Outer Mongolia and the trans-Siberian railway

We have had a brilliant few days on our trans-Siberian tour.  We left Beijing last week and boarded our train to Mongolia.  It was fantastic to see the scenery change as we went along.  We saw the dry land of China change to become the snowy wilderness of Mongolia.

The journey was very long, mainly because you have to cross the China/Mongolia border.  It takes 6 hours to go through at from 8pm – 2am.  It involved lots of passport showing, swine flu checking and wheel changing on the train.  We couldn’t go to sleep because we had to wait to get our passports back.  The trains are like the ones in Vietnam, 4 people per cabin, but the journey is smoother.  Believe it or not, it gets really hot onboard, because they crank up the heating so much.  Then, when you want to open a window you get shouted at – but it’s all good fun!

On arrival in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, we met our guide, Bata (Batzorig) meaning brave and strong, and he took us to a nice place for lunch.  Already, the people seemed more smiley than the Chinese people that we had met!  After a nice long lunch (needed after horrendous noodles on the train), we were given the option to ski in Mongolia.  It was brilliant, we never knew we were going to get the opportunity to do such a thing!!  At first we were given some boots that didn’t really fit with the skis, but someone in our group is a competitative ski-er, so he helped us out!  The slopes were so peaceful and it was such good fun.  No queues, loads of good ski lifts and fantastic snow!  We are ready for Sauze D’Oulx 2010!!!  I forgot to mention, it was also in the dark, with flood lighting.

The following day we headed into the middle of the snow covered wilderness, away from Ulaambaatar.  It took approx 1.5 hours to get to our ger camp and we were so pleased to see it.  There were loads of little round tents surrounded by snowy hills and… more snow.  It was beautiful and each little tent was so cosy, with proper beds inside and a fire.  We enjoyed settling in and, after a yummy lunch, went down the road to meet a nomadic family.  It was nice to chat to them (through our guide who translated) and meet their cute little boy.  They also had a couple of cows who somehow survive the -20 days and -40 nights.  Believe you me, it is pretty cold.  Our toes are permanently numb, even indoors!

The next day more fun things lay ahead.  We went sledging in the morning, which was good.  We started off on some gentle slopes and then moved on up to some very scary ones!  They keep us very busy here.  We went horse riding as well and saw more of this beautiful country.  It was very amusing to see Dave on a crazy horse.  It kept galloping off into the distance, whereas mine just walked (thankfully).  By the end of it (1 hour) we were so cold that our bodies were shaking pretty crazily!  Thankfully they have very good fires.  People come to your tent at night to ensure that the fire is still burning.  After the horse riding, Dave went off to do some archery, but I couldn’t move my fingers or toes and decided to stay by the fire

And, finally, today we made our way back to Ulaambaatar.  Believe it or not, Dave undertook some Mongolian wrestling!!!!  How funny is that?  Just imagine it… He got flipped over at one point, but apparently enjoyed it.  He also claims to have beaten the biggest wrestler…

And now we are waiting for our train trip to Russia.  It takes 2 days – wish us luck!