Visas for Russia, Mongolia and China

gary the great

Thanks Tazzer

Ye i would be worried about trains booking up but im hoping for March it would be ok...

Looking at flights, any idea wos the cheapest to fly to moscow with and the best way of gettign back from Bejing?

johnp

gary the great wrote: »

Thanks Tazzer

Ye i would be worried about trains booking up but im hoping for March it would be ok...

Looking at flights, any idea wos the cheapest to fly to moscow with and the best way of gettign back from Bejing?

Not quite the same, but flew to St Petersburg with Air Baltic (change in Riga for an hour or two). It was about €320 one way. We used Air Baltics site to book.

We flew home from Beijing with Turkish Airlines (change in Istanbul for about 5 hours). It was about €580 one way. We used eBookers to book that.

Tazzer

gary the great wrote: »

Thanks Tazzer

Ye i would be worried about trains booking up but im hoping for March it would be ok...

Looking at flights, any idea wos the cheapest to fly to moscow with and the best way of gettign back from Bejing?

Hi Gary

We booked our flights with Air Baltic (Dublin to Riga to Moscow)as well - was about €150 one way.

Cheapest by far...Flew home with BA - they were only €410 from Beijing (stopover in London). Booked those direct with BA

T

johnp

Tazzer wrote: »

Hi Gary

We booked our flights with Air Baltic (Dublin to Riga to Moscow)as well - was about €150 one way.

Cheapest by far...Flew home with BA - they were only €410 from Beijing (stopover in London). Booked those direct with BA

T

Wow! Good bit cheaper than us!
We had an option of a cheaper flight home, but it required something like an 11 hour layover, getting in at 2am, and onward at 1pm. Just didn't fancy that! 5 hours was enough!

Tazzer

johnp wrote: »

Wow! Good bit cheaper than us!
We had an option of a cheaper flight home, but it required something like an 11 hour layover, getting in at 2am, and onward at 1pm. Just didn't fancy that! 5 hours was enough!

yeah great prices. And flight home was at 11am, and an hour and a half stopover in london - so no delays at all! Found booking direct with BA was soo much cheaper.

gary the great

Forgot to check air baltic!

Flew with them to St Petersburg a couple of times (my favourite city in the world along with MinsK) and were always cheap and reliable. Will check them out, cheers lads.

gary the great

For the people that did this trip without a travel agency, how did you go about registering the visas?

I plan on staying with friends in some fo the russian cities, so reigsitering will be way moew awkward. Waytorussia just sort you out with the invitation.

gary the great

Anyone have a copy of the mongolian visa application or know where to get it? I found one online, but the characters are all messed up.

gary the great

Russian and Mongolian visas are now sorted. Just the Chinese one to get now. This trip takes some amount of planning!

Basically now have everythign sorted as far as irkutsk, where we have only one night/2 days. We were going to head straight out of Irkutsk and head to lake bakial and spend the night up there. Is this worth doing? And how do you get from Irkutsk to Listvyanka which is where we will be staying? Our travel agent said it costs 125 euro between us for transfer, there must be cheaper? If thats the price we'll be skipping Bakial and staying in irkutsk and sure we can just see the lake from the train.

Also, how much did people pay for 2nd class from Irkutsk to Beijing?
Looks like we may be paying Irkutsk – Ulan-Bator: about 180-200EUR and the same again then to Beijing. Is that about right? Its working out more expensvie than first thought...them prices are with realrussia.

Tazzer

Hi Gary,,

Yes it does take some planning - but so worth it.

Lake Baikal was one of the highlights of our trip and would deffo recommend going there if you can. Much preferred it than Irkutsk. Amazing place and food fab - if you like fish that is :-)

No way you can see/appreciate it from the train.

We booked through Lupine Travel - cost was around €950 for all trains (from moscow to beijing) and hostels and trips in Irkutsk and Ulanbaatar- which included lake Baikal. So Im sorry I cant be more help with the prices that you are looking for

T

NoQuarter

Sorry to hijack a tad but the thread is rather long to read it all!

Am i right in saying that as an irish citizen I cant pop over to Hong Kong for a 5 day trip without a visa?

