Ulan Bator

1a. Yurts in Mongolila

Yurts in Mongolia

A traveler we met at the hotel in Beijing asked us, “Why the Trans-Siberian?” It took us aback. After all this planning, it seemed an achievement just to execute. We were stunned. Hmm. A good question. So we dug deep into our memory tool chest. Surely there must be a reason that had crossed our minds decades ago. I found myself one, after some digging. “Oh”, I finally blurted. “I like trains” …”and I am going cross country on Amtrak”. It was pretty weak, until I later remembered that I worked for Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway System for three years during the time it was under construction. I became somewhat a railway nut during that time. Working in the monastic order can make you do strange things, like want to be like the big boys. So my railway brothers talked shop about British Railway and the London Tube like it was the state of the art. BART wasn’t exactly either, but at least it was new at the time. The British Civil Engineer who hired me told me, “we’re all guests here”, referring to the ex-pats in Hong Kong. My director, a Midlands engineer who had never been abroad before going to Scotland, found himself in Hong Kong with his wife and three kids. they could live like royalty in the Mid-Levels, send their kids to public schools in the UK, and take annual trips back home on the QE2. He reminded me that “we’re all basically “Wrailwray” men here, as a gesture of camaraderie. But despite the fogies, I did enjoy transportation planning. A recent UC Berkeley grad at MTR taught me about trip headways, modalities, and methods of predicting number of passengers. I even started to learn about all the railways in the world, both heavy gauge and light rail, and their special features. I still remember that rubber tires like the ones used in the Montreal system were quieter but prone to fires, whereas the squeaky steel wheels were more reliable. BART was never discussed because it was too new to evaluate, and there certainly was a bias toward British colonial interests. So, such is my explanation about taking the Trans-Siberian. It’s another reason for my hopeless love and fascination for wandering the world. Trains are soothing, and help you to think and reflect on life. It helps you to stop the world and get off the internet. PS. Another explanation is due: the Chinese system shut down my ability to post using Google and my WordPress hosting site. Apologies to those of you who were disappointed and could not view the images. I was unable to see the images on my end, so that was very frustrating for me. But I will repost them as soon as I get chance. Thursday, July 30, 7:30am

Can you read this one?

The first day ended at the border between China and Mongolia, and not Ulan Bator. It’s still another eight hours from now (6am local time) to the Mongolian capital. The customs and border patrol took only a short expected amount of time with passport inspections, but a disruptive night from 10pm to 1am was caused by the need for each train car to be retrofitted with wider gauge wheels to fit the Mongolian track system! During the stop, each car was disengaged, Chinese wheels removed, and Mongolian wheels installed. While this might sound unbelievable and hideous, it happened. The car attendant explained to Gee Kin that the tracks are 2 inches wider in Mongolia.The three hour stop allowed just enough time for 30 workers to descend on each car systematically, pound the hell out of each connection between wheel and car, move each car to the Mongolian track, and reconnect everything (about 15 cars) again!

The landscape has changed to a wide plain with beautiful, seductive lighting at this time of the early morning. As I was about to take a few shots, I saw a herd of camels! It reminded me of the Silk Road trip last year. I wondered whether these noble animals originated here or were transported from some central Asian steppe or further beyond. A good Wiki question if only I had internet.

Now about the “I” word. If you ever get this post before Moscow, it will be another miracle. (the first one was the train reconfiguration). We had heard rumors that there was internet on the train…but that was the Russian train. We are on a Chinese train. Not that there should be that big a difference, but to be honest, we chose the Chinese-run train Beijing-Moscow for chauvinistic reasons and for nominally better (or possibly worse) food. So much for that thought.

But before I talk food, let’s get to the heart of the matter. What were we thinking??? A Sunday ride through Silicon Siberia? I had forgotten how I had the shakes checking into my guest house in Dresden last year. It took a rocket scientist (oh, OK, a lab scientist) to set me up with a modem connection that he figured out was cheaper to buy at the local Fry’s for 25E than to pay 100E deposit for one through the housing agent. After that momentary fear of being off the grid, my mind lapsed. No internet, no bloggie.

So if I emerge from this trip after five days of going dark, I will be a new woman. Damn the torpedos and the internet. We are one.

The free first night’s dinner (whoo-whoo!) consisted of one bowl of rice, cauliflower, and 2 huge Chicken meatballs. The best part was sitting with 2 other travelers, German brothers from Hamburg and Frankfurt. The physicist had just been to San Francisco and the other was a marketing director for big-name brands, so we had plenty to talk about. They had interesting views of the Greek crisis and how Germany was going to deal with it.

Looking back at yesterday’s posting, I felt saddened by my draining optimism. Everything on first blush always looks good, right? A few slight technicalities… the toilets are closed during station stops, so you have to plan your peeing strategy. I knew this from the first time we traveled cross-country Beijing to Hong Kong with the kids a generation ago. Still the same. The outlet is just outside our compartment over a fold-out bench, so it would be very handy to babysit the devices as they are being charged. Oops, the outlet doesn’t work. But let’s not get cynical. We had a decent meal gratis, and there’s still hope abound for getting upgraded. Stay tuned.

Thursday, July 30, 2015, 6:40am

We are four hours into the first day’s adventure and I just saw the first yurt of the trip! At the same time, the Beijing smog has finally disappeared. It was indeed very ominous during the entire stay in the city, and the sky only just became decipherable as we know it. The initial mountains and abundant tunnels outside Beijing lasted for about an hour, until lush terraced fields and valleys of corn and wheat took over. The first yurt led to a wide valley and truncated concrete piers were telltale signs of a high-speed rail line underway.

The valley also reflected sparse yurt-shaped graves and modern human settlements attached to farmland. Cows, horses, goats and sheep begin to appear in small herds and power lines string the landscape as far as the eye can see. Huge stretches of flat farmland are indicative of future scenery.

Despite our four-berth compartment not being air conditioned, there are only two of us so far. From Beijing to Ulan Bator, it looks like we will be alone. Our near-disaster plan to book through Travelchinaguide left us without tickets five days before the trip, with everything booked on both ends! While there are a number of ways to book the Trans-Siberian, we chose to use the Chinese service. This may not have been the wisest, but we did. As Gee Kin discovered that the pinch point was between Beijing and Ulan Bator, we are hoping that we can upgrade from a four- to a two-compartment with a shared toilet. So far the train itself has been very comfortable and with all the amenities necessary—a Western toilet in each train car, an electrical outlet, lights, hot water, and bedding. We were given complimentary tickets for a lunch and dinner each, but haven’t ventured outside the compartment yet.

As the sun sets, we will check out dinner service and the big “I” word…whether internet service is available or not. Farewell for now.

JULY 29, 2015, 16:37.