After a relaxing three nights on Olkhon Island and a few days in Irkutsk, we prepared for the third and final leg of our Trans-Siberian/Trans-Mongolian train journey to Omsk, Russia.
Our trip began with the original Trans-Mongolian train from Beijing to Ulan Bator and continued similarly from Ulan Bator to Irkutsk. We wanted an authentic experience, which also made border crossings easier since we didn’t have to change transport. However, this last segment was on a local train, not the classic 1950s model. It ran on the same tracks, but the cars and bunks were different, and it was cheaper.
Once onboard, we noticed the differences right away. The beds in our third-class bunk were shorter and harder, with no padded backrests. There was no door to our cabin, and there were two more bunk beds right across the narrow hall. It felt akin to a train in India. Also, we were the only foreigners on this train!
Fortunately, there was a dining car, though the menu was entirely in Russian. The toilets were similar to those on the previous trains, possibly even a bit nicer, and the cabin attendants were friendly and diligent in keeping the place clean.
After a few stops, our cabin mates arrived—an older Russian couple named Alexi and Leannah. Right away, we knew this journey would be interesting. Alexi wasted no time showing us pictures on his old Nokia phone, initially of Siberian winters and massive trucks, and then unexpectedly, his adult photo collection. His casual attitude towards the content caught us off guard.
Dinner was a friendly affair with Alexi and Leannah sharing their food—cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, and rye bread eaten the traditional Russian way, sprinkled with salt. During the meal, they decided to give us Russian names: I became Tatiana, and Nick became Nicolai. For the next 20+ hours, Alexi enjoyed telling the train staff about “Tatiana and Nicolai from Canada.”
We soon cracked open the bottle of vodka we had bought for the trip, something of a Russian train tradition. Although Leannah insisted we keep it for ourselves, we poured shots for everyone. We later realized why she was hesitant—Alexi had a strong liking for vodka and got increasingly tipsy.
The company was great and the views were even better. We traveled past dense birch and pine forests and charming little wooden Siberian homes, which locals use as summer retreats.
After a somewhat uneasy sleep, we woke to share breakfast biscuits, cucumbers, bread, and coffee. We exchanged photos of our families in Canada and our lives in Yangzhou, China, while Alexi showed us his newspaper full of risque images, highlighting a cultural difference in our media.
The second evening was filled with more vodka, food, and six new Russian friends. Using basic words and hand gestures, we managed to discuss various topics like hockey, jobs, tattoos, and even religion. A remarkable aspect of the Russian drinking culture is snacking between drinks, which surprisingly made vodka easier to handle.
After 39 hours, we arrived in Omsk at 6:30 am local time but 4:30 am according to our previous stop. Tired and hungover, we spent just one night in the city to break our journey before heading to Kazakhstan. We wandered around, enjoyed our hostel, caught up on emails and blogs, and arranged our next bus ride.
Next up was our third country of the trip, Kazakhstan!