It was a bright and early 6.30am wake up call for the last train to Beijing. This was a particular shock to the system as I had become accustomed to not getting out of my sleeping bag before 8 or 9am (due to the cold mornings in the desert!). There were about 15 people from the UB Guesthouse also heading for the train and the platform seemed relatively overwhelmed with backpackers heading south. Through miscommunication Helen and I had ende dup paying too much for our tickets, resulting in there being only the two of us in our compartment. The train was the cleanest yet and we even got a lunch box (at 10am) of edible food, apart from the dodgy looking sausages.
The 30 hour journey passed quickly enough. The Gobi became flatter and drier the further south we went, with barely a ger or herd of goats in sight. The two towns we passed through looked like the last outposts on earth, dusty and windswept and desperate.
You're no longer allowed to get off the train at the border so instead we had to sit tight whilst the train rattled and jolted as it was lifted up and the bogeys (wheel undercarriage) was changed - different gauges used in Mongolia and China. It was pretty interesting actually, with the busy little workers in dark blue jump suits and "hard hats" of woven cane!
When we awoke the next morning the desert had gone and the countryside looked lush and green, every available level space being used for crops. As the mountains became more rugged we started to get glimpses of the Great Wall, like a dragon's spine running along the ridges and down the steep green valleys. The GREAT WALL!!!! I was definitely in China!!!
A herd of backpackers hunted down the only functioning ATM near the station in Beijing then dispersed into the swaming chaos that is Beijing. One adventure finished a new had begun.