The Train Journey Begins

April 12, 2012 

Hello, train!

I watched my new suitcase tumble down the escalator of the Beijing Railway Station as I stood, confused, holding the bag’s pullout handle in my hand. It was the abrupt ending to the satisfied feeling that had begun only an hour before when I had easily packed all my belongings in the case with room to spare. Fortunately, no one was below me on the escalator to be taken out by the falling bag. Unfortunately, after a group discussion and several attempts to fix the bag, I was still left with a rolling bag that had no handle to roll it with.  Bob, our guide, was kind enough to carry the bag to the train for me, and I felt a little bad (but mostly just amused) when the carrying handle he was using to lift the bag also broke. “Buy cheap, buy twice,” they say.  (I actually just learned that saying on my last tour, so I don’t know who actually says it, but I like it and it seemed particularly apt in the situation.)

Buy cheap, buy twice.

Bob and Ken trying to fix it--Ken even has his Leatherman out.

David ponders the problem and eventually gets
the bars back in the case.

We managed to load the bag on the train, and everyone settled into the compartments for our first leg of the journey from Beijing to St. Petersburg.  This first section was an almost 30 hour stint from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. Each train compartment was built for four—two bunks on either side, and I was sharing mine with Linda (my regular roommate) and Alicia and Kathryn, the Aussie sisters. The journey was pretty low-key—a lot of chatting, snacking, napping, and looking out the window.

Beijing-Ulaanbaatar-Moscow

Home, sweet home.

Bob and Natalia giving us instructions on the train.

Getting to know you!

The snacking begins!

Hot water contraption. (I just thought it looked complicated.)

We had our first border crossing around 10:00 PM and the train’s bogies needed to be changed so they could fit onto the Mongolian train tracks.

Last stop in China

We sat inside our car as they hoisted it up and changed the wheels. While we didn’t have much of a view of our own car, we could watch them change others from the windows. It was interesting, but I do wonder if there isn’t a more efficient way to take a train from one country into another.  Border-crossing paperwork also took a good four hours, and I was asleep when the Mongolian officials finally returned my passport around 2:00 in the morning.

Bogies

Bogie 

The bogie change also brought a new dining car to the train, and the following morning was spent enjoying the carved wood and conversation in the dining car and catching up on my blog on my bunk.

Mongolian dining car

Scenery from the train