Mongolia part 1

The train to Mongolia left Beijing early on Wednesday morning. We all packed our bags the night before to give us some extra time in bed but I still woke up early because I was excited. At the train station we found our train and were pleased that we had a four person room to ourselves.

The journey was around thirty hours, our longest journey so far. We stocked up on food that turned out to not be necessary because they provided some pretty good meals included in the ticket. We passed the time talking to other travellers, playing card games and amusing the Chinese train conductor without establishing why we were so amusing.

When we hit the Mongolian border we all had to leave the train because the train tracks needed to be changed to fit the Mongolian rails. We also had to go through Chinese and Mongolian customs and border control which took a few hours. Finally we entered Mongolia and it was ... dark. We could not see a thing so finally went to bed at two AM.

The next morning I woke up needing to visit the bathroom. Train toilets have differed widely so far with this one being a Russian coldwar throwback. It was some type of giant metal contraption with big pipes and a pedal. You could flush the toilet and a steel flap would open up so you could see directly onto the tracks speeding past below. Never have I looked so long down a toilet with such interest.

I have got off track talking about toilets again.

So I woke up needing to use the toilet, and opened the door to our very dark room. The whole place was suddenly filled with dazzling bright light and it took me a few minutes for my eyes to be able to adjust. Finally I looked out of the train window and could see the most incredible landscape. The ground was green with white patches of sparkling frost as far as I could see in every direction, there was a bright blue sky and nothing else at all. No houses, no people, no animals. I also then turned round and realised that I had woken up Jen by opening the door.

Finally the train arrived in Ullan Baatar, the capital city of Mongolia and we were met by some representatives from the hostel we wanted to stay at. We never arranged this, they just seemed to be fishing for backpackers. The hostel is called UB Guesthouse and it is really comfortable and friendly. The city itself is famous for pickpockets and opportunistic criminals. Yesterday someone in the hostel turned their back on their bag only to have it taken along with wallet, passport and coat at a nearby cafe.

Ullan Battar though is quite nice. The temperature however is shocking. It is currently -10 with temperatures sometimes reaching -40 in the coming months. Thankfully I have layers of warm clothes which are heavy but seem to be doing the job. The city is overlooked on one side by massive snow peaked mountains and it feels like we are about to go on a ski trip. We went to see a Mongolian cultural theatre/music show and have eaten lots of local Mongolian food. This mainly consists of Mutton, potato and soup, which is exactly what you need when it's cold.

Tomorrow I leave for a one week camping trip in the Gobi Desert with Nikki and Jen. We will be travelling for 6 hours a day in an old Russian van and staying with local people overnight. The next update might take longer as I will probably have lost a finger or two to frostbite.

bx