We left Irkutsk (and Russia) on Train #6 destination Mongolia
Scenery is now barren scrub. Ancient volcanoes dot the horizon and disgusting belching factories are in the foreground. These towns are marred by a sight we're used to now - refuse. It seems Russians just dump all their rubbish anywhere. Scrap cars seem to be a favourite. We also witnessed beer bottles and other stuff being thrown out of train windows. Presumably in a country this big with so much space there's no need to keep it tidy. Plus, keeping the place clean costs money. The overall impression is that stuff is built and that's it. When it breaks or is not needed, it's just abandoned to rot, rust and decay. Accepting that the side of any railway line can be a bit grotty, it still makes for a depressing picture of Siberia.
The settlements appear more picturesque though - little wooden houses with very steep tin roofs to keep the snow off. Life appears harsh but simple out here.
We shared a cabin with Brendan and Debra. This turned out to be an advantage in two ways. Firstly, it mean we weren't sharing with the Mongolian traders who patronise this train. Hundreds of them regularly travel this route bringing goods from Russia to sell in Mongolia and they spend the whole journey hunting for storage space in which to hide their goods from the customs officers at the border. Packages and boxes are moved up and down the corridors the whole journey. The second advantage only became apparent later when we arrived at the border.
We arrived at the Russian border at 20:15 local time. Our passports were taken and customs officials examined our declaration forms. Unfortunately, we hadn't had these forms stamped when we entered Russia. There was much tutting and shaking of heads by the dudes in uniform. Fortunately, Debra's Zimbabwean passport distracted the customs guy who was much more interested in her luggage than ours. We slipped out unnoticed! In all, it took 3 hours just to get out of Russia. We then trundled towards the Mongolian border which is some 5km further on. It took another 4 hours to get through Mongolian customs and immigration and at 3:15am we set off for Ulan Bator.
We were met at the station by our guide who took us straight to a local hotel to "freshen up". The reason for this became apparent when we got to the Ger camp. There were no working toilets or showers (they were frozen solid as they are every Winter). While this did make for a more authentic experience, we do feel that Russia Experience should have made it clear that this happens and that the only facility is a hole in the ground with a tin shed over it. A Ger is a kind of felt igloo with a permanently burning stove in the centre. We had a local chap who came in at all hours of the day and night to restock the stove.
We went horse riding with the nomads and visited the neighbouring nomads in their Ger. Apparently, hospitality is a big thing and we were welcomed into their home and introduced to the family. There was much exchanging of gifts and drinking of tea (made with mare's milk and salt!!). It was interesting to see that the nomads still follow their old customs - accepting tea with both hands and offering snuff and keeping newly born lambs and calves indoors. The family we visited had chosen to live this way having formerly lived in the city. It looks like an austere way of life. Steve had expected the whole experience to be rather tacky but it turned out to be a very interesting time.
It's difficult to know what to say about Mongolia. The guide book said we would be eating mutton fat and black carrots. What it didn't say is that the people would be much more friendly and cheerful than the Russians and that there would be what Steve regards as "proper scenery" - that's desert and mountains. It's really strange to be surrounded by sandy scrub and dusty desert mountains and yet see frozen lakes and rivers. Did we not mention that the temperature during the day was dropping to -10 deg C - usually when the wind picked up in the afternoon.
According to Megan, a highlight of our time in Ulan Bator was seeing Steve's face when he received his order of black soup; which turned out to be a bowl of oily water with lumps of the aforementioned mutton fat floating in it. For future reference however, the Mongolians don't eat black carrots. Apparently, if something is called "black" it means that it's of good quality Hmm! So why is it called black soup?.
We visited the natural history museum and saw dinosaur eggs found in the Gobi; the Gandantegchinlen Monastery which contains a 27m high copper Buddha and we also saw a performance of Mongolian throat singing which is most impressive.
Mongolia is an impressive country to look at and the people are great but we think it looks even better when you've just spent 4 days gazing at a Siberian scrap yard. It's changing rapidly too. Ulan Bator seems very up to date - everyone seems to have a mobile but there's still heaps of Ger communities even in the city centre. Some Gers are even pitched under road and railway bridges! The Mongolians had a stab at democracy but found it to be too corrupt so have just voted in the communist party. Oil has been discovered and the Yanks are here. They provide all the mining infrastructure etc. in exchange for 90% of the oil. The Mongolians get to keep the other 10%! Tourism is growing and there are many trips you can do such as extended safaris into the Gobi (some on camels). We would like to come back here.
Join us later as we take the train to Beijing...