The Trans-Siberian Railway

Current location: Tokyo, Japan

The longest railway in the world connects Moscow, and with it, all of Europe, to the Russian Far East and East Asia. While commonly called the "Trans-Siberian", it's actually a network of railroads starting from Moscow and twisting and turning its way east, terminating at Vladivostok, Pyongyang and Beijing. The trip from Moscow to Vladivostok takes about 6 days, should you want to make it in one go. And if you really like trains, and don't get bored easily, you can actually ride a train from Europe all the way down to Singapore. Granted, you need to change trains a few times, but it's still possible.

Like most people, I divided my Trans-Sib trip into two parts. First, Moscow to Irkutsk, where I spent just under two weeks in and around Irkutsk and Lake Baikal, then Irkutsk to Vladivostok.

Both legs took about 4 days, which I think was ideal, not enough to get you really bored, but long enough to make you happy to finally get off.

The train itself provides little entertainment (except maybe some of the not-so-well-maintained toilets), so between the many stops and being yelled at by the provodnitsa, reading and sleeping became my main activities and during those 8 days I finished 4 books and slept 15 hours a day.

People restocking on water, beer, instant noodles and cigarettes
during a stop at, uh, somewhere...

Sunset at Omsk. (At least I think it was Omsk...)

3rd class is the only way to travel on the train.

Day setup.

The samovar provides hot water for your tea and instant noodles.