Return

There is a quite sadness and a calm relief that comes over me when I am going back to my normal routine after an interruption of this sort. The exhaustion of days of traveling, having a wonderful time, and enjoying the world caught up to us on the train back. We were visited a bit by Paula, who we met on the train to Mongolia. We set up a time to go visit the Temple of Heaven after we got back to Beijing.

The trip back to Beijing was spent resting and relaxing. We did have a small event when we reached the Mongolian border. A couple of people got kicked off the train. We aren't certain why. There was a bit of conversation and they left. We then fell asleep through the wheel change and woke only to get our passports back from the Chinese border guards.

We lugged our baggage off the train at about 2:44pm, a bit early, but I'm not complaining. The leaves had turned more yellow and orange while we were gone, and it was a lovely surprise to return to.

When we got home, we were both ready for a long needed rest.