Trans-Siberian : Ulaan Batar to Beijing We somehow managed to not find our tour guide on the morning we were supposed to leave UB, so we headed to the train station on our own. Luckily, there was a driver to take us so it wasn’t a problem at all. We jumped on the train, ignored which beds our tickets said we were supposed to sleep in and arranged ourselves in the same groups we had been in on previous train trips (4 people to a berth). We settled in...

We left St. Pete's late Wednesday night.  We took the night train into Moscow and fortunately we were bunked with a very nice Aussie couple from our train tour.  The train ride took 8 hours and we were in Moscow by 8 am.  After getting checked into our  hotel, we set off into the city.  Naturally our first stop was to see Lenin in Red Square!  We had to drop all of our bags and electronics (no photos are allowed) and queue up for...

More about the Trans-Siberian… We tried to get stocked up on some food before we boarded the train in moscow. We had no idea how much food wewould need, as we heard that we’d be able to buy fresh-made stuff on the platforms. Sure enough, we had more than enough food (and Joel and I were the ones who had bought the least amount of stuff!). The babushkas (grandmothers) kept us well stocked along the way. I think the best thing that we brought with u...

Can you believe that we're in Russia?! Neither can we, really...After a nerve-wracking plane ride of not knowing what to expect, we landed in Saint Petersburg to be greeted by rain. No problems with passport control or customs, luckily! The toughest part was filling in the arrival card, that's completely in cyrillic. But we managed okay.We took a bus towards the metro line but got off one stop too soon. It turned out okay thugh because we jumped out of th...

Can you believe that we're in Russia?! Neither can we, really...After a nerve-wracking plane ride of not knowing what to expect, we landed in Saint Petersburg to be greeted by rain. No problems with passport control or customs, luckily! The toughest part was filling in the arrival card, that's completely in cyrillic. But we managed okay.We took a bus towards the metro line but got off one stop too soon. It turned out okay thugh because we jumped out of th...