The trip on the Trans-Siberian railway

Mongolia: Ulan Bator (Jul 21 – Jul 26)

This section covers our days in Mongolia, starting from crossing the Chinese border at midnight.

Jul 21

The night was just like one would expect it to be when you are crossing the Chinese-Mongolian border at midnight by train, namely quite a hassle. Actually it was a major hassle probably only for us who were staying in the last carriage, from which people were due to the delayed passport control let out so late that the train had already left the actual station and was just about to start changing the bogeys when we finally got out. It was dark, and there was no station or anything, so we thought it would be wisest to follow the Mongolian family that we were sharing our compartment with, since they had clearly been there before. They got a taxi, which was also boarded by us and the Dutch backpacker Simon, who did not have much clue on what was going on either.

Because the distance between the rails of the railway is not the same in China and Mongolia, the bogeys had to be changed, which was an operation of several hours. During this time, we went around this small border town for different kinds of businesses of the Mongolian family. Mostly we didn't and still don't know what they were doing, but we supposed it to be mostly related to exchanging money at the black market and buying goods which was maybe to some extent duty free in this border town. And it was not a surprise that of the food they bought, we were also to eat some. Some nuts they offered were indeed very difficult to break, and the experience as a whole compares to eating crayfish, where the energy lost in the opening process sometimes seems to exceed that actually gained from the eating. However, after this battle it was very easy to fall asleep.

In the morning it was for once possible to sleep late. The beginning of the day was relaxed, until the Mongolian family came up with the idea that we should visit them in Ulan Bator. First we were afraid that they would insist that we stay there for all the time, but then we thought that this was not their intention — luckily. In a way that would no doubt have been a great experience, but on the other hand also quite a demanding one.

Then we found out that to our surprise, you also had to pay for the tea you had had in the train — and a long time afterwards, when we had already used all our Chinese currency. Probably US dollars would have been ok, but getting the change for a 10 dollar note in yuan did not look too attractive an option, since we were no more in China. Although we had exchanged some Mongolian currency, tögrög, already in Beijing with a roommate who had come from here, it was not yet a valid currency. This could have been another minor problem, had the Mongolian family not taken care of it and paid everyone's tea before we had realized that something is happening.

When we got to Ulan Bator, we took a taxi with the father of the family to the hostel named UB Guesthouse, which was recommended by some people in Beijing. The dormitories were actually more like apartments with their kitchens and bathrooms, so it was quite cozy there. And the staff was very friendly: the guesthouse was run by a Korean guy called Mr. Kim, and his wife first gave us a map and showed all the important places.

Jul 22

We started the day with a visit to the Ganden monastery. On the way we had some strange beefsteak-likes in a place that was at least not too touristy. The monastery itself was not too special compared to those in China, but we did find some postcards and one gigantic buddha statue there. Then we came back to the guesthouse and asked "Mr. Kim's wife" (as she was mostly called there) if she could call the family we met in the train, since she spoke both English and Mongolian. We had had the impression that the family wanted us to contact them again at the time we had settled. So Mr. Kim's wife agreed with them that they would pick us up at the hostel at six in the evening.

Then we turned buying a gift to the family into a major problem. We ended up getting them some sparkling wine, chocolate and a children's atlas in Russian for the daughter, after we had made sure that there was a couple of sentences about Finland there as well.

In the evening, the family actually came to pick us up with their Skoda. However, it turned out that after visiting Oyuna's (the mother's) new beauty salon which was still under construction, we actually went to a restaurant to eat some BBQ food. And of course they did not let us pay. After eating, we took the car to the nearby Zaisan memorial, which had quite a nice view of the whole city. Then they took us back to the hostel, where we had a chance to give our modest presents. However, we did not give the sparkling wine since we thought that we might later go into their home and it could have been more appropriate then.

