Day 11

We were woken at 6.45 by the guard who was very keen to have our sheets as we were departing at 7.35. We got our things together and got off the train. It was still a bit dark but even the people who weren't getting off the train had got out of bed to say some final good byes. Chris, Shane, Jeff, Justin, Jennifer, Rosie, Leon and Dan to name a few. After some photos Bristol Steve and I headed off to a guest house with the four Swedish girls in our little group. Lova and Ida had this accommodation booked weeks ago so we went along to see if they had room for us. Luckily they did and we had a cosy 8 bed dorm room for about two pounds fifty per night! Idre's Guest House is a comfortable place with very friendly staff who speak English.

1 The Welsh Guys 7am good bye

Five days and five nights of strip washing in pretty poor train toilet surroundings had taken its toll and we were all feeling pretty minging. The guest house showers weren't great but it was a relief to be feeling part of civilised humanity again. We even got our laundry done - phew!

2 Ulan Bataar Station

Ulan Bataar, Mongolia's capital, is a strange city but by far the least grandiose capital city I've ever been to. Old Soviet apartment blocks and poorly drained roads with giant pot-holes are the main feature. However, Mongolia's charm is with its people and the rural life. So with Idre's help we booked a tailor-made two day tour to some national parks to explore the area by hiking and horse riding. Steve and I needed to buy our train tickets to Beijing and we were pretty chuffed to find that this Mongolian detour was only going to cost us about 30 pounds in new train tickets.

We all needed comfort food after noodles, soup, ham sandwiches etc, so at 11am on this Sunday morning we found Ulan Bataar's only open Pizzeria and ate!

3 Pool in the street

Another job that badly needed doing was getting my first update of this blog done. That took 3.5 hours in the internet cafe but for about two pounds you can't complain.

Across from the hostel was a hotel and after a supper of goulash and Mongolian beer (about 1.50 per head!) we were ready for bed.

No one could sleep in our dorm, and Lova was ill as well so at three in the morning we decided to postpone our countryside tour by a day.