Wednesday 9th to Monday 14th June
Hong Kong
   We arrived in Hong Kong about 6 a.m. on a dreary wet morning and made our way to our hotel - Butterfly on Morrison - a small boutique hotel on Morrison Hill Rd. It was too early to check in so we left our bags with them and went to find coffee.
   We had a hectic schedule of lunches and dinners to catch up with old friends so after a hot shower at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club we had a long enjoyable lunch with Anne, a long time colleague and friend followed by drinks and dinner in the evening with Gerry, one of Steve's old work competitors and a long time sailing friend.
    Hong Kong didn't seem to have changed very much but after our very laid back cruising life we found the hustle and bustle quite hard to get used to again. Over the few days we were there we managed to catch up with old work mates, sailing friends from the Yacht Club and some but not all of our friends from Discovery Bay.
    We spent a pleasant day sailing with friends Richard and Tom from Discovery Bay which made a nice break from rushing around town, then dinner with Deborah and another friend Alistair who we'd met on our way through the Plaza. Both were old friends from our Lantau Boat Club days. We found Discovery Bay had changed considerably since we'd left. The Disney Theme Park was now finished and made a big impact on the views and there was a lot more housing. The Plaza had finally been redeveloped to take advantage of the views over the bay and the whole place seemed more vibrant than we remembered it.
    We did notice how much worse the air pollution was since we'd left. The first couple of days it was raining so it was hard to tell what it was like but after that on most days we could hardly see across the harbour.
We managed to fit in a trip to Stanley Market and a day out on Lamma Island where we enjoyed a meal at one of the many seafood restaurants that it is famous for. In the evening we had drinks with Esther and Yiu Kee who we'd met while sailing around Malaysia. They just happened to be in Hong Kong and we hadn't seen them since we'd left Malaysia.
      On our last night we met up with long time friends Paul and Alison and Mike. It was hard to believe we'd been away for seven years, nothing seemed to have changed.

Tuesday 15th to Friday 18th June
Beijing
   Our flight to Beijing was at 9 a.m. so we had to make an early start. We'd planned to get a taxi to the Airport Railway in Central then catch the train to the airport. When we got into the taxi the driver offered to take us the airport for HK$200, well, the airport rail fare is HK$100 each so it seemed a good deal - but we did get there very early.
   We landed in Beijing about midday and found the pollution even worse than Hong Kong but we're only here for a few days. The hotel was comfortable and right opposite the Beijing Railway station where we will catch our first train. We had to find our way to Monkey Business, which is our agent organising the trip. They were not easy to find but having found them they passed on information we needed about the trip and took our passports to get Mongolian visas. This all takes a day or two but hopefully everything will be organised by Saturday when we leave.
   In the few days we have here we are doing some sightseeing. We walked to Tianaman Square and had a look around the Great Hall of the People. It is a massive building with enormous rooms for the use of the Chinese Congress but since Wednesday was a Public Holiday it was open to tourists.
   The following day we saw the Temple of Heavenly Peace. This is a circular temple on top of a small hill in the middle of a large garden area surrounded by smaller temples.
   We paid a visit to the Summer Palace which was most attractive. It covers a very large area and comprises a number of temples and living areas surrounding a large man-made lake. There isn't time to see the whole site in one day so we just tried to fit in the more interesting areas. We used taxis to get around because they were reasonably cheap even for quite long trips. Beijing does have a comprehensive metro system but we didn't use it.
    We had an interesting time poking around the supermarkets looking for snacks to take on the train. It wasn't always easy to identify what was in the packs but amongst other things we did end up with vacuum packed roast duck. It will be interesting to see what it tastes like.
 
