shopping

I felt as heavy as the polluted air above me, carrying the now 11-kilogram rucksack on my back into the Beijing station. The Beijing-Ulaanbaatar train finally departed at 7:45am. I found myself alone first time in a cabin. It wasn't a busy time for this rail route.

I tried to get some sleep as the train steered through Shanxi’s coal mining landscape. Facing the window, I dozed off…with yellow tints of the clouds above me…

An hour later, I woke up to a bluer skyline at the tail end of the ride through Shanxi. I felt brightened up by that slight, emerging blueness. Let it grow!

When I opened my cabin door in the early evening, I realized there was hardly anyone in this carriage. There were only two Mongolian men in the second next cabin. It felt like being in the first-class carriage - I was travelling on a second-class ticket that had annoyingly cost me £122 one way from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar (although if I had bought it locally at the Beijing station, it would have only cost half of that amount, despite that there’s no guarantee you’ll get that ticket for the day you’re travelling). It meant that I won’t have to queue for the loo…Although, it was quite odd to be so alone – certainly immediately after the all-in-your-face China!

The evening was spent crossing Inner Mongolia. I couldn’t wait to get off the train when we reached the border town Erlian of Inner Mongolia at 8pm. Everyone was eager do the last bit of Chinese shopping in the well-known duty-free supermarket at the station. Once the border officers checked our passports and returned them to us passengers, we were let out like children eager to go out to play!

I could see that the Mongolian passengers were enjoying themselves strolling around the supermarket looking at each and every well-packaged Chinese good on the shelf. And why not? We passengers had two hours to wait around Erlian for the train’s wheels to be changed to the Russian size. Most Mongolians are experienced travelers on this rail route and they would never scream like the occasional Western tourists when the train started moving - to a location a few miles away for the wheel-changing operation.

We relaxed ourselves in the supermarket. There I got sufficient food supplies, like marinaded vegetables, instant noodles and jelly fruit, which would make about three comforting dinners. I also bought two large boxes of crispy seaweed-wrapped pancakes as a present for Urnaa and Gunje whom I was to meet in two days’ time. It was an utterly enjoyable shopping trip as I had all the renminbi to spend before leaving the border. For once, I feel comfortably rich on the rail journey!

We finally crossed the border into Mongolia and arrived at the Mongolian side of the border town Dzamynude at 11:40pm. The train stopped for the Mongolian passport control. We were all asked to fill in declaration forms.