All language subtitles for Trans2

This is Mongolia,

one of the remotest places
I've ever been to on Earth.

We're 2000 miles into our epic
journey.

I've leapt off the train to spend
some time with a family of nomads.

There are twice as many wild
horses as people in Mongolia.

I'm hoping, not too wild.

I don't know why,

I feel my enormous English bottom is
going to struggle in there.

My father, who was quite a
horseman, always said that,

when you're on top of a horse,

to stop it ever knowing you're
feeling nervous,

you've got to sing, so it might
be a little bit of melody.

The hills might be alive
with the sound of music.

Ohh! There we are.

# It's the same the whole world over

# It's the poor what gets the blame #

My 6000-mile adventure
started in Hong Kong,

which I'd last seen when I was four.

I've crossed mighty China, where the
new world rubs up against the old.

I visited a wild stretch
of the Great Wall.

This is honestly
like being in a dream.

Now we're in romantic Mongolia,

the land of Genghis Khan,
with its hardy nomads.

It's a vast, empty and mysterious
land.

From here, I'll enter another empire.

This is Russia. Speak Russian.

I'll be crossing icy Siberia,

glimpsing Russia's undimmed
spirit and troubled soul.

Two guys jumped with Kalashnikovs
in their hands, like dad-da-da!

I'll be meeting powerful oligarchs...

This is so I get the gold flakes.

.. stars of the future...
Zazdarovje!

.. and enjoy Russian
hospitality to the full.

So that is a small vodka.

Finally, I push onto Moscow,

which I last visited in the darkness
of the Cold War in 1966.

Is that a nuclear bomb?
Yes.

My Trans-Siberian journey.

The adventure of a lifetime.

This unforgiving landscape
breeds tough people,

whether they're warriors or herdsmen.

The nomadic lifestyle has hardly
changed

for thousands of years in Mongolia,

where a third of the population
are still herdsmen.

(SPEAKS MONGOLIAN)

My hosts are the Flouk-Ochua family,

who live in these tents, or gers,

managing their 200 horses
and 100 head of cattle,

moving every few months to pastures
new.

It's not only the cows that are
milked.

Mares' milk is big business in
Mongolia.

Milking occurs four times a day.

And it's quite an art.

Foals are used to stimulate the mare
to milk, and then pulled away.

It seems fairly hazardous, this
milking,

cos you just go in amongst
the herd of horses.

You can see that this young one,
the foal was suckling anyway.

You just leap in there, balance
the bucket on your knee,

sort of shout at the other horses,

if they come too close and look
rough.

It's not like the The Archers,
do you know what I mean?

Milking time at The Archers.

Shall I have a go? Yeah.

Yeah?

No, put my bucket over there.

Oh, my love, I can't do it.

I'm not doing it properly.

I'm not doing it properly!
I can't, I can't seem to...

Oh, that was feeble.

It's awful to have made somebody
angry, but I think that was me.

So it'll be just a little less
on the milk yield today.

Some of the mares' milk
makes a lethal brew.

Oh, the smell! This has
got the most... (LAUGHS)

So, when it's cool,
the milk goes in here.

And you zhuzz it about,
and it turns into alcohol.

This is like a kind of still.

And some of the milk is sold,

bizarrely, to a local cosmetics
company.

Yeah?

On the bottle is a lovely little
picture of a galloping mare.

It looks like a thick kind of balm.

You put it on your face.
Yeah. How lovely.

I can't wait to try the alcoholic
sour mares' milk nomadic cocktail.

Delicious.

Look. This looks like beautiful,
very thick cream, I guess.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Mmmm-mmm!
(LAUGHTER)

That's delicious. It's rather
like eating a scone, I guess.

It's wonderful.

Soon it'll be winter, when
it can get to minus 30.

But with the ger's walls
and roof made of sheep felt,

it's remarkably cosy.

You've been married for 26 years?

How did you meet your husband?

(LAUGHS)

Naadam is the nomads' annual fair,

where riding and wrestling
feature prominently,

and the place to go to find romance.

You have children?

Army?

We have one son, who is married,

and two granddaughters.

