In any case, I knuckled down, and started planning what is probably going to be the trip of my life.
That line in black represents my approximate route. I'm going to be traversing five different timezones, over a distance of more than 6,000 kilometres, and I'm going to do it solo.
I'm cheating a little by flying from Irkutsk to St Petersburg because I decided I did not want to spend three days in a train traversing that distance, which would leave me with less time to see places. I would have done so if I did not have just 18 days to complete this journey, but we live with what we have.
I was inspired to try this trip by an intrepid traveler I met while I was backpacking across Greece last year called Sam. If you browse my entry on Greece, you will know that he was an Australian dude who worked in a vineyard. While munching on a meal of gyros and fries, he told me and another friend that he was going to take the TransSiberian from Moscow to Beijing during our last night with him in the city centre of Heraklion on Crete. He also thought it was amazing that I was still shuffling around Greece with a banged up knee and scrapes all over my elbows from an unfortunate accident while on my ATV on Santorini, but that's another story.
I thought then that it was really cool, what he was doing, but it was one of those things that you hear about, then you shove it at the back of your mind because it seems so implausible. Then by coincidence, a few months later I found out that two of my friends would be at the endpoints of the journey, at around the same time. An old acquaintance of mine from my days as a cub reporter at the New Paper was going to Moscow on exchange, and another friend of mine was working in Beijing. I drew a line between both cities, and I realised that I had to do this now, or I would never have another reason to try this journey again. So the whole planning process began.
I have to admit that right at the start, I did not really know what I was getting into. My plan was simply that, a line drawn between two places. It was only when I started going into details when I realised just how immense this trip was going to be in terms of logistical planning.
For one, it involved three different countries, of which I spoke the language of only one. I had to check out which visas I needed, and what were the immigration procedures. What modes of transport could I use? How much would all this cost? Then came the reading up about all the towns along the route I was planning. Which ones should I visit? How much time should I spend in each?
While the process was fascinating, while getting my immunisation jabs it was not so fun for me to learn that so few Singaporeans go to Russia each year that the hospitals here don't stock vaccines for tick-borne diseases, which strike a few unfortunate tourists each year and can cause some nasty health problems. I had no chance to get those vaccinations, so I'm going to cross my fingers.
A few more enquiries later, I realised that going the TransSiberian route, while a marvelous prospect, was not going to cut it for me because I would not have the luxury of time to stop along cities like Yekaterinburg and Krasnoyarsk along the way to break the endless monotony of train riding. So after weeks of planning and liaising with many different parties, I hedged out a journey that looks roughly like this. I would spend a few days in Beijing, before taking the Trans-Mongolian to Ulan Bator to stay in a ger camp with the nomads, and then I would travel up again to Irkutsk and visit the biggest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Baikal, near the village of Listvyanka, before taking a plane to St Pete and then a train to Moscow.
Beijing - Ulan Bator - Irkutsk - Listvyanka - St Petersberg - Moscow
Everyone whom I spoke to about this trip unequivocally informed me that I was fucking crazy. Never mind that I was going to places that most people would not even imagine going to, I was doing it alone. The cab driver who took me to the Russian embassy to make my visa had just one thing to say.
"You going Soviet? You crazy! Soviet so cold!"
My colleagues dismissed the trip as one of my weird expeditions. One of them had this to say.
"You always go this kind of weird weird place one. You go there and do what?"
Others found it weirder that I was doing it alone. But to me, traveling alone teaches you many things about yourself. When you travel alone, you become far more aware of your surroundings, because you have to be. You also learn what you can and cannot deal with, and you learn that no matter what, if something happens, you have to deal with it on your own, so you prepare more to avoid making the trip more dangerous than it has to be. Experiences aside, I think people generally want safe holidays, so you can focus on the right things.
I have to admit, it was not easy making the Russian visa though. For one, the consulate opens for just 2 hours every day, from 10am to noon, and it is located at a very inconvenient corner of Tanglin, which meant I had to take time off from work just to make and collect my visa. And to enter Russia, I had to come up with an invitation letter, which is honestly, for lack of a better way to describe it, fucking irritating. You have to liaise with either a tour agency in Russia, or try your luck with a dodgy motel, and they will issue a letter saying that you are staying with them for a certain period of time, even if both of you know that it is obviously a farce.
I mean, some of these dodgy motels do nothing but issue those letters, even double and triple booking people on the same rooms because no one really wants to stay with them, they just need the letter, and it suits the motels fine to just collect the fees. Apparently, you need this to show the Russian authorities that you have a place to stay in Russia. For whatever reason I do not know, because I do know one thing, if I wanted to get lost in Russia all the police in Russia would not be able to find me. I mean, have you seen how fucking big the place is?
And I had to study all the maps of all the cities that I was going to. I can honestly say that I know all of the above mentioned places fairly well now, in both their English and local language names, except for Listvyanka, which I have on good knowledge has just one main road. I tried to Google Maps it, only to find out that the place is apparently so secluded, when you try to zoom in to that place on Google Maps, you don't see anything except a grey patch. Zooming in further just gives you more grey. Maybe if I do it enough I will see pixels.
And now, I am sitting at my computer, knowing that in less than 24 hours, it all begins. I don't know what to say, or what to expect, except that it is going to be one hell of an experience. And if I do make it back, I will be very thankful.