic is relocated over the Lake !
Nowhere else the Omul salmon are found in the world. Animals like Bears , Elks , Lynx and sables – Zobel are still found in the surrounding forests.
Irkutsk is also known for it ‘s wooden houses. Furthermore it has a beautiful newly painted Railway station.
A small village at the Lake Baikal called Listvianka
Beautifully located and so natural. There is a small church which is also visited from a lot of young people with families on Saturdays and Sundays.
A few kilometers behind the outskirt of Listvianka the mainstreet also ends.
The only way to get along further up the Lake is in renting a small Boat. To get once around the Lake it takes 7 days. There are even small islands located within the Lake where animals are still living.
The Limnological Museum is worth a visit too.
History: The Huns moved into the region south of Lake Baikal in the third century BC where the Buryats , their descendants , now life .Their move west continued slowly over the next five centuries when their infamous leader Attila , the " Scourge of God "
Having pillaged his way across Europe reached Paris where he was defeated in 452 AD.
Km : 5178 Irkutsk Sortirovka
The Tsar stopped here on his tour of Siberia in 1891
Km : 5160 Angarsk
Pop.268.000 , although primarily an industrial city. Oil is pumped here by pipeline from West Siberian ,Tatarstan and Basikir oil fields. This pipeline can also occasionally be spotted running beside the railway.
The city has a river port and from here hydrofoils travel downstream to Bratsk. Ferries also run between Irkutsk and Angarask.
Km: 5124 Usole – Sibirskoe
Pop. 106.900 This city , sitting on the left bank of the Angara River , is the salt capital of Siberia.
Km: 5027 Kutulik
Ust – Orda Buryats are still related the Buryats of the Lake Baikal and even to the Mongolians.Popular in the summer for wrestling.
Km: 4940 Zima
Zima means winter , and this was a place of exile at the beginning of the 19th century for members of the sectarian sect.
Km: 4875 Kuytun
There are cold springs in the area.
Km:4794 Tulun
Tulun sits at the road junction of the M 55 Moskow – Irkutsk Highway
Km: 4680 Nizhneudinsk
Here we have reached about the half-way point between Moscow and Vladivostok
Km: 4516 Taiset
The Train snakes around the foothill s of the Eastern Sayan Mountains. This place is also famous in Soviet Gulag literature. It was also a transit camp for Stalin area prisoners heading east
and west.
Km: 4375 Ilanskaya
The site of the town was selected in 1734 by the Dutch – born Russian naval explorer V Bering (of Bering Straits fame ) during the second Kamchatski Expedition to explore the coast of America.
It is also here the next 600 km where is one of the biggest Logs area. This section of the line is very scenic as the train is constantly climbing and descending as it crosses numerous rivers and deep ravines.
Km: 4343 Kansk – Yeniseiski
Evenki National Okrug > About nine hundred kilometers due north of here
Lies the town of Tura , the capital of the Evenki National Okrug.745,000 square Km of permanently frozen land , specially reserved for the indigenous population. The Evenkis belong to the Tungus group of people , and they were originally nomadic herders and hunters. After the Buryats
And the Yakuts , they form the next largest ethnic group in Siberia but they are scattered into small groups.They used to live in wigwams or tents and survived off berries and reindeer meat ( a great delicacy being the raw marrow sucked straight from the bone , preferably while it was still warm ) .
They discovered the Christianity fitted in well with their own Shamanistic religion and worshipped St. Nicholas as a deputy to the Master Spirit of the Underworld. After the revolution they were organized into collective farms and although most of the population is now settled ,there are still some reindeer – herders in the extreme north of the region.
Km : 4272 Zaozernaya
There is a big space center around in the vicinity , as well huge open cut coal mine at the track.
Km : 4126 Yenisei River
The train crosses the great river that bisects Siberia. The Yenisei ( meaning wide water ) rises in Mongolia and flows into the Arctic Ocean 5200 km north of its source.
The bridge , which is almost a kilometer in length , dates back from the 1890s and had to be built on heavy granite piers to withstand the huge icebergs which steamroller their way down the river for a few weeks each year. The cement was shipped from St. Petersburg,the steel bearings from Warsaw.
Km: 4098 Krasnoyarsk
This major industrial city was founded in 1628 beside the Yenisei river / Siberia as a cossack fortress .Many years ago Gold has been discovered there. Population of 748.000 people. The city has shipyards , a huge hydroelectric facility , chemicals ,forest products, aluminum, cement and textiles.
Km : 3932 – 33 Half – way point on the line from Moscow to Beijing ( via Mongolia ). There ‘s a white Obelisk to mark it on the south side of the line but it is difficult to see.
Km: 3917 Achinsk
Pop 122.00 ,There is a giant aluminum production complex.
Km: 3849 Bogotol
This railway town has a museum in its locomotive depot .The town was founded in 1893 as a station on the Trans-Siberian.
Km: 3715 Mariinsk
Between 1828 to 1917 , more than 50 tons of gold were extracted from the region. The town was renamed Mariinsk in 1857 after the German wife of Tsar Alexander 2 , Maria Alexandrovna.
Km: 3602 Anzherskaya
Just an ugly coal mining town , which contains a massive 600 billion tons of high quality low sulphur coal.
