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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“...onwards to Mongolia. Hurrah!” |
Waking up on the outskirts of Erlian, a bizarre sight lurked by the roadside - statues of dinosaurs. It was actually a really awesome thing to see, probably because we didn't expect anything. At all. We were, after all, in the middle of Inner Mongolia (another piece of land the Chinese have taken from a bordering country). There is a good reason behind it, Erlian is a "hotbed" of fossil finds.
Anyhow, we arrived at 5:30am, ready to hurry to the train station. We jumped in a private taxi with Kyle (RMB5 pp - real price in proper taxi is RMB5 total). Kyle is an American guy who speaks Chinese and can pass for Chinese, Mongolian or Asian-Russian, also the hero of this entry.
We got to the station, but we were told to wait for the CITS office to open - the normal ticket counter wouldn't issue international tickets. Kyle spoke with the staff who said that there might not be a train! We did NOT want to get stuck here for three days (we were worried about possible liver failure, since drinking was about all that could be done). But there might be a bus, contrary to what we'd been told. Ok, on with the packs, taxi back to the bus station (real price this time), no bus, bugger, packs back on, taxi to the train station. Poor Kyle had to lug around a monolithic suitcase, which may have been filled with lead.
At the station, a Mongolian girl and Japanese guy were waiting, but the girl had a cell phone. A score because Kyle was able to ring a number on the CITS window. The lady on the phone wasn't interested until Kyle mentioned that he wanted seven tickets to UB (there were no tickets just across the border to Dzanyn Ude, the cheaper option). The cash registers must have been ringing in her head and we were told to wait and she'll be there ASAP. We hung tight, and she turned up to open the office 15 min early.
Mark and Carrie turned up with their newly acquired Mongolian friends (they had gone in another taxi). To seal their friendship, Mark ended up half cut from vodka shots at 9am. One guy was a Mongolian police officer who tried to help them, but he was barely standing. Kyle came to their rescue. He sorted out our tickets, buying the last ones available; 6 soft sleepers (RMB450) and one deluxe sleeper (RMB560) (lucky Carrie!).
Our Mongolian friends took us to a hotel (RMB10 pp, no shower). Now what to do? 12 hours until our train leaves and even the tumbleweed left town because it was bored. We had our first Mongolian meal which included dumplings in milk tea (we had better Mongolian food that evening, and in UB) and tasted süü-tei tsai; Mongolian milk tea, something that we started to get used to, very slowly.
We found internet and surfed or blogged for a few hours before the police raided the place. Nothing dramatic, but our puters were turned off without warning. A quick argument about payment (the guy couldn't add) and we were a few hours from leaving.
Talking and dinner took the rest of our time. Sonya and her family are from UB, although Sonya has been in Seattle the last two years, helped us with the menu and invited us to dinner in UB!! Cool.
We got to the station at 9:30pm, left at 11:30pm and after two hours
for Chinese customs (it always takes longer when you have a train load
of people to check) it was onwards to Mongolia. Hurrah!
previous travel blog entry
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