Crossing from Mongolia to Russia

Sukhbaatar to Naushki

The train appeared stationary while I was in the dozing hours before I woke properly. I got out of bed around 0830 while we were in Sukhbaatar.  We had made a seemingly long stop and the toilets were locked.  I had to hop out of the train to use the station toilet.

The stop turned out to be for more than 2h, till around 1100.  We got going after immigration officials stamped us out of Mongolia.

Kim had a check of our money and thought we had lost a pack of USD.  He tried thinking hard as to where he could have lost it.  Perhaps he left it in the restaurant or hotel reception while changing money or paying.  Perhaps it was stolen by the helpful man who helped carry his bag to the taxi as we left.

The train chugged on to Naushki over on the Russian side.  There was a bit of commotion with people shifting baggage and whatever they were bringing.  We had a pair of cheap plastic sandals put in our cabin by the people next door.

Our passports were collected by a smiley older Russian woman.  Then we did our customs declaration.  I noticed both immigration and customs looked in all nooks and crannies on board.

We got our passports back but the train sat for a while.  I needed the toilet and this time I had to use the Naushki station toilet.  It was filthy.

Naushki to Ulan Ude and beyond

We were good to go again after more than 2h, around 1620.  We tracked through grasslands with more trees than yesterday.  The countryside was dotted with typical Siberian houses built from dark wood with blue decorative features.

We went past Gusinoye (“Goose”) Lake which still had plenty of ice in it.  We pulled into Ulan Ude as it was getting dark around 2200.  It wasn’t a long stop and we continued around 2230.

I prepared for bed soon after we departed from Ulan Ude.  I reflected on the day.  The train seemed to be on-time despite all the waiting today.  We were stationary for most of the day!  And we had eaten the way we’re meant to onboard:  instant noodles for lunch, instant soup and tuna sandwich for snack and more instant noodles for dinner.  And nibbles in between.

Russian Visas

Based in New Zealand, with limited time off-work, we had little choice but to pre-book our rail tickets, accommodation etc “properly” in order to qualify for our Russian visas. Our bookings had to account for every night either on board or in pre-booked accommodation, in order to satisfy the visa requirements.

We asked the girls how they had done theirs. They paid for a visa support service (which is essentially an agent who does a series of fake bookings). With that in hand, they got their visas and was able to do independent travel. It’s like what I did for Kim in order to get his Iran visa many years ago.

With limited time off-work, we couldn’t afford to be behind with the trains, eg. if the train schedule wasn’t what we had expected or if they were full.