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Published: October 8th 2007
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After spending some not so fun time at the Russian- Mongolian border I finally left Siberia behind me. The first thing I noticed were that the people were a lot friendlier. Even the lady at customs smiled at me when I said my not so impressive "bayrla" whilst spitting everywhere (trust me, it's not an easy word to say, and I probably spelled it wrong too). I was pleased to enter a new country and I felt I was off to a good start.
Some quick notes on the actual train ride between Irkutsk and UB. I ended up on train 364 which is a local service, without many tourists. It was interesting, after being on the train from Moscow filled with westerners it felt like a change. I shared a cabin with a Russian called Nikolai who spoke German and was the tour guide for a German group of six people. I spent some time with them, but they didn't really speak English so it was quite difficult to converse. It went okay after a few beers and some vodka through. They were all older, and couples. One thing I've noticed about the Trans- Siberian is that it attracts
a more mature crowd, instead of the normal yobs and knobheads. I met my first Swedes on this train. They said that they had been in a whole carriage filled with just Swedish people. Somehow I find that boring. I mean, I don't travel abroad to meet people from the same country as me, where's the fun in that?
After the train ride I ended up in Ulaan Baatar at 6.30 am. I was met by my very lovely guide Chantsaa who showed me the sites and got me to a bank so I could change my money. She took me to a national monument at the top of a hill, which wasn't the most fun to climb in those easrly hours. I had just gotten off the train, I was half asleep and hungry and the weather was a lot colder than I had expected. There were a pair of drunk men at the base of the monument arguing about something or another whilst shouting really loudly and waving their vodka in the air. But despite all of this, it was worth it to see the sunrise over Ulaan Baatar. And I found some mnoney at the top
of the monument, which I saw as a good sign. I also saw Sukhbaatar square and the Gandan monastery which were very beautiful.
After that we headed to Elstei Ger camp, which was about an hour away from UB. I had a reunion with George and Ewan and also Phyllis that I met on the train. Phyllis is a 76 year old lady from the lake district in England and she is quite the fireball. She has lived all over the place, 27 years in Canada and also in New Zealand. She likes to travel and last year she went to the Antarctic. She has never been married and she lives and travels alone. I saw a lot of myself in her, but I do hope that I will meet someone one day, as it can get lonely to travel alone sometimes 😉! I also met another lovely guy from England called Steve. He is very young and funny without knowing it.
The Ger camp was fantastic. Blue sky and the open steppe and we were very fortunate to have great weather. I even managed to get sunburnt on my last day. A Ger is a traditional telt
Army boys.........
.....who insisted they wanted a picture taken with me :) made of felt and wood and it is heated by a stove in the middle. It was very warm and cosy, but the outside weather was freezing at night so it was nice to get into the heat. We were properly fed, I even tried mutton (which I didn't really like, I don't really like eating sheep), but most of the time I had vegetarian food. People tried horseback riding, but I am not too keen on horses so I stayed back with Phyllis. We also did archery and the men got to try wrestling in traditional Mongolian outfits. It looks like hotpants if you ask me, they looked very funny, we all had a great laugh about it.
The second day the group left and I was alone. Or at least until Colin and Hazel arrived later on. They are great, an older couple who are young at heart. Hazel is and artist and Colin is a "loony lefty" (as his son calls him) documentary maker. Great people, I had some good chats with them, they are very interesting. We had a nice day together, I spent the day outside making hemp jewellery and taught my guide Chantsaa
how to make it too. Hazel was knitting and drawing. It was just nice and relaxing. The next day we left early in the morning to catch the train at 8.05am. After that we arrived into Beijing the next day. I could tell the difference was big between Mongolia and China. Will write more soon.
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Mark Lilly
Hey..
Its mark here, glad you are having a great time travelling love your stories, good luck and safe travels. x