That would be a v long way around, no? (Especially with only 3 weeks.)
Ulan Batur was cool! Although probably the best bit (for me) was going out to the national park a bit north & staying in a yurt, and you likely might not have time for that. I enjoyed Irkutsk & Lake Baikal (visitable in the 36 hrs between the Baikal train arriving & the next Ulan Bator train departing), as well.
No idea about Vladivostock, as I was off to Beijing instead. But if I went again, I would definitely go the Vladivostock route, and also try to take the branch line up to Siberia proper. That would be pretty time-consuming as well, though, and for that I really would need to get my Russian a bit further on.
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Ulan Batur was cool! Although probably the best bit (for me) was going out to the national park a bit north & staying in a yurt, and you likely might not have time for that. I enjoyed Irkutsk & Lake Baikal (visitable in the 36 hrs between the Baikal train arriving & the next Ulan Bator train departing), as well.
No idea about Vladivostock, as I was off to Beijing instead. But if I went again, I would definitely go the Vladivostock route, and also try to take the branch line up to Siberia proper. That would be pretty time-consuming as well, though, and for that I really would need to get my Russian a bit further on.
eta: Mongolia, Siberia, Moscow.