From Ulan Baator to Beijing...

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We are heading south...to Beijing...and enjoying our last few hours in Ulan Baator. Back to the city...the people at Tuul River Lodge booked us in a guest house bang in the middle of the city. For info, it is called Zaya's, and I could only recommend those guys. Only proper western style hotels here are the Kempinski and the ramada...and they are not the best! Guesthouse...looking like a youth hostel...but we had a full flat for ourselves just one floor below...and for 50usd, that's a true bargain!



We went to explore the city before it was getting dark. We had crossed it by car....new buildings everywhere mixing with Soviet style and soviet style housing...nothing really exciting.



As the guest house is right in the middle of the city, it's easy to visit the main square, as well as the Gandan Monastery just before sunset...all this walking around! You dream to live in the city...don't...didn't take us a long time to know...this is not where you want to live....or retire...



Ulan Baator has a reputation to be slightly unsecured at night. Well, this is no Sao Paolo or Manila at night...by the end of the day, it's pretty easy to be less secured than...let say Beijing. We had an early dinner of average food...but still pretty cheap...next morning, it was up a 6am....for more adventures...



Morning train for Ulan Baator to Beijing...around 30 hours riding in a Chinese car. Welcome to China...the car was pretty new, so we could think it would be great...till you include the human factor...the the attendant was such a waste that an hour after we had left Ulan Baator...the samovar was not working...the toilet was never washed...the heating system at night was not working. The attendants didn't care...they were smoking into the car...welcome to China. I could have only a slight revenge of that lazy and useless man....4 hours before reaching Beijing, he wanted the sheet....well...for three of us...he will have to wait till we would arrive in Beijing, extra work last minute...he didn't like me....and I made him swallowed it!



The fun part on the train in Mongolia is the restaurant car. Do not get excited...the restaurant car is indeed beautiful....but the choice and the quality of food is not...well....as we reached the border just before 7pm....we kept it for lunch...going on an excursion just for lunch...in the train!



The train was packed...at least 70% of foreigners...as a good friend simply put it...these trains are for tourists....in Russia, Mongolia and China, today if you have money, you simply don't take those trains.



The experience made me feel that having a ghost train fro Moscow to Ulan Baator was not that bad at the end...I met few fun people on the leg from Ulan Baator to Beijing...but a filthy toilet...a nasty Chinese attendant...that's enough to make me want to have more of my Mongolian friends....



We are heading South...to China...and not always for the best...

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Bejing
Nice photo