I wouldn’t say border crossings were my least favorite part of the journey. I’m still getting over the mare’s milk tea after all. But they are not fun for a number of reasons.
We left Ulaanbaatar about 7:30 am. Leaving behind a city that was now under light snow and far from warm.
Crossing into China from Mongolia was a 4-5 hour affair. In the middle of the night - same time as the crossing from Russia to Mongolia, as (bad) luck would have it.
The low down:
First you stop on the Mongolian side and they check your customs form, filled in on arrival, a week ago. Not entirely sure of the rational there. Then they take your passports and leave the train for a wee while, You are not permitted to leave the train at all. The stop is scheduled to be 100 minutes and during this time the bathrooms are locked. (I understand this part; Since the human waste is “flushed” directly onto the tracks, it totally makes sense to put the stoppers on that while at the station.)
There is a short ride through no-mans-land and the train arrives at Erlian Station, China. From here, there is a definite process. The Chinese, like the Russians, are very organized - a far cry from the Mongolian loosey-goosey style we have come to accept over the last week.
The train is flooded with uniformed personnel… military, police, border control and ? They walk around a bit, don’t talk to anyone and then leave.
We are instructed to take all of our luggage with us and get off the train. Word has it, this departure will be for about 2-3 hours. The schedule says it’s a 300 minute stop. It is now 9 pm and pretty cold outside.
Inside the station building we line up, much like you would arriving by flight, and go through passport control. This includes facial recognition, finger printing and the checking of our passports/visas (acquired through Chinese Embassy in the US back in July) and arrival cards.
Then we feed all our luggage through a scanner before being permitted to exit the “inspection area”.
Now in what appears to be a main terminal, we have two choices; Stay downstairs on the metal seats or go upstairs and sit on the metal seats. There is no ATM, restaurant, vending machine, shopping etc. The floor is shiny and clean and hard and cold. The building is modern, has drinking water including a dispenser of hot water and bathrooms that are almost western feeling if you ignore the squat toilets. Check out the signs on the cubicle doors though. I’m not even sure where to go with this as I haven’t used the word “normal” to describe myself in quite some time.
The next few hours are spent here… chatting, reading, napping, eating the Ramen noodles and chocolates we bought with us.
China has protected itself from being invaded via Mongolia and Russia by cutting off the invaders way to bring in supplies (and building a giant wall helps too). The train tracks themselves are of a different size so the train must switch wheels to accommodate the new tracks before it can go any further. It’s genius… to a point.
Around 1 am, we get the ok to board the train again. We (like almost all the western looking travelers from this train) have already eaten, brushed teeth and geared up for bedtime, using the terminal bathrooms. Our happy little Chinese carriage attendant passed through just before lights out and handed us coupons for a free breakfast and lunch tomorrow. That was a super nice surprise since we don't have Chinese money yet and didn't think we'd be "dining out" at all before Beijing.
Breakfast was to be taken at 6:30 - 7 am
Lunch between 10:30 and 11:30 am
Im telling you, these Chinese are organized! They have found a work around to having 8 carriages of people descend on the one dining car at 8 am each morning. Every carriage got coupons with a different time for breakfast/lunch. Making it FREE means you motivate people to cooperate with the prescribed schedule. Order is been maintained. Everyone wins.
I didn’t hear a peep out of anyone as the train departed. Safely tucked into our bunk beds with clean white sheets and cozy brown blankets, we slept away the first 6 hours of western China.
Breakfast went as planned for us. Not so much for the poor schmuck who overslept and arrived at 7:03 am, though. He was told "no breakfast for you" after a quick review of his coupon.
Arrival in Beijing couldn't have been smoother either. Outside the main terminal, we dragged our increasingly heavy suitcases and were met immediately by Julia (guide) and our driver, holding a "Mark and Dallice" sign. Dang that was easy and stress-free!!!
They stopped at an ATM for us and then delivered us safely to the historic Dongfang Hotel. Julia's job is more than you'd think a guide does. She is essentially the new mother to two highly dependent (don't know what they don't know) toddlers named Mark and Dallice. She doesn't turn her back or dare leave the building until the hotel clerk has transferred all the relevant info; room numbers, breakfast instructions and directions to us, via her. Her English is fantastic and she takes a lot of pride in making sure there is zero confusion, zero anxiety and zero ways we could do harm to ourselves or the enjoyment of our Beijing vacation.
I love her already. Beijing is going to be great!
We left Ulaanbaatar about 7:30 am. Leaving behind a city that was now under light snow and far from warm.
Look closely through the extra grimey window and on the left you will see our Trans-Mongolian train rounding a corner!
