Trans-Mongolian Express
When the Trans-Mongolian Express made one of two scheduled stops on its trip across China, I was out of the train and on the platform in an instant. It was smokers and photographers at 50 paces. Train stops in China, Mongolia and Russia are a risky business, the train departs without any announcement, or even a blast of the train's horn. Rule Number 1, never stray far from the train, Rule Number 2, keep a close eye on the (in this case) lady in blue, because when she disappears, the steps will be raised, the doors will be locked and the train will disappear too.
Our train was enormous, consisting of Mongolian cars with a string of Chinese cars, and a Chinese dining car, attached at the back of the train. All the Chinese cars were removed at the Chinese border.
Ever the intrepid traveller, I had lunch in the Chinese dining car. It was a relic from the 1950, a Soviet built car that hadn't been cleaned since Mao died. The floor was awash with water (they said the air conditioning had failed), there were only four items available from an extensive menu, all were served cold, as was the boiled rice. The food was quite nice nonetheless.
The dining car ran out of food before dinner time, if you didn't have a stash of raman noodles, it was slim pickings for dinner.
We crossed the border into Mongolia in the wee small hours, the Chinese dining car was replaced with a Mongolian car that did not open until 7 o'clock: it only had one item on the menu. If scrambled eggs were your thing, breakfast was good.
Trans-Mongolian Express
When the Trans-Mongolian Express made one of two scheduled stops on its trip across China, I was out of the train and on the platform in an instant. It was smokers and photographers at 50 paces. Train stops in China, Mongolia and Russia are a risky business, the train departs without any announcement, or even a blast of the train's horn. Rule Number 1, never stray far from the train, Rule Number 2, keep a close eye on the (in this case) lady in blue, because when she disappears, the steps will be raised, the doors will be locked and the train will disappear too.
Our train was enormous, consisting of Mongolian cars with a string of Chinese cars, and a Chinese dining car, attached at the back of the train. All the Chinese cars were removed at the Chinese border.
Ever the intrepid traveller, I had lunch in the Chinese dining car. It was a relic from the 1950, a Soviet built car that hadn't been cleaned since Mao died. The floor was awash with water (they said the air conditioning had failed), there were only four items available from an extensive menu, all were served cold, as was the boiled rice. The food was quite nice nonetheless.
The dining car ran out of food before dinner time, if you didn't have a stash of raman noodles, it was slim pickings for dinner.
We crossed the border into Mongolia in the wee small hours, the Chinese dining car was replaced with a Mongolian car that did not open until 7 o'clock: it only had one item on the menu. If scrambled eggs were your thing, breakfast was good.