Border

I haven't posted about the train trip into Mongolia yet, so a quick retrospect:
Completely different dynamic than the Moscow to Irkutsk line - instead of a car full of Russian families, I joined the migration of backpackers as we all crammed ourselves into the only train car that would cross the border - there was one Mongolian family as well, but we otherwise saw familiar faces from Irkutsk and Orkhon Island hostels.   We went around the southern tip of Lake Baikal overnight, and arrived at the Russian border town of Naushki at around noon the next day.  At this point, we were disconnected from the train and stood a solitary train car in a station that had eerily little of the previous Russian station bustle.  No one selling pirok and beer on the platform here, and the station was completely empty: no people, no decoration, no stores.  At one point, a cow wandered up onto the station platform and calmly munched its way down the dreary remains of flowerbeds.

We sat throughout the entire gloomy afternoon until 4 pm, when an invasion of different colored uniforms began the border check process - the longest border crossing I have ever been through.   More waiting as we acquired an engine and then began rolling our solo car towards Mongolia.  The scenery here has changed from the Siberia of the previous trip - out of the pine forest and into scrub, steppe, hills, and large meandering rivers.  As we approached the Mongolian border town of Sukh Baatar, first glimpses of gers set up along the riverside, just out of town.  We repeated the series of checks and customs on the Mongolia side, and officially entered the country at around 10 pm.  At this point, our train of one car grew again for the local service into Ulan Baatar - we arrived around 8 am, and took in Saturday morning in the capitol on an early morning backpack walk down "Peace Avenue" in search of a good guesthouse.  Glad to be here.