25.05.2011 – 25.05.2011  25 °C

V early start this morning as we had to be at the train station by 8am to catch the Trans Mongolian train from Beijing to Ulan Bataar. Our room (there are four of us sharing) is quite cozy as it is probably 2m long and 2m wide and 4m high. We have four bunk beds (two fold out) and we have small storage spaces under the downstairs beds and up in the loft above the upstairs beds. It is cozy but comfortable. There is no showering facilities and we only have one toilet at the end of the train. Boiling water is available but the urn looks like something from the 1920s and it is a little concerning from an OHS perspective. Amazingly our day has gone quite quickly (we don’t get off the train til tomorrow morning).

Highlight of today has been our food.. Lunch was a free delicious (I’m exaggerating greatly) 1 course meal of stir fried celery with a bowl of white rice and some small pieces of chicken in soy. We finished off lunch with a coke/ beer (very expensive at 5Y or about 70c).

Dinner was equally inviting with some pork-ish meatballs (very soggy meatbally things that were pretty concerning) and boiled cabbage and a bowl of rice. Dinner was all over by 6pm!! (Lunch sitting was at 11am and Dinner at 5pm). Meals on board are a crack up. The dining car probably seats about 40 or 50 and there are at least 6 times that number of people on board so you only get about 10mins to eat your lunch. The poor lady eating before us got hurried out of her seat and we were sat down whilst she was still eating!!! Only in China!

About 8.30pm we hit the border crossing with Mongolia where we have been stopped for over two hours (at the time of writing) and are changing the bogies on the train– the rail line in China is wider than the ones in Russia and Mongolia. Pretty interesting the way they hydraulichally jack up the train and remove and replace the wheels.. Surprises the hell out of me that they still do this but when in Rome……

So far has been a really interesting experience. The landscape in China started out as quite mountainous and has ended up being quite arid, flat farm land.. I guess this is the steppes/ Gobi Desert as we are now in Mongolia. Another interesting fact, as we entered the border town we saw these dinosaur shapes off in the distance.. we’ve since found out (from reading lonely planet) that there are heaps of fossilised dinosaur remains in this part of the world and that it was a tourist attraction… It was so bizzare in the middle of no-where we just started seeing dinosaurs… v bizzare experience. Another point for me to remember is that for at least the last 4hrs the air has been thick with dirt and dust from the desert.. yet somehow I’m not continually sneezing!! coughing yes (on and off) but not sneezing…. somehow i’m just not allergic to pollution or dust!!!

Its now 10.30 and we’ve finished changing wheels and we are re-hitching up the trains.. another passport check and we should be on our way. We will wake up in Mongolia tomorrow with us arriving in Ulan Bataar about 1pm tomorrow arvo.. So far i’m really enjoying train travel– i’ve got some great travelling buddies and we’ve had a great time just chatting and playing cards!