From Moscow to Beijing: life on the Transsiberian train

Almost 127 hours, that’s how much time I spent on trains travelling from Moscow to Beijing. But what does life on the Transsiberian train consist of? Let me break down an average journey for you.

The ticket

Everything starts with the ticket! I pre-booked all of mine with RealRussia and printed them out before leaving. The ticket tells you the carriage number and the number of your berth. You need this information to know where exactly you should enter the train, after showing your passport and ticket to the carriage attendant standing on the platform. Because yes, each carriage has its own attendant, responsible for all matters in there during the journey.

Other essential information on the ticket is the numberof the train, and its departure and arrival time. But beware: all the schedules on the ticket and in the railway stations are mentioned in Moscow time, even if you’re travelling in a different time zone! So for example when I travelled from Yekaterinburg to Novosibirsk, the ticket mentioned 16:11 arrival time, although the train arrived at 20:11 local time. It was even more tricky since my watch was still on Yekaterinburg time, which was 18:11… Well, as long as you can remember what time it will be on your watch when the train reaches your stop, everything is fine!

The platform in Kazan railway station

The compartment

I travelled in 2nd class, except for the three-hour evening ride from Vladimir to Nizhny Novgorod, when I had my only 3rd class experience. The bunk beds are lined up one after the other there. In 2nd class however, the carriage is divided into compartments containing four berths each: two upper and two lower beds. I preferred the lower ones: more space, no climbing up and down, and full access to the view from the window.

Luggage goes under the seat, which can be lifted up to access the storage space. If you stay in one of the upper beds, you can use the space behind it, above the compartment door.

As for the sleeping facilities, expect more luxury than a travel pillow and a sleeping bag: clean sheets, a blanket, a pillow and even a towel were provided!

My personal space for one night

The bathroom

There is one at each end of the carriage. Well, to be honest, it really is just a toilet and a sink, but it’s sufficient to perform some basic personal hygiene before having another shower at your next destination.

The restaurant carriage

One of the carriages on the train is a restaurant. Don’t expect the full menu to be available though, even if you can get a look at a long list of dishes. Well, at least that’s how it went the one time I had lunch in the restaurant carriage with my compartment mate. The cook even dragged us to her kitchen to show us what she was making, and we pointed at some cooking pots to order our respective meals.

The Russian restaurant carriage

On the journey from Ulan Bator to the Chinese border, the Russian restaurant carriage had been replaced by a Mongolian one, which is magnificently decorated with wooden carvings.

The Mongolian restaurant carriage

What to do

The Russians love drinking tea on the train. I happily joined them in that activity, so when I wasn’t already offered it, I would go and fill up my cup with hot water at the samowar. This is a curious engine at one end of the carriage, that somehow filters the humidity out of the outside air to transform it into hot water.

I spent a lot of time socializing with the women in my compartment – I say women, because the compartments were gender-determined in Russia (not on the journey to Ulan Bator, where I shared the compartment with an Australian tourist, nor on the journey to Beijing, where an elder couple and their Russian tour guide were my co-travellers).

And when I was not chatting or drinking tea, I would be reading (bless the invention of the e-reader!), listening to music, eating (I always made sure to stock up on food before getting on the train), watching the scenery from the window, sleeping.. Oh yes, I slept a lot especially when I did not have to get off the train early in the morning. Train life made me lazy as hell. But that was fine, I was definitely not the only one!