The final leg of the Trans - Siberian

Sunrise over the national park

The last leg of the Trans – Siberian turned out to be the best, and not just because it was the end of 8000 km on a train!  We met two friendly Mongolians, a man named Enkhochir and a women called Ariuna who had embarked on a series of dubious sounding relationships around the world with ‘friends’, but who spoke very good English and translated for us.  Disappointed to have discovered I had lost my Mongolian money to add to my collection the pair kindly gave us some small bank notes and were happy to tell us a little more about Mongolia.  Enkhochir eagerly shared his homemade meat filled dumplings (‘it is not a meal without meat!’) and with Ariuna translating he told us he was excited as it is the Mongolian year of the monkey.  He explained that this normally meant it would be a very cold winter.  Initially confused as to why anyone would want it colder than -30 Ariuna explained that the herdsman on the plains slaughtered their animals rather than risk them freezing to death and so the price of meat across the nation was very low! 

As we left Ulaanbaatar behind the sun rose over the snow covered peaks of the national park and the new high rise buildings were soon replaced by villages of yurts with smoke rising from their chimneys.  The train could not have been further removed from our previous experience of Chinese trains and was the most modern and comfortable leg of our journey with limited spitting and a cleaner coal burner.  The mountains soon disappeared to be replaced by a relentless plain that was only broken by the occasional modern mine that contrasted wonderfully with the traditional yurts of the workers that surrounded it.  The only other buildings we saw were small domestic train stations although quite who they were serving was a mystery to us and probably the one attendant that dutifully stood outside each one waving as our train passed them by. 

The time passed quickly as Hannah sat poised at the window all day like David Attenbourgh, hoping to photograph some of the amazing wildlife we passed on the train.  Groups of the incredible vultures we had previously seen lined the tracks, feeding on the frozen solid remains of one of the hundreds of Gazelle.  In the afternoon the scenery changed from the flat snow covered plains into the Gobi Desert and the ground was now a scene of frozen muddy sand with just the occasional Yurt to be seen.  We saw a pack of wolves stalking one of the herds and groups of semi-wild camels seemed to appear like a mirage in the barren desert.  The journey was punctuated by ‘oh shit, I missed it again’ from the young Attenbourgh but after hundreds of deleted photos and a little editing we had managed to photograph most of the wildlife we saw.  As sunset fell we arrived at the border for what proved to be a four hour ordeal as the entire train had to be lifted up and the wheels replaced on each carriage to fit the Chinese rails.  After being thrown around until 2 am by this ordeal (why not just swap trains??) we eventually set off into China.

Waking up I thought we had entered the set of World War Z as huge abandoned factories and tower blocks with smashed windows and crumbling concrete walls flanked either side of the train.  As it turned out it was a standard Chinese city!  Thankfully we soon left and enjoyed a spectacular three hours of Chinese countryside as we hugged a cliff face and travelled through beautiful red rock mountains and past huge frozen lakes.  Unfortunately this was not to last long as we soon entered the suburbs of Beijing which, on first appearance looked like a foretelling of the apocalypse.  Giant smoking chimneys pumped plumes of black smoke into the sky.  Surrounding these were row upon row of depressing high rise buildings that stretched in all directions as far as the eye could see.  The rate of expansion in the city is incredible and has to be seen to be believed.  Cranes dominated the murky blue skyline constructing more and more blocks of flats, shopping centres and offices as we travelled into the central station.  Leaving the station behind we were hit with crowds of shouting people pushing and shoving whilst armed guards raised on plinths oversaw the chaos below them.  The magnificent Chinese symbols flashed from every shop sign and left us disorientated and bemused as we scanned the chaos for something that resembled an underground.  Eventually we managed to find the subway and buying a travel card we headed off into the city, trying to avoid the balls of phlegm flying in all directions!