Sukhbaatar

Эхний хилийн боомт (First border crossing)

Hello Mongolia!

09/09/2017: From the Tran-Siberian to the Trans Mongolian - 5,153-6,304km

Today we boarded our next train; this one is a Mongolian Train that will take us from Irkurst to Ulaanbaatar.

We continued to follow the Trans-Siberian until we got to Ulan Ude and then we changed to the Trans Mongolian. The new train is not quite a comfortable as the last train, it is very cold and the beds are very hard (parts of me go numb if I lie still for too long). It is all tourists in our cabin and we have made some friends, including one who will be moving to NZ next year.

We found out why it was all tourists in our cabin when we got to the border and our cabin was dropped off and left there as everyone else continued along the Trans-Siberian. It is a bit of a weird feeling to hop off the train and realise that it is just you on the train tracks, no train and no one else.

While we had heard stories of no access to bathrooms for hours at a time, the Russian/Mongolian border turned out to be fine. For a long time we were just left at a station and could get off to stretch our legs and go to the bathroom. When the customs people finally showed up it was a bit nerve wracking as they checked all the passports and had a massive German Shepard come round to check the cabins while we stood against the wall but all was fine and we were on our way again. The times on the time table change to Mongolian time the minute you cross the border, so it looks like you will be at the border for 7-8 hours but it’s only a couple.

We have now finished off all our books and movies so will have to download some more for the next train ride while we are in Ulaanbaatar.