Saturday 19th to Sunday 20th June
Beijing to Sainshand - 21 hours approx
    Our train on Saturday leaves at 7:47 a.m. and we've been instructed to meet the Monkey Business rep at 7:00 a.m. She has both our passports and tickets so we don't want to miss her.
    We found our way to carriage 2 berths 9 and 10. We were in a 4 berth cabin and found ourselves sharing with a somewhat garrulous Danish lady. On the trip through China we passed through many townships, sections of which didn't seem to have changed much since the days of the communes. We also passed through some spectacular countryside with steep hills each side of the railway line. As we got closer to the Mongolian border the land became flatter as we approached the Gobi Desert.
   We reached the border crossing about 8:30 p.m. and customs and immigration came on board to collect passports. The railway line gauge changes between Mongolia and China and we were rather hoping to see them change the bogies. Apparently they lift the carriages off the Chinese wheels and replace them on the Mongolian wheels. Unfortunately we were not allowed to stay on board while this was done and had to spend 2 tedious hours in the waiting room at the border station. At about 11:30 p.m. we reboarded the train, had our passports returned and crossed the border into Mongolia where once again we had to relinquish our passports to immigration officials.
   After only a couple of hours sleep we arrived at Sainshand at about 5:30 a.m. where we were met by our guide Ogi.

Sunday 20th to Tuesday 22nd June
Sainshand
   Ogi was a very pleasant Mongolian lady who would be with us until we left Mongolia from Ulaan Baator. There were 6 people altogether in our group - the two of us, Richard and Johanna who were heading for Sweden and Mary and Delena from Zambia.
   We were driven to the Ger camp - about an hour and a half along dirt roads into the desert. Steve and I had our own ger which had plenty of space for the two of us. The toilet and shower block was a short way away up a slope and was still suffering teething problems.
   On our way to the ger camp we stopped to speak to a nomadic family. Ogi wanted to arrange for us to visit them in the afternoon. They were in the middle of gathering the goats together for milking and were tying them in a long line head to head before the children went down the lines milking them.
   After settling in at the ger camp we were served an enormous lunch before going back to the nomad family. By the afternoon the milking was finished and the ger tidied up ready for our visit. Our hostess served us Mongolian milk tea and curd cheese, some made with goats milk and some with camels milk. With Ogi as interpreter we learnt a little about their lifestyle. They kept goats, camels, sheep, cattle and horses and moved their camp 4 times a year so as not to wear out the pasture. They would be considered reasonably wealthy by Mongolian standards since they owned a lot of livestock. They had been able to have their 5 children educated at school and University and as well as the livestock they also owned an ex Russian jeep.
   The next day we visited the Buddhist Temple, caves used for meditation and the Shambala. When the Mongolian government was under the influence of Russia religion was suppressed so many artifacts were lost or destroyed. In 1991 when the USSR was broken up Mongolia became democratic and went through some very hard times establishing itself as a democracy. Things have changed considerably since that time and conditions have improved. People are now free to follow their religion and about 70% of the population are Buddhist. The temple we went to has now been renovated and people come from far away to pay their respects there.
   The Shambala is unique. It is situated on a small hill and the entrance building is decorated with the allseeing Buddha. The people believe that if they stand in front of the eyes of the Buddha in this place a line of energy will fill their consciousness. Inside the square of stupas are places to make offerings and cleanse yourself of your wrongdoings. At the north end of the Shambala is a raised mound covered in prayer flags where people come to make their wishes known. We took part in a ceremony here with many local people joining hands and singing to the land.
   The next day we returned to Sainshand and visited some of the local museums before boarding the train for Ulaan Baator

Tuesday 22nd to Wednesday 23rd June
Sainshand to Ulaan Baator - 11 hours approx
   The trip to Ulaan Baator would take from about 9 p.m. Tuesday until 8 a.m. Wednesday. The train was a little less comfortable than our first train but quite adequate. We were sharing our compartment with Ogi and the fourth berth was taken by a Mongolian judge travelling back to a small town somewhere on the way. He'd had a little too much vodka but was quite amiable and tried to persuade Steve to share another bottle with him.

