Tuesday July 7 – The Trans-Mongolian Railway

On Monday evening we sat around the table with a couple of beers discussing what motivated each of us to spend 21 days hurtling across China, Mongolia, and Russia in a train, including 8 days and 7 nights on the train. For some it was the “mystery” of train travel, for others the anticipation of unknown places, and for still others, the special cultures of China, Mongolia, and Russia. We talked about how to spend your time; ideas such as reading, writing, and taking pictures came easily. Our group leader advised us on security issues for personal belongings, train schedules and the need to “stay close” to the train when we disembarked at the frequent stops; food on the train and snacks from station vendors; toilet and shower facilities or the lack of; and how to tell how many kilometers you are from Beijing. So when Tuesday morning at 6:15 am came, and we made our way to the station, we were all fresh with excitement, loaded down with snacks, and eager to embark on our epic 7865 km journey.

The journey to the train station was frenetic. Chris, our tour leader, was obviously concerned about time. We flew across Beijing in two taxis which dropped us across the street opposite the station and we had to get ourselves across a 6 lane divided highway with our backpacks and all our luggage. Fortunately there was an over pass. We made it into the station, had time to stop at McDonalds for some coffees, then loaded on to the train. When I dumped my bags and went back out to the platform to take some pictures, we had 15 minutes to spare. Perfect timing!

The building of the railway line from Moscow to Beijing started in 1882 at Chelyabinsk and continued along the rail from then until the opening of the 2880 km section from Beijing to Ulan-Ude in 1956. Our 21 day trip is going to be broken up into several section the first of which is from Beijing to Ulan bator.

There were about 16 carriages on the train. The carriage we are in is a long corridor with separate apartments each containing 4 berths, 2 upper and 2 lower. The Attendant gives you sheets and a pillow case and at night you simply spread the sheets over the berths and turn them into beds. It makes for really comfy sitting during the day! There are no showers. The toilet is shared. It is a European style toilet that flushes directly on to the track and every time I went I couldn’t help thinking of all the pee, poop, and paper being spewed out on to the track. One long latrine! There is a hole in the middle of the floor that you can look through on to the track, so your imagination does not have to work overtime! The loo got pretty grungy after a while; floor was wet, toilet paper and seat covers ran out, however, the water supply was good and it never really got too smelly!! You have to remember not to go to the loo just before or after entering a station as the attendants lock the door about 10 mins before arrival and 10 mins after departure.

Leaving Beijing we travelled through the dramatic mountainous regions of China crossing the San Gan River at 99 km, into and across the grasslands of Inner Mongolia near to where we had previously travelled; and on to the border at Erlian/Zamiin Ud. Between kilometer 80 and 50 we passed a series of tunnels and although we didn’t see it, you can also see the Great Wall at several spots along the way. We passed through empty stations where station guards in blue denim shirts and dark blue pants stand to attention on the deserted platform as the train hurtles past. There are lots of tourists on the train partly because it is the start of the Nadaam Festival in Ulan Bator. Early in the journey, westerners are reserved, pushing past you in the corridors determined not to make eye contact, but later on, conversations are struck up, new friendships are made, and addresses are exchanged.

Exhausted from our 8 hectic days in Beijing we are content to snooze, read, write, and quietly visit with other passengers exchanging travel stories, learning about new places, and discussing customs, culture and politics about places we had been to. We lunched with a US chap who is coaching tennis at the provincial level for the Chinese government, and a young Chinese chap who is in the military. Our companion in the compartment was a young Mongolian girl, Nary, from Ulan Bator who is studying medicine in Shanghai. She was lovely, and gave us her phone numbers in case we have time to get together in Ulan Bator.

We arrived at the Chinese border at around 8:37 pm only to be hauled off the train by the customs official because he couldn’t understand how we had gotten into China as there was no stamp in our passport because of our group entry into Tibet. That took a little bit of explaining, but fortunately their English is much better than our Chinese! The customs guys were really sweet, kind and gently, and it all got sorted. We had a 3 hour lay-over and all the passengers were “locked” into the Customs Hall and the platform. There was a neat supermarket where we got snacks as a replacement for dinner (the dining car was closed), and then stood or sat out on the platform under the station lights enjoying the warm, balmy evening. The reason for the long stop is to change the bogie wheels to match the Mongolian rail gauge. When this was all finished, we got back on the train and travelled about 25 minutes through no man’s land to Zamiin Ud to enter Mongolia. We stopped again for about 1 ¼ hours and about 1:40 am we set off across the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. We spread our sheets on the berths, closed and locked the compartment door, and settled down to sleep. It was a good night; the regular beat of the train’s wheels lulled us all into a deep sleep within minutes which lasted until early morning.