© Lonely Planet Publications 294 Chita to Běijīng via Hāěrbin For connoisseurs of obscure rail routes, the Trans-Manchurian railway ranks high on the wish list. It’s not on the mainline to Vladivostok, nor does it take the ‘tourist route’ via Mon- golia; rather, the weekly Vostok (19/20) chugs through China’s rust belt where foreign faces are few and far between. From Chita the route cuts towards the Chinese border at Mănzhōulǐ, sweeps through the grasslands of Inner Mongolia and passes through Russian-influenced Hāěrbin (Harbin), one of China’s more eclectic cities. Vladivostok is only a few hundred kilometres from Hāěrbin and die-hard rail fanatics could find their way onto the twice-weekly and excruciatingly slow international train connection. Most travellers, however, simply carry on towards the megalopolis that is Běijīng. Besides its appealing obscurity, train buffs will also appreciate the Trans-Manchurian’s history and its significance in East Asian affairs. The China Eastern Railway – to give it its technical name – was a geopolitical hot potato, alternately passed back and forth between the Russians, Japanese and Chinese during the tumultuous early years of the 20th century. Another nonstandard Trans-Manchurian route is to hop across the Amur River from the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk to Hēihé, which also has regular rail connections with Hāěrbin. Whichever way you get there, Hāěrbin is a fascinating place, where elements of pre- communist Russia still poke through the surface of a thoroughly modern Chinese city. The prime time to visit is midwinter, when Hāěrbin hosts the spectacular Ice Lantern Festival. Other possible stops en route include Hăilāěr, where you can get a taste of Mongolian life at ger (yurt) camps near the city, and Shěnyáng, which hides some well-preserved relics of the Manchu era. In Russia you could also use Chita as a base for visiting some lesser- known Buddhist temples in the beautiful Siberian countryside. NG VIA NG VIA HIGHLIGHTS Ī IJ Ě Hang out with Russian traders in the pros- RBIN RBIN RUSSIA perous border town of Mănzhōulǐ ( p297 ) ĀĚ H Zhalong Experience the unique fusion of historic Nature Russia and modern-day China on the cobble- Reserve stone streets of Hāěrbin’s Dàolǐqū district M†nahŸul¨ CHITA TO B Hƒ›rbin ( p299 ) Eyeball majestic felines at the Siberian Tiger CHINA Park ( p300 ), just outside Hāěrbin Go birdwatching in the peaceful wetlands of Zhalong Nature Reserve ( p303 ) MONGOLIA Brave the cold to see the spectacular ice sculptures carved at Hāěrbin’s legendary Ice Lantern Festival ( p302 ) ROUTE DISTANCE: 2790KM DURATION: TWO DAYS, EIGHT HOURS lonelyplanet.com THE ROUTE •• Chita to Zabaikalsk 295 THE ROUTE camp (%133 2700 0919). A taxi here from Hăilāěr In Russia, the kilometre markers show the dis- is Y120 return. tance to Moscow. Once in China, they show Around 650km, the train enters the Greater the distance to Hāěrbin; south of Hāěrbin, Hinggan mountains. It may make stops at they show the distance to Běijīng. towns such as Mianduhe (634km), Yilick Ede (574km) and Xinganling (564km). From here Chita to Zabaikalsk the train descends on the eastern side of After Chita (6199km; p239 ), the next major the range. stop is Karymskaya (6293km), from where Shortly after the 15-minute halt at Boketu it’s 12km down the line to Tarskaya, the of- (539km), the train leaves Inner Mongolia and ficial start of the Trans-Manchurian route; enters the province of Heilongjiang, mean- here the train crosses the Ingoda River and ing Black Dragon River. Known in Russian heads southeast. as the Amur River, Heilongjiang’s name- There is a short stop at 6444km in sake river marks the border with Russia in Olovyannaya, then the train crosses the Onon northeastern China. River, a tributary of the Ingoda. This area is The train makes another 15-minute stop said to be the birthplace of Chinggis (Genghis) at Angangxi (270km), then heads eastward Khaan (see the boxed text, p76 ). through an area of wetlands, part of which The train makes another 10-minute stop at has been designated as the Zhalong Nature Borzya (6543km). There’s little to see in this Reserve ( p303). The train makes a brief stop in sparsely populated area, and even the Russian Daqing (159km) at the centre of a large oilfield; border town of Zabaikalsk (6666km) is a sleepy look out for the rigs pumping crude oil out and rundown place. Zabaikalsk is where the of the ground. bogies are changed before the train continues Hāěrbin (1388km from Běijīng; p299 ), the across the border into China. Passably edible capital of Heilongjiang province, is...you meals are available at a cafe across from the guessed it...a 15-minute stop. If you’re not station (take the bridge over the tracks and stopping, the view of the skyline on the east- turn left). ern side of the tracks as you leave Hāěrbin gives a sense of the city’s size. Mănzhōulǐ to Hāěrbin The Chinese border town Mănzhōulǐ (935km Hāěrbin to Běijīng to Hāěrbin; p297 ), established in 1901 as South of Hāěrbin, the train enters Jilin prov- a stop for the train, is booming thanks to ince, also part of the historic territory of the CHITA TO B cross-border trade. Manchus. The Japanese industrialised this Next along the line is H ăilāěr (749km), the region when they shaped it into the puppet northernmost major town in Inner Mongolia, state of Manchukuo (1931–45). The capital H where the train stops for about 10 minutes. of Manchukuo, and today’s provincial capital, ĀĚ RBIN RBIN Should you choose to linger longer, a great is Chángchūn (1146km), where the train stops Ě IJ option is to go to the Jinzanghan Grassland for 10 minutes. Home to China’s first car- Ī (金帐汗草原), just 40km north of Hăilāěr, manufacturing plant (as well as 2.3 million NG VIA where you can eat mutton stew, sleep in a yurt people), it’s also where the Japanese installed (per person Y80) and ride horses (Y150 per the last emperor Henry Puyi: his former pal- hour). At the grasslands there is a grasslands ace is the city’s attraction. CHITA TO BĚIJĪNG ROUTE PLANNER The following is a suggested itinerary for covering the main sights along the Trans-Manchurian route in this chapter: Day 1: Leave Chita; overnight train to Zabaikalsk (10 hours); cross border, explore Mănzhōulǐ. Day 2: Train to Hăilāěr (2½ hours); tour the grasslands. Day 3: Train to Hāěrbin (eight hours). Day 4: Tour Hāěrbin and surrounding areas. Day 5: Train to Běijīng (eight hours)..