On the border....

For this the last leg of our train journey we were on the trans-Mongolian railway. This meant a different train –  much grander than the previous ones -  or it would have been about 20 years go. Wooden panelled cabins with a shower room (actually it was a sink with a hose attachment that we shared with the cabin next door) with carpeted cabins and corridors. There were only four cabins occupied including us – all travellers. An Australian couple and an Icelandic man  going from St Petersburg to Beijing, a Belgium couple travelling from St.Petersburg to Mongolia and us. It was nice to talk to other people about their adventures and what they were doing next, but for the most part we kept ourselves to ourselves. 

At 8.45pm local time we reached the Border town of Naushki which marked the end of our journey across Russia. 5902 km from Moscow. A good time to reflect on our experiences. 
 Sergei who we met on one of our train journeys asked us, “why do the English and Americans not like us – we are nice people”. He is right. The people we encountered were nice, friendly and helpful.  Apart from the odd lad in the bar in Tyumen there were no ‘shifty’ or ‘shady’ characters and we never felt in danger.  Many of the cities are too polluted and many of the places we visited have destroyed older parts of the city in their haste to develop. The countryside we saw still retains the old wood houses and unspoilt landscapes. Definitely worth further exploration. Lake Baikal is definitely worth a visit and in better weather it deserves longer time than we gave it.

Things that I could have done without – musical lampposts – several places had music piped out of them – completely unnecessary. Mr L disagrees. He particularly enjoyed ‘strangers on the shore’! Also, an irritation for me – stairs, or more specifically steps. They are never the same size – randomly varying in depth and catching you out every time. 

At the border, The guidebook had warned us to be prepared for a long wait. What we weren't prepared for was the explosion of activity that commenced when the  guards boarded the train. Everything was opened and subjected to inspection –bags, panels, heating ducts – even our en suite shower room! Then it was our turn. We were required to stand, in turn and be inspected by the guard who shone her torch into our faces and examined them in great detail before walking off and returning with our passports stamped. Then they moved to the other cabins whilst we sat perfectly still, just in case. When the guards finally left the train we pulled off into the night and into Mongolia, so decided to settle down and get some sleep. How foolish we were as about 20 mins later the train stopped and we went through the whole process again this time with the Mongolian border guards.  I was so tempted to advise them that if they stopped working in silos and  were more collaborative they could make better/more efficient  use of their resources but I felt it was perhaps not the time. Maybe I will drop the appropriate departments an email.

As the sun rose over the mountains our train pulled into Ulaanbaatar.