Trans-Mongolia Trip Revisited

Hi dear reader,

Due to a problem at the server of this website, everything from our blog has been deleted. Everything? No, the photos are still here! The stories and responses seem to be gone though, which would sad, since they contained so many memories to those great times that already seem a long, long time ago. Therefore, we are working on figuring out how to get them back (or, where we might have saved them, oops).

Love, Marit and Anniek

Grande Finale

Yesterday, Wednesday, we had breakfast at seven o'clock and at eight we got in the bus to the great wall. We arrived two and a half hours later, a bit later than planned mainly because there were persons missing (the tour guide got really mad in Chinese, Beijing style, which was funny to see). We went up with cable way and from there we walked upwards over the wall. The view was stunning. The higher we got the more we saw. Seeing the wall all the way down and going over the mountains was definitely worth it. The weather was sunny again, so we got real sweaty. We went to a watch tower were you could see the part of the wall that is not restored. We rested for a bit and enjoyed the view and wondered how life was 2000 years ago. Back at the starting point we went down with a slide way. That was really fun, but fast. Down at the bottom we went to the restaurant were we had lunch. The lunch was included in the trip and we ate a lot of real Chinese dishes. The way back took another two and a half hours, because we were in Beijing at rush hour.

Back in Beijing we went with the subway for the first time, to the Silk Market. The Silk Market is a store of six floors with all different kinds of things, from clothes to electronics and whatever else you want. It exists of all little shops and you have to bargain real harsh before you buy anything, especially if you are a tourist. We had fun bargaining and finding out that we were actually not that bad, especially Marit. After two hours we were exhausted and went back to the hostel to have a quiet evening and went to bed early.

Today, Friday, is our last day of our Journey. Marit got up real early to see Mao. It was pretty special to see how big (literally) he is perceived to be. After she came back we ate breakfast at the hostel and packed our backs for the last time and brought them to the storage room. We rented bikes again and went to the National Museum of China. We visited the exhibition of the Buddhas and of the old Chinese Bronze time, including the Square Ding dedicated to Mother Wu. We also visited the exhibition were the gifts that China got from other countries in the last decades were shown. We searched whether we could find a gift that the Netherlands gave to China, but we couldn't.

We drove to the other side of the Forbidden City (up north) were we ate lunch, Chinese style. After that we cycled around the lakes and explored some of the Hutong areas.

Now we are back at the hostel. For our last supper we will go to another night market. At nine o'clock a cab comes to pick us up and bring us to the airport. Anniek has to check in at half past ten and her flight leaves at half past one. Marit will fly at nine in the morning to start with her new adventure in Taiwan. Whoever wants to follow her, see her new blog:http://likenihao.reismee.nl/.

We hope you had the same fun travelling with us as we had with it.

With Love,

Anniek & Marit

Hey! White people!

Sunday we had an early rise. At six o'clock two of our roommates started to pack, half an hour before we planned to get up. We ate breakfast in the hostel, consisting of nice dry crackers. At the station we didn't have to wait and immediately got in line for the train with a lot of other people. The train was really full and at first half hour of the journey we had to sit with one backpack and two rucksacks on our laps. Luckily, when we eventually took off, it got less crowded and we could shovel the backpack under another seat (still in sight). Still we had to sit six hours with our rucksacks on our laps. And of course, the closer we got to Beijing, the fuller the train got. It was the most uncomfortable train ride of our journey. We could hardly move, got sore bottom and sometimes horrifying smells reached our noses.

Arriving in Beijing we got a little overwhelmed by how big and crowded the station was. After saying no to every person that offered us expensive hotel rooms and illegal taxi rides we found the line for the legal cabs. After only a few minutes of waiting we got in a cab that brought us close to the hostel. When the cab dropped us of Marit recognized everything and we arrived at the hostel with no further problems.

It was already half past three and we were craving for some coffee and food. So we ended up at Starbucks where we enjoyed a real American coffee and muffin. We walked to Tian An Men square and strolled around for a bit to let it sink in that we were really in Beijing. Again, like in Datong but now even worse, we got photographed a lot, which starts to get annoying. We walked back to one of the main shopping street that is nearby our hostel, where we sat down to watch the (Chinese) people who passed by. We noticed that poor boys (under the age of three) wear a undershirt and no underpants, but poor girls do wear underpants... We think it's so strange, these kind of differences.
For dinner we ate corn and fried dumpling which we bought on a night market (still low on cash).

