Off to Mongolia!
Beijing, China.
Stephen woke up very early in the morning (while I slept) and went with Nicole to the bus station and they successfully bought bus tickets for tonight to the Mongolian border. From there we take a minibus across the border, and then we buy a night train ticket for the capital! How funny this all is to me. Yesterday we were stuck in Beijing and didn’t know when or how to see any more of China until after the national day celebrations, and now we’re going to Mongolia with a friend who speaks Chinese and Russian, so will probably be a big help in getting around (especially since we don’t have a Mongolian travel book!). We’ve met a bunch of people who have traveled in Mongolia and they only have wonderful things to say about it (except for the food isn’t very good–lots of noodles, meat, and fat–which makes sense considering the climate). But I’m very excited and we’re going to leave the hostel at 2:30 for our 5:00 bus, so hopefully we won’t miss it! It’s 12:30 now, and we’re going to go to a grocery store to buy snacks for the long trip. We won’t actually get to the capital until Sunday, so we have two nights of traveling ahead of us, but I’m sure it will be a great adventure. I’m still fighting a little cold, but I’ve gotten lots of sleep the past two nights so am starting to feel a lot better. Steve was very sweet to let me sleep this morning while he journeyed to the bus station without me (although he apparently ate a really yummy omelette/crepe/bread thing that sounds delicious and I’m a little jealous about. But I still think it was better to stay in bed!).
I am just a few pages away from finishing “Wild Swans,” and it has been very interesting and educational. I’d recommend to anyone traveling to China or anyone just curious about China’s modern history from just before World War Two until the 1980s. I can definitely see why it was banned in China since the author is very honest about her first hand experience growing up in China during very tumultuous times. I feel like I’ve learned a lot and can look at China with wiser eyes.
Tags: China, Mongolia, Wild Swans
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