I did that trip a couple of years ago. My account is on my blog at carolkiecker.wordpress.com. It was a great trip----I enjoyed it a lot. The Siberian cities that I stopped over in (about 9, I think) were much more interesting and beautiful than I anticipated.
Our system tries to give results which are most relevant in terms of text content and general subject basis, and it does this by allocating a score to each post, and then displaying them in descending order of relevance.
2
_bittenbythebug
Hello karwengng78,
Last Summer I've kind of done the same trip. I've flown to Beijing, then took the train to Ulaanbaatar. First, I did a 5-day trip to the Gobi desert, then I stayed in Ulaanbaatar for 2 days during the Naadam festival, then I went to Terelj national park for another days, and then I've spent another 9 days in the north of Mongolia, before continuing my trip on the trans-siberian towards Sint-Petersburg.
I've flewn to Beijing, because flying to Ulaanbaatar was too expensive actually.
I'm currently publishing articles and pictures about this trip. Maybe you want to check out my website www.bittenbythebug.be <snip>
Don't hesitate if you have more questions ;)
ollusc_the_mollusc
So I've applied for my Fan ID and from what I've read online the terms for the visa are as follows:
The foreign citizens who come to the Russian Federation as the 2018 FIFA World Cup matches spectators can use their FAN IDs for multiple visa-free entry and exit the Russian Federation upon presentation of recognized as such by the Russian Federation valid identity documents during the period that starts ten days before the date of the first match and ends ten days after the date of the last 2018 FIFA World Cup.
I believe this means that from 4th June to the 25th July I can enter and exit Russia as I wish so long as i have my Fan ID? I was hoping to get to Russia a little earlier than that by making my way across on the trans-Siberian railway from Beijing. This would require a 30 day tourist visa. These normally require a bunch of things including entry & exit dates, an itinerary, booking confirmations with your hotels along the way etc...
Would it be possible/difficult to obtain a tourist visa beforehand (without an exit date) and then using the Fan ID from the 4th June onward?
FYI I am Australian.
talhajat1
Hi guys, my name is Talha, I am currently planning one of the biggest trips of my life, the plan is to fly to London from Toronto, Canada and then from London take buses to Moscow and from Moscow take the trans Siberian railway to Beijing. My plan in Beijing is to go to Kashgar, China and from Kashgar I wish to enter Pakistan and onwards to India. This is the rough plan as I still have lots of planning to do. My question is that I have heard xianxjang is considered dangerous and often now looked upon as bad on Visa applications. I have heard Chinese visa can be denied if I state I am going to these places in China. The question is how can I avoid to put this place on my visa application, beacuse I will literally have no ticket out of China, I will be heading towards Pakistan and eventually flying out from India to my final destination. Can please somebody advise me, thanks
5
manchurianexile
To be pedantic: if you are on the Trans-Siberian, you won't be coming in from Mongolia as the Trans-Siberian goes via Vladivostok. The Trans-Mongolian goes via Mongolia (There's a clue there somewhere).
As I recall; the last time I took the Trans-Mongolian it only stopped at the border crossing (Erenhot) and Datong before it got to Beijing and I'm not overly sure that passengers from Mongolian were allowed to disembark at either (Maybe. Not sure) so that might limit your choices a bit.
fish123
wheres the best site to look at for info on getting info on budget travel on trans siberian moscow to vladivostock then by boat to sakaiminato japan most sites want to take you on their tour at an expensive price i could use a little help though on how to do it from others that have been on this trip ive found the boat times to japan but could do with an agency to arrange the visa ect and get me a ticket in moscow thanks
1
thetripgoeson.com
Hi,
I've heard good things about RealRussia (they are affiliated with the Russian railway so should mean a half decent price). I haven't used them myself though as I just purchased my Trans-Siberian tickets from the station in Moscow. You can check the website here: http://realrussia.co.uk/Trains/Tickets
Best wishes,
Steve
628
Laszlo
In Kirishima-Yaku, I met a Japanese girl using the Lp Hiking in Japan guide. She said it was better than the Japanese books.
I saw yellow-throated marten and Siberian weasel on the trails in Taiwan but not in Korea. I was in Korea in spring when it was very lush, probably making wildlife harder to spot, or less likely to look for food near the trails.
A memorable wildlife sighting in Japan were deer standing in the water of a crater lake, grazing on water plants.
The Kurils aren't really disputed, are they?
Both countries claim them as their own, but the Russians have them and the international community sides with them. I recall Japanese maps wishfully showing the southern Kurils as theirs though. Hard to see how the 2 claims could be reconciled.
"Only" grizzlies?
What else would you need to worry about - polar bears? It was Russians who told me the bears there were dangerous and guns needed to be carried, this being a reason not to hike solo there. It has dampened my enthusiasm for Kamchatka quite a bit. Being eaten alive by a bear, as they often seem to do it, must be a rather gruesome way to go.
Given that you could learn Japanese, scripts and all, in just a few months, Russian shouldn't be a huge obstacle for you.
Bradt guides by Philip Briggs to African countries had/have? all the practical info plus money-saving tips any backpacker could want. He kept including actual accommodation rates even after the publisher switched to mere price-range symbols in all their other guides. I love his writing style, too. But many other Bradt guides were thoroughly disappointing. I actually have the 1st edition of their Nigeria guide and found it somewhere in-between for quality. Of course as you say, just having a guide to Nigeria alone is already quite something. I also found it refreshingly honest, compared it Lp's "It's all wonderful!!!" style: I recall it saying that Nigeria is full of garbage, the historical relics are uncared for, the environment in ruins, and you might spot a dead body just outside your 5 star hotel in Lagos... or something along those lines.
I did actually use Briggs' guides to Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi and Mozambique, and found all but the last one excellent. I also used the Eritrea Bradt guide by another author which was awful, and their Oman guide that was OK for sights but totally useless for practical info. And their Albania guide which was OK.
Their Hungary guide was just the best ever written to the country by a foreigner - it is no longer in print as it was too detailed to pay for itself, apparently.
P_ster
Hello there,
As the title explains i just started planning a trip for 2018-19 from Eastern Europe to SE Asia and can't really decide what would be the best time of year to start. It's really soon so I can't provide all the necessary info but a rough itinerary would be like that :
1. Poland + Baltic (1 month)
2. Russia (1 month)
3. Mongolia (2 weeks)
4. Beijing, Shanghai (2 weeks)
5. Philippines-Indonesia-Malaysia (2 months)
6. Cambodia (2 weeks)
7. Vietnam (1 month)
8. Laos (2 weeks)
9. Finally if my budget is ok for that im going to try a Himalayan trek in Nepal. If not I will spend some beach days in Thailand and back to Europe.
So the tricky question is when to start. An important part of this trip for me is definitely visiting Siberia. Most people do the trans mongolian in summer but I would love to experience the unique beauty of this place during winter, plus this would fit perfectly for SE Asia (I will be there Dec-March). My question is if it's possible to visit siberian nature (besides major cities) around Nov-Dec. Same question goes for Mongolia. Another thought is to do the trip in opossite way ( starting around Dec from SE Asia and visit Mongolia-Siberia around April) but to be honest winter in Siberia is something I really want to experience if it's possible plus if I will manage to fund also my Himalayan trek this has to be done around May so it fits better to my original itinerary. That's it for now... any info, question or suggestion is really welcomed !