Irkutsk to Ulan-Bator – 31 hour train ride and not bad!

In the beginning this train trip was looking like another fine mess I’d gotten myself into.  None of the schedule boards had anything in English.  In fact they didn’t have anything even in an alphabet other than Russian.  Which made it impossible for me to figure out which train was mine, which track I should be looking for, how I should even get out of the station.

After a half dozen attempts to find someone in authority that spoke even a little English I finally found a woman who spoke enough to tell me which train was mine and that it was on the first track.  What she neglected to tell me was how to get to track one.  There was a sign and a door leading to a tunnel to reach every track accept track one.  And there was only one door out to the first platform and it was locked with a Russian policeman blocking  it.

I waited for him to be distracted and slipped behind him unlocked the door and slipped out.  I thought I was home free until he came storming out and nearly tackled me.  Again, he didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak commie bastard so we were at an impasse.  Since he was carrying a gun and I wasn’t I relented and went back inside the station.

I spent the next 15 minutes asking everyone I could how the hell you got to track one but no one understood a damn thing I was saying.  Finally I asked a young policeman and he understood enough to pantomime that I had to go back out the front door of the station and walk around the station and a fence to get to track one.  So what is the fricking point of having a station in the first place if all you have to do is find a hole in the fence to catch your train?

So I finally boarded my train with a couple of minutes to spare and found I had only one cabin mate and he was neither a goat herder nor drunk.  In fact he turned out to be a young Polish business consultant on his way to Ulan Bator and then Tibet on holiday. And best of all he spoke perfect English.

We stowed our bags, settled in and got to know one another.  Within minutes the train was paralleling the Ankara River bank on our way to Lake Baikal.  Fortunately we had a big beautiful three quarter moon so we could see across the river and then later Lake Baikal by moonlight and the lights of villages on the opposite shore.  We sat and talked with the lights out and enjoyed the view until time for bed.  So far so good!  The window even opened so unlike the three day train to Irkutsk we could get cool fresh air.

Woke up the next morning feeling pretty good about this train trip.  I had purchased a banana, some peaches, tangerines, and an apple at the market so I had fruit and hot tea for breakfast.  I spent pretty much the entire day either talking to Jacob, working on a crossword puzzle book Jackie Barksdale had given me for my birthday and reading the latest Brad Thor novel.  Around lunch time I learned their was no dining car on this train and we were on our own.  So from 6pm Wed. until 8pm Thursday all I had to eat was fruit and a Snicker Bar.

Things went pretty smooth on the train until we got to the border then Russian Red Tape and Mongolian indifference to schedules brought us to a standstill.  We spent the next eight hours sitting first at the border on the Russia side and then on the Mongolian side with the bathrooms locked, the train car baking because we weren’t moving to stir the air, unable to charge our electronics because they shut the power off when the train is sitting still, and unable to leave the train car without being shot.  Instead I entertained myself watching everyone’s physical tricks to hold off the urge to visit the bathroom.  Some stood with their legs tightly crossed others hopped from foot to foot for eight hours and still some women used their hands to hold things in.  Pretty amusing in a twisted kind of way.

When we were finally released by the Mongolian border patrol we were given one hour to get off the train to find a bathroom, find a cafe, and cure our cabin fever.  Unbelievably the train station did not have any services so Jacob and I had to run three blocks to find a hole in the wall cafe to grab a quick meal.  The menu was pretty short (one item) so I chose grilled mutton with onions, mushrooms and some unrecognizable but tasty vegetable and cold sticky rice.  The mutton was sliced into wafer thin slivers of one Inch by a half an inch and was either really good or I was so starved my shoe would have been just as tasty.  We made it back to the train with a few minutes to spare only to find out we would be stock there for another hour and unable to reboard the train.

One interesting side note about Mongolia is that its money is pretty much worthless.  I checked my currency converter before hitting the ATM and was surprised to learn that 1000 U.S. dollars converts to over 2 million Mongolian Togrogs.  So you walk around with a stack of 20,000 Trolog bills and feel like a millionaire until you find out your mutton dinner and a beer cost nearly 20,000 Trologs.

Another interesting thing about Mongolia is that its culture is steeped in tradition.  I will get into several amusing quirks about Mongolian traditions and culture in a later blog but my first experience occurred upon paying for our check for dinner.  Because we were short on time I asked for the check when we ordered and paid the bill.  As we were finishing dinner a young man in a military uniform came up to the table grinning from ear to ear bobbing his head up and down and bouncing on his feet.  He introduced himself by name and informed me he was pat of the border patrol and that he was a first lst lieutenant.  Not sure how to respond I simply said “your mother must be very proud”.  at which he beamed and bounced even higher.  Then he explained that the cafe lady made a mistake on my bill and I owed a couple of extra trologs.

The problem was that Mongolian customs of hospitality are very strict and the poor lady didn’t know how to ask me for the difference without offending me as a guest and asked the young border patrol officer for help.  The young man was equally uncomfortable asking me which accounted for all the initial small talk before he got to the point.

It seems that in Mongolia any guest that comes to your door must be offered food and comfort.  If the family doesn’t have the food to entertain the guest then neighbors must pitch in and supply the ingredients for the meal.  The traveler is always served first and given the choices cuts of meat.  Custom even dictates how the bowls for food and drink are presented to the traveler and how he must receive them in return.  I will provide additional information on these and other

Damn Glad to be in Mongolia

Me Glad to finally be in Mongolia – Jacob in the background

Two Hundred and twenty thousand Togrogs worth a couple hundred U.S.

My first Mongolian Meal – Grilled Mutton and rice

Tired of sitting on the Russian side of the border

quirky customs in a later blog

Once back on the train a couple of more crossword puzzles and then to bed.  We pulled into Ulan- Bator at 5:45 in the morning.  Said my good byes to Jacob and caught a taxi to the Springs Hotel, called and talked to my normal travel buddy Ryan for 30 minutes and was back asleep before 7am.  After a short nap, shower and a shave I hit the streets site seeing.  In my next blog I will share my experiences at the Buddhist Temple complex next to my hotel and then my trip out to the Genghis Kahn Monument, Turtle Mountain, and the Prince Buddhist Monastery.

Photos of the train trip attached.

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