Monday, the first activity was easy to be decided. After breakfast we went straight to the bank were they should have a Western Union-point. Our roommate, a Taiwanese girl called Angel, went with us to help us out. Finding it was really easy, also because the hostel had giving us directions that actually were right. We had to wait for a bit, but after five minutes a woman said a lot of things in Chinese and gave us forms to fill in. Luckily we had Angel as our translator. We were called to the ticket window and then the exiting part started. In the next fifteen minutes there happened a lot. Marit's visas got checked and they almost believed that her visa was expired, because they confused the issue date with the date of entering... But after those nerve-racking minutes we walked out the bank feeling rich. It felt good. We went to Starbucks to treat Angel on a good cup of coffee to thank her for all her help.

Because we had money again, we could finally start exploring Beijing. So we went to the Forbidden City. It was really beautiful. After that, we lunched in the park behind the Forbidden City, called Jingshan park. It is a really nice park, where you can walk up a high hill. On top there is a really cute 'pavilion' where you can enjoy an all around view over the city.

Around five o'clock we were back at the hostel. We rested for a bit and waited for our old cabin-mates Brett and Kathy to show up. We were going out to dinner together and we also asked Angel to join us. Of course Brett and Kathy were late, which is not weird in this city, and especially if you get ripped off by a rickshaw driver. We walked to the restaurant, although it turned out to be a tiny bit further than we originally thought. After one and a half hour we finally found it (we were all starving). It turned out to be a hotpot restaurant where only real Chinese people came. Which made it only better. We had a great time with all the delicious foods and drinks and with the nice company.

Today, Tuesday, we had a slow start. We ate breakfast in the Hostel with Annelies (a classmate of Marits who was in Beijing only for today) and Angel. The plan was to rent bikes and go to the Summer Palace. So together with Annelies (Angel was already leaving) we cycled across Tian An Men square, which felt really cool. The Summer Palace turned out to be a bit further than we expected, so after one and a half hour of cycling we finally were there. Cycling through Beijing is fun, scary, dusty and so much fun. Sometime you do need to ignore your will to live, but once you get over that, you'll be fine. We are still alive.

The Summer Palace was so pretty. We had lunch while looking at the lake and walked to the Tower of the Buddhist Incense. We climbed all the way up to the top and the view was pretty amazing, even while it was raining a bit. It was already five o'clock when we left. Unfortunately the way back took us two hours. We drove a little to far east, but we did see a glimpse of the Olympic station. When we were finally in the right street and we recognized were we where we looked for a nice place to ate Beijing Duck. Luckily, we found it really fast and, again, had an amazing dinner. The duck was very good and also the deep fried pumpkin (which was sweet) and the eggplant were delicious.

It's so funny in a rich man's world

Thursday we got up at half past five and headed off to the station. This time we shared are cabin with two nice Belgium guys, both called Bart. In the afternoon we played some games with our old cabin mates Brett and Kathy, which was the most fun thing in the so far boring ride. After a while we found out that the train was driving throught the middle of the Gobi dessert. The landscape was vast and dry with a lot of low bushes. We even spotted some wild camels, which was pretty awesome. The Mongolian border control was boring and the same as last time, but this time only took one and a half hour. At the Chinese border control the chassis of the train had to be changed. It was already eleven o'clock and because of the early rise next morning and the bad sleep the previous night we were really tired. After we were lifted up and put down on the new chassis and saw it happen to another carriage (that was really cool to see) we decided that we would lay down for a bit and not fall asleep in case the border control wasn't over (we already got our passports back). The staying awake part failed and we fell asleep fully dressed.