And apologies for the, most probably, stupid question!

gary the great

We have decided to get the bus from Ulan Ude to Ulan Bator, its much cheaper and much quicker. So a rough itinery of our trip so far is:

Flight to Riga
Overnight Eurolines to St Petersburg, where will be staying with Russian friends
St Petersburg to Moscow by 3rd class sleeper train, staying in the Izvimihlo Hotel.
Moscow to Irkutsk by an S7 flight (hadnt got the time to get the train and its also cheaper)
Irkutsk to Lake Baikal (by local bus we hope-anyone aboe to give any pointers on this?) - we also plan to stay in a cabin at the lake but none of the renters seem to be emailing us back...travel agencies are charging way to much)
Another local bus back to irkutsk.
Overnight train 2nd class to Ulan Ude
Arrive in Ulan Ude at 6.05 and onto the bus to Ulan Baator at 7.30-if anyone has taken the bus...is its departure point close to the train station? if not, we'll get a taxi.
Arrive in Ulan Bator-havent booked our accomadation here yet-any suggestions?
Leave Ulan Bator 4 days later to Beijing - we are having trouble booking this train...the only price we've got is 220euros from RealRussia which are linked to the Seat61 website. Wondering can this train be got for cheaper anywhere else? We emailed Selena travel but no reply yet.
Staying in Beijing backpackers hostel for 4 days and then fly out on Air Etihad to Abu Dhabi where we will stay for a few days before returning to Dublin.

This is all being done independently and proving a lot of hassle but much much cheaper than through an agency. We have had a russian friend buy our russian train tickets and you woulnt believe the difference prices.

johnp

gary the great wrote: »

We have decided to get the bus from Ulan Ude to Ulan Bator, its much cheaper and much quicker. So a rough itinery of our trip so far is:

Flight to Riga
Overnight Eurolines to St Petersburg, where will be staying with Russian friends
St Petersburg to Moscow by 3rd class sleeper train, staying in the Izvimihlo Hotel.
Moscow to Irkutsk by an S7 flight (hadnt got the time to get the train and its also cheaper)
Irkutsk to Lake Baikal (by local bus we hope-anyone aboe to give any pointers on this?) - we also plan to stay in a cabin at the lake but none of the renters seem to be emailing us back...travel agencies are charging way to much)
Another local bus back to irkutsk.
Overnight train 2nd class to Ulan Ude
Arrive in Ulan Ude at 6.05 and onto the bus to Ulan Baator at 7.30-if anyone has taken the bus...is its departure point close to the train station? if not, we'll get a taxi.
Arrive in Ulan Bator-havent booked our accomadation here yet-any suggestions?
Leave Ulan Bator 4 days later to Beijing - we are having trouble booking this train...the only price we've got is 220euros from RealRussia which are linked to the Seat61 website. Wondering can this train be got for cheaper anywhere else? We emailed Selena travel but no reply yet.
Staying in Beijing backpackers hostel for 4 days and then fly out on Air Etihad to Abu Dhabi where we will stay for a few days before returning to Dublin.

This is all being done independently and proving a lot of hassle but much much cheaper than through an agency. We have had a russian friend buy our russian train tickets and you woulnt believe the difference prices.

If you had a couple of days in Irkutsk, I would defo recommend getting to Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal. Sorry, can't help with buses to the lake. There is defo a bus station with loads of mini-buses milling around.
Actually, just googled, try this:
http://www.waytorussia.net/Baikal/Destinations/Listvyanka.html
Maybe you can contact that site for more info.

We stayed in UB Guesthouse in Ulanbator. It's a hostel, nothing fancy, but fairly central. They'll pick you up for a couple of dollars, they'll organise tours, they'll pretty much do anything for you. All you gotta do is drop a few dollars.
If nothing else the owner, Mr Kim, will make you laugh.

johnp

gary the great wrote: »

We have decided to get the bus from Ulan Ude to Ulan Bator, its much cheaper and much quicker. So a rough itinery of our trip so far is:

Flight to Riga
Overnight Eurolines to St Petersburg, where will be staying with Russian friends
St Petersburg to Moscow by 3rd class sleeper train, staying in the Izvimihlo Hotel.
Moscow to Irkutsk by an S7 flight (hadnt got the time to get the train and its also cheaper)
Irkutsk to Lake Baikal (by local bus we hope-anyone aboe to give any pointers on this?) - we also plan to stay in a cabin at the lake but none of the renters seem to be emailing us back...travel agencies are charging way to much)
Another local bus back to irkutsk.
Overnight train 2nd class to Ulan Ude
Arrive in Ulan Ude at 6.05 and onto the bus to Ulan Baator at 7.30-if anyone has taken the bus...is its departure point close to the train station? if not, we'll get a taxi.
Arrive in Ulan Bator-havent booked our accomadation here yet-any suggestions?
Leave Ulan Bator 4 days later to Beijing - we are having trouble booking this train...the only price we've got is 220euros from RealRussia which are linked to the Seat61 website. Wondering can this train be got for cheaper anywhere else? We emailed Selena travel but no reply yet.
Staying in Beijing backpackers hostel for 4 days and then fly out on Air Etihad to Abu Dhabi where we will stay for a few days before returning to Dublin.

This is all being done independently and proving a lot of hassle but much much cheaper than through an agency. We have had a russian friend buy our russian train tickets and you woulnt believe the difference prices.

I tried looking through my old emails for price for UB to Beijing. I can only find mention of 220.

