It is another early start as we say goodbye to Ulaanbaatar and hello to our new train. This time it is a chinese train for the remaining leg of the journey. That's only 1 day and 4.5 hours left.
Our bunk room has polished wood walls and looks quite classy and has a fancy ornate restaurant car for when we get tired of our little room.
Our bunk room has polished wood walls and looks quite classy and has a fancy ornate restaurant car for when we get tired of our little room.
This next section is going to be boaring as out the window is the Gobi desert, although it is interesting seeing some of the mining towns. They are not exactly tourist destinations.
The Gobi desert covers much of the southern part of Mongolia. (1.25 million square kilometres)Unlike the Sahara there are few sand dunes, rather you'll find large barren expanses or gravel plains and rocky outcrops. Extreme climate +40 degrees in summer and -40 in winter.
The Gobi desert covers much of the southern part of Mongolia. (1.25 million square kilometres)Unlike the Sahara there are few sand dunes, rather you'll find large barren expanses or gravel plains and rocky outcrops. Extreme climate +40 degrees in summer and -40 in winter.
More time in the café, even though they had little food, most was sold on the earlier Beijing Ulaanbaatar leg. Still it was a change in scenery.
Passport and border crossing 10pm, then the bogie exchange for the different rail gauge at Erlian.
The Russia military always believed the rail was a major war asset and for that reason wanted Russia to use a different rail gauge to Asia.
It takes 4 to 5 hours to change all the bogies, as you can see large hydraulic lifts raise the carriages allowing one set of bogies to be rolled out and a new set to be rolled under each carriage.
We had the choice of staying on the train or getting off and watching the operation. But there was no getting on or off once the operation started. We stayed on the carriage and after taking a few pictures through the window did our best to sleep in our bunks.
Not sure what time we started moving again, So ends another long day.
Passport and border crossing 10pm, then the bogie exchange for the different rail gauge at Erlian.
The Russia military always believed the rail was a major war asset and for that reason wanted Russia to use a different rail gauge to Asia.
It takes 4 to 5 hours to change all the bogies, as you can see large hydraulic lifts raise the carriages allowing one set of bogies to be rolled out and a new set to be rolled under each carriage.
We had the choice of staying on the train or getting off and watching the operation. But there was no getting on or off once the operation started. We stayed on the carriage and after taking a few pictures through the window did our best to sleep in our bunks.
Not sure what time we started moving again, So ends another long day.