I'm 68.

Oh...

But when I put my mares' milk
on, I shall be even younger.

Ah!

They've kindly invited
me to sleep here tonight.

So we prepare to turn in.

Mr and Mrs Ochua sleep in their
small but charming wooden bed,

normally opposite their son.

But they insist that
I take his bed tonight.

Is this all right for me to sleep
here? Is this your son's bed?

Yeah? Is it OK for me?

Thank you so much.

So I'm just going off
to clean my teeth now.

I'm going to keep this door...
do that while I can see it.

And then keep the door shut to keep
this beautiful little ger warm.

(BRUSHING)

You've probably gathered the bathroom
is simply the Great Outdoors.

A lovely night here.

Got jolly cold,

even though I had a beautiful
extra quilt over my sleeping bag.

And I slept in my zipper thing.

I felt my nose cold. But
something lovely happened.

There was a great kind of bump
at about two in the morning.

That kind of frrrrr! That
lovely heavy breathing sound

of a big beast coming along and
standing and breathing beside me.

I've only ever had that before
in a tent with a lion.

So it was nice to be up in
Mongolia and it was a cow.

Morning rituals with a modern twist.

As Mr Ochua gets up,

and Mrs Ochua makes the cheese,

their son goes out early to
round up the distant horses.

By the time he's back,
Dad is up and ready.

And in a beautifully coordinated
dance,

ancient and modern herding
methods combine.

It's been extraordinary staying
here for the night.

There's something really
pared down and simple,

hardworking, disciplined,
a sense of order.

An extraordinarily simple
life, which I suppose...

all our ancestors lived.

So all of us used to live like this.

How different it is to the world
today.

But most impressive is something
I've found around the world,

which is that the poorer
and the simpler people are,

the more they welcome
you into their homes.

The kinder they are.

The more they give you the best place
to sit or to eat,

the best bit of food, the best bed.
(HORSE WHINNIES)

It's just so... We've
pulled away from this

in our smart, civilised world.

I wonder if we haven't gone too far.

It's time to get back on the train,

whose next stop is the exotically
named capital, Ulaanbaatar.

This proudly independent land has
conquered, and been conquered by,

both its neighbours --
China and Russia.

The Mongolian People's Republic

was dominated by the Soviet Union,

who banned all mention of the great
13th century Mongolian emperor,

Genghis Khan.

Long train journeys are great
places to meet people.

My breakfast date is a young
Mongolian called Dandy.

Tea? Coffee?

Tea, please.
Coffee, please.

Your first time in Mongolia?
It is.

You speak perfect English.
How does that happen?

Well, after I graduated my high
school,

I went to get a degree in London.

So I've been living there for four
years.

What were you studying?

I was studying Business
Administration.

And where did you live?
In Bermondsey.

In Bermondsey?
In Bermondsey, yeah.

I lived there for four years.

But London is a terribly
expensive place.

How did you manage to amass
the funds to live there?

My first job would be the Tesco's.
At Tesco?

Yes, as a cashier.
Really?

In Tesco in Clapham Junction.
Yes?

Of course, my best job will be the
Odeon cinema in Leicester Square.

Wow.
Ticket checking.

Ticket checking.

Yeah. So, after everybody
is in the cinema,

I was, like, able to watch
every movie.

Fantastic.

Is it a struggle for Mongolia,

being caught, first of all, such
a completely independent people,

with an independent history,

and in its history,

one of the greatest empires
the world has ever known,

spreading from, well, here right...

Whoa!
I'm so sorry.

He says fine.
And now Mongolia is pinched

between these two superpowers.

Full of its independent spirit,
its own language, its own history.

Is this a difficult place
to set up businesses?

You've got to trade with your
neighbours, haven't you? Yep.

Well, as a landlocked country,

our main way out to the world
markets... Thank you.

.. is going to be the railway.
The railway.

This railway? Yeah, this railway,
exactly, that we are travelling on.

But right now, it is a really hot
topic in Mongolia, the railway.

Because now we are on
the edge of deciding

whether we follow Chinese
or whether we follow Russia.

