(This first part was written on Wednesday, August 11.)
We've already been on the train for seven hours. It has actually gone by quite quickly, although I'm sure the next 23 won't all pass as fast. Our walk to the station this morning was short but sweaty and when we finally boarded we were disappointed to find only fans in the carriages. Luckily, once we started moving, we had a breeze through the open window. The compartment are small but kind of what I expected. I think initially it was a bit shocking entering the berth, but now that we've settled in, its not so bad. Liz broke out some portable speakers about 30 minutes after departing and we've been enjoying a variety of music from an iPod swap.
About two hours outside of Beijing we pass through an area of rock mountains cut through by a river. It was beautiful and everyone was at the windows snapping pictures of the scenery. Eventually I became tired and took a short nap. Contrary to belief, lunch was available in the dining car from 11am-noon, which consisted of somewhat tasty rice, chicken with onions and a side plate of some type of veg which I left. I sat at a table with Denise and Rod and a Canadian woman Judy who had just come from dragon boat racing. She decided it would be interesting to take the train back to Europe and was excited for the seven day journey (unlike our tour, she's going straight through to Moscow).
(2 hours later, Wednesday, August 11)
I just took another nap before we pulled into Jining station, but I really had to pee. The stop was only supposed to be a couple minutes but turned into a half hour. Fortunately, the male train attendant opened to toilet for me (relief!) and motioned to me not to flush, so I've been waiting outside the loo for the train to start moving so that I could dispose of my waste. Feeling much better now!
(I failed to finish writing about the train until Monday, August 16 when we were on our second train. I will put that section of my journal here in order to keep the consecutive order of my blog.)
Shortly after the stop in Jining, we were allowed to have dinner (5pm-6pm). It was an interesting meal of meatballs and rice. I sat with Kristy and a couple from Haifa, Israel. While still in China, we watched the sunset from the carriage windows. A beautiful dusk, with a few clouds in the blue sky, and some wind electricity-generators sprinkling the hilly landscape. That evening, our berth was the party berth during the border crossing. We had eight/nine people in our car at one point with another couple in the hallway. Drinks and food were consumed while listening to music. At some point Susie taught us the card game Koi, which I managed to become a pro at from the first game.
Our final stop in China was the border, Erlian, 13 hours after departing Beijing. We were there for almost four hours, not just for Chinese passport control. The bogies (train wheels) have to be changed because of the differing sizes of rail gauges between China and Mongolia (they are the same in Mongolia and Russia). It was an extremely interesting process where we were stuck on the train with no toilets. First they separated the carriages and all we felt was the carriage jolting forward and backwards, forward an backwards. The carriage then moved in the direction we'd come from before moving forward again. We ended up in some type of warehouse with large mechanical hoists. It lifted us at an almost imperceptible pace until our carriage had cleared the bogies and with great precision the new wheels were rolled beneath us. The whole process was then reversed. We entertained ourselves during the few hours while this was occurring.
We got back on the tracks around 12:30am and still needed to cross the Mongolian border. It had been such a long day, everyone was cranky and exhausted, and it was extremely hot because the fans were off. When we arrived at the Mongolian border, Zamyn Ude, the French girl in the next compartment was taken off the train because she lacked a Mongolian visa. Fortunately, she was able to get one at the border and was allowed back on the train. As an American, I can travel visa free in Mongolia and just have a simple stamp in my passport.
At 1:30am we were finally finished at the Mongolian border; we could go to sleep! Honestly, I think everyone was excited to lay down on the two foot wide beds to get some rest. My berth slept until 9am, woo hoo I slept fair, wasn't the best night but not the worst either, and I exited the cabin in my sports bra in the morning to use the loo (figured its less revealing than a bathing suit). I ate some of the multi-grain Cheerios I picked up at the supermarket and a nectarine for breakfast.
We only had 4.5 hours left, the journey had passed quickly; we enjoyed an iPod shuffle using Liz's portable speakers, played Koi, read, ate and journaled. Anna asked if she could hold a group meeting there at 10am. So all 13 of us piled into one berth, two on the top bunks, four on the bottom and Anna standing. Pretty comfy (not), and a bit hot even with the fan blowing and the windows open.
Lunch became the first meal on the train where I needed to crack open my noodle soup (since lunch and dinner were included) that I ate with my handy sporkife that Bruce gave me. We also enjoyed avocado on French bread, thanks for the joint efforts of my berth mates. And next thing I knew, we were pulling into Ulaan Baatar (UB).
I'll quickly write about our afternoon in UB since I'll be done catching up once this is complete. We arrived at 1:30pm and got picked up by our local guides Nemo and Toya. On the way to the hotel we stopped at an exchange and ATM. Unfortunately my card didn't work, but I was able to call NatWest since there was wireless internet (had already called mom on skype from my iPod to say hello). Turns out it was the machine and not my card.
When we arrived at San Hotel, the power was out, but we were told the hot water was working. Walking up three flights of stairs in the candlelight didn't give me the best impression, so the room was better than I expected. We had 30 minutes at the hotel to shower before our walking tour of UB. Sadly, the hot water wasn't working in my room and given that it was in the 50s outside, I refused to get in the freezing water and had a towel shower instead. Down in the lobby I found out that the water temperature of the showers had been mixed.
After our hour walking tour of UB, and an ATM at the post office where I was able to withdraw Togrics, we met Nemo to drive us to the theater for the Mongolian cultural show. We listened to a few Mongolian songs, heard throat singing (one of the strangest sounds I've heard from a human being as it sounds like some type of instrument), watched traditional dances, saw a gymnast contort her body in ways that didn't seem physically possible, and enjoyed a spiritual dance with lots of gong bangs and symbol clashes. From there we went for dinner at BDs Mongolian barbecue (a buffet place that I was a bit skeptical about) where you pick your own ingredients and have them cooked on the grill. The food was surprisingly delicious and I was tempted for seconds, even though I wasn't hungry (I did exhibit self control and did not go up for more grill). Then it was back to the hotel for a good night sleep. Luckily, the power was on when we returned and I was able to have a hot shower in Steph and Kristy's room before bed.
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