By the time I got to the ticket inspection gate leading to the platform, there were already a line of passengers forming. Not surprisingly, most were caucasians. They seems not to be carrying too much food with them, so I assume food will be provided in the lunch car...at reasonable price. I stopped worrying that the amount of food I am dragging aboard won't last the distance. Another thing worrying me is that the limit on carry-on luggage will be strictly enforced. Luckily it wasn't. Waiting at the platform 7 is the K7, with the crew smartly decked out. These guys will be travelling the full 5 days of the trip with the passengers. And in those 5 days, there will be many opportunity to see them less smartly dressed.
At about 7:47am (off by just a few minutes), the K3 pulls out of the platform, lying ahead of her, and us, is 7865km of railroad. That's 4887 miles.Once I got a look at my 3rd class carriage, it's obvious that most of the info I read are pretty outdated. It is far from shabby as described. Each carriage is divided into four beds (2 up 2 down) with toilet at one end and washing basins at the other. Doors at each rooms can be slide closed for privacy. 2nd class pasengers are basically paying for air-con, and 1st class for in-room shower.
I got a 'up' bed, sharing with a Yankee, a Brit, and a Mongolian travelling home to start college. I looks like the whole carriage was fully booked. I worried about the state of the toilet 2 or 3 days into the trip, what with all these people sharing it.Before the excited passengers even settled down, the train was leaving Beijing city behind and heading west towards the countryside in ShanXi. It looks like the train was running along side a craggy mountain range.
Because I had been up the whole previous night, I was going in and out of sleep. but the scenery outside more or less stays the same. Once or twice, the mundane scenery was broken by sun-baked sparsely populated villages. The only highlight so far was a lone donkey tied to a pole baking in the sun. The conversation inside the train was more interesting. The mostly-caucasian crowd was getting introduced and was comparing notes on Mongolia. Turns out the American in our room had been teaching English in China (WuHan, I think) for about 2 years. He 'lamented' about how the more rural the place in China is, the more he was welocmed by the natives. And in urban Beijing, he was almost despised by the more 'sophisticated' natives. I can almost imagine him wandering around Beijing belting out "where is the love...".
When I woke at about 10am, I was pleasantly surprised by meal tickets on the little side-table in the room. So, this is the secret I was not let into: free food is provided on the train!! Hurray!!! No wonder everyone seems to be travelling light.
I was one of the first to arive at the restaurant car for lunch. It wasn't much: bowl of rice, cauliflower stirred fried with spam, and two meatballs drenched in sweet-and-sour sause. You pay for the drink of your choice.
With my stomach filled I went back to bed. By the time I woke at 3pm, we have left Datong, the city bordering ShanXi and Inner Mongolia, behind. So I never got to find out if the Great Wall can really be seen from the train.
It's obvious we are among the 'barbarian hoard' as the Chinese plain gave way to Mongolian steppes.
At about 6:35pm, we arrived at the inner-mongolia city (town?) of Zhurihe.
As the sun sets over the steppes, we pulled into Erlian, the last Chinese station of the trip.
Here, one Chinese guy, who wanted to go as far as his national railway will take him, bide us farewell.
What follows was immigration formality, and the boogie changing, while we waited at the station.
You are free to leave the station to explore the town. Erlian is famous for dinosaur fossil finds. There is supposed to be a Dinosaur Park near the town square. There were 2 beams of light (the kind inspector Gordon used to summon Batman) shotting up into the otherwise dark nightsky. I supposed if I get to the source of the beams, there the town square would be.
But not wanting to stray too far from the station, I just wander within a few blocks in front of the station.There were quite a few hotels and brightly karaoke-restaurants near the station catering to Chinese attracted by their exotic bordertown. But just a few block off, the houses turn shabby, and the air reeked of uncollected rubbish.
The station has a well-stocked minimart, with fresh fruits and frozen food. The sale girls seem to be pushing the fruits, I guess they would be popular with travellers bearing gifts for the nomadic Mongolians. I could have easily stocked up here, but hoping that food will be free on the train all the way to Moscow, I just picked up a few stuff: tidbits, biscuits and ice cream to polish off at the waiting hall.About 30 minutes before midnight, we were let back into the platform. We were joined by passengers boarding from Erlian. By now, the boogie had been changed, and so had the engine. The Mongolian Railway engine takes over from the Chinese one.
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