The Amazing Race: China to Russia

The Amazing Race begins...

As the biking came to a close, I would soon find myself in a new type of transportation struggle....I was only supposed to stay in western China for 1 extra night, but thanks to a little flight mishap I ended up with 2 and a whole lot of Amazing Race-type excitement. Lucky for me, John missed the same flight - otherwise I would have been completely stranded with no means of communication. He was my savior, and I was totally dependent on him for the next day - for which I owe him big time!

After spending hours with a dozen customer service agents, I finally managed to secure a route to Moscow that would give me a 3 hour window to catch my first train. I'd be flying to Shanghai first, and then to Moscow 2 days later. I was sorry to miss Moscow, but happy to get a chance to see Shanghai.

Time Travel to Shanghai

After a week in western China, out on empty desert roads, arriving in Shanghai was a bit of a shock. It was a relief to be back in location where I could get by on my own. I arrived at night and took a cab downtown to my hotel, driving through an amazing array of neon lights. It was a weekend, and crowds of people had come into town to see the Expo. So after a blissful week of thoroughly enjoying the openness and emptiness of the desert, it was definitely time to switch gears. Screaming modernity, sweltering heat, overwhelming crowds.

But don't get me wrong - I was shell shocked - but I loved Shanghai. It has so many elements that thrill me about a major city - it has a river running through it, a variety of cultural influences, stunning architecture, and delicious eats. And it was great to get a chance to spend more time with my newly acquired friends who live in Shanghai.

Death Cab to the Train!

I took the Maglev, the high speed train, to the airport, making sure to arrive early to avoid missing any more flights. Everything seemed to be going as planned and my flight was on time, but then I hit the immigration line, and that's where the trouble picked up again. 'Line' is really a misnomer, as it was a complete mob and I spent the next 2 hours pressed up against people on all sides, inching my way forward. When I finally got through, I met my panicked traveling companion, Lonnie, who I hadn't seen since we did Fulbright in Korea 6 years ago. But there'd be plenty of time to catch up on the 100+ hours of train we had ahead of us. For now, it was time to make a mad dash to the train station. While Lonnie and I were talking plan B, our techno-blasting cab driver still had faith. He took us on a truly terrifying ride, weaving through traffic, veering on and off the shoulder. But when we arrived, we were still 15 minutes short.

We ended up getting our money's worth out of the overpriced pirate taxi by recruiting the driver to be our negotiator for the next hour. It was extremely confusing, especially when the train ticket teller and the driver started screaming at each other, but in the end, Lonnie and I had our tickets for the next train - a local Vladivostok bound train. The original plan had been to take an express train to Irkutsk, where we'd have the day to go see Lake Baikal. But with the slower local train, we'd just be making it to Irkutsk in time to make our 2nd train to Mongolia. So basically, we'd be facing around 110 hours of nearly uninterrupted train travel.

Train #1: Moscow - Irkutsk (~80 hours)

You might say we were lucky to have gotten a 2 person cabin, but let me tell you, it's not for the claustrophobic. There were 2 berths, stack like bunks and a pretty narrow space alongside to climb in and out.

Things were definitely a little confusing starting out. Our room was right next to the conductor's station, so people kept trying to open our door, looking for the conductor. I was also unsure of which stops we could get off the train for - and at first had to rely on this conspicuous red-headed woman as my cue. But eventually, we got the hang of things, and the sympathy of the conductor to help us figure things out (like no using the toilet around the stations).

Sharon's Picks

It would be maddening to try and recount each day, so I'll just leave you with my 3 favorite things about this train:

1) Drunk Russians

It's no joke. These old guys would be drinking vodka in the dining car at breakfast. And being very friendly and hospitable, they of course wanted us to join in. Luckily for me, Lonnie is a teetotaler, so things didn't get too out of hand. But there were several funny moments of trying to make conversation with very limited common language abilities. There were hardly an other foreigners on our train (they probably all made the express one we were supposed to be on), so there was a sort of fascination about us. Of course our range of understanding was limited, but instead we got along on a genuine feeling of camaraderie, finding common ground in showing family photos and just having a good time. One of the guys, in quite an intoxicated state, was having Lonnie, who lives in Japan, call up the man's daughter to exchange a few Japanese lines and talk about her favorite anime characters.

2) The Dining Car

It was the perfect meeting place on the train. Several dated floral patterns strewn together, plastic table coverings, a frumpy waitress, and a random balloon in the corner. To eat, your safest bet was one of the soups, but I soon grew fond of the salad options - a bowl of mayonnaise with some frozen chicken and cucumbers. At first the frost on the chicken made me a little nervous, but it was refreshing. This was the place to go to get away from your little berth, people watch, eat something besides bombshelter-type food products, and have some run ins with the previously mentioned drunk russians.

3) Morning Light

My favorite part of the days were waking up to the morning light. Iespecially like waking up early when I don't have anything to do, and can just enjoy the calmness of the morning. And the morning light falling on the newly turned fall colors was really a beautiful effect. I would sit by the window with my notebook, and watch the small towns, meadows, and cemeteries fly by. And when the sun went down, life on the train settled down, save for those few pockets of extra strength vodka drinkers, but for the most part, we tucked in for the night and waited for the next dawn.