Wednesday 23rd to Saturday 26th June
Elstee Ger Camp
   We arrived at Ulaan Baator early Wednesday morning and drove out to the Elstee Ger Camp. This is a much larger camp than the one we stayed at in Sainshand and is run by the agency Ogi works for. There were probably 20 or so gers and a restaurant and bathroom area with running water.
   After settling in to the ger and yet another enormous lunch we tried our hand at archery with a local style bow. The arrows were a little mismatched so it was difficult to find the range but quite fun.
    Thursday we tried riding local Mongolian ponies, it was some time since Steve and I had ridden but the ponies were well behaved and responsive. We found the saddles a little less comfortable than those we were used to but it wasn't a problem. Mary, Steve and Lyn rode as far as an enormous statue of Ghengis Khan. This is the largest stainless steel statue in the world (or so we were told) and is certainly visible for some distance. We left the ponies tied to a post to visit the statue and museum. The complex is still under construction so the museum is built but only contains a few artifacts as yet. There is a stair inside the statue to enable you to climb as far as the horse's head giving a magnificent view over the surrounding area.
   In the afternoon we climbed to the top of a nearby hill to watch ponies and riders from all the surrounding ger camps practising for a race. This is an annual event which would take place a few days after we left and is taken very seriously by the competitors. The riders are children ranging from 5 to 10 years old and the competing ponies are valued very highly.
   The following day Ogi arranged for a couple of local nomads to drive us to the nearby river for a picnic lunch. The river was maybe half a metre deep but quite cold and running very fast. We waded across it to explore the countryside on the far side.
   Saturday morning we visited a nomad family. At this time most of the families would not allow visitors because it was considered bad luck to have non family members near the horses just before the race. The family we visited consisted of a widow, one of her sons and some small grandchildren. We got the impression it had been difficult for her to manage since she had lost her husband and that she would not be moving her camp this year.

Saturday 26th to Sunday 27th June
Ulaan Baator
   We returned to Ulaan Baator and Ogi gave us a tour of some local temples and places of interest. Steve had visited the city some 20 years previously in his capacity as an Environmental Engineer so was interested to see how much it had changed. The city had grown considerably in that time and there are now  many foreign consumer goods available. Unfortunately the city has developed in a very disorganised way with little thought for environmental considerations, however, Ogi tells us that life is very much better for the people since their peaceful democratic revolution in the early 1990s.

Sunday 27th to Tuesday 29th June
Ulaan Baator to Irkutsk - 36 hours approx
   We boarded the train for Irkutsk Sunday evening and this time we were sharing our compartment with a couple of Swiss-German backpackers. They didn't speak a lot of English and we spoke even less German so our conversations were a bit limited. This train has no restaurant car so we stocked up on bread, cheese, fruit and pot noodles before we left Ulaan Baator. Every train has a samovar at the end of each carriage so there is a constant supply of hot water to make tea or coffee (as long as you remember  to bring your own mug and a supply of tea bags or instant coffee).
   We arrived at the MongolianRussian border about 6 a.m. but the immigration officials don't start work until 9 a.m. so we went back to sleep for a few hours. When the officials arrived we handed them our passports then went to explore the station area. We would have to wait some 3 hours or so while our passports were processed. The area around the station was pretty scruffy, there were a few market stalls and a small shop but not much else. While we were waiting a funeral procession passed by. The custom seemed to be to carry the body in a decorated open coffin to it's final resting place while the mourners followed behind.
   Once our passports were processed and returned to us we crossed the Mongolian border into Russia where the train stopped again and Russian immigration officials boarded the train. Once again we handed them our passports then the train moved off and continued to the next station about 40 minutes away. Customs officials boarded here and searched every compartment before leaving the train. Eventually our passports were returned and the train moved on. The whole border crossing took some 10 hours but we had now officially entered Russia.
   We started to see small villages from the train. They seemed to be small primitive wooden houses without electricity. From the signs of wood smoke we guessed cooking was done on wood fires. The countryside became greener and less arid than in Mongolia. We passed Lake Baikal in the early morning and arrived at Irkutsk about 8 a.m.