It wasn't long before we broke out the picnic we have come to love on the train. Sure... There is a dining car again but we were running low on Mongolian money (still don't know the name of the currency here) and were saving it for pee-breaks. Did I forget to mention that almost everywhere we went in Mongolia, the fee for using the bathroom was about 500 MNT? The train didn't charge, but in any case, you are advised to bring your own toilet paper... What might be provided may or may not feel like there is enough of it (size or quality) to put a barrier between you and your hiney! I called the measly amount of money rattling around our money belts, pee-pee-money. We didn't spend it until just before the border - when a Mongolian artist got the last of our cash in return for a local painting.
The low down:
First you stop on the Mongolian side and they check your customs form, filled in on arrival, a week ago. Not entirely sure of the rational there. Then they take your passports and leave the train for a wee while, You are not permitted to leave the train at all. The stop is scheduled to be 100 minutes and during this time the bathrooms are locked. (I understand this part; Since the human waste is “flushed” directly onto the tracks, it totally makes sense to put the stoppers on that while at the station.)
There is a short ride through no-mans-land and the train arrives at Erlian Station, China. From here, there is a definite process. The Chinese, like the Russians, are very organized - a far cry from the Mongolian loosey-goosey style we have come to accept over the last week.
The train is flooded with uniformed personnel… military, police, border control and ? They walk around a bit, don’t talk to anyone and then leave.
We are instructed to take all of our luggage with us and get off the train. Word has it, this departure will be for about 2-3 hours. The schedule says it’s a 300 minute stop. It is now 9 pm and pretty cold outside.
Inside the station building we line up, much like you would arriving by flight, and go through passport control. This includes facial recognition, finger printing and the checking of our passports/visas (acquired through Chinese Embassy in the US back in July) and arrival cards.
Then we feed all our luggage through a scanner before being permitted to exit the “inspection area”.
Now in what appears to be a main terminal, we have two choices; Stay downstairs on the metal seats or go upstairs and sit on the metal seats. There is no ATM, restaurant, vending machine, shopping etc. The floor is shiny and clean and hard and cold. The building is modern, has drinking water including a dispenser of hot water and bathrooms that are almost western feeling if you ignore the squat toilets. Check out the signs on the cubicle doors though. I’m not even sure where to go with this as I haven’t used the word “normal” to describe myself in quite some time.
The next few hours are spent here… chatting, reading, napping, eating the Ramen noodles and chocolates we bought with us.
Wifi is not an option. :-(
Our train has disappeared from the track we arrived on and we know that means it is off somewhere getting it’s wheels changed. We trust it will come back. Obviously this is not the first time the Trans-Mongolian train has attempted to transit Mongolia... so that is good.
Our train has disappeared from the track we arrived on and we know that means it is off somewhere getting it’s wheels changed. We trust it will come back. Obviously this is not the first time the Trans-Mongolian train has attempted to transit Mongolia... so that is good.
China has protected itself from being invaded via Mongolia and Russia by cutting off the invaders way to bring in supplies (and building a giant wall helps too). The train tracks themselves are of a different size so the train must switch wheels to accommodate the new tracks before it can go any further. It’s genius… to a point.
Around 1 am, we get the ok to board the train again. We (like almost all the western looking travelers from this train) have already eaten, brushed teeth and geared up for bedtime, using the terminal bathrooms. Our happy little Chinese carriage attendant passed through just before lights out and handed us coupons for a free breakfast and lunch tomorrow. That was a super nice surprise since we don't have Chinese money yet and didn't think we'd be "dining out" at all before Beijing.
Breakfast was to be taken at 6:30 - 7 am
Lunch between 10:30 and 11:30 am
Im telling you, these Chinese are organized! They have found a work around to having 8 carriages of people descend on the one dining car at 8 am each morning. Every carriage got coupons with a different time for breakfast/lunch. Making it FREE means you motivate people to cooperate with the prescribed schedule. Order is been maintained. Everyone wins.
I didn’t hear a peep out of anyone as the train departed. Safely tucked into our bunk beds with clean white sheets and cozy brown blankets, we slept away the first 6 hours of western China.
Breakfast went as planned for us. Not so much for the poor schmuck who overslept and arrived at 7:03 am, though. He was told "no breakfast for you" after a quick review of his coupon.
Arrival in Beijing couldn't have been smoother either. Outside the main terminal, we dragged our increasingly heavy suitcases and were met immediately by Julia (guide) and our driver, holding a "Mark and Dallice" sign. Dang that was easy and stress-free!!!
They stopped at an ATM for us and then delivered us safely to the historic Dongfang Hotel. Julia's job is more than you'd think a guide does. She is essentially the new mother to two highly dependent (don't know what they don't know) toddlers named Mark and Dallice. She doesn't turn her back or dare leave the building until the hotel clerk has transferred all the relevant info; room numbers, breakfast instructions and directions to us, via her. Her English is fantastic and she takes a lot of pride in making sure there is zero confusion, zero anxiety and zero ways we could do harm to ourselves or the enjoyment of our Beijing vacation.
I love her already. Beijing is going to be great!
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