When you open your eyes from the trembling carriage, there are different scenery outside the window. Clear lake, vast grassland and beautiful birch forest, these scenes that sound dreamy and impossible, are hidden in a green leather train. This is the K3 train that passes through China, Mongolia and Russia.
This train, which crosses Eurasia and enters the Arctic Circle, has 17 stops. Every Wednesday, it will depart from Beijing, pass through Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and arrive at Moscow Station six days later. This train, which is linked with the friendship of the three countries, is also called "the first train in China".
I spent six days and five nights in the train, but I couldn't take a bath and didn't have air conditioning. At first glance, I feel boring, boring and sultry; An imaginary picture. However, there are still a large number of tourists eager to board this car, which is hard to find a ticket. Visitors will tell you that this is definitely one of the most dreamy journeys in life.
K3 train is not as crowded as Spring Festival travel rush train, and its private rooms and sleeping berths are spacious. It belongs to Beijing Railway Bureau, so you don't have to worry about communication with the conductor. When you get on the bus, the conductor will give you clean sheets, quilts and two free meal coupons. After you get off the bus, these sheets will be removed and returned to the conductor. When you make the bed and open the window, you can wait for the car to leave and start a wonderful transnational journey.
after the train starts, it will travel in China for one day, passing through Zhangjiakou, Zhu Rihe, Erenhot and other places, leaving in the morning and arriving at the border line that night. Those two free meal coupons can be exchanged in the dining car on this day. K3' s dining car is trailer-mounted. In China, it's a China dining car. When you arrive in other countries, it will be changed to another country's dining car. Free meal coupons are only valid for China dining cars, so you must eat in time before leaving the country.
When the train passes through Zhu Rihe, the conductor will issue the Mongolian entry declaration form. When it arrives at Erlian Station, the border police will come up to collect the declaration form one by one and check the passports, and then start to change the wheels and tracks of the train. Because our railway gauge is 143.5cm, and Mongolia and Russia are 152cm, if we don't change wheels, we can't continue driving. At this time, it will stop here for about 3-5 hours. If you want to get off and play, you must remember to ask the conductor about the departure time, otherwise you will miss the train.
However, even if we miss it, it won't hurt. Just wait here for a week, and the next K3 will come. K3' s train ticket is valid for two months. If you have enough time, you can get off at a stop at any time and play here for a week before taking the next K3.
it's about one o'clock in the morning, and we can continue to set out. After waking up, you will see the endless plain outside the window, and occasionally there are several white yurts. Cattle, sheep and horses are enjoying the rich green grass with their heads down, and the sun shines on the plain, pulling the trains and horses out of a long shadow. At this time, it means that you have come to Mongolia.
When the train arrives in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, it will stop here for about 45 minutes. The platform is open, which will not affect your entry and exit. Remember to get off and find a self-service machine with Chinese in exchange for some Mongolian currency, and then you can have a big meal in the Mongolian dining car.
when you get back to the platform, you will see that the front of the train has been hung with a Mongolian head and the middle with a Mongolian dining car. Different from the clean and elegant dining car in China, the Mongolian dining car can be said to be resplendent and magnificent. The carriages are all decorated with retro solid wood carvings. At first glance, they are all gold, and the consumption level of menus is not high, which is not much different from that of domestic shopping malls.
after a day's driving in Mongolia, we will arrive at the border at night. As before, the conductor will send you a Russian entry and exit declaration form at this time. After filling it out, you must keep it well. Russian border police will collect half of it when you enter the country, and you need to show the other half when you leave the country. Therefore, in order to return to the motherland safely, you must keep it well.
When the train arrives at Naushki on the Russian border, there will be many Russian patrol officers to check and collect the entry form, and there will be no such inspection in the following trips. Next, you can start to watch the scenery along the way in Russia, which is known as the "fighting nation".
On the second day, you will see Lake Baikal, which is known as "Siberian Blue Eyes". The train will travel along Lake Baikal for 4 hours. The clear, blue lake is endless, with white snow mountains in the distance. When your eyes are used to seeing the endless grassland, you will be more excited when you see the large golden and orange birch forests that appear one after another. There are all kinds of Russian wooden houses scattered in the birch forest, and from time to time there will be birds flying over the lake, starting waves. If you come here in winter, you must get off at Irkutsk.
Lake Baikal will be covered with a thick layer of ice in winter. When people walk on it, they can see ice marks full of bubbles and criss-crossing, as well as Lan Bing full of cracks but transparent as a jewel. At the best of luck, they can even see green aurora in the air, which complements the sky-blue Lake Baikal. Standing in the middle of the lake, they will only be shocked by its suffocating beauty.
The train goes on, passing through Siberia and reaching Yekaterinburg. The railway tracks are illuminated by the sunset, sunset glow, rivers, trees, trees and flowers of different colors. The Russian people are "full of poems and fairy tales".
In towns or villages on both sides of the railway, even simple wooden houses in birch forests will paint windows, doorframes and walls with bright colors. There are always flowers in full bloom in the courtyard outside the house. The plain Russian people smile at the guests passing by the train, and children even wave excitedly. You don't know whether you are walking into such a picture or moving away from it.
Finally, we will arrive at the terminal of this train, Moscow, Russia. Known as the capital of the forest, it is the largest city in Europe, and it is located in the Red Square in the center of the city, which is the pride of Russians. To the east of Red Square are Moscow department stores, to the west are Lenin's Mausoleum and the Kremlin, to the south is Vasily Ascension Church, and to the north is the Russian National History Museum.
after talking about the scenery, we will talk about the precautions of K3 train, which is also a place that must be paid attention to when traveling. Although K3 is a green leather train, the fare is not cheap. The car is divided into two classes, ordinary four-person private rooms and high-end two-person private rooms.
The luxury private room for two people is air-conditioned and has a separate sofa. There is a public toilet in the front, middle and back of the train in ordinary private rooms, and there is a toilet in two private rooms in high-grade private rooms, but you can't take a bath because of water pressure, so you can bring a small basin of contact water at most and "dry clean" it. Tickets for K3 are expensive, with the price of ordinary packages fluctuating around 34-37 yuan, while high-end private rooms need more than 6 yuan.
besides, if you want to buy a ticket for K3, you can't do it only with money. You have to apply for a Mongolian transit visa and a Russian visa in advance. You can't buy a ticket online. You need to go to a designated international travel service to buy a ticket. You need to book one month in advance, pick up the ticket seven days before departure, and bring your passport and cash to buy this green leather ticket.
Because the train is unstable, the voltage and water pressure of K3 train are relatively low, and there are fewer plugs in the carriage, so it is necessary to carry sockets, adapters, toiletries and so on. The signal in the car is not good, and there is no internet when driving, so friends who need to kill time can download movies, TV series, novels and so on in advance.
most importantly, all the currencies used in the car must be exchanged in advance. Russia generally uses rubles or dollars, which can be exchanged at the Bank of China before departure, or at the ATM after arrival in Russia, using a bank card with the UnionPay logo. Mongolia's currency, Mongolia, can be exchanged at Erenhot on the border of Inner Mongolia or Ulaanbaatar in outer Mongolia.
But although the trip looks very troublesome, in fact, the scenery you see and the local customs you feel along the way are rare in this life, and it is absolutely worth the money. K3 is hard to get a ticket because of its unique experience and beautiful scenery along the way. If you are patient and curious enough, the next time you visit Moscow, you might as well consider this strange train, which will definitely bring you the most surprising trip in your life.
it takes 6 days and 5 nights for a train to cross three countries, but it is hard to get a ticket.
A train with a fare of over 6, yuan crosses 17 countries, but tourists are not too expensive to buy it.