6-12 October 1987

Moscow to Beijing:
The Trans-Mongolia Express (2)
Mongolia and China

Sundaymorning, october the 11th, my friend wakes me up, and rightly so: we are in Mongolia!!! The sunrise above the snow-covered Mongolian hills is fantastic. A Mongolian horserider in traditional dress rides along with the train for a while. Further afield we see herds of cattle and tents of nomads. The whole scene looks like something out of a dream.

We only stop a few times that day but it is clear that we have gradually moved into an alltogether different world. In the course of the day the landscape changes rather dramatically: snow-covered hills with herds (of yaks?) pass over into a dry, barren, flat, desert-landscape: the Gobi desert, with rolling bushes that remind of cowboy-movies and even the occasional camels! We really are a long way from home.

The night before a Mongolian dining-car has replaced the Russian one, so the food that sunday is Mongolian. Just like before only a few of the courses on the menu really are available, but it does not matter, it's different and a bit of variation has become very welcome. The provisions we brought from home are almost exhausted by now.

Ulaan Baatar railway station

(Click here for more photo's of Mongolia)

The next night we have to leave the train for a few hours at the Chinese border station of Erenhot.The railway gauge in China differs from the gauge so far, so the carriages are hoisted on to other wheels. This whole operation takes a few hours. Meanwhile we can buy postcards and stamps at the railway station and send the first postcard home. The Chinese signs for "the Netherlands" we copy from a board with exchange rates.

The early morning of monday, october 12th, we wake up in China. The north of China through which we ride is exactly like I imagined China to be: villages of yellow clay, everywhere people in blue suits and big hats, being busy like ants. In the dining-car we get very good Chinese food. From the train we catch glimpses of the Great Wall of China (that sight has been seen). We repack our back-packs and at the end of the afternoon we arrive finally, right on time, in Beijing.