Ulaanbaator and train 12 to Beijing

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It's a bit disconcerting to be always writing about the last place you were, from the current one. I'm losing track, boom boom, of which train I was on.

My wads of paperwork, including an actual ticket, showed 3 different times for departure from Irkutsk for Ulaanbaator. I knew there was a constant in Russia to always refer to Moscow time but the ticket should be in local time (their instructions!) Whatever, I checked out of the hotel, unchecked by bag at the station, gave away the last of my roubles.....and had 6 hours to kill....hahaha in a soviet era waiting room in stinking hot weather with a crowd of professional circus quality freaks, I fitted in admirably.

This time I shared a 4 berth sleeper with an overly self-assured and optimistic (but aren't they all?) young Swiss couple, Valentino and Jennifer, didnt sound too Swiss to me but they were fine. Good travellers and good company, explained a lot about Swiss life etc and once more we pooled our food and booze.

We stopped for exit checks from Russia, no heavier than you'd expect, then a few kms down the track we pulled into the Mongolian version of sleepy hollow, truly the land that time forgot. It's all coming back to me now, I guess I'd subconsciously tried to forget....no, it wasn't that bad, but a sleepy little town, lots of bored 12 year old soldiers in their big truck, kids really, a couple of rundown little shops but they had cold beer, totally potholed and rutted roads, a few beaten up old cars with beaten up old drivers, banging and clattering to and fro, and the park. What had once been a lavishly appointed war memorial park, avenue of lovely birches, statues, walkways with ornate fences, a massive memorial sphincter, I could tell it was old as all the plastic flowers had faded.....overgrown grass, broken bottles, garbage, busted statues, grubby kids slouching, rust and decay....so sad.

So, Mongolia, and what strange and generally less than satisfactory visions that country arouses in us. Although the name Ulaanbaator evokes some Genghis Kahnal Magic And I entered under a bit of a cloud, no reason, just that less-than-one-hundred-percent-dull-ache-in-the-soul feeling but a feeling of relief to be out of russia, much as I loved that huge and awesome country, there'd been a constant sense of being watched or something, not enough to raise the hairs on the back of the neck but a constant need to be careful, of what I'm not sure, maybe it will become clearer in hindsight. I think I already described the feeling.

Training through Mongolia, there's a lot of redness and australiananess in the scenery, it looks a lot like the Pilbara, maybe I should stop here, rent a Cessna, have a fat ugly daughter, a mail order Phlipina bride and become Genghis Handcock? Sorry?

It's all very DRY, it's been dry all through Russia and here, a long way from the coast.

A long line of freight train cars cross my vision, for a moment I thought it was an acid flashback and I was waiting at the Glen Huntly road crossing...I instinctively started counting....

The conductors(resses) change with class...in 1st Class fat and (sometimes) happy women, in cattle class they're all grumpy old men....job op?

And the cloud has lifted, as it always does, a huge weight off, what caused it? what caused it to lift? good questions! all those unnecessary worries now gone to dust, the paranoia dissolved...maybe I'm getting old?..of course, but some suggest it never crossed my mind but maybe? Am I getting intolerant? shee-it, I've always been intolerant....of fuckwits, idiots, blind fools.

A day in the sticks with my wonderful but limited young guide, Miss Sonya, and our monosyllabic driver. Fascinating country. Mongolia has such a huge history, Genghis oriented of course but they still feed of the memories. An hour out of UB we come across a unbelievably huge Genghis on horseback, the second biggest statue in the world I'm informed, I could believe it....(whats the biggest?) I think it's the tallest 'equestrian' statue...but it is BIG, about 40 metres of glistening stainless steel...how?

We went and toured the museum, snack food outlets, souvenir shops and then climbed into the belly of the beast and emerged on the horse's head....fun!

Then endless driving across endless rolling plains, criss-crossed with tracks of vehicles...sporadic nomadic herds of sheep and cattle and goats, small flocks, out in the middle of nowhere. Slow, wide rivers (it's been an exceptionally good year for rain) drifting through low valleys, rocky outcropped mountain ranges in the back ground, rolling green tinted hills in the foreground, very peaceful.

We drove for a couple of hours across the scenery and stopped at a collection of 3 yurts, the typical round, semi portable, traditional Mongolian residence of herders. Two old shapeless women, maybe mother and daughter, the younger flopped out an enormous breast and proceeded to choke her squalling infant, the other kid, about 5yo, tearing around in only a T-shirt, all the clothes were filthy dirty, shit everywhere, hot and claustro in the yurt with the dung fired stove and flat screen tv. They served up some bowls of local fare.....omg, I really just cant describe it.....'interesting' might be too strong a word. And flies...you could imagine you were back in Oz, I've never seen so many flies outside Australia.

Then on to a few temples, the famous Turtle Rock...hahaha......but along the way Sonya was, sometimes unwittingly, giving me great insight to this country.....The Verdict...I'm impressed...a 14 day camel/horse expedition down into the Gobi desert is certainly on the cards.

Monglia is huge, and empty, the sparsest country I think....impressively beautiful though, and old.

Back in Ulaanbaatar, the dinosaur museums were bitterly disappointing but it seems the BIG dino exhibition was on tour(?) some old buildings, some new, bland food, I can't remember much else.

If you want to get about you stand on the street and hold out your hand, like hitch hiking, any car will stop and act as a taxi...pretty cool. You negotiate where you're going and a price.

OK, photo time....

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