With Russia and China having railway
tracks of different widths,

Mongolia has to decide
which market matters most.

Mongolia is over six times
the size of the UK,

and has only three million people.

But nearly half of them now live
in the capital, Ulaanbaatar,

which is about as remote as you can
get.

I discover in Ulaanbaatar that
pride in Genghis Khan is back.

This square was recently
named after him.

My train companion, Dandy, has
suggested

that, if I want to see just how much

Mongolians revere this ancient
warlord,

I should meet him some 60 miles
outside of Ulaanbaatar.

Dandy, I didn't recognise
you in that suit.

True to his word, Dandy
is here with his boss,

one of the most powerful men
in Mongolia, Mr Batalgur.

It's just extraordinary. You can
see it gleaming from miles around.

He's a politician and hugely
wealthy businessman,

who dreamt up and then had built
this tribute to Genghis Khan.

Almost as high as Nelson's Column,

it dominates the landscape.

It looks as though it's made from
silver. What is it -- aluminium?

Stainless steel.

So it's been made of stainless
steel.

So it will always gleam like this.
Actually, you can go up.

You can go up onto there?
Yep.

So you can go out onto the horse's
head? Er, yes.

He's going to tell you to turn
round and open your eyes.

Then can you look at it.

OK, turn round.

(GASPS)

That's extraordinary.

It is literally awesome.
It's just extraordinary.

Incredible expression of
determination,

authority,

kindliness...

Probably not kindliness.

"Chinggis" Khan -- as he's
pronounced here -- and his armies

are estimated to have
slaughtered 40 million people.

So his status as hero is,
of course, subjective.

Why did you think it was important

to have a statue of Genghis Khan?

Do you believe there is a Mongolian
characteristic of warrior strength?

Do you wrestle?

Were you good at wrestling?

You're a modest man.
What did you achieve?

Fantastic.

Before we came here,

I was a bit worried about the idea of
this statue of Genghis Khan.

Because a huge kind of glittering
object

in the middle of open land...

I thought, "I wonder if it works?"

Since we came here, and I've
seen what Mongolia is like...

I mean, it is just literally endless.

.. this phenomenal statue
seems to be to scale.

You can understand why
this man, Genghis Khan,

800 years ago, ruled the world.

His army stretched from the Pacific
right across into Europe,

from what is now Russia
right down to India.

An empire that's never
really been matched.

So it's rather good to be here,

looking up at his huge silver face.

This is Genghis Khan.

And this is his Mongolia.

Genghis Khan didn't know that,
beneath his horses' hooves,

lay a fortune.

Modern Mongolia is reaping
the benefit

of its vast natural resources.

In the last few decades,

the world's mining conglomerates
have been flooding in.

They've found huge deposits
of coal, copper, uranium...

.. and gold.

To be honest, I look better
in gold than uranium.

But gold mines
are not easy to get to.

So there's nothing for it
but to take a helicopter.

Joanna?

I've got a mouth full of toffee.
I'm gonna try this one on.

Yeah?

I've got to that stage in life

where anything wrapped in cellophane
is a problem.

Hmmm. (LAUGHTER)

Thank you.
A real miner.

A real miner, absolutely.

Wow!

Look at this huge hole.

And these massive lorries looking
like little ants down there.

And somewhere in here,

this lovely sort of
russet-coloured earth,

somebody must have discerned there
would be gold in them thar hills.

This medium-sized gold mine produces
around two tons of gold a year,

which Mongolian law dictates has
to be sold to the government.

The licence to mine includes an
obligation to fill these pits in

once the gold has been extracted.

After some negotiation, they allow
me into the heart of the operation,

where the gold itself
is sifted and weighed

under the all-seeing
eyes of the supervisor.

Security might seem low-key,

but it is, in fact, pretty intense.

The large gentleman to my right
is watching my every move.

We're wearing hi-vis jackets.

But you're wearing black aprons.

What are you doing at this table?

This one has no pockets.

So that you don't steal it?
Yes, OK.

That's natural, from the ground.
Natural one.

Ooh, that's heavy.

That colour. I'm attracted.

