Way to Russia Talk Lounge

BenPaul

I am hoping someone can give me some advice. I am 23 years old and living in Shanghai and finishing up a job here in about 3 weeks. I think it would be really cool to travel the trans siberian railway. I will be doing this alone and speak no Russian and limited Chinese.
I am wondering how practical it would be to simply go to Beijing from Shanghai (after obtaining russian and mogolian visas) and buy a ticket to Ulan Bataar for a few days later. I would like to stop in Ulan Bataar and Irkutsk on my way to Moscow, can I just buy these tickets individually as I go and how much will those cost? I would like to leave in about a months time and Im not the kind of person to have every little detail planned out, I would rather just make the decisions as I go along.
I am planning on returning to Shanghai from Moscow by using the silk road train through Tashkent in central asia. Does anyone know how about how much this trip can be done for, I would like to spend as little as possible while still being relatively comfortable. Mainly I am concerned if it is economically practical and also fun to just buy the tickets as I go along. Will I run into problems? Hope someone can help me out.

gonzock · Lounge Lizard Joined: 17 Feb 2005 Posts: 101

I bet you love challanges. It's not only a problem of money but really a problem of time and visas, specially in the silk road. I would recommend you to do either the silk road or the transmongolian railway. You are still young and will have time enough to do both, if you liked it the first time

BenPaul · Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 7:50 pm Post subject:

I am struggling with that dillema of if I should just do one. The thing is that I have to end up back in Shanghai because I have a flight back to the United states out of that city that I can not change. I figured that it wouldn't make much sense to travel to Moscow through Siberia and come back the same way I came.
I would like to stay in the Moscow and St. Petersburg area for a week or so, would that be enough time to handle the visas through central asia while I am there? The only country I would really be in would be Uzbekistan, I don't think there are any stops in turmenistan or tajikistan so I would only need an entry visa for those countries, is that right?
If i can handle the visas like you said, I would love to do it this way because I wouldn't have to come back the same way and both routes seem so interesting!

gonzock · Lounge Lizard Joined: 17 Feb 2005 Posts: 101

I don't really know how much time would it take to get the visas in Moscow, but I guess that probably more than a week plus I think you wouldn't like to spend all your time there going from one embasy to another. If you have to depart back home from Shanghai you can allways take a flight that probably will cost less money than doing again the train and you will have more time. Also I believe (my opinion) that if you only think about stopping in Irkutsk during the transmongolian, once you are in Moscow probably your idea of taking a train through the silk route with just one stop will change. I think is better to stop during the journies more often so that you enjoy more the trip