Sorry for the silence, not the best internet access in Mongolia! After finishing sight seeing in Moscow we stocked up on food for our trans siberian train journey and then struggled onto the train. Waddling along with my huge rucksack and day bag and food and drink for 5 days was an interesting experience. It certainly made me seriously reconsider the necessity of all those lonely planet books! We were really lucky on the train as our tour group were the only people on our carriage and we had lots of space. Contrary to expectations I slept like a baby on the train - the rocking of the train turned out to be unexpectedly soothing.
The views were nice but very similar - much flatter than expected with a huge number of trees, especially silver birch. The train stays on Mongolian time so the daylight hours that we were awake for became progressively shorter - this reached a head on a day where we got up about 12 and it was dark by 2. After this we made an effort to get up a little earlier! Lots of cards, reading and some vodka all helped pass the hours. It was rather like being off sick - nothing to do apart from stay in bed. I have to say I took to the extreme lazyness rather well!
By our arrival at the Russian-Mongolian border we had all had a huge amount of sleep but were unbelievably bored of the dried noodles and bread that had been making up out diet for the past 5 days! We had been able to buy the odd yoghurt from the platforms on out brief stops but nothing major and the restaurant car was deemed to expensive for our skin flint tastes! We had to wait an impressive 5 hours at the Russian side of the border but finding a food shop made us briefly very over-excited. A lot of the rest of the time was spent being taught playground games but some Swedish travellers. We contributed 'What's the time Mr Wolf' which wasn't nearly as entertaining. All the Swedish games seemed to involve lots of dancing round in circles and singing. Unsurprisingly the sight attratced more than a view stares. I can't say I blame them. Ah well, it can all be blamed on train fever. Once through both sides of the border and having signed numerous forms (a number of which were not in English - I do love signing documents written in another language!) we headed towards Ulannbaatar.
We woke the next morning to see Mongolia properly for the first time - and it was covered in snow! After adding yet another layer (to my already 10 layered round ball of clothes of a body) I heaved on my rucksacks and we all waddled out the train to meet our Honcho for this part of the trip. Our hotel was a surprising mix of a PCV front door, nice reception and slightly decrepid bathroom. Admittedly we may have pot been entirley blame free but out shower door and towel rail fell off within the 1st half hour which is never a bonus. As we walked into town I was given an early lesson in pick pocketing when a guy managed to unzip my camera case which was restin gon my tummy. Amazingly enough it took the person I was walking with to notice - it appears that I am not the most observant of people. I have since dilligently had my camera case inside my coat at all times (so looking rather pregnant). Inicidently those concerned about my ability to not get lost/kidnapped/have all my belongings stolen will be glad to know that since me and amy (my friend that I'm travelling with) got a tad separated from out group on the first day on sight seeing in Moscow there is always someone on Amy watch to keep us in line!
We had a tour around Ulaanbaatar and saw the government palace and the Sukbaatar statue. The Genghis Khan statue at the front of the palace was very impressive if a tad chubby looking! These were offset against a couple of very modern glass tower blocks and a Louis Vuitton store. A visit to the monastry was next, complete with Monks on mobile phones (the were checking their text messages in the cathedral in the Kremlin in Moscow as well). Nearbu we saw a huge gold plated budda which was very impressive. We ended our sightseeing by walking to another budda on the outskirts of town and walking up lots of steps to an amazing view point. Our legs were then dying painfully after 5 days of not being used in the train so we headed for dinner. Dinner was at a Mongolian bbq where you chose all your food and watched it being cooked.
On our second day in Ulaanbaatar we visited a museum about the history of Mongolia which was great and then took an hour and a half bumpy ride out to the ger camp we would be spending the next couple of nights in. The camp really was amazing. The views were stuuning and there was just so much space. It was also really sunny. We climbed up a large rock which looked just like a turtle (as you do) and the visited a local nomad family. I was surprised by how unstaged this felt in comparison to similar visits I've done in other countries. Maybe because it's not tourist season so they're getting less visitors. The family lives in their ger and move to different sites 3-4 times a year. The land is free and they get free electricity from the government as well. We had some cakes and cheese which was nice and some dried yoghurt which proved to be a tad strong for even the most adventurous of the group - an aquired taste I think. The food at the camp itself was great - lots and lots of meat (I have given up my short lived and half heared attempt not to eat meat on the trip!) The stove in out gers were re-lite at 12am, 3 and 6 so we were nice and warm. Unfortunately we got a little over excited on the first night and added too many logs and were half roasted alive but we got the hang of it in the end. We got to go horse riding which was great and a bit of hiking too.
After a bonfire on the last night we headed back to Ulannbaatar. We went to a cultural performance in the evening which was typically mixed. Some interesting throat singing and excellent contortionists and some absolutely surreal traditional Mongolian folk dancing to a kind of hip hop beat dance track background - one of the weirder five minutes of all our lives (the dancers included!).
The next day we were back on the train (we significantly less enthusiam it has to be said) to head for China. Apart from a brief section of desert the scenery was similar to before but much less flat. There were a lot more forms to fill out at the border but luckily they were in English this time. The guards were very thorough on checking abve the ceiling panels (and behind the chairs - one chair was checked at least three times for some reason!) but our bags weren't searched. The officials were much nicer than their Russian equivalents. We all had out temperatures taken though as Mongolia had some swine flu cases but all was ok. The return to a diet of noodles was not appreciated but it wasn't for long. The wheels had to be changed as the tracks in China are a different size which took a while but then we were off.
We arrived at Beijing early afternoon the next day and it was so exciting to be in China. Beijing was much cleaner than I expected (quite good timing to visit post Olympics). We had a wander and went out for a nice meal in the evening and the went to Hou Hai distrinct for drinks which was nice but a tad expensive. My Margarita also tasted suspiciously like tequilla! The next day we had a quick visit to the zoo which wasn't so much to my taste but then went to the Summer Palace Gardens which were lovely. It was a pretty hot day and it was so much cooler there. I am writing all of this in a gap before joining out tour through China which we will be starting this evening. I will try and message again about that but it might not be until we get to Hong Kong in 3 weeks so the message will probably be quite a long one again! I hope everyone is well, travelling or at home...
Amyx