Our Itinerary

My journey begins very early on June 28th when I fly from Toronto to Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific.
I arrive in HK at 5 a.m. and have until 3 p.m. to visit the Big Budah and other areas near the airport.
I then fly to Beijing and will arrive around 6:30. We are staying at the Beijing City Central International Youth Hotel across from the main train station.
My Brother-in-law Greg and neice Angela Duquette arrive the next evening from Hong Kong. Ange is just completing two years of teaching in Hong Kong and Greg is retired.
We have 6 days to explore Beijing and the Great Wall and depart for Mongolia on the 6th.
It is a day and a half by the Trans-Mongolian Railway to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.
We arrive on the 7th and stay at the UB Guesthouse the first night and travel to a National Park a few hours out of town to sleep in a traditional ger (felt hut), eat Mongolian food (very fatty) and horseback ride and sightsee in the mountains and plains.
We depart the evening of the 9th for Irkutsk, Russia. Before we cross the border into Russia, the boggies (wheels) on each train car will be changed to a different rail gauge to fit on the Russian tracks.
We arrive in Irkutsk very early on the 11th and stay at the Admiral Hostel downtown. It is really an apartment divided into rooms and dorms but very central. Irkutsk is on the Angara river that leads into Lake Baikal, the largest, deepest and oldest freshwater lake in the world and a World Heritage site. It is a very old town with lots of interesting old wooden buildings that are sinking into the ground. Many locals vacation in this area.
We plan to travel to Lake Baikal and sample the local fish and caviar during our two-day stop.
We depart for Moscow on the 13th and it is a full 3 days to Moscow and 5 hours time difference. This will give us a good sense of the Trans-Siberian Rail journey. We are in second-class compartments for four so may be sharing with another traveller, probably a local.
We spend the evening and over nighton the 16th in Moscow at Moscow Home-Hostel within walking distance of Red Square and will get our bearings and probalby do the beautiful Metro and Red Square. We have the full day on the 17th and take the over-night train to Petersburg just after midnight. We are going third class this time which is open berth dorm style and will be in Petersburg early in the morning.
We have three full days in Petersburg at the Seven-Bridges Hostel not too far from  the Hermitage. Lots to see and do in Petersburg and it is at the end of the midnight sun period there and quite the festival.
On the 21st we take the day train back to Moscow, about 8 hours, and stay at the same hostel for the 21st through to the 24th when we fly home. It will be a few days short of a month and many, many miles.