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2 September: Ulanbataar

We were up before 07h00, wanting to be at the bus station at 08h00 to buy a ticket to the Mongolian boarder. We showered, packed and headed out for breakfast, we stopped at a restaurant next to the one of the previous morning. That which others had ordered didn't appeal to us much, so we settled for what we knew to be good, dumplings. We asked for the milk tea, which was customarily free and ordered two dumplings each, they were in fact very good. However when the bill came we were somewhat disappointed, they had charged us more than usual for the dumplings and also for the tea, we ended up paying double the usual, but left it not wanting to start a fight.

We collected our bags and found a taxi to take us to the bus station, we asked him what the price was to which he mumbled something. Knowing that that was a sure sign of disaster I showed him a 5Y note, to which he showed us 5Y each. Almost simultaneously both of us opened the doors while driving, he reacted quickly telling us that it was 5Y for the both of us and we continued to the bus station, not 3 km away. At the station we were informed that the next bus was only at 13h30 and it was more expensive than we had expected. The people were also not very friendly and the taxi's wanted us to pay 100Y to take us to the boarder!

In the end we found one for 40Y, taking us only 5 minutes to the boarder and he couldn't even take us further! We argued outside as I gave him only 20Y for the short drive, it the end I upped it to 30Y, but that was it, satisfied he got in his car and drove off. We, on the other hand were stuck, the guard wouldn't let us pass on foot, walking to the immigration building, we had to go by car. One of the passers by heard about the story and drove us the 200m to the building, at least for free. Arriving at passport control we once more met a solid wall, a guard had asked us to wait after which a woman, with poor English, explained that without a vehicle we couldn't cross the border.

I left my bags inside and walked to look for transport outside, while Leanne continued to talk to the woman. I had no luck outside, the guards were unfriendly wanting to chase me away, but at least one told me that the rate was about 50Y per person to cross into Mongolia. Returning unsuccessfully inside, Leanne informed me that she had been able to find someone who was crossing over and we could go with them. The price was 50Y each, but instead of 4 people in the car we were 3 large men in the front, bags piled up next to me, then me with Leanne and a bag sharing my lap, with two other men sitting next to us, one on the others lap. Also the men weren't Chinese, they were Mongolian and large men at that. All in all 7 people in the Russian jeep and together we paid him 300Y for a 10 minute drive!

Anyway, we passed through the immigration quite quickly and within 20 minutes were in Mongolia at the train station. The boarder Town, Zamyn Uud, was a deserted little dusty town although they did have some pool tables as a communal get together located on the train station plain. We walked on through the plain to the station building where we were able to buy tickets for Ulaanbaatar leaving the evening at 18h00. All the excitement behind us we were able to allow our heart rates to decrease noticeably. We had our tickets in hand and there was a very nice area to sit and wait for the train. Relaxing a bit, both of us focused our attention on out of date journals, some time later the man Leanne had found to help us came past to check on us. He also mentioned that his mother worked in the office opposite us, later we concluded he mixed up the word mother with wife. He took me to a cafeteria and showed me what food to buy after which he left.

Later we asked one of the woman where we could find a toilet, she took Leanne down to the first floor toilet where a woman sat and collected money. She said something to her and from there on we were allowed to go to the toilet free of charge for the whole day. Just after 13h00 we noticed that they were starting to pack up for lunch, we asked whether we could leave our bags in the office if they locked it and they agreed. We decided to try the noodles and beef in the cafeteria, it wasn't bad, but it tasted different to other meals with similar ingredients. After this we went for a walk through the town, the streets were deserted except for young girls with school uniforms that looked more like French maid outfits. The streets were sandy with some buildings of wood, other cement and still others Gers.

About 2km from the station we came to a complex which was a restaurant on one level, night club on another and supermarket in the basement. There we browsed through the shop more to get a hold of how the prices compared to China, but also buying noodles again for the train trip as well as a slab of dark chocolate, which was quite affordable and very good :-)

When we arrived back at the station and sat down, the woman from the office brought both of us an ice tea, we were really feeling a lot better now and excited at what lay ahead. At least we had bought a slab and were able to offer her and a fellow colleague some of it. She returned later with some sweets also, as if the sudden influx of sugar hadn't been enough, wow. It had turned out to be a really nice and relaxing day, we boarded the train at 17h30. Unfortunately we were the second last carriage and the walk was almost 700m to the end of the train with all our bags. The train had bunk beds, one at the bottom and one on top, opposite that were two more and in the isle was two others. We shared the four beds with a man and what appeared to be his son, although they didn't speak much.

A while after departing a woman came past with a bag containing linen and a small towel. We took one but in the end when she came past and asked for money we handed it back, a little surprised seeing as in China we had gotten it for free. Then another woman came past with sashes of coffee, while we were still wondering whether or not to buy it, the man opposite us bought it for us. The people really were very generous. 20 minutes later we were handed plastic mugs with water, with which we could make our coffee. We chatted for some time looking at the grass plains as they passed, before making our dinner of noodles, strangely we had to pay for the hot water, then again it wasn't much! We spent some time trying to read, but by 21h00 the lights were too poor and we joined most of the others heading for our dreams.