Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt

Tuesday 1st of August

08.16 Өглөөний мэнд, good morning! A new day and a new month are here. Our night sleep here at Voyage Hotel (http://www.voyagehotel.mn) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia was welcome and completely trouble free. Now we are ready for an exciting day here in the capital. Hopefully there will be more new things today than just a new month.

09.07 Yet another e-mail (now to a different address) with a request regarding our train tickets to Beijing is now sent. It is a pity that we have to waste time on the ticket hunt when we thought that everything would be arranged and fixed before arrival.

09.52 The breakfast offer here at the hotel was, well what I should write, thin, verging on non-existent. We got some coffee, a few slices of bread, some cold cuts and cold rice. Most likely it is one of the worst breakfasts this year. An already bad supply situation worsened further by the previous guests had eaten much of the best.

10.45 Time for some good news! Christer has received a response to his email from this morning. They are so sorry for the complications. The tickets will reportedly come with a courier to the hotel at 17.00 today. The sender is Ms Teke, the same woman Christer had contact with from home in Sweden when everything was booked and paid for. Good that it was not from "Miss Take".

10.50 We left Voyage Hotel for a more structured way to see Mongolia's capital city. Yesterday it was just a random wandering to find money and food.

11.15 We sit by a table at Tom n Toms Coffee (http://en.tomntoms.com with a buzz plate each. We have ordered coffee here at this Korean coffee chain. Christer was asked if he wanted cold or hot coffee. We are adjacent to the shopping mall Grand Plaza.

We leave the hotel for a day out in the capital.

Street names in Ulaanbaatar.

Christer is waiting for his order at Tom N Toms Coffee.

Peter is in a good mood after receiving a dose of coffee.

State Department Store, Ulaanbaatar.

Inside Улсын Их Дэлгүүр (State Department Store).

12.14 The coffee thirst is for the moment muted. Now, we are at a multilingual street sign. It contains information about names for three different streets in two different languages.

12.31 Today we have found better streets to walk on. Together with locals and foreign visitors from various countries, we walked along the street Энх Тайваны Өргөн Чөлөө (Peace Avenue).

13.05 We have made a visit in the shopping mall Улсын Их Дэлгүүр (State Department Store). A lot of different things are sold here. They have a large supermarket and different floors devoted to different types of goods. We have been on the top floor, looking for souvenirs and postcards. To find the postcard has become increasingly difficult through the years. There is probably no market for them anymore. I have been searching for the small glass I collect from each country, but not found any possibility to buy only one, just a larger package with more.

13.30 The city trek continues and we slowly learn how to best navigate in this capital city. We have finally also got hold on postcards in a small souvenir shop.

13.54 The sun shines on us and on the Sukhbaatar Square. Here are, among other things, the country's parliament, a statue of a seated Djingis (Genghis) Khan and one of a riding Sukhbaatar. Damdiny Süchbaatar, also known as also Suche-Bator and Sukhbaatar, was a Mongol military and national hero who led the Mongolian revolution in 1921. He was actually called Süch, the "axe" in Mongolian, but was later honoured with the add baatar, which means "hero". He is sometimes called "Lenin of Mongolia". Süchbaatar led the successful Mongol army against the Chinese invasion in 1919. Süchbaatar (Sukhbaatar) has given its name to a town in the north of Mongolia and a province in the eastern part of the country. The embalmed body of Sukhbaatars is claimed to rest in the small mausoleum in front of the government building here in the city.

14.59 After some wandering, winding, wondering and certainly more things that begin with w, we finally decided about lunch. It was a return to the KuDamm.

15.50 We were served a good piece of pig. Yet another day in the Mongolian capital begins to come to an end. It is time to go back to the home.

The parliament of Mongolia.

Djingis Khan (Chinggis Khan) sits in front of the parliament building.

Christer in front of the statue of Sukhbaatar.

Peter takes notes in the heart of the capital.

The Beatles Sculpture wants to remind people of the 1970´s when young people gathered here to listen to western music.

Christer is searching a lunch restaurant.

