Farewell Mongolia, Welcome back to China

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Hi all,
I spent a few more days in UB before I left it, but I already told about it earlier. It's not a very interesting city...
One thing worth mentioning is that when I came back to UB I discovered that, once again, I am a criminal... Before leaving to Khovsgul I left my passport in one of the guesthouses for a visa extension. For staying less than 30 days I didn't need a visa, but since I planned on staying longer - I had to make an extension. When I came back I found out that they forgot to do it, and I am in the country longer than I am allowed. When they realized their mistake they were really sorry, and they took care of it quickly. I don't know if they paid any fine on my behalf, but the following day I got my passport with the visa extension.
Took the train that crosses the border to China, and bought the normal sleeper class, to avoid the poor incidents of the previous ride. The train ride was OK.
Mongolia was a nice experience. A different one. It is definitely different than any country I have visited before. The scenery is not the greatest in the world, the sites are not the most beautiful, the food is certainly not that good, but still - it's special. The people are special, their habits, their hospitality. It is a country in which you feel that the time has stopped, long ago. The free spaces, the emptiness, are overwhelming. They also get boring after a while, so the one month I spent there was more than enough for me, especially after I finally managed to catch that fish 😊
While the train was crossing the border there were soldiers on both sides saluting it. It was a funny sight. We had the passport check on the train, and I was a little bit afraid that they would not let me back into China after my incident with the police, and even more after publishing it on the web. Whenever I saw a soldier or a policeman in the train I was sure they will stop near my bench and say something like "here he is, we found him." But it didn't happen, and they let me off the train in China.
It was funny how all of a sudden the communication became possible again (if you can call that communication). I knew how to ask for the prices, the times for the buses, bargain, etc. Got some green-ice-tee, which is what I used to drink in China prior to Mongolia. All felt familiar.
Even on the sleeper bus back to Beijing things looked familiar - driving on every lane the driver felt like, including the ones for the traffic of the opposite direction, using the horn instead of the brakes, the roads that are constantly under construction, etc.
In less than a day I remembered all the reasons for not liking traveling in China.
Even when we got back to Beijing and were supposed to be dropped off in the train station, the driver decided that dropping us 1.5 km away in 4:00 A.M. is not a problem. So what if it's still dark outside? So what if a taxi to the train station, a 5 minutes drive, costs 10% of the bus fare (for a 14 hour bus ride). Like I said before - you never get what you paid for.
Welcome back to China.
R.

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Comments

[andreas]

beijing at night....
what do you think? Beijing awakens at 6 am, not earlier. Taking a Taxi at 3 am costs you a fortune, or you have to walk on your own....