Tuesday 29th to Wednesday 30th June
Listvyanka - Lake Baikal
   We were met at the station by Leanna and transported to Listvyanka on the shores of Lake Baikal. Here we would stay in a homestay which is a room in a family home. Our hostess was called Olga and she had breakfast waiting for us when we arrived. The home was quite basic. It was heated by a large wood burning stove in the guest area and another in the kitchen area which Olga used to cook on. There was no running water. A well close by provided water and Olga would bring water into the house using buckets. Outside was a composting toilet and a banya. The banya was where you washed. Inside was another wood burning stove which was lit in the early evening and heated both the room and water in a tank. A bowl to put water in and a scoop were provided to be used for washing.
    The afternoon tour should have consisted of a visit to the local museum and a walk up to a veiwpoint over Lake Baikal. Unfortunately it was raining so we gave the viewpoint a miss. Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake in the world and contains 20% of the world's fresh water. It is over 600km long and 79km wide. At it's deepest point it is 1.6km deep and is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals two thirds of which are endemic. In winter it freezes hard enough to drive cars across it.
   We went walking along the shores of the lake with our guide Sacha. He had been a teacher during soviet times but now ran a guest house in Listvyanka and acted as a guide.
   Our last morning was bright and sunny so we took the opportunity to visit the viewpoint over Lake Baikal. This involved a 45 minute walk up the hillside. A cable car went about half way but it was closed so we walked.

Thursday 1st to Friday 2nd July
Irkutsk
   Irkutsk is one of the largest cities in Siberia. It was founded in the 17th century for gold trading and the collection of fur tax from the local Buryat people. In the early 19th century many nobles, army officers and artists were exiled to Siberia for their part in the Decembrist revolt against Tsar Nicholas 1st and Irkutsk became their cultural centre. It's architecture is a mix of the wooden housing ornately decorated from those times and the utilitarian Soviet housing blocks. A fire in 1879 destroyed three quarters of the city but it was rebuilt and the first train arrived in 1898.
   We walked down to the River Angara and discovered that the railings were covered in small padlocks. Leanna told us it was a recent custom for newly weds to come to the river after the wedding ceremony, place a padlock on the railings then throw the key into the river. It's supposed to ensure that the marriage will last.
   We stayed at the Angara Hotel close to the centre. The next part of the train journey would take us to Moscow. This part of the trip would take 3 days and 4 nights. We had been warned that the restaurant cars on Russian trains were unreliable so we visited the local market to stock up on bread, cold meats, cheese and fruit for the journey.

Friday 2nd to Monday 5th July
Irkutsk to Moscow - 80 hours approx
   Our train left Irkutsk early Friday evening and we were pleased to find we would be sharing our compartment with Laura and Michelle who we had met at the homestay in Listvyanka. The train was fairly basic, with plastic covered seats not the more comfortable cloth covered ones we'd had from Beijing. Our trip should have been about 10 hours shorter but the train we had originally been booked on was no longer running and we'd had the option to take the slower train or pay quite a substantial subsidy to take a much faster train.
   The journey took us across southern Siberia and through the Ural Mountains to Moscow. By morning of the second day we were travelling through the taiga seeing endless larch forests and miles of marsh lands. The marshlands eventually gave way to drier hillier landscapes and we started to see small settlements of wooden houses dotted here and there.
   A few miles past Ekaterinberg as the train approaches the Urals we spotted the obelisk that marks the border between Asia and Europe. The train line goes through the southern foothills of the Urals so the landscape was more rolling hills than spectacular mountains. As we passed through European Russia we saw more bigger towns and signs of industry. Much of the development looked old and rusted although still apparently in use. The railway system is heavily used and we saw numerous goods trains pulling up to 70 or 80 wagons behind them.
   By Sunday evening we were crossing the Volga River and a few hours later pulled into Yaroslavsky Station in Moscow.