EDIT: Have you emailed RealRussia? It's worth getting in contact. They'll give you the different options.

amz5

This is a great thread. How long do you recommend for the trip from Russia to China?

johnp

amz5 wrote: »

This is a great thread. How long do you recommend for the trip from Russia to China?

Think you can get on the train in Moscow and be in Beijing in six days, but there are loads of great places to stop along the way.
I think most people in this thread take between 2.5 and 3 weeks.
Obviously the longer the better, but at the very very least 2 weeks.
That'd be my take on it anyway!

cannotwait

Hello

I was wondering what the weather will be like along the way in July? I'm expecting Beijing to be hot (where I'm starting from), but what about Mongolia (Ulaanbaator and the countryside), Irkutsk, Lake Baikal, Moscow and St. Petersburg? I havent a clue what type of weather to start packing for... Any help would be great!

johnp

cannotwait wrote: »

Hello

I was wondering what the weather will be like along the way in July? I'm expecting Beijing to be hot (where I'm starting from), but what about Mongolia (Ulaanbaator and the countryside), Irkutsk, Lake Baikal, Moscow and St. Petersburg? I havent a clue what type of weather to start packing for... Any help would be great!

Almost everywhere was hot.
I remember Baikal was a little chilly, but that just means bring a sweater.
Also, I think Mongolia got a bit chilly at night too.

You won't need gloves, scarves, hats or earmuffs

gary the great

Im just back. Even ended up gettign stuck in Istanbul due to the ash cloud.

Epic trip. Will be making a video of soon, will post it up here.

podgeen

gary the great wrote: »

We have decided to get the bus from Ulan Ude to Ulan Bator, its much cheaper and much quicker. So a rough itinery of our trip so far is:

Flight to Riga
Overnight Eurolines to St Petersburg, where will be staying with Russian friends
St Petersburg to Moscow by 3rd class sleeper train, staying in the Izvimihlo Hotel.
Moscow to Irkutsk by an S7 flight (hadnt got the time to get the train and its also cheaper)
Irkutsk to Lake Baikal (by local bus we hope-anyone aboe to give any pointers on this?) - we also plan to stay in a cabin at the lake but none of the renters seem to be emailing us back...travel agencies are charging way to much)
Another local bus back to irkutsk.
Overnight train 2nd class to Ulan Ude
Arrive in Ulan Ude at 6.05 and onto the bus to Ulan Baator at 7.30-if anyone has taken the bus...is its departure point close to the train station? if not, we'll get a taxi.
Arrive in Ulan Bator-havent booked our accomadation here yet-any suggestions?
Leave Ulan Bator 4 days later to Beijing - we are having trouble booking this train...the only price we've got is 220euros from RealRussia which are linked to the Seat61 website. Wondering can this train be got for cheaper anywhere else? We emailed Selena travel but no reply yet.
Staying in Beijing backpackers hostel for 4 days and then fly out on Air Etihad to Abu Dhabi where we will stay for a few days before returning to Dublin.

This is all being done independently and proving a lot of hassle but much much cheaper than through an agency. We have had a russian friend buy our russian train tickets and you woulnt believe the difference prices.

I did a similar trip in December 09 and have been meaning to come back there to share my experiences as I got lots of help from this forum before I left. To answer some of your questions.

I took a public bus from Irkutsk to Listvyanka. I can't remember how much it cost but it was cheap. There were busses running every 30 minutes so it wasn't something that needed to be booked in advance. We also took a bus to get to Olkhon Island. Again I don't remember how much we paid but the guy in our hostel helped us book it i.e. he rang the bus driver and asked him to come collect us. It was a 6 hour bus journey and we got talking to the locals and turned out we had paid the same price as them but sadly I can't remember how much that was.

I did keep a record of all my train tickets. For the Ulaan Baator to Beijing leg I paid $110 and this included a commission of $14 for Mr. Kim in UB Guesthouse. I had intended on staying longer in Ulaan Baator but there was a snow storm on the way, they were expecting -50 and I met with some people who were leaving the following day so I decided at the last minute to leave and luckily Mr Kim was able to get me a ticket as short notice. For the rest of my trip I bought the tickets myself at the stations along the way. I did a blog post about it a while back, details here.

explode

Question about the China Visa application.

For the question "Inviter, Contact or Your Relative in China"

Does this have to be completed for applications at the Dublin embassy?

Or do I have to book a hotel and then put that address in there?

makeleft

Hi Folks,
Following advice I found here, I rang the Dublin School of English this morning regarding a Mongolian visa but they told me the Mongolian consulate is no longer in Dublin and I need to apply to the Mongolian Embassy in the UK.

Looking on the UK website, it suggests that I need to submit the forms in person. I don;t particularly want to have to go all the way to London to get my visa. Does anyone know if it can be done by post?

johnp

makeleft wrote: »

Hi Folks,
Following advice I found here, I rang the Dublin School of English this morning regarding a Mongolian visa but they told me the Mongolian consulate is no longer in Dublin and I need to apply to the Mongolian Embassy in the UK.

