The journey and flight home was long, but without incident and quite comfortable.
We thank you for coming along on our journey and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
See you again maybe…
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My thoughts on our trip to Russia, Mongolia and China…
Based on observations, reading, and common sense.
Thoughts on Russia:
There are two Russias, The Cities and The Countryside.
The cities are big and impressive, some with their distinct ethnic character: architecture and citizens to suit. For example, the first major city we visited after Moscow was Kazan. Tatarstan, where Kazan is located, was at one time its own country before being absorbed by Russia. The Tatars are distinctly different with an Asian appearance. The city itself though is a mix of Russians, Tatars and other ethnic peoples from all over Russia.
So it goes with the five or six other cities we visited, gradually changing to more Asian appearance as we moved East.
The Russian countryside is poor, plain and simple. The worst was in the Western part of Russia and Siberia, where the homes, etc., were appalling. They improved every day as we traveled Eastward to Eastern Siberia where there was a vast improvement in homes and villages.
We were never taken to any countryside visits on this trip. I am not sure if they do not want us to see how the poor country-folk live or what. Our guide, Svetlana was lovely but she is a proud Russian lady, 45 years old, who, it seems, did not talk about current living conditions in the country.
She was however capable of talking about the bad times regarding the murders of the Tsars and how bad Stalin was, but seemed to shy away regarding current situations. Maybe it was just me. She was by far one of the most competent and best tour guides we have ever had.
All, or most of the cities have some ugly Stalin-Era buildings somewhere, it may be apartment blocks or big impressive government buildings but they are there. They also never seem to demolish a building whether it be a home or a disused factory, they are just there: crumbling.
The food in Russia was a mostly vegetables: egg plant, cabbage, beets, etc., in many forms, bread was not the greatest but coffee was great. It did become a bit repetitious. Any meat was known simply as 'meat', and usually tougher than we are used to.
Thoughts on Mongolia:
- Mongolia is a landlocked country between Russia and China. It has a population of 3,000,000, half of whom live in the capital Ulan Bator. There is no love lost between the Mongols and the Chinese.
- The Great Wall was built to keep Northern invaders out of China, starting about 700 BC and continuing for hundreds of years. When Ghengis Khan, [about 1200 AD], swept across Asia from East to West, it was still manned, refurbished and used to repel them.
- Mongols are fatter and shorter than Russians. They do not eat vegetables but are meat eaters. They are nomads, the country people I am now speaking of, who live in Gers, or many, many do, they move their Ger four times a year, to the same spot! The land is free and the life is rough for sure, but they know no other.
- Mongolia is a lovely place to visit, although you have to like adventure travel as the roads can be challenging. It is like stepping back in time.
- It is my belief that the Russians and Chinese think the Mongolians are inferior to them and maybe slightly afraid of them, but they pose no modern day threat to either country.
Thoughts on China:
To me, China presents more questions than answers. We were here five years ago for 17 days and it has changed even since then. This trip we only got to see the countryside from the train and then spent three days in Beijing. I think that the country of China presents a threat to the current world as we know it. It is so big, developing and building at such a phenomenal rate it is hard to comprehend.
They are not going invade us militarily, but they will absorb us economically and change our life as we adapt to newly-mobile Chinese tourists, visitors and investors who buy land, homes and businesses as a cheap investment for them. Did you know that when you 'buy' land in China, it is only for 70 years! In North America, they buy land for future generations!
We, in North America, [USA], are no longer the Power House of the world, although we may still think we are. We are stuck in the past thinking so.
The current half-wit resident in the White House is not doing things to improve the situation. As America slips to the sidelines, he plays games with World Leaders, and Former Allies. Meanwhile China courts developing countries and invests in them while the idiot in the White House insults them.
This city is massive! New buildings and fancy skyscrapers abound with new ones popping up like weeds! The smog can be unbearable but the government is spending billions to reduce it. We saw smog when far outside of Beijing coming in on the train but had two days of sun and one of light rain, so maybe they are making some progress.
The city is clear of litter and the streets and parks are swept clean, constantly, by scores of people in orange vests with straw brooms, they dump their sweepings into a bicycle powered cart and take it to a local dump-house where it is taken and dumped somewhere. They move slow, get paid little and do little but the accumulative result is everybody works and the place is clean!
We had many meals out. The food was more than ample, but most not to our liking. There was usually lots of food left over from our table for 10. When cleaning it up, it was all dumped in a big bowl, including any opened beer. I think it is then dumped into large containers and used as pig food, so I have heard, and believe. Nothing is wasted.
The railways are expanding at a massive rate. When coming into Beijing, we saw rows of Bullet-like trains lined up in a Super Station. The countryside was littered with elevated rail lines under construction. [Is there even ONE in North America?]
I was very surprised at the Capital Hotel's Staff lack of the English Language. Most of the servers, even at the reception desk, look at you dumbly when you ask a question in English. I assume from that that their main clietele is not Foreigners, like us, but Chinese, with new money.
The State is everywhere here, security cameras abound. There appears to be an in-breed fear and love of 'Mother China', who will look after them as long as they know their place and don't step over the lines, wherever and whatever they may be.
There is no shortage of people employed to do 'nothing' jobs, that pay little. Maybe a form of work/welfare it almost appears.
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Traffic. Traffic jams and wait lines were absolutely horrendous in Moscow and Beijing, beyond belief. The drivers are patient but squirm and change lanes willy-nilly without road rage or horn-honking.
In Mongolia, there are no traffic problems, just crummy roads.
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All the above is One Man's Opinion!
Would we do the trip again? Absolutely not!
Are we glad we did it? Absolutely!
What a ride...
