5 days spent on a train followed by the vastness of the plains of Mongolia is enough to make you want to hide behind the front door and pretend you're still in a tiny cabin.

After my last blog it seemed that things had taken a disasterous turn. However, it turns out that 8 hours is about enough time to see Moscow's main sights; Red Square, St Basil's Cathedral and a very dead Lenin.

We boarded the Trans Siberian with something aproaching trepidation. Whoever we found in our compartment would be caged in there with us for a whole 120 hours. Once again, our fears were unfounded as the train pulled away with no other occupants in our little space apart from Anna and I (and we're used to living in little spaces). We considered ourselves very lucky indeed.

Other people in our carriage were exactly the right sort of person you would like to meet on a trip like this. First, an Aussie couple who have offered us their place when we get to Cairns (just down the road from the beach), second a mad Dutch professor of Geography who could tell us exactly where we were with his GPS and muttered things like "it is actually quite the right temperature for zis place" before disappearing off to look at the sky or something. Our neighbours included a bloke with whom we are about to share a tour into the depths of Mongolia.

Endless pine forests were followed by endless plains. Then followed vast tracts of silver birch, shimmering in the Siberian sun. After a few days the landscape turned hilly and, according to a guidebook, mountainous. We could not, however, confirm this as over many hundreds of miles they were burning scrub and the thick smoke in the still air shrouded everything except the occasional Dickensian industrial plant.

The rhythms and rocking of a train in motion ensured comfortable nights sleeps. Days were spent gazing into the distance, reading and thinking about what to eat for dinner (a bit like being on a cruise ship really...). Despite having Chinese stewards the dining car was operated by dour Russians with a babushka matriarch oversseing all in her 1950's decorated empire. Food here was shite.

On the penultimate morning we awoke to the ice crusted Lake Baikal, which contains a fifth of the world's fresh water supply. Edged by snowy mountains the clear blue lake was skirted by the train for a good 5 hours before turning towards Mongolia.

Ulan Bator, the capital of this land-bound country, is a real concrete mess. Apart, that is, from the Buddhist temple we have just visited. Here we found a 26.5m gilded statue surrounded by an intricate wooden temple and serenaded by the sound of hundreds of turning prayer wheels and the soundtrack of chanting monks.

In another temple were the monks themselves, chanting away and occasionally ringing bells. Overwhelming smells of incense and yak butter added to a scene which I thought I would have to wait until Tibet to see.

As mentioned, tomorrow we head to inner Outer Mongolia. We will be staying in gers (yurts or big round tents) and if they have an internet connection I'll be asking for my money back so will attempt another update next Saturday before we head for China.