If I found this, how much
would I sell it for?

It's about two kilos.

About 90,000.
90,000 US Dollars?

Yes, dollars.
May I ask one favour?

Can we take one dish of the gold
to see it in the sunlight,

to see it glinting in the sunlight?

You pick. It's possible.

I think all those are lovely.

Is it a handful you want?

They count them all out,
they count them all in.

686.4.

It's funny -- I've worn and held
things

far more valuable than that.

Diamonds running into millions.

Obviously not my own,
but I've worn them.

There's something absolutely
thrilling about gold,

a rough nugget of gold that's
come from the ground.

There's some extraordinarily
primal sense of... greed.

Look at that fantastic colour.

It's driven people mad
throughout the centuries.

It's only stuff from the earth.
It's only really earth.

It's only stardust.

Thank you. (SPEAKS MONGOLIAN)

Thank you. That's such a lovely
present. You're so generous.

(TRANSLATES)
(LAUGHTER)

Unfortunately, with not even
a nugget of excess baggage,

it's back to Ulaanbaatar,

where, tomorrow, I'll be
on a train, like that one,

to the Russian border and Siberia.

Just before I board
the train to Siberia,

I have one last mission.

I'm under strict instructions
from my musician husband

to track down the legendary
Mongolian throat singers.

(BAND PLAYS TRADITIONAL MUSIC)

This group is called the Jonan,

who play traditional instruments,

and do a form of throat singing
that's quite incredible to hear.

(HIGH-PITCHED DRONE BLENDING
WITH STRING INSTRUMENTS)

(MELODIC GURGLING GROAN)

(MUSIC STOPS)

Bravissimi, tutti!

That was wonderful.

(LONG HUM RISING IN PITCH)

That throaty sound and that
pure high overtone sound

are both coming from this one man.

Will you stand and teach me to do
this?

(LOW CONTINUOUS NOTE)

Eeee-oh-eeee....

(LAUGHTER)

Very poor.

But I'm trying to be a
man as well as singing.

(DRAWS IN BREATH)

- Uuuuuu...
- (LAUGHTER)

(LIVELY, UPBEAT TEMPO)

(MAN STARTS SINGING)

It's a long journey from Ulaanbaatar
over the border into Russia.

And some of these passengers
have to say big goodbyes.

Little Grandma. (LAUGHS)

Sorry.

The young one, probably about 18,

going off to do National Service,
a year.

Apparently, they always hope
to go north near Russia,

because it's much cooler.

If you go south, in the summer,
on the borders with China,

it's boiling hot.

They look so sweet and so young.

Especially his neatly shaven hair.

Brand new uniforms.

Hi, Spidey boy.

Mmm.

Granny's brought, I think,
a blessing.

She's got a wooden spoon
and a bottle of something.

I think she's going to bless
it with milk when we leave.

She's doing it now.

It's the agonising moment before
the train leaves.

You've said everything
you've meant to say.

You go, "Yeah, well, so, great.
Right, I'll write, yeah."

And then we go off and everyone's
going, "Bayartai! Bayartai!"

Bayartai!

Bayartai!

(SOBS)

I'm sad to be leaving Mongolia,

with its haunting music
and heart-warming hospitality.

And the land, it's hard to describe.

Even this film
isn't really showing it.

It's hard to describe the absolute
immensity and emptiness of it,

and the great, great beauty.

We're travelling towards the border

and the first big city
in Siberia, Ulan Ude.

The train seems packed with traders.

Their goods are destined
for the Russian market.

But any passing passenger
is worth a try.

Can you tell me what's going on here?

Ooooh! What's this?

Oh, so a woman's just gone past
with...

with a whole bag of...
More of this trading going on...

With a whole bag of
beautiful... Look at this.

Camel wool waistcoat.

Isn't that stunning?
(SPEAKS MONGOLIAN)

She's gonna do the same
thing of splitting it,

so that each passenger appears to be
carrying the right amount

when, in fact it's traders
carrying...

traders... carrying...

It's beautiful. It's lovely.

How much, for instance,
does this cost?

Look how warm and nice.

