Train to Mongolia

To begin:

Information on the generalities of Mongolia can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia

The approximate population of Mongolia is 3 million 38% of which are in Ulan Bator, the capital. The rest are spread over the size of 2 states of Texas. I am utterly amazed at the vast emptiness of Mongolia.

Catching a Train:

I didn't sleep the night before the trip, anticipating that it would be impossible for me to drag myself out of bed to catch a train that leaves at 7:40 am. Having ridden the train from Hong Kong to Beijing, I was prepared for a really un-eventful ride. The trip was going to last 30 hours, having us arrive in Ulan Bator at 13:24. This meant that I had a day and a half to fill with something, so Friday evening I taught myself to knit. This took about 30 min of learning to cast on, and two to learn the actual knitting stitch. I, of course, chose to make the initial obligatory scarf. Having purchased about six small rolls of Australian woolen yarn on Thursday when we were returning from purchasing the train tickets. With this project started, I work on it off and on as I went through all the possible issues we might have and anticipated them by packing different odds and ends. By 5:30 when I woke Cullen I had the apartment cleaned and the bags packed and ready. The real trick was getting Cullen out of the house in time to reach the train station by 6:40, and hour before departure as recommended by the travel agent.

As groggy as Cullen was, we actually managed to get out of the apartment by 6:20 and off the IHEP campus by 6:30. He realized after we were downstairs that he needed to drag the bicycle batteries up-stairs. I had been concerned the entire hour we were getting ready that it would be really difficult to catch a taxi at 6am. By 6:30, the taxis were in full swing, and we had no trouble getting one. We stepped out of the gates to IHEP and a taxi swarm was rounding the corner. We didn't even wait a minute before loading up to head to the train station.

We arrived at the station at about 6:40, but we still had to cross the street and enter the Beijing Railway Station. By the time we boarded the train it was already 7:00am. We had made it safe and sound with time to spare. Once settled into our cozy Deluxe soft Sleeper room, we anxiously awaited departure. Cullen scrambled out of the car when he saw the fruit vendor and purchased some grapes, mandarin oranges, and bananas at highly inflated prices. They were very tasty though.

Departure was at precisely 7:40am and the train inched out of the railway station onto the track that would accompany us all the way to Erlian, the Chinese/Mongolian border town.

The terrain we encountered was quite lush and filled with cities that had high rise buildings and loads of residents, as well as vast farming land between the cities. There were tons of corn crops that had recently been harvested or were in the process of being harvested. The medieval methods of farming were still implemented. Men were in the fields with scythes, chopping down corn stalks after the picking of the corn. The Corn stalks were left to dry in the fields in piles. Many of the corn cobs were stacked on roofs, or out on porches in front of the homes of the farmers to dry. To our amazement, the birds in the area didn't really bother all the drying corn.

Lunch:

About 12:30 we decided we were ready for some food. Unlike the train to Beijing from Hong Kong, there wasn't a vendor running through the cars selling meals, there was reportedly a restaurant car. As we watched out the window, wondering which way the car would be, a friendly man passed by, striking up a conversation. Michael wanted to know what we would change if we were to be elected president of the United States. He said that he had traveled many places, and asked many American citizens this same question and didn't want to leave us out. After a long bout of political conversation, Michael pointed us in the right direction to find the restaurant car.

We went back into the room, gathered our things and headed toward the food. In the restaurant car, we saw not only Michael, but several other Westerners enjoying some Chinese cuisine. The menu we were given was in English and Chinese. The food was what we were used to from China, the usual fare of chopped meats with a nice sauce. We ordered rice with the meal some "fried Chicken" and "glazed pork". The rice arrived and then the chicken as we conversed with several of the other train riders. Michael was from New York, but spent most of his life in Ireland, thus his thick and beautiful Irish accent. We also met a woman from Houston and Paula, a lovely lady from Boston.