Yesterday morning, Friday, we arrived in Datong around 8 0'clock. After ten minutes walking we found out that the hostel was a bit farther than we expected (good preparation). So we took a cab and in five (terrifying) minutes we were there. The neighborhood of the hostel looks pretty old school Chinese, but than new. Around it they build a old style wall, but it is not older than twenty years. We couldn't check-in yet, but we could take our usual shower. During breakfast we met a Italian guy named Francesco and decided to meet with him two hours later to have lunch and visit an old temple together. In those two hours we had to get our tickets for the train to Beijing. Of course that wasn't an easy thing. We took a cab (those are really cheap in China) to the address on the voucher. It also said that they moved 300 meters east. So we walked east, and did not find it. Luckily, after a few times walking up and down we discovered that it was on the other side of the street, but their signs were covered by trees.

We picked up the tickets and went back to 'our' part of the city and met up with Francesco. For lunch we ate hot pot, a real traditional Chinese dish. You get a bowl of soup that is boiling on a fire and then you put in small pieces of food, boil it and get it out with your chopsticks. Delicious and really fun. After lunch we went to a ATM to withdraw some money. Unfortunately the ATM did not want to give us any money (in the morning we already tried four of them and they did not work). So we went to the Bank of China and changed the Euros we brought (it wasn't that much). Still low on cash we went to the temple. The temple is in the middle of the pretty busy center, but inside the walls its really quiet and peaceful. The statues were massive and gorgeous and the further we got in the temple complex, the older the statues were.

For dinner we had dumplings with various kinds of vegetables and meat. We went back to the hostel pretty early because we needed to find out why we couldn't withdraw any money. After a lot of long phone calls to the Netherlands, it turned out that there was nothing wrong with Marits account but that the problem lays with the Chinese ATM's. The conclusion was that via Western Union cash would be sent to us and we could pick it up next day at a bank.

Today, Saturday, isn't the most successful day of our journey. Anniek had some trouble with her stomach and intestines, luckily it didn't last too long, and our money worries aren't over yet. We got up on time and headed out for a quick breakfast. We searched for the right bank, and quickly we found one. There we were sent to a bigger one. We walked for half an hour, hoping we would actually find one. We did, there we got the same answer, but this time they wrote down the address so we could take a cab. There we actually got somewhere, but unfortunately it turned out that the person that worked for Western Union was not working in the weekends... No money for us... After making a small scene and trying the ATM again (failed) we gave up.

Back in the hostel we rested (Anniek was still not feeling well) and made some phone calls to the Netherlands again. Now they will sent the money to Beijing were we hopefully can pick it up on Monday. Luckily if the transaction failles we have a back-up, because there we will meet up with a friend who is willing to help us out.

Around five o'clock we went out again, did some groceries and visited the wall with the nine dragons. The wall used to stand in front of a palace and now it's the only thing that remained of the palace that burned down. While looking at the wall we got photographed a lot of times. We even went on a photo with a group of Chinese people. Here they seem to find it pretty normal to take pictures of us and say hello to us. It is a weird experience and its start to get a bit annoying. Back in our neighborhood we decided that it was a good idea to rest on a bench. In two minutes we where surrounded by twenty people?! For Marit is was fun though, because she talked some Chinese with them. We found out that there was a cultural festival in front of the temple with a lot of music and dance. The dancing was pretty awesome, but the singing wasn't always that beautiful. One song a guy sang had such a high pitch voice that it made our ears hurt.

Tomorrow we have to get up early to catch the train to Beijing, this time it is only six hours, so it will be easy peasy.

Hobbeldebobbel

Saturday night we got on the train on time. We found out we were in a cabin with a nice Dutch couple. The cabin was not what we expected. It smelled liked old horse blankets, but luckily we could open the window, so the bad smell got less. For the first time we slept in our sleeping bags and were glad that we brought them.

The next day, Sunday, we arrived at the Russian border control. First they checked our passports, then we needed to get out for two and a half hours. We walked around in the small village and ate some dumplings Russian style, so with sour cream (no dill, luckily). When we got back to the station we found out that only two of the five carriages remained. At the station we found some pretty good entertainment during the wait. Marit had a flirt with a Russian soldier (who looked Chinese, but couldn't speak it, too bad). She had a nice chat (and photo session) with her soldier and learned some things about the Russian army. We got back in and had to stay in the cabin. They took our passport and the forms we filled in when we entered Russia. We had to wait for another two hours (the bathrooms where closed, already for four hours) and they searched our cabin, not that thoroughly though. After that, we got our passports back and the forms with a nice stamp on them. We went on to the next border and during that half hour we needed to fill in some new forms. At the Mongolian border we had to stay in the cabin. They took our passports again and the forms and searched the cabins. After that we could get out on to the platforms if we wanted and had to wait for two hours. Back in the train we got our passports and some of the forms back and finally continued our journey.