Jul 23

In the evening we had agreed that today the family would take us to the national park of Terelj. Before this, we were rushing around the town to find some food to take with us, although we figured out that they would probably have enough food for us as well. However, before going anywhere, we sat in the car for a couple of hours when Byamba, the father of the family, was driving all over the town to buy different kinds of things. Then we went to the beauty salon to eat some mutton dumplings, or buuz. Finally in the afternoon we — Byamba, Oyuna, Inkuuzh and an about 10-year old boy whose name we have forgotten but who was Inkuuzh's cousin — left for the park with the car, listening to Russian children's songs.

The style of driving was such that first he was driving 120 km/h or more on a bumpy dirt road, and (probably because of this) he every now and then had to have a more or less brief look under the hood. We thought that with little less speed any distance would actually be faster to drive, since one would not have to stop so often to do something for the engine. However, it might of course be that this was not the normal style but just something to impress foreigners with.

The park itself was nice and the mountainous sceneries were impressive. In this heat, it was relieving to wade in a river. The kids also seemed to like that, and eventually soaked each other completely. The flora was not strange to us: birches and Anthriscus sylvestrises (koiranputki in Finnish, maybe wild chervil or cow parsley in English). Juha rode a horse for the first time in his life.

On the way back we went climbing on a rock that looked like a turtle, the symbol for eternity for the Mongolians. A little further there was another stop at another rock, where Päivi got to rub onto her eyes the water that was dripping from the rock, and which was supposed to be very good for one's eyes. (Juha missed this one, since he was at the time climbing farther on the same rock.) Then it was time for a picnic, and we got some local sausage, very fatty ham and pickled cucumber with toast. Luckily we also had some food to share. Before going back to Ulan Bator we visited a yurt (ger in Mongolian) to get a container of fermented mare's milk, which we also had the pleasure to taste. The yurt itself was cozy, and had dozens of horses eating next to it. Byamba also emptied a two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola and filled it with that milk just to give it to us. Finally we ended up agreeing on a trip next day to Manzshir Khiid, which was also recommended by some guidebooks.

Jul 24

We were supposed to leave for Manzshir Khiid at two p.m., so in the morning we had the time to visit a couple of markets. At the first one, which required some walking which had been exceptional after we had left Beijing, one was according to the Trans-Siberian Handbook we had supposed to be able to buy anything from a camel to a cowbell, but we would rather phrase it as everything from fake clothes to fake sun glasses. The other market was supposed to have food at a wholesale price, and it did, so we got some for the afternoon's trip.

However, this trip never took place. We waited outside the hostel for two hours, but nobody came. We would have liked to call to confirm if there was some problem, but we could not find Mr. Kim's helpful wife, and talking in Russian in the phone about anything this complicated was clearly a bad idea. We still don't know if they had a problem with coming (if so, we supposed they could have called the guesthouse whose phone number they had) or if it was just usual Mongolian punctuality and they would eventually have come, or if they did not want to go with us but could not actually tell us that. Probably we will never find out, since after four p.m. we finally left to go somewhere to eat.

Jul 25

Today we were supposed to go to the aforementioned Manzshir Khiid on our own, so the alarm was set to wake us up early. However, we still did not get there, as Päivi had gotten sick during the night. Therefore we took it easy for the whole day, and the only place we visited was the Intellectual Museum, which was quite an impressive place: it had lots of mostly three-dimensional puzzles, fabulous handmade chess sets, and toys as well. For one thousand tögrög (one dollar) per person, we got personal guidance for one hour.

Missing Manzshir Khiid was probably not a great loss, since the Lonely Planet that we had found in the small library of the guesthouse seemed to recommend it for its nature, which was supposed to consist of pines and birches, which in turn are not too special if you have lived all your life in Finland.

Jul 26

The morning was spent packing, and before midday we had to check out of the guesthouse, so we went straight to the railway station since the train was supposed to leave at 13:50. We were accompanied in the compartment neither with locals nor with backpackers, but got the whole cabin just for ourselves. In the train it was unbearably hot, and for some reason the ventilation was not working even nearly as well as in the train from Beijing to UB. At the Mongolian border town Sukhbaatar, there was once again quite a hassle: some trader stuffed some bag full of something under the empty bed in our compartment, and then some lady came to sit over it. It seems that the traders have a little bit more stuff with them than what is allowed...