I groaned as my alarm went off at 5am this morning and realized the enormity of what was in store today. I got up and dressed quickly and trooped down stairs to wait for my passengers and pray the taxi was not late.

The taxis arrived on time and I herded everyone outside and gave everyone a number for their train berth so that we could just get into the train and swap around later if necessary. We drove to Beijing Central Railway Station and went through security. I left the group next to the pay phones and I went off to suss things out. I managed to find out quite easily that our train was leaving from lounge 4. I went back and collected my passengers and got them all into the lounge by 6:40am, record time as the train didn't leave until 8:05am. I told them they could go off and have a look around but to be back by 7:20am as that was when boarding would commence.

I stayed with the bags and not many people wandered off at all. While we were waiting a strange thing happened. Western travelers from everywhere started coming up to me and showing me their tickets and asking for advice and if they were in the right place. I must have looked like I knew what I was doing as I didn't even have my Tucan shirt on and even the tour leader for Intrepid came up and asked if she was in the right place! That kind of made my morning, as I had gone for a tour leading job with Intrepid a year ago and they had knocked me back.

The time came and we boarded the train, we went down onto platform six and found car fourteen, which was the second from the back. I got everyone in and settled and put my own stuff in my cabin, which is a four berth, but which I have all to myself! The train started up and I breathed a sigh of relief that we were going and that I had done it.

I spent the first few hours in the cabin with Thomas, Sarah, Gen and Katie chatting to them about travel stories. Then they came round with meal vouchers which I was not expecting, so at 11am at our allocated time we all trouped off to the dining car. The food wasn't much, but it was free, so no one was complaining. While we were in the dining car I met and American girl named Martha, who is traveling on her own for months. I stayed in there and chatted to her about our various wanderings and then went off to my cabin for an afternoon nap.

At about 2pm we arrived in at Datong station and some of the group got off for some fresh air and I got Catherine to take my picture hanging out the train window.

After that I spent a fair amount of time playing cards with Rachel, Alan and Matt, we played right up until we got to the border station. I hurried off in an attempt to see what was around before the bogeys on the train were changed, so I could advise people on later trips. I didn't get back in time and saw the back few carriages, which my group was in being shunted away. I desperately tried to run after them but the guards stopped me. Great. I thought, I now have a three hour wait on this train platform in the middle of no where in the middle of the night. Little did I know they were only separating out a few carriages and my carriages shunted back with in ten minutes. My group were pleased to see me, having thought I would be gone for the rest of the night.

Apparently the middle four carriages were only going to the Border town, so they had to be removed from the train. I wondered why they don't put them at the back, that would be the sensible thing to do. Oh well, who knows these things.

After that customs came on the train and collected our passports, and then the train was shunted off into a nearby shed for two hours while the bogeys were being changed, as Mongolia has a different rail gauge to China. It was nerve wracking being inside one of the carriages while that was going on. At times it felt like an earthquake was happening and others the carriages moved so suddenly and with out warning that we nearly fell over.

At about midnight we continued on our way through no mans land over to the Mongolian border station for more immigration fun.