Day 9

Steve and I have decided to get off the train in Mongolia! It looks like a fascinating country. Less fascinating is the smell of not having a shower for the entire journey. As well as Mongolian scenery, the showers are pretty enticing too.

1 Trees

In the morning I bought some fresh water, bread, and some chocolate wafer things from a babushka. I spent the rest of the morning reading up on China and chatting the time away.

We wanted to drink some beers in our cabin around 8pm but our Chinese cabin-mate (whose name we still haven't figured out) was in bed. So we went to the restaurant carriage and did beers in there. At 3am we were running up and down the carriages pretty much making nuisances of ourselves. Some people were talking of getting up at 7am to see the breathtaking views of Lake Baikal but I wasn't really up for doing that.

2 More Russian Scenery

It's a bit like being back at halls of residence, there's always someone awake either chatting or drinking or playing cards. It really feels like a party atmosphere 24 hours and I'm really loving it. I had worried about being in a cabin with strangers who I couldn't communicate with but it seems like the easiest thing to mix with the other western travelers. I would estimate there are well over 50 of us between the ages 20-30. There is a good section of older western tourists too around retirement age, and the rest of the passengers are Russian and Chinese people going about their business. Nobody gets on or off at the stations we pass, though lots will depart (including me) in Mongolia

3 Another Party? Why not?

4 In the Carriage Corridors