800 roubles.

Do I need a camel wool waistcoat?

I mean, what a question.
Obviously I do.

Whoo! Little slippies!

(LAUGHTER) Speaks Mongolian

They're so sweet.

Night-night, Spidey.

Rocked into a slumber by the
endless motion of the train,

it's a bit of a jolt 11 hours later

to find we're at the border
with Putin's Russia.

Where have I got my little bit
of paper? Have I got it in here?

Hiya.

Hello.

I wonder how the traders are doing.

The customs officers are searching
every nook and cranny

for illicit goods.

Our foolhardy attempt to film
the process backfires on us.

They see something they don't
like in my compartment.

Camera, no.

The boys next door,
I'm with the boys...

If you can ask the boys...

This one?
Da, da.

Yes? Ask the boys...

That is for me. I...

I do my performance...

(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)

My friendly trader tries to help.

And then the crew decide not to risk
another camera being confiscated.

I don't speak Russian.

I don't speak English.

This is Russia.
Yes.

Yes. Speak Russian.
I can't.

(VOICE CRACKLES OVER RADIO)

There's one.

Bye-bye!
Bye-bye! Bye-bye!

We were lucky. Two traders were,
in fact, thrown off the train.

Well, this is about ten
to six in the morning,

old Mongolian time.

But ten to seven in the morning.

Because
though we've gone slightly west,

and ought to have lost an hour,

we've actually gained an hour
in Russian time.

Last night was quite
a time on the train.

The Mongolian passport and
immigration thing went fine.

But when the Russians came on,
it had a different feeling about it.

Much more menacing.

And because we'd rigged
some cameras around --

because we're recording
a train journey --

they spotted them and they
were fabulously angry.

Really like a pretty...
(TRAIN HORN)

.. badly scripted film.
It was strange.

It went on and on and on.
It was half past one.

I thought we'd never get to bed.

Anyway, we've all had
a luscious four hours' sleep.

So we feel much better. The strangest
thing happened this morning.

I wasn't awake enough to come and
say, "I wish we could record it."

The rails began singing.
They were singing.

And you can hear them a little bit
now.

Laa-roo-eeee...

Isn't that strange?

Perhaps it's the melancholy feel
of overtone singing

coming from Mongolia, stretching out.

This is Ulan Ude.

Ulan Ude is the capital
of the Buryat region

in the heartland of Asian Russia.

If I arrived here in a blindfold

and someone said, "Which country are
you in?" and took the blindfold away,

I'd have no doubt
that I was in Russia,

under this colossal head of Lenin.

This is Soviet Square in Ulan Ude.

These were the former Communist
Party buildings, there and there.

That was the KGB building.

Well, it's still the KGB, but
under a slightly different name.

That's the state theatre,
or opera, over there.

And this enormous head remains.

Even though most of the
statues in Russia of Lenin

have been taken down,
this one's still here.

I wonder if it's because it's not
only a monumental work of art,

but because it's got slightly
Asian modelling of the eyes.

Very favourable. Very handsome.

I'm in Siberia at last.

And soon I'll be travelling
into its icy heart.

Siberia.

A word that's always made me think
of exile, gulags and foreboding.

Now I'm in the heart of it,
I'm really rather thrilled.

Siberia.

You've got to do it in the winter.

Seven.

This is me. Do you need that? Yeah?

This one -- Lumley.

There I am, that one. OK?

Thank you.

Spaciba.

This leg of the journey
will take me from Ulan Ude

to the great city of Irkutsk.

So, here we are in Russia.

Is this Moscow time? Is this local
time?

(SPEAKS RUSSIAN)

(RUSSIAN ACCENT) I think,
you know, the thing is...

Oh, it says, "I'm lost".
(SPEAKS RUSSIAN)

Call a doctor. (SPEAKS RUSSIAN)

There's been an accident.
(SPEAKS RUSSIAN)

(SPEAKS RUSSIAN)

But, you see, it's too late. Because
by the time I've got it out...

got to the bit with
the Russian pronunciation...

(SPEAKS RUSSIAN).. oh, it's gone.

