Based on a tip we got from the internet for the Trans-Mongolian journey, we decided to take a train to Ulan Ude, Russia and then bus to Mongolia rather than take the train. The train is a 24-hour ride, whereas the bus allows you to get a good night sleep in Ulan Ude and then a 12-hour bus ride, and costs about 1/4 of the cost of the train. Despite this tip, Ulan Ude is worth the stop to see the Ulan Ude Lenin Statue, or more specifically the LARGEST LENIN HEAD IN THE WORLD!
We met a couple of Swiss men that were sharing our 2nd class train cabin from Irkutsk to Ulan Ude. It was a scenic ride past the southern end of Lake Baikal.
We hung out with the Swiss guys for the afternoon in UU. We saw the largest Lenin head in the world and had beers at the Irish pub and dinner of dumplings at a local diner. UU was really a nice stop – felt like Europe and Asia alike.
The best place to stay in Ulan Ude is the Ulan Ude Traveler’s Rest Hostel (Check Rates and Availability). Not only is it cheap and clean, it’s incredibly close to everything… we walked to the bus to Mongolia and the train station is within walking distance too. All the major sites of Ulan Ude were just a short walk away.
For the next leg of the TransMongolian trip, we decided to take the bus to Mongolia.
Irkutsk Lake Baikal is the “Paris of Siberia” and a great stopover on the Trans Siberian Railway. The flowers and churches were great.
There were lots of old wooden buildings.
We went to the local market for fresh fruit.
Edna and I had arranged for a car tour to Lake Baikal and Listvanyka town and two gentlemen joined us. The weather wasn’t great for seeing the lake but we did lots of stuff on our tour – visited the wooden architecture museum,
climbed a hill to a view,
visited a funky garden,
had lunch of the local fish,
visited a market, and relaxed on the shore of the largest and deepest body of fresh water in the world.
The Trans-Siberian is a “bucket list” item for many and it’s possible for trans-siberian railway independent travel.
We survived about 2/3 of the Trans-Siberian express from Moscow to Irkutsk. Our train ride was 80 hours – 4 nights and 3 full days. We were in the 3rd class or “platzkartney” This means there are 52 berths in one car with no doors and no privacy. Also in the car are two toilets, the attendant’s room where you can buy snacks and drinks, and the samovar (hot, hot water 24 hours a day).
Purchasing Tickets and Cost
We bought the train tickets from a UK-based broker. We paid about a 30% upcharge but this wasn’t a huge deal because we had very specific dates we wanted to travel (advice on the internet was that travel in July/August is always sold out the day the tickets go on sale), and the tickets weren’t all that expensive in the first place. We chose 3rd class which was about 1/2 the price of 2nd class, and 1/4 the price of 1st class. And this was $1,000s cheaper than the cheapest “Trans-Mongolia” tour offered by the different travel companies. Their 21-day trips started at $4,000 land only (would have been at least $6000 with flights and visas) and my entire 30-day trip, including lodging, food, tours, airfare to and from the US, and visas was around $2,600.
Platzkarney Class
The platzkarney car was full of bunk beds. My travel companion and I had a top and lower bunk stacked on each other. The lower bunk lifted and had storage underneath – large enough that we could store both of our large backpacks under and lock them when we were gone. In the day, the lower bunk would be our seats.
Many Days on the Train
The first full day on the train was tough – it got up to 90 degrees on the train! Combine that with 4 days of no showers and you can image how much fun we had. Let’s just say we were very stinky by the time we got to Irkutsk. Something we discovered on day two we wish we had discovered earlier – the café car had air conditioning and wasn’t very crowded due to their high prices. We should have wiled away the first day drinking overpriced beers.
The train kept very much on schedule. We stopped at all hours of the day and night – as short as 3 minutes and as long as 50 minutes in the larger towns. On the longer stops, everyone would get off the train and get fresh air and buy goodies at the stations. We would search out other tourists at the stops and found only about 8 other tourists on our train of over 20 cars. No western tour groups appeared to be out our train.
I highly recommend getting a guidebook so you can know more about the stops.
Pictures of various train stations across Russia:
The views from the train were OK, not spectacular. There were lots of little Siberian villages with wooden buildings and nice gardens.
We took the first of many hours on the Russian trains from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The trip was only 8 hours overnight and was quite comfortable and then we only had a day in Moscow before making our way further east on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
We spend the day doing our own walking tour of Moscow. We walked around the downtown to see lots of Orthodox churches and theaters.
Red Square
Then onto Red Square. Red Square is flanked on all sides by the Kremlin and Lenin’s tomb on the west, St Basil’s Cathedral on the south, GUM department store on the east, and an opera house on the north.
St Basil’s is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.
GUM department store
We had lunch in a cafeteria in the very posh GUM department store. This will be our best meal in Russia – Borscht and great salads.
Behind the Kremlin was some interesting military sites and gardens.
