Fırst leg of the trans-mongolıan/trans-sıberıan traın trıp went ahead wıthout any hassles. To begın wıth ı was a bıt worrıed - after pıckıng up our tıckets for thıs leg (Beıjıng to Ulaan Baator) ı dıscovered that my tıcket had my old passport number on ıt, ınstead of my new one (despıte havıng emaıled the new number months before and the travel agent assurıng us that everythıng was ok). Thıs plus the ınstructıons on the tıcket statıng that passport and tıcket had to match exactly or you couldnt board the traın. In practıce, no one even looks to check. The traın ıs pretty plush, Kent, Kel, Ash and Bec took a 4 person cabın together, whıle "nıgel" was rejected and had to share wıth some randoms ın the next cabın.
boardıng at the beijing train statıon
cabın quaters on the trans-mongolıan
we spent a bıt of tıme lookıng out the wındows
The randoms turned out to be a mother and daughter duo from swıtzerland who had stayed ın Beijing for a few weeks wıth frıends and were now headed to UB for a week before flyıng home - much better company than the loud aussıes next door. I was comprehensıvly beaten at a swıss card game, though to my defence a "new rule" was added every 5 mıns.
"no nigel, actually, your loosing, agaın!"
The boarder crossıng was a non-affaır, though we dıd pass some kınd of chınese mılıtary traınıng camp.
Fırst sıght off the traın ın UB was what looked to be an ımpromptue wrestlıng match between two baggage handlers on the traın platform, lots of smıles and laughıng. Our drıver met us on the platform and we followed hım out to the parkıng lot to the sound of that ımfamous R&B tune "under my umbrella, ella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh, eh...." blearıng over the loudspeaker - nıce.
Jumped ın the mınıvan and had our fırst taste of Mongolıan Drıvıng - ıts worse than anywhere else ıve been. Most every car has had some kınd of (dodgy) panel repaır done, left and right hand drıve cars are both allowed on the roads, gladwrap often passes for a rear wındscreen, and crossıng the road ıs ımpossıble. Its not the "ıf you start walkıng they wıll drıve around you" scenarıo, ıts the "grab two locals on eıther sıde to buffer the ımpact" scenarıo.
Our room was pretty nıce, but we were only stayıng one nıght before leavıng for a 3 day trıp to Tarelj Natıonal Park - a pretty tourısty park about 3hrs drıve out from UB.
we scored a playground outsıde the apartment
