Into Mongolia

And there we were, back on the train on a trip between Irkutsk (our last place in Russia), and Ulaan Baator (the captial city of Mongolia). But not before we had loads of stops during the night (32 if you believe the book) and a 9 hour border crossing. Yes you read right! For some reason this is how long the multiple checks take on either side of the border, i.e. passport, customs and health forms. They also lock the toilets when you are stopped or close to a station, so for this time you may manage to get off the train and find a smelly tiolet or just not drink too much and hope for the best. Some people did get off and then the train went backwards (assumingly to change tracks) and apart from them possibily afraid that we were leaving without them, they then couldn't get back on for ages, and it was cold and rainy. But all that mattered was that I was O.K. and managed to sweet talk a lady with a key, with sign language of course - a pained look on my face, bent over with my hands between my legs, (she was part of the smuggling Mongolian team of women who were busy moving stock up and down the carriages between hidey holes). Officials did check our cabins and in the roof (that you can get into if you "have a key"). There was an Amercian man travelling with his son who dobbed on the smuggling Mongolian women, who were at one point filling up the tiolet with goods. The carriage attendant pretended to be annoyed with the smugglers, but I know that she was in on it aswell. Unimpressed with the American guys form Ian then refused to speak with him, and his son looked somewhat embarrassed at his dad's "sticky nosing", as it was providing us with some much needed entertainment, to while away the time. We were met in Mongolia by our 18 year old city guide caller Ider. He had been only doing the job this summer and you could tell - wet blanket. He didn't have too many suggestions on what we may like see, and unfortunatley we had left the book of knowledge in the room. So we suggested we firstly check out the History Museum. Good move and hopefully he also learnt a few things. It was really interesting. Ulaan Baator means "Red Hero". Mongolia declared itself independent of China in 1911. Like everywhere else, the Communists come to power in 1921 and in a crackdown at the end of the 1930's most of the 700 Monasteries were destroyed, more than 14,000 monks were killed and tens of thousands were forced to give up their vows. It was only in 1990 that "The Square" was the scene of the pro-democracy demonstrations that lead to the first free elections. Mongolia is Genghis Khan country (not his real name which I learnt at the history museum, and it is actually spelt Chingis). He has been been viewed as a brutual invader and a hero. Mongolia has a population of 804,000. It can get down to -49 degrees in winter and up to 38 degrees in summer. It is a sparsely populated place with approx. 70% of the people living in cities and the rest still nomads in their Gers (tents that they pick up and move around). One third of the population live below the poverty line. The capital city is dry, dusty, polluted and there are large building projects everywhere. Not quite what I had anticipated. The book actually stated that you were more likely to be run over by horse and cart - Wrong and alittle outdated. Cars everywhere and probably only saw one horse and cart! It was the beginning of our meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and I must say that it was too much. In the main square is a statue to the revoluntionary leader Sukhe Bator on a horse (very much like the one in St. Petersburg), and his mausoleum where his preserved body lies (modelled on President Lennin's in Moscow), but this one doesn't receive visitors. We went to the Gardan Monastry, the WW2 Monument on the hill, Boyd Khan Palace and the highlight of the city was the Choyin Lama Monastry where there was a seated mummified body of a lama encased in gold. Don't make the same mistake as me, walking in looking for a gold animal, the lama is a man! The actual highlight of Mongolia was going 70 kms out of town (although the roads are crap) to stay the night in a Ger. All excited to rough it, although forgetting my torch which I thought may be an issue, we were surprised to find a tasty little set up with electricity, a menu for meals and showers. The country side was breathtaking and it was such a shame that we were only staying for one night. Went horse riding, quad bike riding which was fantastic, and drank expensive beer with some loud singing, but very funny Dutch men. They told me that my biological clock was ticking and that I should be thinking of having a family! They had left their wifes and children at home and gone on holiday. A speciality to try is the Mare milk. Yuck!!!! Happy to find some Aussie and Chilean wine for the next train trip to Beijing, to share with our new Dutch friends, and surprisingly our Chilean compartment couple companions. Although for some reason the three of us on tour had been put in all different compartments, I swapped with a Japanese man to be in with Ian. Another border crossing, not as long as the last! The Gobi desert - stretching for almost 4000km along the border of Mongolia and China. Apparantly only 3% of the Gobi is true desert. The really interesting part of this train ride was that the train has to change the 'boggies' at the border due to a different train line widths. Giant hydraulic lifts pick up individual carriages in big sheds, and even our carriage attendants (women) were out there with tools helping. It would have been quicker to have everyone get off the train and change onto another one. Next.....Beijing......