Don’t Have a Cow
Language limits our abilities to befriend or talk to Russian people. One thing that has happened to me a couple times in Russia is a middle-aged woman comes up and starts yelling at me in Russian. I have no clue what they’re saying. I’ve never experienced something like this before, but that’s the kind of thing you might experience on a day in Moscow.
2 Days in St. Petersburg is just enough time to get a good taste of the city. Ideally there would be time for more, but on this trip I had many days on the Transsiberain railway on my way to Mongolia and China and only a month to do it.
Amazing Architecture
Driving into and walking around St Pete’s was amazing…every building is the most regal, palace-like building I’ve ever seen. It’s great to walk around town and soak up all the great architecture.
The Hermitage
The Hermitage meets its reputation as one of the best art museums in the world. They like to share the fact that if you spend 1 minute looking at each piece of art, it will take you 8 years to complete your visit. Luckily, it just took us most of a day.
The outside of the massive Hermitage museum
St. Petersburg Fleet Week
It was fleet week in St Pete’s so we enjoyed the sights and sounds of sailors about the city.
Church on the Spilled Blood
On day two we visited the stunningly beautiful Church on the Spilled Blood. This place is busy so get there early.
Had a beautiful flight over Iceland to land in Helsinki. Followed by a Long Layover in Helsinki before catching my overnight bus to St. Petersburg, Russia.
Met Jakko, a guy I met in Cali, Colombia.
It was cool to check out the art deco buildings in Helsinki.
Tonight, I will take an overnight bus to St Petersburg, Russia
Cali Festival Colombia is one of the worlds’ great festivals and it’s not on the typical traveler’s radar. As a traveler, I was treated like a celebrity!
Cali would be my last stop in Colombia. I had planned it this way so I could spend 5 days in the city to attend the annual Salsa dancing festival that falls between Christmas and New Year’s each year. I checked into Iguana Hostel and was unsure how I would do in the board flat and hard bed with the bad back I got in Salento.
It was Christmas Eve Day and I walked around town for a little bit and had a fruit & cheese dish for lunch.
Christmas Eve in Cali
There were several guys staying in the hostel – one from Seattle and brothers from Finland. There were no big plans for Christmas Eve at our hostel, but we discovered another hostel down the street that was putting on a huge Christmas dinner. We paid a few dollars for this amazing meal of Chicken, Steak, and all the trimmings. Later, a big group went out to the dance clubs in the main nightlife strip in town. It was a great way to spend Christmas sans family – only the second time in my life I was away from family.
Christmas Day Parade
Part of this festival were daily parades. On Christmas day, I invited a guy from the hostel to join me and we went to the parade. As tourists, some organizers of the parade sought us out and we got preferential seating in bleachers. This parade was amazing… amazing costumes, dancers, and bands.
The parade lasted until well after dark. After the parade, we headed over to a local stadium for a free concert.
Dancing in the Park
On the day after Christmas, I didn’t have much planned so I decided to head to the mall. My flip flops had broken so I was looking for some new ones. As I was walking to the mall, I walked by a park where they were setting up a stage. At the mall, I had some good snack foods and bought a pair of Havianas – the Brazilian brand of flip flops – you must get these in the posh stores in the US, but in Colombia they are sold at the big box store. I headed back to the park and entered for free. There were several vendors who were selling CDs and vinyl records…all the famous salsa singers of the past. Near the stage, there was a dance floor. I grabbed a seat on the edge of the dance floor to watch some of the Cali old timer’s salsa dancing to the live bands. In talking to some locals, I found out there were certainly local celebrities amongst our midst. One of the dancers was a guy that was the Colombian national salsa champion in the 1970’s. One of the bands was a famous salsa singer from Miami. I danced a little and had a couple beers with the locals. I stayed until a little after dark but didn’t want to stay too late as I didn’t have money left for taxi fare and didn’t want to walk home too late.
Salsa Competition
On the next day, there was a salsa competition at the amphitheater at a local park. I spoke with some other tourists about what a great time I had had at the park on the previous day. Some people from the nearby hostel joined me and we watched the solo and group dancers that ranged from ages about 4 to 80.
Later that night, we drank some Colombian “fire water” a licorice flavored drink and headed out for some dancing.
More Parades
On my last day in Cali, I decided to attend another parade. In today’s parade, there were much more politically themed floats – characters with big paper Mache heads.
After the parade, we headed back to the amphitheater in the park to walk a special expedition of African dancers.
Traveling in Colombia was one of my most challenging trips ever – not because it’s particularly difficult to travel through Colombia or safety concerns – actually, it was quite easy and safe to get around, considering I could speak a decent amount of Spanish. It was my injuries that didn’t help – heat sores, bad back, home sickness. I’m glad I stuck it out and continued to Park Nevados, Salento, and Cali despite my desire to go home. I can’t say enough great things about the festival in Cali – every event I attended was great and free! I also wish I would have spent more time in Tayrona national park…it would have been good to bring snorkeling gear and spend a day swimming in the Caribbean.
