Beijing Bound

This is what fuels the samovar and the means to make coffee
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Up early at five am and we gathered our stuff and headed down to the train station to try to secure a ticket to Beijing. The only tickets available were first class tickets, much the same as second class, just slightly nicer decor. So we took two of those. We were going on the Chinese train number 4 from Moscow at 7.30 that morning.

After a saga involving two sick Dutch people who needed a compartment to themselves, a bribe of $50 to ensure this we ended up getting a compartment to ourselves too - except they were the ones who paid and had to move! Free enterprise is alive and well amongst the conductors of the Chinese trains I can tell you!

just 272 kms before Beijing we got our first glimpse of the Great Wall

Cathal in the Mongolian dining car
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The train was nice with a gorgeous Mongolian dining car. We crossed the Mongolian border around 7.30pm, this was without incident. Then off again to cross into China. Once again, no problems here, we had no items of detrimental affect to the "politics, economy, culture or ethics" if the Chinese to declare. We stayed on the train for the bogie change - Cathal being far too excited about this than is actually advisable. I slept through the whole thing. For most of you non-trainspotters this is where they change the wheels of the train because the tracks are narrower in China, so they lift the whole thing up and replace the underneath bit.  Cathal assures me it was done with frightening efficiency and took lots of photos, all I know is that they didn't make a lot of noise, or rattle the train around too much!

A very ornate silver tea set at our table
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We got some food vouchers for breakfast and lunch, and when we arrived there was a new Chinese dining car. For breakfast we got boiled eggs, bread, jam, butter and jasmine tea. And chopsticks to eat it with. I don't know how you are meant to eat a boiled egg with chopsticks, so I just ate it with my fingers like the cretin I am!

We caused consternation at lunch cause we refused the meat, the attendant proudly came back with fish, which we smilingly refused and then she gave us 4 platefuls of stirfried vegetables and rice. Bless her. We were being observed the whole time by the Chinese, who were avidly checking out our chopstick use! I had performance anxiety but reckoned I acquited myself well they didn't laugh too much. So all the Chinese takeaway practice was not wasted.

The following are all bogie changing photos. Blame Cathal
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The scenery on the journey is much like that throughout Mongolia, you get to Chinese-run Inner Mongolia and then slowly the landscape changes. There are more donkeys being used to work the land, the houses are houses not gers and then, just 272 kms before Beijing we got our first glimpse of the Great Wall. You can see it quite clearly from the train, marching up hills, some areas in poor condition.  On the hillsides, trees were in blossom and it was really sunny and warm when we got off the train. We weren't used to temperatures over 20 degrees, but here they were.

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We arrived in Beijing about 2.30pm and then made tracks for the subway (geddit?) and for our Hostel in a Hutong.