In Siberia

We took the train from Ulaan Bator to Irktusk. This is a 36 hour journey (two nights and a day). Siberian train travel is not for the impatient - particularly the border crossings. We waited 6.5 hours at the Mongolian side and then 4.5 hours on the Russian side. These weren't delays - they were the scheduled times. Most of the time was doing nothing - the actual activity by border police was under two hours in both cases.

We were on train #233. One of our group maintains "the higher the train number, the slower the train" - seems true to me.

For much of it, the two carriages that are making the trip from Mongolia to Russia sit isolated at a station (the diesel and the other carriages having disappeared). Of course the train toilet is locked and it isn't easy to get to the station....
This was somewhat compounded by the fact that half our group caught a 24 hour stomach bug...

The two carriages that cross the border become a twenty carriage train by the time you add carrages on the Russian border side and then later at Ulan Ude.

Mongolia was rolling steppes and the occasional ger camp. Moving into Russia (strictly, into the Buryat Republic in Russia) the steppes continued, though with a little more shrubby vegetation and then some small trees. There was still little sign of life, beyond the power poles and dirt tracks, other than around the stations.

Siberian houses are generally wooden, with painted (blue) windows and doors.

Steppe gave way to taiga - dense beech and pine forests. We passed a small (by Russian standards) lake and then (during the night) rounded Lake Baikal to come into Irktusk at 8:10 on Monday morning.

Irktusk is claimed as the "Paris of Siberia". It is the largest town in this part of the world (500,000 people), with various industries and universities. It has tree-lined streets and bears evidence of past wealth as the key trading city in Siberia.

The city has a faded charm. The wooden houses were once beautiful, but none seem to be renovated or well kept. There are some civic buildings that are excellent, but others that need considerable restoration. The tough Siberian winters probably cause buildings to deteoriate much faster.

It's all rather European, with Irtusk citizens promenading in the long mild evenings, though the food isn't always great.

Our hotel (Baikal Intourist) is surprisingly good, having been recently renovated. We have two nights here and at a local Baikal village before we have the long train haul to Moscow.