Arriving at the station with plenty of time after allowing for the Ulan Bator traffic jams, there was not a lot to do other than chat with new friends. One had a close encounter with a thief that tried stealing a bag. The quick noticing by some one else put the intending thief on the back foot and he was prevented from doing the deed! When the time came to board there was a wrong booking made for a berth, and it happened to be mine!
Although what had happened was clear to most of us, the non english speaking staff did not understand and it caused a problem for them. They kept insisting my berth was in this cabin,when clearly it wasn’t, having three people and loaded with baggage on the empty bunk! The kindness of two australian ladies gave me a berth for the night, although they had actually paid for the whole cabin. I will be following up with the firm to hopefully have the girls reimbursed as they should not have been expected to do that, but there was little option for me otherwise , as the train had already left the station!
However things settled for the night, but the night turned into a long one with stops, starts and whistles. So none of us slept very well. Then of course the officials came aboard early for passport control, customs and departure card , the toilets are locked half an hour before arrival and half an hour after departure.
That was the mongolian officials done and dusted after 2-3 hours,then it was on to the russian border at Irkutsk. The time between less than the half hour allowed for the toilets, so they didn’t get opened so it was a long wait then to add insult to injury, we were allowed off the train to use the platform toilets at a charge of 8 roubles a head. The principle behind it astounds me. They shut the toilets and then expect the passenger to pay for the privilege.
The Russians came on board complete with a dog and uniformed men, apparently really taking one of the cabins apart, what they were looking for was anyones guess. I await with interest my leaving Russia date as I leave and return before officially going for good which is the date I put on the departure card.
It was a tight fit in the cabin, and so a spare berth was asked for, and later in the day after passenger comings and goings were finished, a spare lower bunk became available so I moved into that, for the remainder of the journey into Irkutsk.
We spent many hours just waiting at the station . unable to leave the train which was incredible frustrating as it was a lovely day despite being fairly cool. The scenery changed quite quickly once we were on the move again, and made for an interesting if somewhat slow trip. Up to that point it had taken us 20 hours to cover 300kms. Then we started to see the frozen rivers, the lakes with locals fishing through a hole in the ice.
As it was coming up to sunset Sarah and I had cameras at the ready for the sunset shot of the century! It was getting near 9pm ,so it wasn’t long after
playing at photography I headed for another night on the train. My companion this time had been asleep since four and remained so until the morning, oh to be young again.
Certainly a better night than previously, sleeping right through until about 15 mins before arrival into Irkutsk! It was a hurried get out of bed move
and collect thoughts and bags ready to go!