Looking on the UK website, it suggests that I need to submit the forms in person. I don;t particularly want to have to go all the way to London to get my visa. Does anyone know if it can be done by post?

When we were looking for the visas, the UK Embassy website said that they couldn't accept postal applications as there was a backlog or something.
So I rang them to find out if it could all be done in a day etc, I'd get an early flight and return that night. At that time they straight away said it could be done in Dublin (in the DSE).
Now, unfortunately that's no good to you, but I'd ring them and see what they say.

Exilim

Heres a few videos from when i did this trip last year. Actually PM me if you'd like to see them.

Exilim

.

Slidey

Myself and the woman are on for going to Moscow in March.

Is the info at the start of the thread still valid for the Russian Visas?

johnp

Slidey wrote: »

Myself and the woman are on for going to Moscow in March.

Is the info at the start of the thread still valid for the Russian Visas?

Yeah, can't imagine it's changed.

Here's a link of what you need to do:
http://www.ireland.mid.ru/visa_en.html

CheapestFun

Hey yall, I am an American currently studying in Kyoto, Japan. My visa for Japan terminates July 31st, 2011 (in 1 month) and I still have little clue on where to go afterwards and by what means once this visa expires.... I took off fall semester so I can travel and maybe even work until January 2012.

I was thinking of taking a ferry from the southern coast of Japan docking in Vladivostok, Southeast Russia after a stop in Busan, South Korea. From Vladivostok, take the trans-siberian rail down to Mongolia. I am not sure what stops I would make along the way...it seems Irtkutsk, Terelj, Ulan Bator, and Lake Baikal are popular. From Mongolia I would like to go to Nepal, and was going to attempt this via China (in that case completing the transsiberian railway path there) or potentially straight from Mongolia. After Nepal, I would cross into India and take a ferry or plane to Thailand, then travel around Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, for a while, making my way south and ending up in New Zealand (after possible stops in Indonesia and Australia). I definitely have much planning to do, although this will be difficult as I am enrolled in a program which ends in 2 days and will be WWoofing with limited internet access afterwards. Needless to say, I am struggling with planning my trip! I have some questions about visas and traveling....

Will I be able to obtain a Russian visa in 1 month's time.
As an American in Japan, should I visit the Russian embassy to handle the paperwork? Would I have to send my passport away to the US embassy, or the Russian embassy in the United States?
Should I apply for an invitation from a reputable company or book a hotel in Vladivostok to provide visa support?
I am not very informed on traveling in Russia... any suggestions on places for a lone backpacker to visit or stay? Any places not safe to visit alone? I have funds, which are limited, but I can definitely stretch my dollar.

For the Transsiberian rail, well I guess it's the transmongolian rail?, what's the most efficient, cost-effective way to get tickets? should I plan on buying tickets in Vladivostok?

I have a used bike which I bought in Kyoto and would love to take it with me, eventually to southeast asia... would I be able to board it on the bottom of the train, or bring it with me at all?

thank you! any information would be greatly appreciated

amz5

Hi all, as I said earlier, great thread
I'm trying to sort out visas at the moment and I can't take time off work to go up and down to Dublin to sort visas (as well as get time off for the trip!) so I'm going to get Trailfinders to sort them out for me. I emailed realrussia to see if they could do it, but they said that they couldn't sort them out for Irish citizens?
Anyway, Trailfinders have siad that it takes 10 days to sort the Chinese one for €68, 10 days for the Mongolian one €95 and 12 days for the Russian one €98. But that takes over a month to sort them all out...so I think I'm going to have to go an express route. Does anyone know the quickest way of getting them? Any travel agents quicker than Trailfinders?

(By the way, I found out this info about visas if people are doing them themselves.The Chinese visa is €40 and can be obtained from the Embassy in Dublin. Likewise with the Russian visa, but this is €60. There is no Mongolian embassy in Ireland but there is a honorary consul based in Bangor, County Down. You can apply for the visa here at a cost of 40GBP.)



Onto my next question. I'm pretty sure about dates for our rail tickets and I've priced them with Lupine Travel and RealRussia. They're cheaper with RealRussia. I can get my invite for the Russian visas from them for free when I book, so I pretty much need to sort my train trckets before my visas, right? We're very stuck for time, so I think we need to book our tickets in advance through an agent as we can't afford to miss any trains. Do you think RealRussia is the cheapest one out there?

We're planning on doing the trip over about 21-24 days. St Petersburg-Beijing. About how much do people pay for this ticket with 3 stops in between? I'm just wondering to see if we're paying way over the odds because we can't book as we move... Thanks all

Creachadóir

Does anyone know how long the backlog is with the Russian embassy at present?