Sunday 13 October 2013

The first leg of our Trans Siberian adventure – The K23 Beijing to Ulaanbaatar
October 1-2


As the title suggests, this was the beginning of our overland adventure, no more airports or planes for at least a month! To be honest, 30 hours on a train doesn’t sound overly inviting, but we were surprised how much we liked it. After what felt like a very full-on start to our honeymoon, it was kind of nice to be able to sit backwith nothing much to do.. it was forced down-time which gave us a chance to read, catch up on photos and of course our favorite series at the moment - Breaking Bad. We found ourselves nestled in to our double compartment, and it washes over you that you’ll be here for the next day and a half..

There isn’t too much to write about the train, except it was pretty comfortable, had two beds and a little table and shower. Was nice and warm (which was handy for drying our clothes after the torrential downpour we experienced on our way to the station in Beijing) and had a hot water boiler which came in handy for our tasty pot noodle lunch and dinner – and the occasional cup of tea.

The border crossing from China into Mongolia was fine, except for the two hours where the train gets lifted off the tracks and they change the wheels over (the Mongolian and Russian train tracks are smaller then the Chinese ones), so this was two hours of loud clunking, jolting and all round annoying discomfort. But it was all part of the experience.

Dinner in the dining cart was extremely questionable and well and truly sub par, but at least it was dirt-cheap. In the morning we crossed the Mongolian border, and the Chinese dining cart was swapped for a Mongolian one, which was a lot nicer and food was pretty good, but the breakfast was outrageously expensive and we didn’t actually have enough money to pay for it! (and they didn’t take card) So with a mix matched bunch of notes (Chinese, Rubles and US) we managed to scrape together enough to pay our way.

Besides that little hiccup, we enjoyed the ride and took in the views of rolling hills with not even a tree in sight, some old Russian aircraft hangers hidden in the mountains and some pretty mountains and rivers.

Our cosy little cabin onboard

the carriage

taking in the views

getting some air at one of the stops

landscape along the way

sunset onboard the K23

the Mongolian dining cart

Make breakfast easy anywhere, no matter where you are

Somewhere in the middle of Mongolia's south

Chinese river and mountain

typical lunch on board

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