IRKUTSK - ULAANBAATAR

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IRKUTSK - ULAANBAATAR

Km travelled 11458

24.10.08

We still can't believe it but it seems like we're officially in Mongolia. The trip started last night. The day in Irkutsk was quite useless apart from a good lunch at the London Pub. Too cold and I was too sick, so we spent most of the day in, at the hostel. We met two Brits there, Dan and Rich, that are on the train with us now. That's very good, the guys are very nice and they're being very supportive during these endless hours of boredom, playing cards and watching movies{Braindead and Twelve Monkeys}.
If you're wondering how comes that an almost 1000 km route takes a two nights journey on the train the answer is very simple. Since lunch time until now that is 9.30 pm all we've seen has been the border between Russia and Mongolia. In this Lonely Planet was right, it takes anything up to 11 hours! Plus on top of this Mike went outside to find not only nothing to do but we were all alone, just our carriage! No engine or any other carriages,All alone....
But now, quite exhausted at the end of this long day, and after an amazing moment when Michael was about to be left at the station, the train seems to be finally moving. We'll be in Ulaanbaatar at early morning.

ULAANBAATAR

25.10.08

How beautiful Mongolia already looks to our eyes you can't imagine! And we just got here this morning! It's hard to describe but it's like we jumped from Russia to Mongolia like one would jump from the Earth to the Moon! We have to admit it, you cross a line and everything changes around. People are a lot more friendly, open, and the majority speak some English. The river is frozen but it's not too cold, it's sunny. Ulaanbaatar is definitely not beautiful but you can see big white mountains around.
So well, we love it. After our very early arrival we gave ourselves a couple of hours of sleep. We're staying at the Khongor Guesthouse, where we asked for a private room and we've been given a flat! Around 9.30 we went to see if anyone was in the office, and you know I don't even find it funny any more, we met two kiwis that were having breakfast. OK I'm joking. Anyway still there wasn't anyone so we made our way to the Vietnamese Embassy. The guard outside has been very nice and tried to ask if we could get in to ask for the Visas but unfortunately it was closed. Being Saturday we expected it could be, obviously. We stopped for breakfast, actually for an English one, at Chez Bernard and then back at the Guesthouse. The guy here at Khongor has been immediately incredibly helpful. He rang for us the Embassy and found out what to do to get the Visas. So fingers crossed he will do it for us next week! On the other hand we decided to change our program for Mongolia. Instead of heading to the Gobi Desert we'll spend a week in the west. We figured out that the trip to south deserves more time and should be done another time of the year to be fulfilling, so we'll come back another time for that!

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