Monday 5th to Wednesday 7th July
Moscow
    We arrived in Moscow just after 4 a.m. so as soon as we reached the hotel caught up on a few more hours sleep. A guide met us later in the morning and took us on a walking tour through the back streets of Moscow to show us historical buildings dating back to pre-soviet times.
   The main tourist attraction in Moscow is the Kremlin and Red Square. The Kremlin is the official residence of the President of Russia and is the centre of government. The existing Kremlin walls and towers were built in the 15th century and were used as the seat of government until Peter the Great's time in the early 1800s when the St Petersberg became the Russian capital. At the time of the Russian Revolution Moscow once more became the capital and the centre of government returned to the Kremlin.
   The Armoury museum and Cathedral Square are open to the public so we visited both. The armoury museum contains numerous valuable items dating back to the 5th century. Cathedral Square in the centre of the Kremlin is faced by 3 cathedrals all of which are beautifully decorated inside with frescos.
   Facing the Kremlin in Red Square is the iconic St Basil's Cathedral, a spectacular looking building consisting of 9 chapels each topped by a gloriously colourful onion dome.
   Along one side of Red Square is the Guum building which, during Soviet times, was the state department store. When I visited Moscow in 1968 this was a dull and dingy building full of government run shops with very little in them. Now it is a beautifully kept example of 19th century architecture, still a shopping mall but now full of shops featuring high fashion brand names.
   We spent a morning travelling around the Moscow underground. This may seem a strange thing to do but the Moscow Underground stations have a grandeur unrivalled elsewhere. Most have marble interiors and are variously decorated with columns, stained glass panels and mosaics.
   A walk along the Moskva River took us to an extraordinary commemorative statue to Peter the Great and yet another stunning looking cathedral.
   With nowhere near long enough to see as much as we would have liked to we caught the train to St Petersberg late Wednesday evening

Wednesday 7th to Thursday 8th July
Moscow to St Petersburg - 8 hours approx
   Our train to St Petersburg couldn't have been more different from the Irkutsk to Moscow train. It looked clean and smart with soft cushioned upholstery and sheets and blankets already in position on the beds. The bathroom compartment was clean with hygienic white surfaces rather than the dull stainless steel interior of the Moscow train and a pre-packed breakfast was waiting on the table when we arrived.
    Our travelling companions were a mother and daughter. The daughter spoke a little English and was kind enough to translate for us when necessary. The train left at 11 p.m. so we settled down to the most comfortable night's sleep we'd had on any of the trains and arrived in St Petersberg early the next morning.

Thursday 8th to Sunday 11th July
St Petersburg
   We arrived too early to check into the hotel but were able to leave our bags there and have a shower in the health centre. We were only a few minutes walk from Nevsky Prospect which is the main street running through St Petersberg so we went to find a coffee and croissant before spending the rest of the morning exploring.
   St Petersberg, like Moscow, has far too much to see in only a few days so again we had to select just two or three places to visit. After walking the length of Nevsky Prospect and marvelling at the grandiose 18th and 19th century buildings along it's length we decided to visit the Summer Palace, the Hermitage and the Peter and Paul Fortress.
   The Peter and Paul Fortress is on an island close to the far side of the River Neva. It was built by Peter the Great during the Northern War at the beginning of the 18th century. The principal building within the walls is the Peter and Paul Cathedral reaching 120 metres from the ground to the top of the bell tower. The interior is luxuriously carved and decorated. It functioned as a royal burial vault and contains the remains of Russian royal families from the time of Peter the Great and includes the remains of the last Tsar, Nicholas II and his family who were murdered by the Bolsheviks at the time of the Russian revolution. 
   The Summer Palace is built at Peterhof on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. It covers an area of about 1000 hectares and was originally built by Peter the Great in 1705. It takes about 40 minutes to reach by hovercraft and the view that greets you as you approach from the ferry terminal is an amazing spectacle of fountains leading up to the palace itself. There are over 200 fountains altogether in various parts of the extensive grounds. The main buildings are all museums and we were somewhat disappointed to find that as well as the entry fee for the palace grounds every building required another separate entry fee. Since we would also be visiting the Hermitage we decided to confine our visit to the gardens.
   The Hermitage, standing on the banks of the River Neva, was built during the 18th and 19th centuries. It contains one of the worlds largest and best arts collections. It's stupendous frontage faces the vast Palace Square and actors dressed in period costume can be seen wandering around the square ready to pose for photographs. The Hermitage consists of 5 buildings, one of which was Peter's Winter Palace and the rest built as museums. In the Winter Palace the private apartments can still be seen in all their opulent finery. The museum rooms are built on a grandiose scale and are also beautifully decorated. The collection of paintings and sculptures dates back to the time of Peter the Great when it began as a private collection. Now the collection is so vast it is not possible to see it all in a single day so we had to confine our visit to the highlights.
   There was much in St Petersberg that we didn't have time to see but maybe one day we'll go back.