The next morning, Monday, we arrived in Ulaanbaatar at 6 o'clock in the morning. We found out that four other Dutch people also went to the same place as we, so we searched for our driver together. Luckily we found him quickly by saying the name 'Bert' a lot (which is the name of the Dutch man who owns the camp we were staying in). We drove for two hours in a minivan and not on normal roads. In Ulaanbaatar they have asphalt roads, but after thirty minutes that stopped. So we hobbeldebobbelt further for about an hour and a half. The interesting part of the drive was that they were working on asphalting the road, but only small parts and those parts did not connect... Also there are a lot of cows and horses on and next to the road that seem to belong to no one. We stopped at an hotel, but luckily it wasn't were we needed to be. We had to walk for ten minutes, in which we crossed four 'bridges'. The first one was made of steel, the second of wood, the third one were three flat planks, and the fourth was only a tree across the water. We survived and from there we got picked up by an oxcart. We hobbeldebobbelt for another half hour and enjoyed the view. We finally arrived at the Gertenten camp. There were like eight gers witch looked all like the traditional ones. The camp was quite nice, it was in a valley in between high mountains. There were six dogs and a cat, which you ignored and sometimes needed to 'Tjoe' ('Tjoe' they say to every animal if they want to make it do something) out of your ger. Also around four o'clock till seven o'clock the cows walk in (there is a fence around the gers) to eat some grass. They also like to sneak into the gers if you do not close your door. We settled in in our ger, got some breakfast and explored the surroundings.

After a proper lunch we decided that we wanted to make a hike to the top of the mountain. The other people we met on the way to the camp also wanted to go, so we went all together. It was a climb of 300 meters. It was Marits first real climb, but she managed really well. At the top the view was magnificent.

That night it was very cold. Not at first, because all gers have a stove which makes it really hot inside, but if it goes out the temperature drops. Luckily we decided we would sleep in our sleeping bags and with two other blankets on top of them we kept warm.

Tuesday we started, after breakfast, with a horseback riding trip. Marit was a bit scared so her horse was hold by the guide and she only needed to stay seeded, which she did. Anniek said to the guide that she had some experience, so she got to ride on her own, and found out that she still actually could. We crossed a deep river with a strong current, what was quite the experience. After that we (well mainly Marit) hobbeldebobbelt up a mountain. After one and a half hour we had a break and climbed up for a nice view. The next hour and a half were really nice for Anniek because her horse finally had the energy to trot for a long time. Marit did not like the second half that much because her bump started hurting from all the hobbeldebobbelen.

That afternoon we made another hike (this time flat) and sat in front of our ger reading our books. That night we stayed up a bit longer to see the night sky and even some falling stars.

Wednesday we left around ten o'clock, again with the ox cart, hobbeldebobbelt our way back to all the bridges, crossed them again and got in the van that would bring us to our hotel. Two hours of hobbeldebobbelen later we were finally there. After some drastic cleaning (we did not shower for three days) we went in to Ulaanbaatar for some sight-seeing. We saw the big temple complex and the big square, which are two of the three highlights of Ulaanbaatar. We weren't that impressed, but we don't know why not. After dinner we had to get some more money from the ATM (we still needed to pay the hotel for cleaning our laundry). It wasn't a success. The ATM took Annieks card in and didn't want to give it back. Back at the hotel she checked her account and everything was okay, no money gone. Now we only got Marits card left, so hopefully the ATM's won't take hers as well.

Tomorrow we will cross the Chinese border. We are curious about that, at least that won't take eight hours, only six...

Gat in de weg!

