Trans-Siberian

Trans-Siberian at speed

In August, I travelled around the world in 28 days via St. Petersburg, Moscow, Siberia, Mongolia, China and Vancouver.

The 'Russia and Beyond' part of the trip was with a group tour organized by Intrepid Travel (Intrepid's website and official itinerary). This was a group of 12 people from all over the world and one tour leader who showed us the sights and out of trouble. It was a fantastic way to see that part of the world.

I joined the group in St. Petersburg where we toured the city for a few days before taking a train to Moscow. After a day in Moscow, we hopped on a Trans-Siberian train for the 4 day trip to Irkutsk in Siberia. We had a freshing swim in Lake Baikal, the largest lake in the world then took the 2 day train to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. The highlight of the trip was the 2 days we spent in a 'ger' camp in rural Mongolia. From Mongolia, we caught the 1.5 day train to Beijing for a few days of big city life.

From Beijing I flew to Vancouver for some time visiting with my family. My girlfriend joined me there for a tour of part of British Columbia. I completed my circuit of the world by flying the relatively short distance from Vancouver back to Toronto.

Mongolian plains

Photos and more detailed description of the trip is on the following pages:

• St. Petersburg and Moscow
• Crossing Russia to Siberia
• Siberia
• The Trans-Mongolian
• The Mongolian Ger Camp
• China

There are also some photo collections from the trip.

• Top 10
• Locals
• Trains
• Group members (Warning: may take a while to load)

Overall, I travelled about 8500 km by train, over 25% of the total distance (more on distances).

The Great Wall

I took about 1300 photos during the trip and only about 20% are on this website. Let me know if you want to see more photos.

I also took some photos while in British Columbia after returning to Canada from China.

Notes about the photographs, captions, photos of people and website.