The train from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar

The train to Ulaanbaatar left Beijing at 7,30am. I was in a room of 4 with Jenny, and the two Aussie nurses Tracy and Yeresa.

The train crew Tracy, in red, Jenny and the back across from me and Yeresa front right.

The train ride lasted for around 1 and half days with a five hour border crossing. The ride mainly consisted of eating and hangout in someones cabin.

From the front left Peter, Daniel, Maryanne, Jenny, Tracy, Chris and Yeresa

Daniel, Maryanne and Dean where in a cabin with a random guy called Mathew who was from London and was going to Mongolia to meet his Professor and study rock formations. He was going to spend the next 6 weeks travelling around Mongolia and sleeping in tents. It sounded great fun. I was so jealous!

At the China Mongolia border crossing the bogie have to be changed. In Russia and Mongolia the train runs on 5ft gauge which is slightly larger than the standard gauge used by the rest of the world. I really wanted to see the bogie's be changed so I made everyone stay in the train at the border crossing. It was great to watch. The train was taken in to a shed and each carriage was disconnected.

The wheels and the machine used to lift the train

The carriages were then lifted off the bogie or wheels and all the wheels were removed. Then new bogies were wheeled in by some pulley system and the carriages were re lowered and reattached. It was so much fun to watch and we were all taking photos out the windows.

The train lifted and the wheels removed

The wheels being moved into place

After the excitement of the bogies I had a few drinks with Maryanne, Dean, Daniel and Mathew.I woke up early the next morning after getting to bed at around 5 to find that we were travelling through the Gobi desert. It was great to see blue sky after so much pollution in China. The Mongolian landscape was amazing with small ger tents dotted in the most isolated places.

Ger tents in the middle of no where

Slowly we got closer to Ulaanbaatar small towns appeared which where a combination of ger tents and wooden houses. Finally we reached the city of Ulaanbaatar. A home for around 1 million people. Even though it is the capital it still is a mixture of ger tents, soviet concrete buildings and wooden houses.

The city with a mix mash of buildings