Trans Siberian Railway | Tomsk (3,644km)

Moscow (0km) -> Kazan (820km) -> Yekaterinburg (1,814km) -> Tomsk (3,664km) -> Irkutsk (5,185km) -> Ulaanbaatar (6,464km) -> Beijing (8,015km) -> Hong Kong (10,265km)

*The km count is based on how far I am from since I started in Moscow, not the actual km marks on the Trans Siberian and Trans Mongolian Railway.

Moscow: Kremlin, Red Square, State History Museum, Izmailovo Market
Kazan: Kul Sharif Mosque, Kazan Kremlin, National Museum of the Republic State of Tatarstan, Bauman Street, Epiphany Bell Tower, Nizhny Kaban Lake
Yekaterinburg: the Europe and Asia border
Tomsk: Tomsk State University
Irkutsk: Listvyanka Dog Sledding, Lake Baikal via the Great Baikal Trail and the Circum Baikal Railway
Ulaanbaatar: Genghis Kahn Square, Winter Palace, National Museum of Mongolia, Gandan Monastery, Terelj National Park - Genghis Kahn Statue, Vultures, Camels, Traditonal Mongolia clothing, Turtle Rock, Lunch in a Yurt, horse riding, Ariyabal Meditation Temple
Beijing: Lama Temple, Forbidden Palace, Tiananmen Square, Great Wall of China, Old Summer Palace, China High Speed Train

March 24 (Thur) Tomsk 3644km

I checked into Hotel Tomsk, they had kindly only charged me one day of stay and I had 2 free breakfast coupons! I quickly showered but noticed there’s no hair dryer. It was 7am so I napped quickly. It was 9:50am when I woke up and had 10 minutes left for breakfast. They had a pretty decent selection of breakfast, slightly better than the hotel I stayed at in Moscow. I also managed to catch the cleaning lady on my floor and borrowed a hair dryer from her with some hand gestures. Success!

I left around 11am to explore the city. Tomsk was sunny and warm, the snow on the road started to melt and it was a disgusting state of muddy slush. I waited for tram #2 which came just 5 minutes later. It was only 15rub, and I just held out a palmful of change for the tram master to pick out the right coins. I got off after 6 stops when I was at the north end of the town. There were endless wooden houses, some occupied, some crooked and sunk into the ground with broken windows. The best way to explore Tomsk is really on foot. There were also many small churches.

I noticed in Tomsk there were a lot of men walking around with baby carriages! That’s really respectable to me and I’m glad in Russia they are sharing the responsibility of raising a child. Tomsk also has a lot of schools as it's a University town, so there are a lot of students everywhere rushing to class on small busses.

I ran into a Bruce Lee Legendary Bar! But didn’t go in since it’s still day time.

After 3.5hrs of wandering around, I ended up near my hotel. I managed to find a supermarket. I grabbed juices, chocolate, pringles, pistachios, dried banana, and some instant noodles. I also got some beer and the checkout counter dude chuckled as he asked for my ID. He’s probably thinking this young girl, drinking beer alone, what’s troubling her? The total was 364 rub. Only $40HKD? That’s crazy cheap. And of course you have rows upon rows of vodka.

I napped for a little more, tired from walking around outside all day. I dreamed of flying back to Taiwan for some fried noodles but I kept telling my mom I need to fly back to Russia to complete my Trans-Siberian trip! I had another midnight train; I guess I was nervous I would miss my train.

At 8pm I went upstairs to the hotel restaurant and got some delicious creamy chicken and some meatball soup for just $604. It was really filling and nice and warm, perfect after a long cold day wandering around.

While I checked out, the 2nd floor was filled with teenagers and there were 2 empty vodka bottles in the hallway. No wonder it’s been so noisy all night! My train was leaving Tomsk at 11:25pm. It’ll be another full day worth of journey before I reach Irkutsk. At this point I'm so disoriented in terms of time zones. Thank god for the invention of smart phones, this is the only way I could keep track of everything.

In Tomsk there is no electronic display board. My train is 3rd to the last one on the display #391 from Tomsk to Vladivostok, arriving at 20.05 stopping for 20 minutes then departing at 20.25 (Moscow Time)

Read the Trans Siberian series here (vlogs included), please click on the links below:

Trans Siberian Railway - Moscow (0km)
Trans Siberian Railway - Kazan (820km)
Trans Siberian Railway - Yekaterinburg (1,814km)
Trans Siberian Railway - Tomsk (3,644km)
Trans Siberian Railway - Irkutsk (5,185km) Dog Sledding
Trans Siberian Railway - Irkutsk (5,185km) Lake Baikal
Trans Siberian Railway - Irkutsk to Ulaanbaatar (6,464km)
Trans Siberian Railway - Ulaanbaatar (6,464km)
Trans Siberian Railway - Ulaanbaatar (6,464km) Terelj National Park
Trans Siberian Railway - Ulaanbaatar to Beijing (8,015km)
Trans Siberian Railway - Beijing (8,015km)
Trans Siberian Railway - Great Wall of China & Back to Hong Kong (10,265km)