On Saturday the 2nd of May 2009, my father and I will leave on a
long overland journey with the famous TransSibirian/TransMongolian
railway across Asia, starting in St. Petersburg and finishing in
Shanghai, traveling via Moscow, Irkutsk, Ulan Bator, Beijing, and
Xian.
This is an overland journey, which follows the
old Siberian
tea route. The overall distance is 11274 km, which will take
about a month to travel along, and we plan to set foot on Danish
soil again the 28th of May.
But before that, we will surely have many adventures ahead of us.
Below is a more detailed description of the route, maps,
itineraries, plans, etc.
The route:
(see also
map and route page.)
The route naturally follows that of the railway, with the choices of
visiting the following cities:
Russia: St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Irkutsk
Mongolia: Ulan Bator
China: Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai
The train stops in many other places for a shorter or longer period
of time, and especially in Irkutsk and Ulan Bator do we plan to make
extensive excursions.
For a more detailed description of the route, please consult the
map and route page.
The team:
Lars Erik Petersen
Long time explorer (though mostly at sea), an accomplished map
reader, keen bridge player, and mostly in for new experiences,
as long as they don't includes heights.
Troels Christian Petersen
Insatiable adventurer, particle physicist, photographer, and
(wannabe) poet, taught map reading and playing bridge by father
(above). For further (sailing) details, see the
Skardu crew listing.
The short movie:
Using my tiny Canon IXUS camera, I managed to record a few scenes
from the trip. Upon return, a friend of mine and I sat down and
managed to select the best parts and put them together into a short
movie (8:12 minutes), which can be found here (.wmv format):
Smaller version (31.6 MB)
Large version (192.7 MB)
The photos:
A few pictures of what to expect are shown below (click for large
photo).
Upon return, these images will of course be exchanged with photos
from the trip (eventually).
The weekly logs:
If possible (and this is not very likely), logs with progress,
position, and experiences will be posted below:
St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the
TransSibirian: 2nd - 9th of May 2009
Irkutsk, Baikal, and to
Mongolia: 10th - 15th of May 2009
Ulan Bator, Mongolia, and to
China: 15th - 20th of May 2009
Beijing, Xian, and
Shanghai: 20th - 28th of May 2009
The following links are exceptionally good sources on the
Trans-Siberian and Trans-Mongolean railways:
The man in seat 61.
Way to Russia.
TransSiberian Handbook.