Salento Colombia is a quaint little touristy town. I had e-mailed ahead a reservation to the one hostel listed in the Lonely Planet. My 3 friends from the bus also tried this hostel but it turned out it was completely full due to the upcoming Christmas holiday. Colombians and tourists alike commonly travel over this holiday. They went into town to find a place as I stayed at the hostel. That turned out to be a poor decision, as the poor beds at the hostel hurt my back very bad over the next couple nights. Salento was very charming. I hiked up a hill for the most amazing view of the valley. I met the group from the bus later that night for dinner.
The next morning, I woke up in a lot of pain. The bed had a low spot in the middle. I asked the lady at the hostel if I could switch beds for the next night and she granted my request. I pushed through the pain and walked to the town square to catch a jeep taxi to the Cocora Valley.
We traveled over rough, muddy roads to get to the entrance to this canyon. There were several hikes through the canyon, but the main attraction here were the wax palms, the highest, most unusual palm trees which are only found in a few places in the world. These trees towered above, as I hiked up the valley.
At some point, I got to the junction of some not very well marked trails. The trail was muddy by this point, so I decided to turn around and hike back to the taxi point. Back in town, I went to one of the restaurants on the square. This was one of the best meals I ever had. It was a whole trout on aluminum foil, cut open and covered in a mushroom sauce, and baked. This came with a so called “Super Patacon” which is mashed plantain, spread very thin, and deep friend. Super it was – this thing had to be at least 12 inches in diameter.
This town is also very famous for its “Trucha”, or trout. Even the garbage receptacles in town are shaped like the fish.
After dinner, I stopped at a cute bar with a western theme.
Switching to another bed in the hostel did not help. Instead of having a low spot in the middle, this bed had a high spot in the middle. On Christmas eve morning, I was thanking God it wasn’t an upper bunk, because I was so sore I had to roll out of bed onto the floor. I laid on the floor as I packed my backpack, with tears streaming down my face from the pain. After my pack was full, it took me several minutes to get from lying to standing position. I asked a girl in the room to put my pack on my back, because there was no way for me to pick up the heavy pack and get it on my back. As I walked towards town, the weight of the pack was making my back feel looser, but I was still in pain as I boarded the bus. Luckily, there was one empty seat in the bus…in the back seat. I had to brace myself for every bump in the road. The locals were staring at the tearful tourist and all I could say is “Tengo dolor en mi espalda” or “I have pain in my back.” After a short wait in the town of Armenia, I caught a bus to Cali for the annual salsa festival.
Manizales Colombia is located in the center of Colombia, in what’s known as the Coffee Region. I stayed in a nice hostel in the city and got a private room. I hadn’t been feeling very well. I had sores on my feet from the heat of the coast and small cuts on my hands were not healing and I felt very sleepy. Despite this, I made a full day trip to Los Nevados national park, hiking to the snow line on the mountain, followed by lunch and a dip in a hot spring.
The sites along the drive were amazing, from the semi-tropical coffee farms to the desert tundra at the top of the mountain.
The next morning, I made a trip to the local hospital where I was prescribed some cream for my feet and antibiotic pills. Anti-biotics were previously over the counter in Colombia, but there had recently been more US-like restrictions on drug availability, adding to the costs. Never-the-less, the trip to the doctor and medicine cost less than $50. After the doctor, I caught the bus to Filadelphia, and an even smaller bus to Salento. There were 3 other tourists on this bus – another woman traveling solo and two guys traveling together. We had a great time on the bus.
I was feeling homesick by the time I got to Bogota Colombia. The heat of the coast had worn me down. I was missing my boyfriend back home. So, I decided to see some sites in Bogota and possibly see if I could fly home early. I found plenty of things to do in Bogota. Here’s what to do in Bogota Colombia:
Cerro de Monserrate view point
You can take the cable car up the mountain for the best view in the city. This was one of my favorite things to do in Bogota.
Plaza de Bolivar
The Plaza de Bolivar is a great place for people watching. At Christmas time, they erect a huge Christmas tree. My hostel was very near the Plaza, a very convenient place to stay.
Playing Tejo
The hostel took us out to play a local sport that involved tossing stones at gun-powder laced wet clay targets. It was a lot of fun – a blast literally and figuratively!
Day Trip – Take the tourist train from Bogota to the Salt Cathedral
This train sounded so much fun, a steam train that only runs on weekends. Interestingly enough, I was the only foreigner on this train…the rest were Colombians enjoying the weekend. It was a fun trip. There was a band on the train that moved from car to car to play some songs.
The Colombian Gold Museum
This museum has more than gold. I’ve never seen so much gold, some very interesting pieces. It’s well worth a visit to this Museum.
Guavita is a crater lake that is legendarily the location of El Dorado, or the lost city of gold. It’s possible to combine this with a trip to the Salt Cathedral. We hiked up to the crater rim, inviting our driver to come with us. He had driven here several times but never had had a chance to see the lake himself.
Guavita crater lake
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