Day 15 : Trans-Siberian Express - Km 7494 to Km 9288 Magdagachi to Vladivostok

Overnight we cross the Zeya river, after having passed by Lednyanaya, close to Ulegorsk, where the Russians are working on the Vostochny Cosmodrome, to reduce Russia’s dependence on Kazakhstan’s spacecraft launch pad at Baikalnur.

Early in the morning we transition at Arkhara from the Trans-Baikal to the Far Eastern line and spend 2 minutes in the dark as we go through the Trans-Siberian’s second longest tunnel (2km).

The vegetation is changing as the pines give way to larches, oaks and birches. Interestingly oak trees in this area of the world do not lose their leaves in winter.

We are now beyond the Southern permafrost frontier and in a fertile region that grows barley, soya and melons that attracted many immigrants of Ukrainian origin in the 19^thcentury.

As we travel along the Khingan Natural Reserve the landscape turns into swampy taiga, with cedar pines, hazel trees, wild grapes. This region’s economy is dominated by wood-processing, fishing and petroleum.

Obluche Station

The Permafrost Frontier

We leave Amurskaya Oblast and enter the Yevreyskaya (Jewish) Autonomous Oblast, created in the 1930s by Stalin and set aside for Jewish immigration. Jews from the Ukraine, Bielorussia, the United States and even Palestine initially settled in the region, not knowing that in later years Stalin would make life very difficult, closing synagogues and forbidding Yiddish from being spoken.
The largest city in the area, Birobidzhan, went through a revival with its Jewish population reaching about 20,000 in the early 90s, before most then left for Israel. Today there are about 3,000 Jews left in a town of 170,000.

We travel along the Bira river for about 100km before reaching Birobidzhan and its small station signposted in Russian and Hebrew. Along the way we catch a glimpse of the Amur Highway connecting Chita to the Far Eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk. 

Birobidzhan - the erstwhile Jewish State

Amur Highway

Fellow Passengers

Back for a moment to the crew on our train... In the restaurant carriage the 3 staff members speak no English whatsoever. Our culinary Russian vocabulary has increased significantly, as we read the Cyrillic version of the dish and learn how to say soup, chicken, vegetables, onion, oil, milk, sugar in Russian.

My attempts through sign language to explain that I would like the appetizer first and the main after fail abysmally and I’m served both at once.

The cuisine is certainly not Michelin star level, it’s hearty and simple, but with very good ingredients (I wish tomatoes in England were as red and flavourful…) and tasty. Salmon and chicken soup with vegetables, Beef Stroganoff and Schnitzel become our staple foods for a couple of days. I’m missing my wine, but make do with litres of chai soloni (green tea) and German beer with a dash of lemon to accompany dinner.

Music is blaring in the restaurant carriage. At lunch today we were delighted to eat (and wiggle) to the rhythm of Despacito and Shape of You.

Silvia starts her daily yoga session much to the entertainment of a Russian co-traveller 2 compartments along who starts copying her stretching exercises, as the carriage corridor turns into a yoga class…

Yoga on the Trans-Siberian

Approaching Khabarovsk later in the afternoon we cross the longest railway bridge in Russia (2.6km) and we slowly pull into Khabarovsk, the capital of Khabarovsky Kray.

Khabarovsk was founded as a military outpost in 1858 by the Governor General of East Siberia, Count Muravyov-Amursky, who had set himself the goal of winning back the Amur region, which had been relinquished in favour of Mongolia 150 years earlier. Khabarovsk’s growth started in earnest following its inclusion in the 1890s on the Trans-Siberian railway line. It is described as a very pretty city, that rose at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers, with pleasant parkland, beaches and viewpoints along the Amur river. In winter Lenin Square plays host to ice sculptures.

 Khabarovsk on the Horizon

Count Muravyov-Amursky in Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk Station

We set off. The landscape changes yet again and maple and elm trees start appearing on the slopes of the hills and in the valleys we cross. 

Siberian Sunsets

At night the train crosses the Khor River, designating the border between China and Russia, and it is the latter that the train flanks for the next 300km. We pass through Bikin (logging terrain) and leave the Khabarovsky for the Primorsky Oblast. Southern Primorsky, says my guide book, is covered with thick monsoon forest and shelters dwindling numbers of bears and Siberian tigers. A pity we cross it at night...

This region was the stage for border skirmishes between Chinese and Russians in 1969 as the 2 giants fought for Communist supremacy. 

Lights out, time for bed….