Trans Mongolian Railway

June 7…… Notes from the train as I rolled towards Mongolia

My time Beijing really flew. I spent 10 days in the city and kept plenty busy walking all over and seeing the sights. The last two days I spent with Jenny roaming around the followed by dinner and beers. Other than when I first arrived we only had a chance to meet for one evening before my last two days. Fortunately my last day in Beijing included a Monday with the Dragon Boat National Holiday so Jenny did not have to work. Jenny proved to be great company, an excellent host, and a good friend. I sure we will keep in touch. She’s a traveler as well so I’m certain our paths will cross again.

This morning I boarded Trans Mongolian Train Number 23 a little after 7am at the main Beijing Train Station. I’m now about 9 hours into a 30 hour journey to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The train is an express with only 8 stops along the way. The lengthiest stop is right at the Chinese border where everyone gets off to go through immigration and customs while the wheels are changed. The rail gauge changes at the Mongolian border.

I’m hoping the border crossing goes smoothly. I’m a little bit of an oddity. For China I’m traveling on a 60 day multiple entry visa while most everyone else travels on a 30 day single entry. I stayed nearly 60 days but have not exceeded 60 days. For Mongolia everyone needs a visa except Americans and Israelis. I double checked with the U.S. State Department yesterday just to make sure because I don’t have a visa. Technically I’m not doing anything wrong but whenever you cross a boarder and the rules are a little different for you, in any kind of way, you just hope the guards are cool, honest, and don’t try any monkey business. The upside is that I’m on a train full of westerners so that should insure a little less chance for problems. It’s when you cross remote borders that don’t see many western tourists that you run the most risk of encountering problems.

The train is really nice. So far I have a 4 bed berth to myself but there’s no guarantee it will remain that way. I believe there is a very good chance quite a few people will get on when we arrive at the first station in Mongolia at 1:15 am. Right now practically everyone on board is a westerner. If you ride the train from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar the ticket is quite expensive at a little less than $200 USD. If you pick up the train up at or just across the border it’s dramatically cheaper. Some backpackers bus to the boarder then catch the train at the first Mongolian stop. I don’t know what the exact savings is but I think it’s quite a bit and well worth the hassle for a budget conscious traveler. With a much lower ticket price just inside Mongolia I suspect there will be quite a few Mongolians and Chinese getting on but I really don’t know. Maybe my luck will continue and I’ll have the berth all to myself all the way.

So far the ride has been great. The scenery is wide open and the skies are mostly clear and blue. I've spent quite a bit of time visiting with and older Australian couple in the berth next to me. They’ve been doing the backpacker travel thing together since the mid 1970’s and have been all over the world. We had a good time most of the day swapping stories. Aussies are usually always good company. Well, I think I’ll get back to scanning view as we roll down the rails to Mongolia.

June 9… Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia…..

I arrived in Ulaanbaatar right on time at 1:20 pm yesterday. The border crossings were a breeze on both sides. Everything was efficiently handled aboard the train as immigration, customs, police and military boarded, looked around, and collected passports. It was handled in a straight forward fashion. No problems whatsoever. The actual train ride was beautiful. Lots of wide open country, wild camels, nomads on horses and traditional camps sprinkled around the middle of nowhere. We picked up very few passnegers along the way and I retained the 4 person berth all to myself for the entire journey.

I was happy to see a friendly stout Mongolian man with a printed paper displaying my name upon arrival at the Ulaanbaatar train station. I had booked accommodation in advance via the internet before leaving Beijing through hostel bookers dot com because I figured after 30 hours on a train in a new country I’d be a little out of it. I wanted an easy arrival void of touts etc… The man picked me up along with a couple of young woman from the Faroe Islands who have been traveling India and Asia since January.

We were taken to an old cold war soviet built cement apartment complex right in the middle of the city. It looks pretty rough on the outside. One of the women commented that she hoped it was a lot better on the inside. I just figured we would take a look and if it were not to our liking then we would go somewhere else. The Mongolian man took us around a corner to a darkened entry and punched a few numbers on an antiquated security lock securing a beat up metal door with broken handle. We entered and climbed worn cement stairs a few floors to a printed piece of paper taped to another metal door marking the Mongolian Steppe Guest House. He knocked and it was opened by a very friendly 30 something Mongolian woman who speaks good English. She warmly greeted us as we entered the small yet cozy clean 2 bedroom flat. I immediately got a good feeling upon entering. The woman, whose name is Iggy made us feel right at home.

The 2 bedrooms are small but kind of appealing. The living room contains 4 bunks and is set up as a mixed dorm/community area. The bathroom is small but modernized and shared by everyone. The kitchen is tiny but offers the ability to cook your own food. I booked a single for $14 USD a night. The room is quite comfortable, reasonably quiet and has a view across a courtyard with a small park and parking area. All the buildings in the area were built by the Soviets during the 1950’s and 60’s. Since I‘m old enough to remember the cold war era I’m kind of getting a kick out it. Even though the building is ugly I find it to be kind of charming and am very comfortable there. The location is hard to beat.

What’s interesting about the guest house is that it just happens to be a favorite for U.S. Peace Corps volunteers when they come in from the field to take time off in Ulaanbaatar. Right now 6 of them are staying there. They’re all in their twenties and some of them are based in some really remote areas. For them the Guest House is like heaven and I've been enjoying their stories.

So far I haven’t seen much of Ulaanbaatar but I’m kind of surprised at how much western influence is here. There are many restaurants and coffee houses opened by expats or Mongolians who have spent time in the west and returned to their homeland to open up western influenced businesses. Last night I had an excellent pasta meal at a smart looking restaurant called “The Brooklyn”. Obviously it had a New York theme and the décor. It was decorated in a way you might find in New York. I washed dinner down with a locally brewed dark beer produced by a small local brewery run by Germans.

Ulaanbaatar seems quite cosmopolitan with basic English commonly spoken. However, the post soviet architecture along with the fact that you are in the middle of Mongolia surrounded by nomads causes Ulaanbaatar to retain a rough character. Despite progressive looking restaurants and sharp looking businesses there is plenty of 3rd world poverty to go around. Outlying sections of the city are full of Ger (yurts – traditional tent like housing). Although Ger camps provide an attractive and interesting place to visit in the countryside they serve as slums near the city.

Traveling outside the cities of Mongolia can be difficult and time consuming but it’s really what visiting Mongolia is all about. Today I need to figure out how to join some other backpackers and come up with something. There are not many roads in Mongolia and few are paved. Mostly people get around via 4wd drive or horse if they really want to get out to experience some real nomadic culture and beauty of the backcountry. If a travler has the time there are local busses but they are slow, packed, and schedules are not set in stone. Anyway, I need to sort out something and at this point I’ll just see what’s happening now. I only plan to spend a couple of weeks in Mongolia otherwise I’d be tempted to hop busses for what would certainly be an authentic adventure but I don’t want to waste too much time.