A Tale of Two Squares, or Throw Lenin from the Train....

This is the first YRC of a three-part series on the recent Moscow to Beijing trip.  There was simply too much material to fit into one column, so with enough filler we hope to stretch it out before we have to do any real work again.

The Adventure Begins:   Pack your noodle cups, a case or two of vodka and a copy of "Das Kapital" because it is time for this week's Yellow River Chronicles, Comrades!! All aboard for the Moscow to Beijing run as we visit the "bookends" of communism!  Budem zdorovy!

As you were forewarned in earlier editions, the staff of the YRC recently gambit-ed a +16,000 kilometer ride from Asia to Europe and back again.  "Why?" we were asked in Moscow by a cab driver (which gives you a shorthand view of the current state of mind in Moscow). Well, Tovarishch, we retorted, to take the famed Trans-Siberian railway!

The BackStory:   After months of research and martini tastings to determine the best way to celebrate a certain staff members' tragic entrance into Senior World, we made the following decision.  We would NOT visit the Vatican to visit the Pope again despite his offer of a really cool birthday party and a game of "Pin the Tail on the Cardinal".


Instead, we went for a new destination, one of the world's Great Journeys, the Trans-Siberian Railway.  For those of you not familiar with the route, here is one of the stalwart YRC FactMoments", courtesy of Wikitopia:

The Trans-Siberian Railway is often associated with the main transcontinental Russian line that connects hundreds of large and small cities of the European and Asian parts of Russia. At 9,259 kilometres (5,753 miles),^[1] spanning a record seven time zones and taking eight days to complete the journey, it is the third-longest single continuous service in the world, after the Moscow–Pyongyang (10,267 km, 6,380 mi)^[2] and the Kiev–Vladivostok (11,085 km, 6,888 mi)^[3] services, both of which also follow the Trans-Siberian for much of their routes.

A second primary route is the Trans-Manchurian, which coincides with the Trans-Siberian as far as Tarskaya (a stop 12 km east of Karymskaya, in Zabaykalsky Krai), about 1,000 km east of Lake Baikal. From Tarskaya the Trans-Manchurian heads southeast, via Harbin and Mudanjiang in China's Northeastern Provinces (from where a connection to Beijing is used by one of Moscow–Beijing trains), joining with the main route in Ussuriysk just north of Vladivostok. This is the shortest and the oldest railway route to Vladivostok.

The third primary route is the Trans-Mongolian Railway, which coincides with the Trans-Siberian as far as Ulan-Ude on Lake Baikal's eastern shore. From Ulan-Ude the Trans-Mongolian heads south to Ulaan-Baatar before making its way southeast to Beijing.

The Journey Starts Here...

Route, Schmooot:   We at the YRC opted for the Trans-Mongolian route, which dives south at Ulan Bator towards Beijing, thus linking the two great Communist countries, the former U.S.S. of R and the current largest communist nation, the P.R. of C.

This would also give us a chance to swing through Mongolia and the vast Gobi desert.  Our guide on the trip was the essential Trans-Siberian Handbook, by Bryn Thomas.  He uses kilometer markers as you progress on the journey.  For example, here's a staff favorite:

Km733 (W) (Mongolia):  Airag   The train doesn't usually stop at this small station, which is in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by scrap metal.

Ah hahaahahah!  We love that one!  If we could ask your patience, we will break from our horror of chronological travel narratives (Day one, we arrived at the...) and begin this missive at the beginning. It is good to get these matters out of the way and continue our conversation with a basic sense of optimism and good cheer, don't you think?

We will simply state that we here at the YRC neither support nor deny the notion of an afterlife, nor, a good place or bad place in the afterlife.  These matters are better left to philosophers and U.S. presidential candidates.  With that all said, we at the YRC want our readers to know that if there is a gateway to Hell, then AeroFlot flies there, right after the Shanghai/Moscow run.   Thank you, dear readers for letting us vent.

Kremlin, Red Square, Lenin's Tomb

Where Lenin and Mao Lay Sleeping.  The trip was book-ended by the two great communist squares: Red Square in Europe and Tiananmen Square in Asia.  They both have their stories to tell, but perhaps they are better told in the history books.  Well, at least more accurately.

Tianenmen Square and Mao

However, our observation and contribution to the literature is as follows.  Both squares are large, well maintained and perfectly suited for parades and the display of military hardware.

They are also both the centers of power and administration in the capital cities of their respective countries and they both have a waxed dead leader on display, Lenin in the West and Mao in the East.

Lenin has become a bit of an embarrassment for the Russians, so they are trying to find a delicate way to move him.  Mao seems content to stay where he is and with real estate prices going through the roof in Beijing, it would be hard to find a better location these days.

Both squares are extremely busy and are major tourist attractions packed with souvenir vendors and tour groups.  However, we discovered something truly significant:  there is an unusual lack of snacks at both sites.  Every PRC tourist site of any note is jammed with corncob and baozi vendors (and the sausages are never too far in Moscow) but in these two squares, no snacks were to be found.

The Snack Connection:  Between the two squares, however, there were many snacks to be found.  The train connecting them leaves famous Yaroslavsky station in Moscow around midnight.  From the moment we left Moscow until we stormed into Beijing seven days later, there was a tremendous selection of snacks to be found.  You will be pleased to know the train stopped at a station nearly every three or four hours and there was always a fine selection of local delicacies being sold on the platform.

The Pink People shop for tasty snacks

Our train mates were an eclectic mix of tour groups and individual travelers, primarily from Europe.  There was a Finnish group, a Swedish family, Spanish backpackers, many Germans, French college kids and a group of Pinks of unknown nationality (see photo).  We could all be relied upon to pile off the train at each stop and work our way up and down the platforms to resupply our rooms with beer, cucumbers, instant oatmeal and soup.

The beer complements the piroshki nicely

Elderly babuskas would offer boiled potatoes with dill, piroshki, truly great beers, cucumbers, tomatoes, baked chicken, sausages and all matter of other essential supplies for long distance train riding.

No dining car, you say?  While the train had a succession of Russian, Mongolian and Chinese restaurant cars, they tended to offer school cafeteria quality food and service at internationally painful prices.  Hence, they tended to serve only the tour groups with pre-paid meals.

The Implacable Samovar

Water was provided from the traditional Russian samovar.  The samovar is used for heating water for two purposes.  The first is to provide hot water for noodle cups, tea and coffee, but the far more important purpose is to provide boiled water for safe drinking purposes.

The samovar was heated with coal, so the water had an unusual smokey quality that made everything taste like it had been cooked over a campfire.

It may be traditional, but it seems odd that in the 21st century, a 20th century train traveling on 19th century tracks would use an 18th century heating system, but this is Russia, people....

The train travels at an average of 57 kph so we rolled through the Urals, western and eastern Siberia, Mongolia and then into China at the rate of around 1,000 km per day.   Kilometer markers along the track were matched with timetables to keep track of where we were, but over time we began to relax in the rhythm of the train and watch the world go by, one of the many benefits of train travel.  However, there was one great irony discovered, that we will share in the final column of the series.

Next week in the YRC we shall discover the wonders and magic of Moscow!  Gangsters!  KGB Headquarters and Khrushchev's Grave!  Thanks for tuning in and see you next week.

Lake Baikal at dawn

Welcome to Siberia, Comrade

Camels of the Gobi

Mongolian diesel at work

Zhangjiakou, PRC