The Chicken was typical hacked up bits of chicken in a thick sauce. The rice was sticky and easy to eat with the chop sticks. In the booth next to us, as our pork dish arrived, we struck up a conversation with the two women who were enjoying their beer. Teri and Emma were talking about their plans for Mongolia and they sounded as if they were looking for about the same thing we were... or maybe just the same thing I was. Cullen seemed to be up for anything. They wanted to take a nice trip out on a horse and see some of the country. I wanted to ride a horse out on the Mongolian steppes as well, so we started talking about our plans. They relayed that they had reservations in a hostel in Mongolia call Khongor Guest House and Expeditions. At this point I still didn't even know what a Hostel really was. All I knew was that it was another type of accommodation. They were both from Australia and we talked a bit about how crazy the American election was turning out to be. We joked back and forth for a while, then finished our meal and headed back to our cabin.

I was exhausted, but still too excited to sleep. Cullen and I sat there for a bit, conversing about things. Moments later, Michael came by again, looking for a good place to play a game of chess with another train traveler. We offered them our bench/bed and they started a nice game of chess, and some lovely conversation. Paula stopped by for a bit, entering in a bit of the conversation as well. This was where I learned what a hostel really was.

Once Michael finished his first game, he started one with Cullen. They played for hours, people stopping by now and again for a visit and a view of the game, but it ended with Cullen's defeat. The night was getting late, and we were approaching the Mongolian border, so it was necessary to gather out passports and our documents for the crossing. Michael went to his room to get his things ready.

China/Mongolia border:

We reached Erlian around 19:30 and the Chinese border guards boarded the train, collected our exit paperwork and passports. Once all the passports were collected, we could either exit the train, or stay on for the changing of the wheels. We, of course, opted for the changing of the wheels show.

The train moved forward into a workshop with two three lanes of about five sets of four hydrolic lifts for the cars. The train moved back and forth through the workshop as the cars were separated. The banging and jostling was far to exciting to sleep through, and before each tug or push there was a train whistle to signal the moving of the engine. Once our car was moved into the workshop and stationary, the cars in the other lane had already been lifted and were ready for their new wheels.

They wrenched and unscrewed a few bolts and things then lifted the cars up. After all the cars on the lane were lifted, the wheels were rolled out and the new wheels were rolled in. The cars were all then lowered onto the new wheels and fastened. The old wheels were rolled toward the China side of the workshop, and the new were wheeled in from the Mongolian side of the workshop.

After putting the new wheels on, the entire train was reassembled with the same train whistling and banging that pulled it apart. About two hours later, the train was ready for Mongolia and we went back to the China side to pick up all the passengers that had exited the train and to permit the Chinese border guards to return our passports.

The time was about 22:30 or so by the time we finished all the wheel changing and such on the Chinese side, so we were exhausted. Cullen and I cuddled up on the bottom bunk and were sound asleep when we arrived in Zamin Uud, the Mongolian border town. With a bang on the door, we were requested to give our passport and entry paperwork to the Mongolian border guard. She seemed very stern and quite rigid. Her Mongolian black leather stiletto boots punctuated her walk through the car. We waited a bit for the Mongolian entry stamp and the return of our passports. I was afraid of missing the Gobi desert, so I tried to sit in the chair across from the beds and watched out the window. I fell asleep in the chair, and about two hours later moved to the bed, ready for an early morning on the train.

Mongolian arrival:

The next day on the train consisted of loads of desert and desert shrubbery. We didn't see any trees until about a mile outside of Ulan Bator. My fear of missing the Gobi desert was completely unnecessary. When I woke in the morning, I got to see camels, little rat-like burrowing desert animals, and lots of bones. I saw one bloated camel carcass and soon after noticed about three sets of animal bones bleached white from the sun. There was no water to be seen and the tiny towns we passed consisted of gers and a few buildings. It was really easy to tell once we crossed the Mongolian border. The appearance of gers was unmistakable.

The description and definition of a ger (yurt is Turkish):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurt

Around 11:00 we started seeing more vegetation in the form of short grass and shrubberies that were withered and dry looking. We also started to see small drifts of snow. Despite this, the temperature on the train was quite warm and almost uncomfortable due to the constant sun beaming through.

We saw mountains covered with a small number of evergreen trees and some rivulets of water just before our arrival in Ulan Bator. My initial impression of Ulan Bator was that it was quite underdeveloped and a little smoggy. There were ger and ger factories right next to the train station. The exit from the train was just a platform with a train station that was about the size of a large restaurant back home. This added to my impression of underdevelopment. After exiting the train, we noticed Teri and Emma standing about, collecting themselves, and asked if they wouldn't mind us joining them. They were great sports about it, and in need of a taxi, so they debated a good price with one of the taxi drivers on the platform. We traveled to the Khongor guest house about five blocks away for five dollars with four of us in the car and all our luggage.