16.24 On the way home we went into a small "supermarket" near the hotel to buy something to drink, beer and juice. Behind the counter sat a young man and tapping on his mobile. He had no interest to assist us. Then I said what we wanted, he looked at us, shook his head and continued to tap on the cell phone. We left without any purchase. Here at home in the hotel, we have finally got our train tickets. The courier has done its job.

19.54 It seems that the summer Olympics in 2024, will be held in Paris and the one of 2028 will be in Los Angeles. They were the only candidates for the 2024 Olympic Games so they'll probably get a game each. It feels a bit strange to assign an Olympic event before even candidating about it. Sadly it is so expensive to arrange the Olympics now days. There are fewer and fewer applicants.

20.17 It is illegal to sell alcohol in Mongolia on the first day of each month. It can be an explanation why there was no beer purchase in the small shop. There will be no beer in the hotel restaurant either. So why did they serve us beer at lunch earlier today? Are there German laws at the KuDamm?

21.58 I do not think it was equally culinary this evening. We tried the Mongolian restaurant for the second evening in a row. I am starting to get tired of food that someone else cooked? Am I picky? Or is it something else?

23.15 The day and the evening will be rounded off with a cup of coffee each here in the room. We shall also learn about the train that will take us to Beijing the day after tomorrow.

Not a "supermarket" we can recommend.

We finally received our train tickets!

Wednesday 2nd of August

08.38 The last late morning, in Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator) is here. Within a day we are already on board the train to Beijing and China. Today we'll see more of this city. We should mainly avoid to have missed something important before we leave the city and the country.

09.31 Today's өглөөний хоол (breakfast) was better. Today there were more to choose from. In the breakfast room were a small group and they spoke Finnish. It feels like a while since we were in Finland, almost exactly a month ago. Now the day is planned and prepared.

10.57 It is time to put us in motion. We have a lot to do today as well.

11.09 We take a new path today to get a little variety in our strolling. Along the car filled main road Narnii Road we'll make it to the centre in another way.

11.48 The walk towards our first stop has given us different knowledges. We met, just passed a Jewish family who spoke Hebrew. The petrol stations offer 80, 92, 95 and 98 octane petrol, diesel fuel and something that starts with an e, ethanol?. A litre of diesel costs 1720 tögrög/tugriks. It is under US$ 0,80. Now we take a bench break along the Olympic street and looking at where and when we drink coffee.

12.00 We decided to have our coffee at the nice Swiss Coffee. Here it is peaceful, relaxing, low tables and leather armchairs. Christer describe it as palatial, and I agree. This is a really nice oasis.

12.15 We have received heartbreaking, catastrophic and revolutionary news. The coffee machine here is broken. Instead, it will be juices, orange for me and kiwi for the Christer. We assume that in the case of the kiwi it is the fruit and not the bird which the juice is made from. The juice machine sounds like a dental drill.

Peter heads out on a second sightseeing day in Ulaanbaatar.

Narnii Road, Ulaanbaatar.

Үндэсний соёл амралтын хүрээлэн (National Amusement Park) behind the fences.

12.56 At the payment of our expensive juices, we were informed that it now was possible to get coffee. We thanked and politely said no.

13.17 We have been at the central post office and left our postcards, the postage cost per postcard was around 1100 tögrög/tugriks thus, about US$ 0,50. On the way out from the post office we saw a girl who mistook a newly washed glass wall for an opening out in the free air. She went on with full force straight into the glass wall. She took it all pretty easy and laughed about it along with her male companion. Now we have control of how much money we have/need for the remaining activities for the rest of the day.

14.09 Our beers just landed on the table. We are at Zochin Mongol Zoog, a newly opened restaurant. There will be a Mongolian lunch today. Before the orders the waitress threw four different pieces of animal bones on the table and predicted thus Christer's future. The judgment reads as follows, "Working hard without success".

