WOW! So much has happened since last Tuesday. We caught the train from Beijing Main Station at 7:45 am. The train itself was extremely comfortable. We stayed in a four berth cabin with a New Zealand couple, Andy and Gemma, who are making their way to England to work for two years. They are really friendly, and we feel really lucky to be with people who are positive about the trip and willing to give anything a go.
We spent our time on the train talking, reading, and exchanging stories. The time passed so quickly that before we knew it, we were at the border. The train tracks on the Chinese side are different from the train tracks on the Mongolian side. The train pulled into a border town called Erlian. Some Chinese border officials got on, took our passports, and kicked us off the train for three hours until the bogies (the wheels on the train) had been changed. Once the bogies had been changed, we were allowed back on the train. We travelled for about 30 minutes, and then some Mongolian border officials got on, took our passports, told us not to leave the train, locked the toilets, and went away for 2 hours. After they returned our passports, we were free to continue our journey. By this point it was 2 am, so we tucked ourselves into bed, turned off the lights, and were rocked to sleep by the motion of the train.
We were awoken by a small Mongolian child who had befriended us. He was such a cute kid, just happy looking at us, laughing, and running around once we chased him. He stayed with us for a while, making sure that all our attention was focused on him, talking 3 year old Mongolian to us, and trying to copy what we said, much to the hilarity of both himself and his mother, who thought her son’s confidence was a sign of the man he was to become.
The train arrived at 1:20 pm. We were met by our guide, Cho-Gi, and a driver. She took us on a tour around the city. This included the famous Gandantegchenling Monastery, which is the main Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. We also went to Sukhbaatar Square, which, like in all (ex) communist countries was huge and had seen its fair share of violence and revolt.
We headed to the Ger camp at about 6 pm. It was dark at this point and the camp was an hour outside of Ulaanbaatar. Our driver turned off the road after about 20 minutes and we were racing along the steppe, which was covered with ice and snow. It was pitch black, he was going at least 60 mph, and he kept turning around to talk to the guide, who seemed unfazed by his obviously insane driving skills. That said, we made it there in one piece. He’s obviously done that drive a million times before; I would guess that he could do it with his eyes closed.
We entered our Ger, and instantly fell in love with it. It was so cozy and warm. A coal stove was placed in the middle of the tent and a chimney let out the smoke. Because the Ger is made from felt, the heat stayed in the insulated walls and made it toasty and comfortable. We were told that Mongolians don’t lock their Gers. It’s a good job we didn’t, because a nice lady kept coming in, putting more coals into the fire, and generally making sure that we were comfortable. We were so thankful for her help, especially once we were told that the outside temperature was -25!
Mongolian food is awesome! They eat pickled vegetables (I guess because they last longer that way). Their diet is heavily based on meat, most of it is quite fatty, but we were told that in the winter the fatty parts are good, because they keep you warm. Whatever the reason, all of the food was amazing; beef dumplings, mutton soup, pickled cabbage, and of course, lots of tea.
The next morning we had decided to go horse riding along the steppe. A local man brought over some horses and we were given a brief explanation about how to make the horse go (if you ever find yourself needing to make a Mongolian horse go, you can say “chu-chu”). It was beautiful to see the steppe at that time in the morning. Again, it was freezing cold (-21), so we came back after an hour and tried to master the art of Mongolian archery. After realising that neither Barclay nor I were ever going to hit the target, we made our way over a hill and found ourselves visiting a true nomadic Mongolian family. They invited us into their home, and gave us sweets, dumplings, and cheese curds. We visited them during a special Mongolian festival, called The White Festival. You CANNOT refuse anything that they give you. Apparently, if you do, their animals will die and there will be no sons born for many years. With that in mind, we were conscious to accept everything. This included airag (fermented mares milk), suu-tei (basically tea with butter and salt in it), shots of red wine, shots of vodka, and fruit flavoured polos!
Once the booze had taken effect, we found ourselves playing the accordion, looking at photos, asking questions, and listening to the local gossip (the man in the next tent is 67, but he has a girlfriend who is only 40!). We had to get back to the city after that, as the train left the following morning. We found ourselves in the Bayangol Hotel, the best that Ulaanbaatar has to offer. It was like stepping back into the eighties! That said, the showers were hot, the food was good, and Steven Seagal was staying there (he looked exactly like he did in Under Siege; same boots, same leather jacket, same everything really)!
Next stop, Russia!
