Trans-Mongolian Discovery -- A train trip through Mongolia
Tuesday, September 25, 2001 –
Aboard the Trans Mongolian Railway
On an early morning departure we caught a last glimpse of the Great
Wall as it winds over the mountains before the train descended into
the arid lands of Outer Mongolia. We settled into life on board, enjoying
the company of our fellow
passengers (our leader Sylvana, and our 2 cabin mates, Sue
from Australia, and Trisna
from Hong Kong). We soon made a picnic in our cabin. In the evening
we arrived at the Chinese border town of Erlan for immigration and customs
formalities. Here the train’s bogies were changed from the narrow
Chinese gauge to the wider gauge used in Mongolia and Russia. The train
then moved to the Mongolian border town of Dzamyn Ude. Once formalities
had been completed in the early hours of the morning, the train continued
onto Ulan Bator.
Wednesday, September 26, 2001 – Arrive Ulan
Bator
Our train took us through a dramatic change in scenery, from the lush
mountains of China to the baron landscape of the Gobi,
where we were caught in the middle of a dust storm – dust EVERYWHERE!
in our mouths, eyes, contact lenses, food, clothing, luggage. We continued
on into the vast grassy plains, a huge expanse which is home to almost
half the Mongolian population. Arriving at Ulan Bator at lunchtime,
we soon transferred to the
Edelweiss Hotel. In the afternoon we explored this unique city where
the young and the old, the modern and traditional, go hand in hand.
We visited the Zaisan
Memorial built by the Russians to commemorate ‘unknown soldiers
and heroes’. From there we had a spectacular panorama of the city.
Thursday, September 27, 2001 – Terelj
We travelled by bus
into the spectacular
countryside of vast green grasslands and rocky
outcrops. At 1600m, the area was cool and the alpine scenery was
magnificent and we had an opportunity to go walking
and horse riding
in the Mongolian hills, with the trees at the height of their
colourful fall splendour. We had a traditional
Mongolian supper together with other 'campers' and then slept in
a traditional Mongolian
ger (tent).
Friday, September 28, 2001 – Ulan Bator
We returned to Ulan Bator and went back to shower at our hotel. Then
we had time to send postcards home, check e-mail, and shop. Before we
boarded our evening train bound for Siberia, our group took in a concert
of traditional Mongolian music and dancing
at the National History museum. At the end of the evening we boarded
the train, bound for Siberia.
Saturday, September 29, 2001 – Aboard Trans-Mongolian
Railway to Irkutsk
Until the middle of this century, the rough track over the steppe-lands
of northern Mongolia and the Gobi Desert in the south was the only route
across this desolate country. It was an ancient route followed for centuries
by tea-caravans between Peking and Moscow. Our train arrived at Sukhbaatar,
the Mongolian border town, and after completing formalities, we continued
across no-man’s land to a military outpost where Russian officials
boarded the train and checked our documents. After further formalities
were completed, the carriages were shunted and joined to the Russian
locomotive, journeying on to Irkutsk. |