On Thursday morning, the 8^thof August, we arrived at Irkutsk. It was raining, what didn't approve our mood. Luckily we found our hostel pretty easy. We took a 'quick' shower and went into Irkutsk for breakfast, in a small, very local restaurant. The breakfast wasn't a success, because we had bread filled with potato and dill. Which they put in and on top of everything you order, but it doesn't improve the taste. We had to go and pick up our next train tickets at an agency. We knew we had to take a bus and Anniek wrote the bus station down in Russian letters. Apparently the Russians found it readably, because they helped us find it. It was an very long drive with the bus, also because we didn't know where to get out, so every few stops we asked someone else if we were there yet. Eventually we got to our stop and the agent wasn't that hard to find.

Back in the centre we walked around a bit. Irkutsk is a nice city with lots and lots of beautiful buildings and churches. The weird thing is that next to every beautiful and/or maintained building there stands a dilapidated building. Most of the houses look poor, but the people are well-fed and their clothing is western and neatly.

For dinner we got some Italian food, not so adventurous but we were craving for something known. Back in the hostel we wanted to go to bed early, but it wasn't a success. There was a big group of Germans in the hostel that stayed partially in our room. They decided that they had to pack their backs around the time we wanted to go to bed. Pretty annoying, especially because we already told them we would make it an early night.

The next day, Friday, we went to Lystvyanka at the lake Baikal. The way to get is in a minivan, and the ride takes about an hour. The Russian traffic is really bad and scary (even crossing a road is dangerous), but we survived. The lake Baikal was really beautiful and touristic. Unfortunately the view was limited, because of the many clouds above the water. We enjoyed the fresh air after all the days in the train and smoggy cities.

We went back to the hostel pretty early, because Marit got a cold and we both were pretty tired from the night before with the loud Germans.

Today, Saturday, we had a slow start. We had breakfast at a weird hotel bar, but the food was okay and the smoothies were delicious. But apparently the Russians don't eat bread with their eggs... Again we explored Irkutsk, the part we hadn't seen on the first day. Also we collected a nice set of pictures of holes (already started that at Thursday). We bought Kwas at a street market, because that was the only thing we still needed to do in Russia. Marit liked it, but Anniek wasn't a big fan.

Around four o'clock we went back to the hostel for a last shower (yes, we think the showers before and after train rides are worth mentioning).

Tonight we are going on the train and tomorrow we will have the visa checks of Russia and Mongolia. This we find really exciting and scary, so we will keep you posted!

Look at the... Oops!

Monday morning we arrived at the hostel in Novosibirsk, started off with a great, hot shower and then decided to explore the city. Since we got a bag and an e-reader less, we were only using the map the hostel provided. So we lunched with blinis and walked around for a while, heading to the “must-sees”, without knowing what they were about, because the map was in Russian, of course. It turned out to be a good plan, Novosibirsk is beautiful. Our hostel was very close to the city center and almost everything we 'wanted to see' was in walking distance. After a nice walk to the one side of the tourist map, including a nice church and other typical (as far as we know, at least) Russian, colorful, imposing buildings, we headed back to the hostel to do laundry and relax a bit.

Dinner was a new adventure, since the restaurant had no menu in English and no staff able to speak English. Luckily, a German speaking guy, visiting his Russian family, helped us out and ordered our long wanted vegetables, accompanied with “cheese fried” (kaassoufflé's, apparently). After that, we walked around for a bit more and went into a bar 'Friends'. The cocktails were delicious and the Russians we spoke to (learned a lot about Siberian life style) ordered us some “hot cocktails” that are served during the long, cold winters. Those, too, tasted great (one of them reminded us of Glühwein).

That night we discovered the beds where a little less soft than expected (understatement), but a massive breakfast, next morning, made up for everything. We think it was fairly Russian, with dried sausages and omelets (completely made out of egg whites). Next to that we had great coffee and what we thought would be hot chocolate milk with marshmallows, but turned out to be a kind of mousse.

Then we headed off for our real adventure for that day, the police station. We found out Marit's bag with e-reader got stolen at the train station, so we needed a police report for the insurance. The lady of the hostel already warned us that probably no one would speak English. Next to that, we knew Russian police are said to be, well, not the nicest, cheerfullest, et cetera. So we started off this afternoon with that in mind, but again things turned out to be different. The amount of English was quite small, indeed, but they were very helpful and with the help of Google Translate we could make ourselves clear.

