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| 571 miles approx |
The Gobi Desert is the world’s northernmost desert, and is the size of Western Europe. It is impossible to convey the sheer scale of this place. Well, in comparison to Russia, it’s positively medium, but nonetheless, it goes on and on and on and on and on.....until the climate changes! The snow gave way to desert and wildlife started appearing again in the form of horses, camels and birds of prey. Unfortunately, as the temperature went up and rime turned to grime, the windows became almost impossible to see through.
I made the best of it and spent the day peering through the bottom inch of clear glass at each of the windows.
No shopping for me today on account of not having any tögrög, which by all accounts is a truly useless currency. Nobody wants to exchange it as it's only useful in Mongolia - itself not exactly tourist central. If you find yourself stuck with tögrög outside Mongolia, consider yourself stuck with it. US dollars are OK if you need to buy anything - I paid for my meal in dollars.
Most pointless fence ever? #2
Birds of prey going in for the kill
Sunset over the Gobi Desert. Stunning end to another awesome day.
The Russian dining car had been replaced with a Mongolian one, so I visited at lunch time with no expectations. I found a beautifully ornate carriage, with uniformed waitresses and a real menu. I ordered a meal and was presented with a top-notch plate of mutton (?), rice, vegetables and salad on a china plate with proper cutlery. Result! I spent an hour or so at the restaurant, reading, taking in the views of the desert and listening to the insane Mongolian radio station, then returned to my compartment in time for crossing the border.
Customs passed quickly and smoothly at both the Mongolian and Chinese sides of the border. Each took around an hour. Must just be the Russians that are paranoid, over-zealous power monkeys. We stopped at Erlian at around 9pm for four hours to change the bogies back to the standard gauge, but not before nationalistic brass band music was loudly piped through the stations speakers! Crossing from the barren desert on the Mongolian side into Erlian was quite spectacular. The station was very prettily lit with multi-coloured lights and ornate street lamps on the platforms. Music was played through the loudspeakers at the station and our Provodnik dished out free meal tickets; one for breakfast and one for lunch at the restaurant car, which tomorrow will be Chinese.
'No such thing as a free lunch', my arse!
Considering that the cuisine is high on my list of reasons I wanted to come to China, this was a pretty good start!
