Mongolia!
Friday 2001-09-07
So much has happened since I left China three days ago. I boarded the trans-siberian train in Beijing. It took about 30 hours to travel from Beijing to UlaanBaatar, which is the capital of Mongolia. The train is relatively comfortable. The cabins seat 4 people and have pull-down beds. It's a little crowded, but it's OK. The highlights of the train ride were the sand storm in the Gobi desert and the 5 hour stop at the Chinese-Mongolian border.

The sand / dust storm was unexpected. Suddenly the train car and cabins started getting 'smokey'. At first we thought something was burning but then we figured out it was a sand storm. It was dark, but we could see the dust out of the window. The storm lasted about 1 hour and once we were through the storm the cabins were covered with a very fine dust. My first Gobi desert sand storm!

The stop at the border began with going through Chinese customs in order to exit the country. The customs officials board the train and do the necessary paperwork. Then we have to leave the train while they change all the wheels. They have to change the wheels because the size of the Chinese train track is different from that of the Mongolian and Russian tracks. This whole process took about 2 or 3 hours. While we were waiting a group of us got together and drank beer & Korean booze and ate Korean seaweed chips. We had arrived at the border at about 9 pm. So it was about midnight when we reboarded the train to continue.

We only went a short distance and then we had to go through Mongolian immigration and customs. That process took about 2 hours. We finally got going again at about 2 am (I think - I had fallen asleep after the Mongolian customs officials checked my passport and visa)

I was told that our 5 hours at the border was actually fairly typical. I guess the norm is about 5 or 6 hours and it can sometimes take as much as 12 hours!

We finally arrived in UlaanBaatar at about 3:00 in the afternoon (about 1 hour late). One of the other people on the train was doing the same program as me for the first day in Mongolia. She's British and is traveling back to England from Hong Kong using the trains. Her name is Yeeling. She and I were picked up at the train station by our Mongolian travel company. Then the sightseeing began!

First we stopped at a Buddist Monastery. Then had a very nice lunch. Our guide, Chimka, was wonderful. She is very friendly and knowledgeable. Next we drove to a Ger camp, which is about a one hour drive from UlaanBaatar. A Ger is the nomadic Mongolian's traditional house. It's actually more like a very sturdy tent. The Ger camp is in the Mongolian country side and it's absolutely beautiful. There are rolling green fields and lots and lots of blue sky. The colors are quite striking. Mongolia is a large country with a very small population (about 2.3 million), so there is a lot of open space. The weather now is warm and very sunny during the day and very cool at night. I think it probably got down to 40 degrees at night when we were at the Ger camp. But during the winter the temperature can get as low as -40 or more. Very, very cold. But the nomads are able to stay warm in their Ger because of it's construction. We had a great dinner at the Ger, including a bottle of wine that Chimka shared with us. Yeeling and I bought a small bottle of Vodka and drank and talked until very late.

The next morning after breakfast we went on a long walk to visit two of the nomadic families. One was a young couple with a small baby and the other was an older couple. We talked with them (using Chimka as our translator) and they served us a small meal. It was really great being able to get a glimpse of their nomadic lifestyle. Then we walked back to the Ger camp and had lunch. And then we went horseback riding on the famous Mongolian horses! Yeeling had never ridden a horse before and I've only ridden a couple of times, so we were both very green. We were given 'calm' horses and along with Chimka and our Mongolian horseman we headed out. After just having the horses walk for several minutes Chimka asked if we wanted to try a trot. We agreed and after a while (and a little pain!) both Yeeling and I got the hang of it. We rode for about 1 hour and then returned to camp. At that point my tour agenda called for me to leave the Ger camp and return to UlaanBataar for the evening and the next day. Yeeling is going to stay in Mongolia for several more days and today she's starting a 4 day jeep trek with Chimka and a driver.

I spent last night in a new and very nice hotel in UlaanBataar. I walked around the town for several hours last night. This morning I visited the Summer Palace of the last king of Mongolia. And now I'm writing this. I'm planning to take it easy for the rest of the day. Tonight at 9:00 pm I board the train to Irkutsk. It will take about 30 hours to get there. I'll arrive in Irkutsk Sunday morning. I'll try to write more from Irkutsk. Bye for now!