After a while, one of the police men took us outside, told us to get in a police car, put on the sirens and drove off. We had no idea what was happening, but the guy was laughing to us and after a while stopped at another police station. There, a young woman walked to us and appeared to be sent to translate everything Russian-English and vice versa. Then the three of us had to tell everything to a police woman, in a pretty relaxed way. That took another 1,5 hours and after that, the translator thought we would be done and invited us for dinner that evening. But then there was another unexpected turn, since telling the story was only the beginning. Anniek, accompanied by two police women, had to go to the train station to show how everything had happened. Marit, with Lina, our translator, had to answer all kinds of questions from another police lady, including how she got the money to buy the e-reader. Another 1,5 hours later, we finally were done. But that report we were not allowed to have, since they will be searching for the bag and e-reader for the next two months. So. That was our afternoon.

We went to buy foods and drinks for our next train ride, dropped them off at the hostel and walked to the subway station where we were to meet Lina and have dinner with her. After waiting for a pretty long time, we decided to have dinner on our own and had very nice pizzas. Back at our hostel, the people from the hostel told us Lina called and said sorry for letting us wait for so long. So sweet! It really was too bad we couldn't meet up anymore, because we had to get showers, pack our bags and leave for the train station. This time we learned from our previous mistakes and got on the train in time.

Arriving at the train, it immediately was clear this train ride would be different from the last one. We were welcomed by Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Hong Kongese and other tourists, all of them on their way to Irkutsk. This time, we slept in a normal cabin for four persons, which we shared with a very friendly British couple, Brett and Cathy. They came straight from Moscow, so had been on the train for those 60 hours already. Luckily, they brought lots of games with them and we played some with them. Also, they assisted us through our next adventure: the hostess of the carriage and her cleaning-mania. When cleaning our cabin, she turned everything upside down and even mopped underneath the rug.

Fijn op de trein

Perfectly on time at the train station of Moscow, we were trying to figure out where our train would leave and found out that we had to go to another station. Apparently, there are something like four train stations near the same subway-station. So, with 18 minutes left, we ran as fast as our backpacks and other luggage(including food for three days) allowed us and made it just in time to the right station and train, the one that would take us from Moscow to Novosibirsk.

So, what is there to say about a train ride of 59 hours and 2 minutes? (OK, minus three hours due to the time zones we travelled through)

Every carriage has an own host, toilet including washing table and tap for hot water. The host was nice, we think, although we could not communicate with her (maybe arriving a minute before the train left, is not the best first impression), the toilet was nasty and the hot water great. Every carriage has about ten compartments with four beds, but luckily we had the luxury of our own two person-compartment for the entire ride.

The first night we had a more or less good night sleep, because we were exhausted from our days in Moscow and the run to the train. Even the bumping of the train, we got used to very fast. The rest of the days were filled with reading; solving puzzles; chatting (starting off with "So, now we have to share our deepest secrets, right?" "O, but, I don't have that many secrets, is there something you want to know about?" "No, I pretty much know everything about you already..." and continuing for two days); getting off at every stop of more than ten minutes (a couple of times a day); eating a lot (note to self: mixing soluble coffee with cola is not a good idea); learning our first four words of Russian (except for "yes" and "no"); and drinking as little as possible, except for the bottle of wodka we brought with us and were not to carry around again after arriving...

Also, we did some reflecting on Moscow and Russian people. Russian people like to talk Russian and are not that keen (understatement) to use any other language or to use gestures etc. Marit can read some Russian, but for the rest, communication is pretty hard and people are not very willing to cooperate. Further, buildings in Moscow are very big, impressive and shiny, but also imposing and full of the power Moscow wants to show off to both the outside world and its own people. Truly impressing at first, but at some point we only were thinking "and another shiny big building..." And at last, people look grumpy and grey and tend to fall asleep everywhere.

The question for the upcoming days in Novisibirsk and Irkutsk: are these Russian characteristics, or only Moscowian? Our first impression of Novosibirsk and its people is that life around here must be better, since the people (finally!) look less sad an grumpy and more colourful.