Early this morning, we packed our bags and left on the early
train for Beijing - a 30 hour trip in total... of which 6 hours were spent at
the border having our passports checked by Chinese and Mongolian authorities, as
well as having the bogies on our train changed back to be compatible with
Chinese rails. This did mean 6 hours with the toilets locked - so we had to be
careful with our liquid in-take! The train was separated into two, and the
carriages detached from each other. Each carriage was then lifted - passengers
in side - and the bogies were changed. A very interesting
experience.
On the way to the border, we had amazing views of the Gobi
dessert - not a good place for your train to break down - luckily it didn't! We
could feel the temperature creeping up as we headed towards the 34 degrees C of
Beijing.
And guess who we bumped into on the train?... the same Swedish
girls that we saw on the long haul across Siberia. Since we had seen them, they
had hitchhiked across the Russia/Mongolia border, as well as outstaying their
Russian Visa and getting "arrested" and paying a fine. They seemed very excited
about this - whether this prejudices any future visit, who knows! Here they are
pictured in the absolutely amazing Mongilian dining cart.
