Tyumen -> Beijing

Lots of pictures! I selected about 95 between Tyumen, Russia (the first town I stopped in on the Trans-Mongolian, about 100km past the official beginning of Siberia) and Beijing, which I left yesterday.


No one speaks English in Russia, so I devised a written method for acquiring tickets. There's the scrap of paper I wrote my request on, and the resulting ticket. The picture, unfortunately, eliminates the half hour of waiting in line, and the hand waving, and the generally unhappy ticket lady. It worked out. I made it across Russia!


There's Lenin, being Lenin. One of the cooler statues.


I had a rather extensive book collection at some point. For a guy with a single 79 liter pack, it was a bit excessive. It's a little better now...


I found this awesome beer poster in Siberia. It translates to something like "do you want some?" but it's funnier than that, apparently.


Sunset in Tyumen. Cool clouds and a big obelisk.


The same sunset - the same place, actually, as the photo before - but turned around 180 degrees. There was a cool suspension bridge. I take some of these photos in widescreen with the intention of making them into desktop backgrounds when I get home.


A run-down church in Tobolsk, Siberia. Undergoing renovation, actually, but still rather dismal in a romantic sort of way.


This shot is pretty representative of typical Siberia. Still in Tobolsk...a little bleak, flat, muddy...


There was an orthodox procession of some sort at the Tobolsk kremlin. They have a surprisingly beautiful church for being more or less in the middle of nowhere. I joined the procession for a while along with a bunch of people from town.


A better shot of the pretty kremlin and the cathedral.


A picture of the town of Tyumen. It was a pretty day that day.


This is a little section of Krasnoyarsk, sort of away from the downtown area.


I rode a ski lift. It was pretty fancy. Also cold.


Mountains? In Siberia? Craziness. This was at the top of the ski lift area.


The hills afforded a pretty good view of downtown Krasnoyarsk.


Clattering down the rails to Irkutsk on a 3rd class carriage. The lady on the left is doing a crossword puzzle, and I'm trying to not get noticed by the family I'm taking a picture of...


A picture through the dirty window of the train. This was pretty typical for the little towns along the railway in Siberia. People like that bright green color.


A catholic church in Irkutsk.


The main river that runs through Irkutsk, at a sort of parkish area where all the young people hang out. The locks are like the ones on the metal trees in Moscow; when people get married they attach a lock to the railing together, and then throw the key away into the river.


One of the wedding locks.


The town of Listvyanka on Lake Baikal. 1/5 of the world's fresh water is in this lake - it's enormous.


There was a cool fish market. The fish was really good.


An exciting day for me in Irkutsk! I spent the whole morning and early afternoon watching the election results come in after the sun set on all of you guys in the states. I was happy about the outcome, and so were all the Russians I talked to about it.


The train leaving Irkutsk - my last train leg in Russia. It was very cold that night... -10 C or so, which is about 15 F.


A group of soldiers at one of the stations we stopped at during the night. They were in the next car over.


Our carriage attendant started some trouble by throwing snow at this railway worker. He's busy packing a snowball in retaliation. I don't have any more pictures of this episode - I squared off against the Russian soldiers from the other car with an English guy and an Irish guy from my train car, and we had a friendly snow battle until it was time for the train to pull away.


The scenery the next morning on the way down to Ulan Bator was beautiful.


Sunrise.


Obligatory train travel picture.


A frozen lake.


Arrival at the Russian border exit point. We stayed here for about six hours while the Russian agents were busy not checking anything. During that time our train was rearranged.


Here's our big red train car sitting all by itself. The direct service from Irkutsk to Ulan Bator consists of this single car. A Russian train pulls it down to the border, a different train pulls it across the border, and a third hauls it along to Ulan Bator.


Like I said, we hung around here for about six hours...


Ulan Bator! This Buddhist monk is making his way up to the temple at the top of the hill.


Spinning the drums like faithful Buddhists.


Some people were feeding the birds.


Work, work, work.


I found breakfast! This was a good morning, courtesy of California restaurant, Ulan Bator. I don't know what was in the mug, but it said Starbucks.


The burned out communist party building in Ulan Bator, left over from the July 1st riots.


The next bunch of pictures, beginning with this one, is from six days in the Mongolian countryside.


Sunset, moonrise, middle of nowhere.


Some buddhist monks at a monastery blowing their conch shells. I got to experiment with one. It's like playing a trumpet, sort of.


A good, icy kind of canyon.


Move, sheep, get out the way.


No comment necessary.


Steve and the van.


A Mongolian guy doing horsey things.


Sunset over a frozen lake.


Another moonrise, and another freezing cold outhouse. I love being a guy.


The frozen lake.


A yak! It may not smell good kid, but it'll keep you warm.


Warming my frozen toes by the stove. Laura's toes made it into the picture as well.


Afternoon nap, Mongolian style.


Me, decked out in horseriding gear. You probably can't see the icicles in my mustache. I assure you, they were there.


Our Mongolian driver, Gamba, and the open road.


Mountains, clouds, fields...


Steve surveys the horizon. It's like the Oregon Trail or something.


Home for the evening.


There were sheep and goats milling around.




Sunset.


Sunrise.


There it is.


Moonset the same morning.


Gamba tests the ice to figure out the depth of the river.


This is why the depth of the river was important.


A flat tire, promptly repaired.


Out of Mongolia! Here we are at the Chinese border crossing. The rail gauges between Russia/Mongolia and China are different, so they pull the trains into a warehouse, lift each of the cars up on those pneumatic lifts, and slide a new set of wheels under each.


The Summer Palace, Beijing. The next bunch are all from there.









It was beautiful.


A lady was writing on the ground with water.


The Forbidden City from a hilltop in Beijing.




The Forbidden city and the surrounding moat.


Recyclables need not apply.


The Bird's Nest. A little but surreal, actually. The whole Olympic Park didn't seem to fit in with anything. It was like it fell out of the sky onto the city or something. Very impressive nonetheless.




The great wall at Mutianyu.


Delicious street food in Beijing.


The Chinese version of candied apples. I love what they put on sticks.


A crowded street during the evening. Always something going on.


Waiting for the subway in Beijing with Laura.


Arrival in Qufu! That's where I am now. It was very foggy.

I will provide some kind of written content in the near future.