Today we were off to Mongolia, which almost didn't happen for me as my trip leader had a few problems when picking up my passport from the Mongolian Embassy, but thankfully all ended well and I was able to leave with the rest of the group.

I met the group at 6.30am in the morning in the hotel lobby and then we walked across the road to the station to board our train. We went through security and then made our way to the waiting room to well wait before boarding our train. Our train was leaving at 7.45am so we had a bit of time to get any last minute things for our train ride. After a little while we were then able to board the train. We made our way to the platform, got on to the train and found our places.

I was sharing with Pam, Tina and Lois, so I knew that I was not going to be able to sleep that night. We finally left the station at about 8am and I tried to stay awake for as long as I could be soon tiredness took over and I went and had a nap. Whilst asleep I could hear Lois telling some of the group that I was really run down which is why I was sleeping now but I had already informed the group as to the reason I was tired so they knew the truth.

I woke up about midday and went with the group to the dinning cart for some lunch. The dinning cart was not too bad, the food wasn't the best but it would do. It was a sit down, eat your food then get out kind of affair and was great fun watching the women yell at people to get out so others could eat.

We arrived at the Chinese boarder around 8pm and that's when immigration got on board. They collected our passports, searched our bags, well my bags cause apparently I'm the dodgy one of the group. Whilst all this was going on the train was in the shed getting the bogies changed and this was when I got some more sleep. I woke up around 11pm as immigration was back on the train to give our passports back. The train the took off again and we were now in no mans land between the Chinese and Mongolian boarders and this was where we brought in the new year, the only problem was they closed the toilets in between the boarders so we couldn't really enjoy the booze we had brought with us.

We got to the Mongolian boarder around 1am and there was fireworks going off, which was really cool to see. Immigration got on board and we went through the whole process once again, with my bags yet again being searched. The train sat at the border for an hour or so whilst we waited for immigration to process our passports. Once that was completed we finally took off for Ulaanbaatar. As we were stuck on this train for quite a while it was a great opportunity to get to know everyone.

I then went to sleep well as much as I could seeing as Lois was snoring. I woke up at 9am the next morning and went down to the Mongolian dinning cart for breakfast with some of the group, which was attached when we were at the Chinese border.

This part of the train journey was amazing. The scenery we saw along the way was spectacular. Seeing the Gobi desert covered in snow is something I will never forget. Plus seeing the Mongolian nomads living out in the desert in their Ger Camps was really a sight to see.

We arrived into Ulaanbaatar around 11.30am and where met by our sponsors who picked us up and took us to the hotel. When we arrived we noticed immediately the difference in temp. After being on the nice warm train to then being in -25C we were absolutely freezing. Plus ice started to form on the windows of the van.

We checked into our hotel then braved the cold for our orientation walk. Ulaanbaatar was an amazing place. We saw the monuments to Chinggis Khan or otherwise known as Genghis Khan. After wondering around we then went back to the hotel to get warm as we weren't quite used to the cold. Here I was sharing a room with Pam, who was a retired teacher from Queensland.

Later we met up with the group for dinner, where we went to an Italian restaurant to try some traditional Mongolian food and beer. After dinner we went back to the hotel and to get our gear ready for our trip the next day to the national park to stay at a Ger camp.