Thorn Tree travel forum

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1. Try reading this thread: New Russia Train Thread.

In China you can only buy train tickets for trains in China or trains that go from China to the next country in which you intend to stop. So, in China you can buy a ticket from Beijing to Ulan Bator. That said, tickets for this particular train are VERY difficult to obtain last minute at the ticket office. Most, if not all the tickets are purchased by travel agencies. This train ONLY operates once or twice a week depending upon the time of year. I do NOT recommend that people try to buy this ticket themselves. I do recommend that they contact a travel agency in Beijing.

When you decide when you want to leave China for Mongolia, try contacting Richard Tian, whose email is oceantravelcn@yahoo.com.cn or richards@public3.bta.net.cn. Reportedly he is quite reliable about obtaining the tickets at a fair price and delivering them during the day to your hostel or hotel in Beijing. Be sure to add him to your address book so that your spam filter does not "Eat" his response.

In Mongolia you can only buy tickets for trains in Mongolia or for trains that go from Mongolia to the next country in which you intend to stop. So, in Mongolia you can buy a ticket from Ulan Bator to your first stop in Russia. Since there are daily trains from UB to Russia, generally speaking this is not difficult UNLESS you plan to travel immediately after the Nadaam Festival in July (festival is July 11-13 and trains are often booked for a week afterwards).

Once in Russia, if you are flexible about which train you take, when you travel, class of travel and where you stop, you should have no trouble getting tickets.

Neither Omsk nor Perm are considered common places to stop on the route from Beijing to Moscow. Neither is particularly interesting.

2. The Russian embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia ALWAYS receives the highest marks for the friendliness and efficiency of the consular officer there. To the best of my knowledge there is NO Russian consulate in Chiang Mai, Luang Prabang, Chengdu, Lhasa.

Please take a look at the New Russia Sticky and my website for more details about Russian visas.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

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GETTING TRAINTICKET IN BEIJING FOR ULAAN BAATOR
Hi there. We just went throu today. So here an update for getting the ticket:
- Go to the BEIJING INTERNATIONL HOTEL (short walk north of Beijing main trainstation). On the first floor is an official office whom sells international Traintickets for the normal tarif.
- Then walk to the Mongolian Embassy and get the visa. Depending on the departure either normal (1 week) or express (next day ready)
Chears and enjoy travelling

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francis and rick
on a trip ;-)
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check our site: http://www.webbased.ch/
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Ruth seems to be the only one singing the praises of Richard Tian so far, so I'll put my bit in too.
I've just picked up my Beijing - UB ticket which I booked from Australia. All too easy and for the normal price too so far as I can tell, US$95.
A couple of emails, and just dont try to organise anything over Chinese New Year the chinese have holidays too, and all I had to do was find the office.

Tuk tuk, scooter,mountain pony, elephant, dogsled, songthaew or longboat........I dont care............ just as long as I'm on the move

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Hey hey,

thanks for all the good information. We appreciate it.

What we decided to do:

1. For the traintickets: we will contact Richard Tian, once we are in China.

2. For the Russian visa: Shangai is not on our route, so the only option is to obtain our visa in Cambodja.
That's like ten months before we arrive in Russia, but we assume that's no problem?
We do not prefer to have a date wich indicates the end of our travel.
But maybe it's a good idea to go home after the Nadaam festival (two or three weeks later). To all good songs comes an end.

Thanks foor the replys.

Even and Bjorn

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Russian visas are DATE SPECIFIC. You can enter on or after the date and must depart on or before the date. Once issued there is no option to change. If the dates are no longer good, then you need to reapply for the visa support and the actual visa.

You may have trouble getting the Russian visa 10 months in advance of entry. Companies may not be willing to issue the necessary support documents and the consulate may not be willing to issue the visa that far in advance of entry. Russian visas can be obtained elsewhere (see my website for details in other countries) but there are NO consulates in China other than Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Shenyang. The first two are good places to get visas. The third is possible but there are reports of people being refused and only a few reports of people being able to get visas there and there are no reports of success in Shenyang which is out of your way anyway.

It is possible to get a Russian visa in Ulan Bator but it takes time and money. The embassy there insists upon original documents which take time to obtain.

I think you may need to rethink your plans.

BTW just how long were you planning to spend in China?

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

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So, Ruth,

we will get trouble getting the Russian visa 10 months in advance?
That's no good news. I wonder why visas exist anyway. Nothing but endless troubles, I hate them, hahahahaha.

We don't know how long we will be travelling in China. We don't even know if we like China since it's our firts time over there. It's an organic way of travelling, you know. Maybe two weeks, maybe three months? If we don't like it, we go to Tibet, or back to Laos, of maybe India if we really are tired of the Chinese. (I presume we get a Chinese visa in Laos for three months?)

About obtaining the Russian visa in UlanBator: I thought it was not recommanded? To difficult, and not certain that our patience will result in a visa? But I do not understand what you mean by original documents. Should we consider to travel all the way to Shangai? Pffffff.

What would you do if you where in our situation?

Friendly regards.

Bjorn

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You can get a Russian visa in Ulan Bator BUT it requires that you have Original documents. These documents are an official invitation and an accommodations voucher. Normally you can get these sent to you via fax or print out an email but in Ulan Bator the embassy officials require original documents from the travel agency and do not accept faxes or printouts.

Because you must wait for the original documents to be delivered from Russia, getting a visa in UB takes about 10-14 business days. If you have that much time to wait, then you can get a visa there and it is not significantly more expensive just time consuming.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.