7th August 2008
First thing Monday morning we had to organise transport out of China. We had a variety of options, first one being the train. Trying to use the hotel tour booking guy wasn't that helpful until we got more aggressive and obviously not going away. The Lonely Planet writes that 'one can conveniently buy tickets from the CITS office in Beijing'. Yet after the previous afternoons hassle about getting a train we were not so sure. We took a chance and went to the office where there were indeed tickets and one was able to conveniently purchase International train tickets leaving China. We suspected that is was Internet/Olympic hype that was suggesting onward tickets would be difficult to get. Job done, time to enjoy our last afternoon in Beijing by wondering in Tianamen Square and through the entrance buildings of the Forbidden City which is now called the Palace Museum. One activity that I wanted to do while in Beijing was to see pickled Mao, but alas, I was unable to yet again, Mondays are his day off. The latest men's fashion in China seemed to be that they pull their t-shirt up to expose Buddha like bellies and tuck the excess fabric under the sleeves.
Train number two and our first International train journey. The guy looking after our carriage was really cute, we were put with a whole load of other gai-jins, we were sharing with a Malaysian who was studying in UK to be a Doctor. After all the fuss of the 'shall we, shan't we get tickets' the train wasn't even full. The restaurant car wasn't at all exciting, I was much happier with our food menu of Cheeto chrisp sandwiches and fruit. The view from the train was pretty flat, leaving Beijing there were lots of rice paddies and massive corn fields. As we left the city it opened up to large dry, dusty but strangely green areas with the occasional dirt car track criss-crossing. The temperature reached 36 degree at the max which was pretty hot, all we had was a fan and the windows open. (First class had the AC).
Crossing the boarder was time consuming, about 5 hours. The wheels of the train had to be changed as the tracks are different, plus there were scary official looking men/women at immigration and customs. We got the 'dodgey'vibe from a group of guys who weren't in uniform but were asking for our passports, we'd already given them to the Chinese immigration officials.
Drawing closer to Ulan Bator, more Ger's and livestock peppered the greener landscape. First impressions of UB, appeared quite run down in a Cambodia-esk way, but now where near as many beggars or people trying to sell you things. Roads are crazy, even though it may say you have right of way crossing the pedestrian crossing, you still have to dodge the cars, that are constanly honking at everything that got in the way.
Mongolian women are very attractive, they are taller, have more defined features and can walk in high heels. I haven't felt any 'you're a gai-jin' attitudes towards me, they are friendly and the language barrier doesn't seem so big. Their English is good but not all. Gestures and charades are still a big part of my day to day life. We moved hostels today and trying to find the train station I basically had to make a big 'choo choo' noise and the road sweeper who we were asking got what we were asking for. I guess trains make the same noise in English and Mongolian, ne!!
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