Km : 3565 Taiga
It is located 79 km in the vicinity of Tomsk.In 1993 , a radioactive waste reprocessing plant blew up contaminating an area of 120 square km.
Km: 3335 Novosibirsk
Pop. 1.600.000 is also the capital of Western Siberia with its largest station , an impressive green , glass –vaulted building that took from 1929 – 1941 to complete .It is also close to the " Ob " Irtysh river , which is one of the largest river system > together 5410 km ( from western China through Siberia to the Arctic ocean) . The fourth longest river is the Volga ( longest in Europe with 3690 Km) .
Manufactures include mining equipment , turbines , textiles , chemicals and heavy machine tools.
Km: 3332 The Great Ob River Bridge
Km: 3035 Barabinsk
Pop. 34.000 founded at the end of the 19th century
Km: 2880 Tatarskaya
For the next 600 km the train runs through the inhospitable Baraba Steppe
This vast expanse of greenish plains is dotted with shallow lakes and ponds , and coarse reeds and sedge grass conceal swamps ,peat bogs and rare patches of firm ground .Here you also see clumps of birches and aspen trees , that are spaced several kilometers or more apart.
In spring , this place is hell as the air is grey with clouds of gnats and mosquitos. The Baraba Steppe is also a vast breeding ground for ducks and geese and every year hunters bag about five millions birds from here. Below the steppes is an enormous natural reservoir of hot water, a geothermal energy supply that is currently being investigated.
Km: 2712 Omsk
It was found in 1716 as a Russian Fortress.
Pop.1.169.000, located in the western Siberian Lowland .Manufactures include processed grain , refined petroleum , forest products , agricultural machinery and textiles.
Km: 2565 Nazyvaevskaya
This area is famous for its agriculture.
Km: 2520 Omskaya
The main crops here is spring wheat , flax and sunflowers .This area has been an important butter – producing region since the nine-teenth century , when butter was exported to as far away as Turkey and Germany.
Km: 2431 Ishim
North of Ishim lies the city of Tobolosk ,one of the oldest settlements
in Siberia.
Km: 2140 Tyumen
Tyumen is the oldest town in Siberia , founded in 1586. It was build on the banks of the Tura River , the site of the former Tatar town of Chingi Tura , to date back to the fourteenth century.
Today it is a booming oil capital of western Siberia.By 1900 , over one million convicts had tramped through Tyumen. The greatest treasure to be transferred from Moscow to Tyumen during this time was Lenin ‘s corpse.For years he rested secretly in a building of the Agricultural Institute , tended by a team of specialists.
Km: 2078 Siberia
Siberia begins here ( ends here , for those going west ).The border between Sverdlovskaya and Tyumenskaya Oblasts is the frontier between Siberia and the Urals.
Km: 1813 Ekaterinburg
Birth place of Boris Yeltsin
Located on the eastern slope of Ural mountains in a mineral - rich region .Pop 1.370.000 , The train halts in the largest city in the Urals , for a change of engine. It is also a major industrial center for chemicals , platinum copper and iron smelters. The city was founded in 1721 by Czar Peter 1 as an ironworking center and was named Ekaterinburg for his wife , who was later proclaimed Empress Catherine 1. The Great Siberian Highway is also passing through.
The later Czar family were murdered there too.
Km: 1777 Europe – Asia Border Obelsik
Here at Km 1777 you can see a Obelisk were Europe starts and Asia ends.
Km: 1433 Perm
Formerly Molotov , is the capital of Perm, Oblast. Located in the region which is rich in mineral resources , the city is an important industrial and transportation center that manufactures chemicals. It
has today a population of 850.000 people.
Km: 1431 Kama River
The mighty Kama River flows over 2000 km from the Urals into the Volga and is one of the great waterways of the CIS.
Km: 1309 Chaikovskaya
This station is named after the composer Peter Tchaikovsky ( 1840 –1893 )who was born about 180 km southeast of here at a factory settlement around the Kamsko – Votkinsk industrial plant.
Km : 1190 Balyezino
You can see many market gardens set in this rolling , open countryside.
Km : 957 Kirov / Vyatka
It was already founded in 1181 on the banks of the Vyatka River.
Km : 700 Sharya
This town is the biggest timber center in the region. ( pop. 26.900 ) .
Km : 450 Bui
There is nothing of interest in this industrial town, specializing in cheese, flax and mineral fertilizers.
Km : 357 Danilov
This town is a railway junction.
Km : 289 Volga River
Here we are passing by the longest river in Europe with 3700 km which flows down to the Caspian sea.
Km : 284 Yaroslavl
Pop. 637.000 . Yaroslavl was founded in 1010 by the Christian King Yaroslavl the Wise .Many of the ancient cathedrals still stand here in the vicinity.
Km : 224 Rostov – Yaroslavski
Also here a few Monasteries can be found.
It is also called the golden ring. Because it is Russia ‘ s most famous historical region. It was from this area that the mighty Russian state was born.
Km : 73 Sergiev Posad
Here are the stunning sights of the blue and gold domes of the cathedrals of Sergiev Posad.
Km : 0 Moscow
Arriving in Yaroslavski Station ( one of nine other stations in the city ) .
Pop. 9.2 Mill.
All Facts and relevant information about this trip has been compiled by
Joachim Textor.
More news , picture , infos and subject literature might be requested via
e – mail > joachim@cyberway.com.sg <