Today we were rather rudely awoken by our provodnitsa (carriage attendant) at 04.30 am in preparation for our 6 am arrival. Given we had already packed our bags and were pretty much ready to disembark (bar putting on clothes for Nick) we considered this an unreasonably early time to be stirred from sleep. Nick lay sprawled across the covers in an undignified sleepy stupor, hairy legs and bum facing the door, and snored on as she tried to rouse us for the first time. I told Nick once she had left that he had presented a less-than-welcoming sight for our provodnitsa, and Nick replied with an emphatic ‘GOOD – I didn’t like her anyway!’
Carriage attendants are generally well respected, but have a reputation for being stern and rather austere. Our carriage attendant seemed to downright detest us. She initially thought we were American, and the sour first impression seemed to last for the entire journey.
So, what else was remarkable on this journey?
Well, unfortunately it wasn’t the generosity of Russian strangers giving us food and vodka, or the stunning views. While the journey around the southern edge of Lake Baikal is supposed to be some of the prettiest of the entire Trans-Mongolian route, unfortunately it was dark when we traversed this section.
It was remarkably slow. Our route was quite indirect, skirting Lake Baikal before stopping at Ulan-Ude and then at the Russian border post for 3.5 hours for customs and border checks. Then again at the Mongolian border for the same process. So it was around 7 hours stationary in a hot, stuffy and extremely sweaty compartment.
But, as usual, we passed the time with reading, resting and recuperation, as well as some interesting conversations. We had the compartment to ourselves for most of the journey, so could also play music and stretch out.
While it might not sound like we had a great journey to Ulaan Baatar (UB), our day here today has more than made up for it!
First stop was the Gandan Khiid Monastery, home to the largest monastery in all of Mongolia, as well as a rather large proportion of fellow Australian tourists (much older than us). The setup inside its walls was an array of temples, with the main one containing a 26m copper statue Ayush (the Buddha of Longevity), built in 1911 by Bogd Khan in the hopes of restoring his eyesight at the time (it didn’t). In fact, it was later dismantled by Russia in 1937 and allegedly melted down to make bullets, before being rebuilt thanks to donations from Japan and Nepal. The statue even contains 27 tons (yes you heard it right) of medicinal herbs, 334 Sutras (gods) and two million bundles of words (just in case he forgets the words once or twice one would imagine!).
Next stop was a quick tour of the ‘Central Museum of Mongolian Dinosaurs’, where an extensive collection is slowly taking shape as Mongolia was once home to an abundance of dinosaurs ~65 million years ago. The main artifacts are now being discovered in the depths of the Gobi Desert, where fossils have laid undisturbed for millions of years waiting for paleontologists to discover their beauty. Definitely worth a visit as the collection grows and the US starts to return some of their ‘borrowed’ artifacts.
Last stop before lunch included a history lesson at the National Museum of Mongolia, where an abundance of rooms shed light on the long and complex history of the country from the Mongolian empire, to Genghis Khan (not such a great guy after all), the communist/socialist ideology that was emulated from Russia during the Soviet era, to modern day politics and how Mongolia is starting to become a ‘democratic’ and free-market economy (dragged into the evil jaws of capitalism like most others struggling to get by). Nonetheless this was a great museum and we highly recommend it. PS: everything is even in English!
We then proceeded to enjoy an amazing lunch at a local vegan restaurant suggested to us by Lonely Planet, Luna Blanca Restaurant. It was so good that we even returned again that evening for dinner, who knew saving the planet could taste so good?
The afternoon was much more relaxing as we wandered around the main city square, home to the Government Palace (containing a huuuuuggggge Genghis Khan statue) as well as the Sukhbaatar statue (a brave fighter whom the city is named after) and then we organised the rest of our time in Mongolia by booking a 6 night/7 day tour of the Gobi desert, where we will be stopping at iconic spots such as the Flaming Cliffs and exploring the mountainous terrain that Mongolia truly has to offer. Speaking of which, the tour leaves tomorrow at 9am sharp and it is currently 2am so toot-toot toot-a-loo! The updates from our hectic tour will be posted in around 7 days as we reenter society, a place whereby the world wide web consumes us for better of for worse.
/Fred and Nick on behalf of FRICK
Frick Sustainable Travels 
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