Trans-Siberian Railway – Part 4, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to Beijing, China
I left Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Sunday (10 September) evening for the Mongolian-Chinese border where I would switch to a sleeping bus for the rest of the journey to Beijing. The train ride was great. We even got served a light dinner and tea; a first for 2nd class. And for the first time my compartment wasn't full. It was just me and a Mongolian girl named Bayarmaa. She was 27 and from Mongolia but going to school in Beijing. She spoke english well enough to have a conversation so we talked for a while.
Around noon the next day (Monday, 11 September) we arrived at the border town, Erleen??, which was remarkably clean with tons of new buildings, streets, sidewalks, etc. Maybe this was in preparation for the Olympics?? I was really surprised as border towns are usually quite unappealling. Here I got my first view of the sleeper bus I would take. From the outside it looked great. The bus didn't leave for a few hours though so me and Bayarmaa ate lunch and wandered around the town. A few hours later we boarded the bus and I found my seat/bed. "Crap!" was my first thought and "Shit!" was my next. The 'beds' are made for someone that is about 5 feet tall. The way they maximize beds and space is that you are sleep on a slight incline from the waist up with someone's feet in a box beneath your head and shoulders. So your feet and lower legs go into a small box. This box, and the narrowness of the bed, keeps you from curling your legs or otherwise sleeping any way other than flat on your back. Of course my feet bottomed out way too soon and I couldn't move back any. So to make a long story short I didn't get much sleep and I would have rather been sitting up in a regular bus for that journey.
We arrived in Beijing (unexpectedly) early Tuesday (12 September) morning. When I say early I mean it was 3:30 am! The bus station was tiny and dark and in the back of a building well off any main streets. There were only a couple taxis there that wanted way too much to take me to my hostel, like easily 4 or 5 times the fair price. Luckily I found 3 other people going to my hostel and we walked out to a main road and caught a regular taxi for a fair price. So I arrived at my hostel (Far East International Youth Hostel) around 5 am and was surprised that we could check in and get some descent sleep.
Around noon the next day (Monday, 11 September) we arrived at the border town, Erleen??, which was remarkably clean with tons of new buildings, streets, sidewalks, etc. Maybe this was in preparation for the Olympics?? I was really surprised as border towns are usually quite unappealling. Here I got my first view of the sleeper bus I would take. From the outside it looked great. The bus didn't leave for a few hours though so me and Bayarmaa ate lunch and wandered around the town. A few hours later we boarded the bus and I found my seat/bed. "Crap!" was my first thought and "Shit!" was my next. The 'beds' are made for someone that is about 5 feet tall. The way they maximize beds and space is that you are sleep on a slight incline from the waist up with someone's feet in a box beneath your head and shoulders. So your feet and lower legs go into a small box. This box, and the narrowness of the bed, keeps you from curling your legs or otherwise sleeping any way other than flat on your back. Of course my feet bottomed out way too soon and I couldn't move back any. So to make a long story short I didn't get much sleep and I would have rather been sitting up in a regular bus for that journey.
We arrived in Beijing (unexpectedly) early Tuesday (12 September) morning. When I say early I mean it was 3:30 am! The bus station was tiny and dark and in the back of a building well off any main streets. There were only a couple taxis there that wanted way too much to take me to my hostel, like easily 4 or 5 times the fair price. Luckily I found 3 other people going to my hostel and we walked out to a main road and caught a regular taxi for a fair price. So I arrived at my hostel (Far East International Youth Hostel) around 5 am and was surprised that we could check in and get some descent sleep.
posted by Dustin at 6:59 PM
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