Day 7 - Train/Mongolia (Arrival in Ulaan Batar)
Day 8 - Ulaan Batar (Homesick!)
Day 9 - Ulaan Batar - Train to Irkutsk (Sick!)
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Day 6 Wednesday 6 August
Peking - Moscow International Train
The train pulled out of Beijing Station at precisely 7:40am. It was quite new and very comfortable. I felt excited but a little apprehensive as well. After about 45 minutes I had just started to settle when the conductor came to collect tickets. I couldn't find my ticket anywhere and said I would bring it to him when I did. Well! I searched that cabin in-side-out but no ticket. I know I had it when I had boarded because I had shown it to the conductor. Various conductors kept coming to the cabin to ask for my ticket. I was stressed becoming quite worried. All this time we were passing through mountainous regions and the Great Wall of China. I was so upset that I could not appreciate the wonderful scenery.
At a brief stop at Kanzuang, the Chief Conductor took me aside and said that I would have to pay for another ticket! After one more fruitless search, I asked Joe if I could have a look at his ticket to see what the cost was. Joe produced the ticket and in a state of shock (and embarrassment I suppose) he said: "Hey this is your ticket!" Apparently he had picked mine up by mistake and tucked it away. It was all a bit strange really because he had handed his ticket to the conductor about two hours earlier. Neither of us had realised that the ticket he kept looking at and saying was his couldn't have been his at all. Anyway, my relief at eventually finding it overwhelmed everything. I had great delight in handing the ticket to the Chief Conductor!
Passing through the mountains west and north of Beijing was quite disappointing. Apart from my ticket woes, there was so much smoke haze that visibility was poor. then it started to rain and nothing could be seen. We passed the Great Wall quite a few times over about 30 minutes.From about 3pm to 5pm the rain and the smoke cleared as we traveled through northern China. Rural China was just like we see in the movies. Small villages and the people dressed in heavy coats and the familiar Chinese cap. It was a lot cooler now and the green rolling hills were very scenic. There were endless fields of corn with occasional patches of sunflowers in full bloom as well as ripened rice.
At about 5pm a group of us went down to the dining car for a couple of beers. The train was approaching the Gobi Desert and the scenery was magnificent. The sun came out for the first time that day, just before it set. We passed herds of horses and camels grazing on the green grass. The rolling hills were becoming flatter by the kilometre.
We were talking to (rather communicating with) a group of Mongolians who were buying us beer and wine. I gave them some Australian stamps (a horse racing series) which thrilled them. I knew I was drinking too much as the next hour or so indicated!
At about 8:30pm we were approaching the China-Mongolia border (Erlian in China and Dzamin Uud in Mongolia) when we were asked to return to our cabins for the rail-car bogey change (the rail gauge changes at the border). I went for my camera to photograph the process and, guess what! I had left my camera in the dining car. In a panic I rushed back to the dining car but halfway there I became trapped. All the carriage doors were locked for the bogey change. I couldn't do a thing except stand and watch the whole process which took about 1.5 hours. The cars were separated by shunting and then jacked up. The bogeys were wheeled out from beneath the car and then a big crane lifted the narrow gauge bogey to a side rail and replaced it with a wide gauge bogey which was wheeled back under the car. The car was then lowered onto the new bogeys.
When the car I was on had been lowered, I was able to get off and continue towards the dining car. I paced up and down the length of that train but no dining car! Apparently it had been removed and taken away - with my camera! I felt sick. My wife had given me the camera (a new APS one) for my birthday with words something like that would be the last she would ever see of it! With head down I slowly walked back towards my car. I passed a group of conductors and thought I might just check with them. The Chief Conductor was there and I told him what a terrible day I was having because I had lost my camera. He said to me with a big smile "you lose everything!" He then added: "what sort of camera?" I knew instantly that he had it. I told him it was a brown Fuji and he went into his cabin and fetched it. The dining car staff had handed it in. What luck! I was elated! I almost skipped back to my car. I could hear loud laughter from the group of conductors!
Well! After another three hours of a China border check, followed by a Mongolian border check we were on our way at about 1:30am. Me? Happy, but feeling quite seedy following the session with the Mongolians.
Day 7 Thursday 7 August
Train - Mongolia
I woke at 7am following a broken night's sleep (too much to drink!) The sun rose over a very flat landscape. It soon changed to rolling green, treeless hills - the Mongolian steppe. Occasionally there were higher peaks in the distance. SUN, BLUE SKY, COOL! How wonderful after the past week of smog, smoke, humidity and heat. We could see nomadic horsemen tending their horses, and their "gers" (tents). I stood in the narrow corridor by an open window, eating my noodles, watching this wonderful scenery flash by.
