Final thoughts on Russia and first thoughts on Mongolia

I leave Russia tomorrow night. Or at least I'll try to. I've heard that getting into Russia is hard, but getting out is harder! I'm taking a train from Irkutsk to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. The trip takes about 34 hours, and I've heard that a third of that is simply crossing the border, because both governments are pretty thorough.

There was only one train available tomorrow, and unfortunately it leaves at night. From Irkutsk to Ulan Ude the train hugs the southern end of Lake Baikal, but I won't see it!

This is yet another example of how Russia has challenged and frustrated me. I really like it here, but this is not a good country in which to improvise. I'd like to come back, but next time I will pay a travel agent to book and plan every minute. I wasted too much time trying to buy tickets at the train station, trying unsuccessfully to book tours, etc. And while the language barrier is huge, I've met tourists who are fluent in Russian tell similar stories.

Things are changing very quickly here, I think. It will be interesting to come back in a few years and see what sort of concessions have been made for tourists. Getting a visa to Russia is a pain in the butt. I expect tourists will still need visas in the future, since there's a lot of money to be made there, but I think the process will become easier.

If you visit a city for more than 72 business hours you are required to register your visa. Most hotels and even hostels will do this ... for a fee. If you don't register properly customs officials can make leaving the country difficult -- and expensive.

Even though I've been here nearly a month I've barely scratched the surface. I'd like to do the whole Trans-Siberian, just to see how grungy I'd feel after eight days (!!) on a train. I'd like to do at least part of the trip in winter. I'd definitely like to spent a lot more time in the Lake Baikal region, hiking and rafting and diving. And I'd like to see it in winter, also.

However, I've met a lot of people who have come to Russia from Mongolia and they all love it. I'm really looking forward to it.

It's another place that has fascinated me since I was a kid, and another place I never really expected to see. It's a country the size of Alaska, with less than 3 million people, making it the most sparsely-populated country on earth. Half the people there still live in gers or yurts, circular felt tents. Horses outnumber people there roughly 13-1.

It's not the sort of place most normal people care to visit. When people ask me what's there, my standard response is: Nothing!