(RUSSIAN ACCENT) Is dead.
Is dead. Is too late.

Even in third class,
the seats turn into beds.

Some of these journeys
take seven days.

And you need to be able
to get your head down.

It's a bit like that scene
from Some Like It Hot.

Do you remember, when the girl band,
the girl orchestra, are travelling?

Marilyn Monroe up on the top bunk.

May I sit down?
Da. Please, please.

Thank you.
Where are you travelling to?

Moscow.
Moscow. (GASPS) Moskva.

In six days. You see, in
Britain, maybe one night.

But six? Never.

It's a ten-hour journey
through stunning mountains,

arriving in Irkutsk at night.

If you ever find yourself
being sent to Siberia,

can I suggest Irkutsk?

The famous Russian playwright Chekhov

called it the Paris of the East.

It has handsome mansions.

And the best shopping, ironically,
is on Karl Marx Street.

(SINGING)

The Russian Orthodox Church suffered

especially during the early
years of the Soviet Union.

But now, it's having
something of a revival.

The reason though I'm here

is that it is also the home of
Siberia's rock'n'roll bell ringer,

Artur Sariov,

who offers to show me his belfry.

This is the scary bit.

Right up to some extraordinary
kind of attic-y height.

Very big steps.

Look at this. Whoops!

What a view of the city!

I can't wait to hear this.

(PEEL OF BELLS)

(LAUGHS)

(SPEAKS RUSSIAN)

Fantastic! Fantastic!

(BELLS RING OUT)

Tearing myself away from
the Jimi Hendrix of bell ringing,

I discover something more surprising
and unexpected happening in Irkutsk.

I've been invited to tea

in this rather unprepossessing
Soviet block of flats

by an English teacher called Natalia.

(KNOCKS)
Hello?

Natalia? Hello.

Natalia, hello.

I'm Joanna. Rather a cold hand.

Cold hands, warm heart.

Warm heart. Very good
English. How lovely.

Some cake?
Why not? Let's do it, darling.

That actually looks completely
perfect.
Nuts and raisins.

The last thing I expected
to find in Siberia

was Victorian ballroom dancing.

But that is why Natalia
has invited me to tea.

It's her passion.

It's very, very typical, I think,
of Russian character to look back.

To look back and to cherish.

So the nostalgia you have
is not for the Soviet era.

Although I think there probably is
a nostalgia for that time.
Absolutely.

What do you think it is
that they miss?

People were absolutely confident

of their tomorrow.

Because they knew for sure that
tomorrow

they will have a job anyway.

They will have free flat anyway.

And if they are ill, they
will be taken care of.

And that's gone now?
That's gone now.

Is Putin popular in this part of
Russia?
Yes.

All through Russia?
I think, yes.

I think he is popular everywhere.

Because he's such a figure
of... curiosity in the West.

Because we see photographs of him
bare-chested and looking strong.

Well, I think that's a really,
really pleasant thing for everyone,

to have a strong leader.

Good-looking leader,
in good physical shape.

'Well, each to their own.

Tonight's dress rehearsal for
the ball starts in an hour.

Natalia is an impressive seamstress.'

The corset.

Oh, that's quite beautiful.
Yeah, rather heavy.

I've worn these corsets,
because, as an actress,

when you're playing period things...

You hook them up first of all,

and then you pull them
in tight at the back.

Who tightens your corset for you?
My husband.

Good for you! (LAUGHS)

The dress.

Look at that!

You're going to be
the belle of the ball.

(ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)

Who knew that dances such as this

go on in mansions in Irkutsk?

It's completely taken me aback,

that, here in Siberia,
a group of people of all ages

have gone to such lengths
to recreate a faraway country,

in a long ago time,

with such love and care.

And this is only the beginning
of my real journey across Russia.

I've got so much more to see.

At the end of it, Moscow,
where I was as a young model.

Next time, the deepest
lake in the world...

Bloody hell.

.. extreme weather,

sleigh rides...

Come in, please.
.. and Stalin's secret bunker.

This is honestly like being
in Alice In Wonderland.

Captions (c) SBS Australia 2018