15.14 It was a good lunch, which was crowned with some coffee. This is a popular place and quite difficult to get a seat. Now we are going to resolve the other expenses and missions. We are now on a bench which is placed on the square with a Beatles monument. Apparently, this was the gathering place for young people in the 1970´s to secretly listen to music smuggled in from Western Europe, something that was not entirely easy to get a hold of during the communist time. The Beatles sculpture is a nostalgic reminder of that era.

15.32 We are back again at the State Department Store. Christer is away to buy some food for the Chinese train journey tomorrow and I guarding some pigs. No, I'm kidding, it's the backpacks that are guarded.

Peter is drinking juice inside the nice Swiss Coffee.

Zochin Mongol Zoog is the name of today´s lunch restaurant.

Before we received the food we were shown how to tell our future from animal bone pieces.

Mongolian lunch at Zochin Mongol Zoog.

15.49 A small reflection of something that struck me during our time in Mongolia. I have seen several adults carrying small children. There is a shortage of strollers? Are they too expensive? Not up to date? Enough with reflections. Christer just returned from the store.

16.14 Now me too have made the purchase for the future. Is it enough? That remains to be seen. The store had a focus on groceries from South Korea. Now it is time to return to the hotel, partly because that the day will soon be over and partly because we have heavy bags to carry.

17.04 It is nice to be home again. Ahead awaits calm, peace and harmony for a few hours.

19.22 Yesterday and also tonight, a horrible smell has reached us here in the hotel room. It comes from outside, there seems to be something that affects the entire city. It has a chemical penetrating aroma. It is difficult to know exactly where it comes from.

20.36 We are once again on the ground floor. This evening, we are in the Korean restaurant here in the hotel. Of course you have to vary a little.

21.31 Korean food was good. My dish was pepper strong to say the least. It was much better tonight than when we tried Korean food in Malaysian Borneo in 2006. We paid for the dinner and also the two previous dinners at the reception. We have eaten and drunk during three evenings for under US$19 each.

21.44 When you travel you should try new things and flavours. Right now, I am trying Tsagaan doctor. It is a Mongolian camel's milk. It is fat, it is sour and it is drinkable.

23.04 Now we are ready for tomorrow. We are preparing for the trip and our longest train journey ever. First, we need to sleep.

This evening we tried the Korean restaurant.

Tsagaan doktor, Mongolian camel milk.

Thursday 3rd of August

06.13 Today would have been the day that my maternal grandmother would have been 100 years old. Congratulations granny! For my own part, I, Christer and surely many other people will ride the train to Beijing today. It is still early morning here in the Mongolian capital.

06.58 Christer tapped the front desk bell and a young lady came in from the outside. We got to check out. Now we are at the railway station, on the platform, and Christer has seen the Dutch compartment neighbours from the train we came with. Soon we'll go on board.

07.06 Carriage 7 and the compartment 2, it is our next home. We will be travelling in the dark green Chinese train. Here in our private compartment, we have a bunk bed, a private bathroom with toilet and shower, a wall-mounted table and an armchair. As we've mentioned earlier, we travel in first class to and from Mongolia.

07.34 The long journey to China has begun. On the platform we have, among other things, seen the Dutch couple again, a man with a Kånken backpack and a couple, she blonde and he dark. We talked about the hair colour combo we had seen before. It is, oddly enough, not often you see a brunette with a blonde guy. Shortly after the start, we also got our bedding.

07.57 During the journey through the suburbs of Ulaanbaatar, we saw that some Mongols live in houses, others in the traditional tents (yurts) which also serve as housing.

09.51 The sun shines over the green, hilly steppe landscape. I have, snoozed, and perhaps even rested a little.

11.00 Sometimes it is good to do something different, something new that has not been done before. I took the thermos we have in the compartment and filled it with hot water from the faucet outside in the corridor. In an empty Coca Cola bottle of a PET model I put some instant coffee powder. I poured the warm water over the powder and voilá, morning coffee in a bottle!

The Chinese train is waiting for us.

A last note before the long train trip starts.

Goodbye Ulaanbaatar, will we meet again?

Some people live in houses, others in tents.