At 653 km (from Beijing) we had a 15 minute stop at Choyr where Mongolian women were selling milk and some sliced food to the Chinese and Mongolians on the train. I resisted!
Once under way again, I stood for hours and watched the country go by. There was no dining car on this train so it was noodles, tea and biscuits and fruit to satisfy the hunger (and occasional boredom). The scenery was much the same all the way. Green, treeless hills with the occasional gers surrounded by herd of cattle, goats and horses. Once I was lucky to see a Mongolian horseman at full gallop across the steppe.
As we came closer to Ulaan Batar, there were larger hills and even mountains in the distance and trees began to appear. We approached Ulaan Batar via a river valley. It was all extremely picturesque. There were blocks of flats (apartments) everywhere.
We arrived in Ulaan Batar at about 2pm, picked up by a Sundowner's agent and driven to our hotels. Joe, Bobby and I were taken to the "Hotel" Genge. Amanda stayed on the train as she was going straight through to Moscow. The other Aussies were at another hotel.
The Hotel Genge was a dump. Located in a huge housing estate, it was itself just a block of flats. Half of it had been converted to the hotel. While I was expecting something "basic", this was pretty awful. On the opposite side of the road from the estate was the brand new, five star Ghenggis Khaan Hotel (Ulaan Batar's first five star!) Guess where I would have rather been!
The three of us went for a walk about 4pm. Ulaan Batar is quite beautiful although quite run down. Mongolia is going through some tough times since it became a democracy in 1990. There are many beautiful historic buildings painted quite unique colours - pinks, blues, creams and browns.
There are quite a few bars and cafes as Ulaan Batar is a university town. We stopped at Cafe de France and had a couple of beers and a coffee. Later we had a meal at a Mongolian restaurant - mutton stew, boiled potatoes, cabbage, rice, a couple more veges and bread. It was very plain, served cold but tasted ok. I was very hungry.
We arrived back at the Genge at just before 10pm - just as it was getting dark. At 8:30, while we were eating our meal, the sun was still high in the sky.
Top Back to Map IndexDay 8 Friday 8 August
Ulaan Batar
Today I was feeling quite low and I guess I was a bit anti-social. South of the city I had noticed what looked like a lookout so I suggested we walk there rather than spend time in town. Joe and Bobby weren't feeling too good. Apparently the Mongolian meal we had the previous evening wasn't too healthy. It was quite a walk to the lookout but it was worth the effort. There were great views to Ulaan Batar to the north and a picturesque valley to the south.
In the afternoon we went our separate ways. I just walked around the city and browsed in shops. It was rather obvious that there isn't a lot of wealth in Ulaan Batar. The shops were poorly stocked compared to Australia and the Asian cities I have visited. Ulaan Batar is quite run-down. However, there exists a richness in the history and the architecture of the place. I was quite taken by the buildings. Unlike a lot of the historic buildings in other cities, the ones in Ulaan Batar are not surrounded by modern high-rise buildings.
We all met at 5pm for a drink. Bobby and Joe were quite unwell and decided to go back to the "hotel". I stayed around town. I was feeling quite low and homesick so I decide to phone my wife Susanne. That was a bit of a mistake because she was really upset and I came away feeling worse. I found a bar and had a couple of drinks, updated my journal and then had a meal.
I returned home quite shaken. This was not such a great day!
Day 9 Saturday 9 August
Ulaan Batar - Train to Irkutsk
Today was quite ordinary! I was still shaken after the previous night's "incident". I was also feeling quite ill - I now had the stomach upset that Bobby and Joe had come down with after eating that Mongolian mutton stew. All this added up to me feeling very homesick. For most of the day I just sat in the sun at a cafe, drank the occasional coffee and read my book. When I did walk around I spent quite a lot of time looking for toilets!
In the afternoon I visited the Natural History Museum. It was quite interesting but mostly I didn't know what I was looking at because I couldn't read Mongolian. The Dinosaur exhibition was really great.
Joe, Bobby and I met at 7pm and walked back to the hotel to collect our bags. I tried to buy some provisions but couldn't find too much at all, not that I felt like eating much! We were picked up at 8pm and driven to the station in plenty of time for our 9:30pm departure. Werner, Brenda and Klaus only just made it in time because their agent forgot to pick them up!
The train from Ulaan Batar to Irkutsk is a local service which makes frequent stops. It was not as smooth a ride as the international train we caught from Beijing. I was hoping to get a good night's sleep because of the early morning border check.