ULAANBAATAR — We got into Ulaanbaatar at 1:30 this afternoon, a mere 30 hours after boarding train K23 at Beijing Railway Station yesterday morning. Since we’ve only had a few hours to explore the city and change our renminbi for togrogs, the delightfully-named Mongolian currency, I thought I’d share a few photos from the train ride.
On the platform at the Beijing Railway Station. For the first half of the journey, we had a soft-sleeper cabin to ourselves — quite an upgrade from our usual travel style. Our companions on the train included many, many other foreign travelers. Some were young backpackers like ourselves, but a surprising number of older folks were also making the trip.
The grasslands of Inner Mongolia were empty — except for row upon row of giant windmills. It's tangible evidence that China is serious about green energy.
The train left us on the platform at Erlian, China, while the bogies were changed to fit the narrower gauge of Mongolian tracks. To change the bogies, they raise the cars off the undercarriages, yank out the wheels and switch them for another set.
Horses congregate at a watering hole, between the Mongolian border and Ulaanbaatar. It was no surprise to learn that Mongolia has the lowest population density of any country in the world, since this was the largest crowd of living beings we passed until the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar.
Proof that we really made it: This statue of revolutionary hero Damdin Sukhbaatar is the centerpiece of Sukhbaatar Square, in downtown Ulaanbaatar.
I’m posting every day during my journey along the Trans-Mongolian Railway! See previous posts in my Trans-Mongolian Diary or subscribe to my RSS feed to follow along.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I took one look at that statue and immediately thought of Joel Grey:
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1351390720/tt0089901
Ohh, am excited to read these Mongolia posts – am heading to Mongolia soon, and hopefully on this same train! Have heard you have to book quite far in advance though, so we’ll see what happens!
If you want to book in advance, I’d recommend Real Russia (http://realrussia.co.uk). We got our tix through them and it worked perfectly.
Thanks for the tip!
i’m going in sept and am using travelallrussia which i think is going to be good. can’t wait for ub and the train. go to moscow, then to ub and on to beijing.