At the Khongor Guest house, we sat down with Teri and Emma after getting our luggage settled, and decided upon a nice relaxed trip out into the Mongolian steppes. The beautiful Mongolian way of living. The trip consisted of 3 days 2 nights out of Ulan Bator. This worked out great for us, since we arrived on Sunday and would leave on Thursday. This meant we would leave the city Monday morning and get back on Wednesday evening. Just enough time to prepare for our 8:00am train back to Beijing. It was lovely of Teri and Emma to permit us to tag along, having only just met us on the train.

Once we decided on our tip and were settled in, we headed out to get some Mongolian money. Togrog (Trog for short abbreviated MNT) which has a conversion rate of about 1,150 MNT to 1 USD. It was almost comical to look at prices. A typical dish at a restaurant was at least 1,000 MNT and typically more. We visited the ATM and had to laugh at the monetary entry. It made me nervous to enter 100,000 MNT into the machine. It just didn't feel right.

We then went over to the State Department Store to exchange some money. The really spectacular thing about Mongolia and using money in Ulan Bator is that it wasn't a big deal to use USD. Everyone in the city pretty much accepted the money as easily as they accepted MNT.

After our money exchange escapade, we went to find the shaman in town. Emma and Teri had a guide book for Mongolia and thought visiting a shaman would be a fine way to begin our adventure. We tried to follow the map, but could find no street names. There was nothing labeled in the city. By the general shape of the roads and the use of landmarks, we decided that we had found the shaman ger by the large spear adorned with blue scarfs and animal heads as well as horse hair around the tip of the spear. In front of the Ger entrance was a bench where several people were waiting to see the shaman. We waited for a bit, ready to go in and chat with the shaman. It was a general consensus that we were all getting hungry so we decided that we would all go in at once instead of individually.

We stepped inside the ger and were greeted with a distant kind of welcoming. Immediately to our left was a set of benches where guests are meant to sit. To the right was a huge looming baby eagle. His wing-span had to have been at least 5 feet, and we were told he was only 8 months old. The ger was filled with animal furs, bones, and shaman equipment. The shaman equipment included a table with a laptop and internet access. We weren't allowed to take photos in the shaman ger. This was to be expected, since shamanism is still a religion in Mongolia.

Hungry:

After our Shaman experience, we decided that we should go back to the guest house to pick up anyone else that wanted to go have dinner with us. Emma and Teri had picked out a nice brewery and German restaurant they wanted to go to. We were game, so after a small rest, we headed out to find a taxi.

Unlike China, a lot of the taxis in Mongolia are not metered nor do they have taxi on them anywhere. I wondered the whole time if they were just people who were willing to pick up hitchhikers for a fee. We tried one taxi and they wanted 50 dollars for the trip. We said no way and flagged down another who was willing to do it for 3,000 MNT and had Snoopy on his front windshield. As Cullen says, "Snoopy is your friend."

We arrived at the restaurant only to find out that it was closed. And it smelled so good, we were very disappointed.

The next taxi was a bit easier to get, but harder to direct. It seemed that they had just as hard a time using the street names as we did. After much pointing and path tracing, we managed to get to the BD's Mongolian BBQ we had seen on our way to the Khongor Guest House when we arrived in town. It is actually the same chain that we have in the states, and Cullen says it's the exact same set-up. I think the only thing that is missing in the states is the small table off to the side where they have the cooked horse meat.

We attempted to order some beers and such with dinner, but they said there was no drinking. We just chalked it up to it being Sunday, but we were informed by our tour guide days later that the Mongolian election was on Monday, so drinking was forbidden on the Saturday and Sunday prior to the election. Voting is mandatory in Mongolia and they appear to want everyone sober when they are voting. This is quite clever of them.

When our bill arrived, I had to give a bit of a giggle. It's pretty rare you will ever get a 69,000 bill in the states without having a heart attack, unless you are quite wealthy.

Off to bed with us, ready for the next day full of adventure.