It’s our last train, from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing!
I think we will miss this style of transport – afternoon naps, playing cards, photos out the window, amazing snack food and seeing glimpses of the countryside as it whizzes by. I haven’t turned into a train buff ( I couldn’t even tell you the gauge on the tracks) but can see the appeal of long train journeys.

We had an early wake up at 5.30am, boarding our train just before 7. We hit the jackpot – a brand new Mongolian train with air con – the Rolls Royce of Transmongolian trains and perfect for travelling the Gobi desert! We would soon find out though that all the fancy electrics still need to work (air con broke down on the second day) and the lack of windows would be a massive downfall (we just popped to the next door carraige where it was ten degrees cooler!). In the older carriages the sun during the day as you cross the Gobi desert makes the cabins unbearable at times – even with the windows open (some say it’s like having a hair dryer in your face for 36 hours)
Given the early hour of our wake up, most people hit the sleepers for a mid-morning nap.
Lunch was a concoction of two minute noodles, rehydrated potato and Oreos. The people in our travelling group who upgraded to two birth cabins had pure luxury – therefore we end up sitting in their compartments enjoying the amazing desert scenery for much of the time.
At dinnertime, we found out that our fancy train also came with a ‘fancy’ restaurant car which decided to charge the large number of ‘ Nadaam tourists’ huge prices (USD$20) for distinctly average food, so we ate whatever was left in our bag, crackers and Nutella!

The Gobi was an amazing desert, varied and colourful, it changed hour by hour. Huge rain clouds produced amazing rainbows against the red bare earth and sand dunes. The short down pours created miniature flash floods on the desert surface; the waters racing across the non porous surface in huge fingers. It seemed as if the sky was bigger somehow – maybe the effect of the clouds and the blue sky.

We arrived at the Mongolian customs and immigration late in the afternoon – having filled out a trillion forms, none of which were consistent between carriages, it seemed like they gave us what ever they had. We were allowed off briefly for a leg stretch before the slow roll over non-mans land.
The Chinese boarder was exceedingly more formal and officious; the boarder town a growling neon advertisement against the black sky and patriotic music blasting on the platform. Passports taken, we were shunted back towards the bogey changing sheds as China’s train tracks are ‘normal gauge’ as opposed to the wide gauge of Russia and Mongolia which are wider at 1.5m.
The shed was massive, enough to hold the train in 3 split sections. Each section was raised using huge jacks, the bogeys ( wheels) were pushed off and new ones rolled under the train. After nearly 2 hours though the heat (for lack of electricity and no windows) was getting pretty intense. After reassembling the train, we headed off back to the Chinese boarder town, where we were able to grab some much needed supplies – fruit and noodles!

It was nostalgic after having witnessed this same process 11 year ago; there’s a new shed now, and back then we were able to walk around the train as it was lifted up. It was also about 5 degrees outside.

After more waiting we were on our way into China at 1am!
In the morning we were woken by the heat – the aircon having died in the night and apparently unfixable. As the temperature hit 30 we rolled out of the cabin to enjoy a breakfast of partially cooked porridge, and Oreos (sorry mum, its not that nutritious).
We visited other carriages in an attempt to find some cool air. Lunch in the Chinese restaurant car was a little more successful (I can finally put 8 yrs of mandarin to use again!), although the only liquid they have is warm Chinese beer. Ordering in Chinese made life a lot easier.
The pollution in China is also very noticeable – thick smog coats the limestone hills as we roll slowly towards Beijing which is still 4 hours away! The industrialisation of the area was incredible; huge factories line the railway tracks, many delapidated and simply left to flounder.

When we reached Beijing, pulling up next to an ultra high speed bullet train was an eerie sight – it seemed to suit the futuristic architecture of the train station more than our traditional dismal beast.

8900 km done !!