11.45 The train has stopped at the station in Choyr. Out on the platform are passengers and the people with shopping carts with food, snacks and beverages for sale. We will, as soon as the train is back in motion, leave our secure compartment for a while.

12.05 Choyr has been left and we are, after a long walk, in the well-visited restaurant car for lunch. They are running out of space here and we just got a plate with salad each.

12.55 Lunch continued with the soup and then meat and vegetables. At payment the waiter wanted an amount that makes us wonder if the price had suddenly been doubled. We never asked about the price for lunch because we were expecting a menu. Instead the dishes were brought to us and it all ended with a high price that exceeded the total Mongolian cash we had left. Christer solved it all by paying with Euros and got Chinese currency in exchange.

13.53 We are, a bit annoyed at the greedy waiter and the price, back in the compartment again. It is becoming increasingly drier around us. We are on the way into the Gobi desert. Here there are no big dunes, but mostly dry light brown soil with some grass vegetation.

15.01 I have been off to the restaurant wagon and had bought Coca Cola and Snickers. Sometimes it is good with something sweet, something extra. Once again the waiter acted odd. He made attempts to give back less money than expected.

16.09 We have stopped in and left Saynshand, the largest city in the south of Mongolia. We continue towards the Chinese border.

17.28 We have seen camels in the dry landscape. Are they tamed or wild? Anyway, they are in all cases camels.

Green beautiful landscape south of Ulaanbaatar.

A long trip requires lots of juice.

Vendors arrive when the train makes a stop.

18.24 Now we have filled in a customs document. We are approaching yet another border.

19.08 We're standing completely still at the Mongolian border post Zamiin Uud. Our passports have just been fetched. Now we will just sit back and wait.

19.19 A Chinese man from the train staff came to us and sat down next to Christer. He wondered if we were going to Beijing, something that we confirmed. Then he wondered where we were from and we told him about our origin. He looked at our books and wondered if they were in Chinese. This was, of course, denied. He concluded by wondering if we knew some Chinese and said, "Beijing Koya". Next came another man and took the customs documents.

20.34 The train is set in motion again. We are closer than ever to China.

20.54 Customs entry documents for China are completed. The train slowed down. We have come to the Chinese border city known as both Erenhot and Erlian.

CHINA

21.04 A gentleman has looked into the compartment and locked our bathroom door. A customs officer or something else has examined my small backpack. The female passport police asked him to quit so that she could check that I matched the photo in the passport. She asked me to remove, what, you may wonder? Well the glasses.

22.14 Now, we roll again, in the opposite direction to before. Are we going back to Mongolia or to the roundhouse in order to correct the wheel width? It is not the same track width in the two neighbouring countries.

22.20 OK, time to change direction again. Will it be wheel adjustment now?

22.25 We are now inside a large building. Because different the countries have different track widths, they must, as mentioned earlier, adjust it.

Christer is having lunch in the restaurant car.

We have stopped in Saynshand.

The landscape is more and more dry. We are in the Gobi desert.

22.38 We went out and then in again. I don't know if it is the same engine shed, garage, building. Here are a couple of, orange coloured up lifting devices.

22.57 We have been lifted up. Metallic bangs can be heard echoing through the building. On an adjacent track are more wagons. Are they also from our train set or? The train will probably need to be split up into several smaller parts. There are few buildings that are as long as an entire train.

23.04 The train set has been brought down and we have also got our passports back. Can someone please unlock the bathroom door and we will be ready for a night's rest.

23.13 What is this, the toilet door is, despite the fact that the toilet door is showing red and we heard the lock, open. Was the locking man careless? Oh well, we still cannot use it as long as we are left indoors.

23.37 Our section of wagons has left the building. After that we have gone back. Shall we be connected with the rest of the wagons again?

23.52 The building is left again. We are finally on the track now, or will something else take place?

Our train is getting prepared to the Chinese railway´s track width.

VIDEOS

You can see 41 photos from August 1 in this photoalbum.
You can see 19 photos from August 2 in this photoalbum.
You can see 25 photos from August 3 in this photoalbum.

CONTINUE

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