ULAAN BAATAR/SIBERIAN EXPRESS

Friday 21st/Sat 22 (8/9 day)

Temples were visited, the Winter Palace too. The King’s robes and artefacts evoked much admiration as did the 22ft gold Buddha in the temple nearby. I hope you can admire it in the accompanying photo as I had to pay 10 US dollars for the privilege. The Museum shop was visited and small presents bought and lastly we went to a supermarket to stock up for the train journey. We ended up with fruit, biscuits, rolls, coffee, milk powder, pistachios, candied kiwi fruits, paper cups, cans of coke, fizzy water for my whiskey and lastly a bottle of Australian Merlot. When I tell you that the whole bill came to £12 each, you may understand why we briefly considered becoming permanent residents of Ulaan Baatar! As Ellie said “you could live like king and queen here”!
Then we got into the car and drove through the traffic to the station and ran like hell with the four suitcases and the shopping and our coolie hats to the train which was waiting. We weren’t late but our driver had had to park in front of someone else’s car and had promised to be 2 minutes. So fond farewells were quickly exchanged and they ran back to liberate the trapped driver.

We climbed aboard and were shown to our compartment by our stewardess. It was even smaller than the one before and this time there was no en suite and no upper bunks (which provide useful stacking space for unwanted clobber). But we settled down cheerfully enough, read and played scrabble until 6pm when out came the paper cups and the whiskey. We toasted our onward journey and discussed supper but our good spirits were somewhat dashed when we discovered, a little while later that there was no restaurant car on board and wouldn’t be until the following day.
The pot noodles, bought in England, were duly unpacked, and consumed gratefully though we were disappointed not to have something more exciting as we’d only had a sandwich for lunch.
We prepared for bed and settled down prior to the SIberian border – We were quite expecting a hard time from the Russian guard and custom officers but in fact they were quieter and more friendly than their Chinese and Mongolian counterparts though the checking and the returning of the documents did take a very long time and it was well after midnight before we were able to settle back to sleep. Pillows filled with either rice or wheat grains – we couldn’t work out which and we didn’t like to cut them open – were no help to a restful night as they made crunchy noises in your ear and also the grains trickled away leaving your head unsupported.

We passed through snowy landscapes all day. Endless silver birch forests and Lake Bakail, a lake so large it looks like a sea and went on forever. We arrived in Irkutsk at tea time and were met successfully, though briskly and without the attention we’ve become used to (spoilt, we are) and are now ensconced at the Marriott Hotel. We have managed to wheedle.them into giving us free wifi which is good and we have a full day’ excursion tomorrow. It is snowing and I fear I have the wrong boots. Time will tell.