Huw's Bit

Beijing train station was a sea of humanity - unreal! Again everything worked and caught the train no dramas. Journey out of Beijing took about an hour then through Xishan Mtns where the scenery will take some beating on this trip as will the engineering to take a railway through them! Once through miles upon miles of farming land. When we go through towns the construction is everywhere, loads of cranes building what looks like apartment blocks - which I don't comply to any building standards we're used to! Christine's bit

Train platform to Ulaan Baatar was teaming with westerners (mainly connected to touring parties) which turned out to be a bit of a bonus as we were able to tap into the knowledge of the tour guide about border crossing protocols.

We slowly wove our way through spectacular mountainous scenery leaving the smog and noise of Beijing behind and settled into a relaxed mood in our comfortable 2 berth cabin, meeting our fellow passengers in the corridor and at the communal hot water urn, and sharing stories. Most of our carriage turned out to be retired Aussies - the dining car ran out of Chinese beer and wine before we got to the border!

As we moved further inland the land flattened out with pockets of villages of mud brick houses in various states of disrepair, fruit trees, corn, donkeys, sheep and goats grazing. 6 pm that evening we saw the sun and some blue sky for the first time since we arrived. I felt my lungs start to recover as I breathed the fresh air as we opened the carriage windows.