Friday evening, August 24. 8.00 PM.
I am sitting in bed, pyjamas on, with my laptop. Hopefully I have succeeded in getting away today's happenings and some photos. It is a bit complicated doing a blog when travelling in a vast country like Russia, let alone crossing borders, as we are going to do in the next few days.
Four hours ago we left Ulan Ude, in Russia. We were informed that we were now on the Trans Mongolian Railway. We are being pulled by a different locomotive, a diesel, as the railroad south from Ulan Ude is not electrified as we have been the last week. The tracks now are not long welded tracks so we now have the clickty-click that friend Jim mentioned would rock us to sleep. Hmmm!
The landscape the last few hours have been actually beautiful, much like the interior of BC and the Caribou. The houses are no longer shacks but very properly built homes with small outbuildings and a hay storage area. Obviously rain is not a problem because hay is often stored uncovered, in bulk,
We have seen more cattle in the last four hours than we have seen all week. People seem to take pride of ownership in their property which is maybe less than one acre, fenced and quite presentable. Everybody has a kitchen garden and most appear to have a smokehouse of some sort. An outhouse is often seen but seem to be disused.
After the border crossing procedure tonight, in one hour, and then again in three hours, we hope to get some sleep in preparation for tomorrow where we are in Ulan Bator, [or Ulaanbaatar], Mongolia obviously.
The plan is that after coming into the city tomorrow morning, we will do some touring, have lunch at a hotel and then those of us that are crazy enough will be taken out of town to spend the evening and night sleeping in a Yurt. [A Mongolian circular tent arrangement,] Each Yurt apparently has a stove that burns wood and it needs constant attention as we are told it can get chilly at night. It sounds remarkably like the cabin at 100 Mile House including outdoor plumbing!
I may be out of contact for a day or two.
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