Meanwhile the traders were organising their stuff and trying to hide as much away as they could! Boxes went into the store lockers under our seat, by now sausages and sweets had been added to the stock! They Sellotaped three boxes together and tried to hang them from the coat hooks, but they kept falling down, I think the idea was that then they wouldn't be very obvious when jackets were hung over them.....if the customs official just took a quick glance.....eventually a couple of boxes stayed up there.
The stewards continued to look on........although they did make them clear the corridor. On we travelled towards the border.........the countryside became more reminiscent of Mongolia, open rolling land, a few cows, some hay......and at the last minute our friend brought a very heavy ingot shaped brown paper package and slid it under my feet!
We arrived at Naushki , the Russian border post. One passport check, then the border police collected them in and disappeared with them for 2 hours! In the meantime the traders stacked bags onto substantial folding trolleys and disappeared,presumably to a market somewhere. The guidebook advised that it was risky to get off the train here without our passports but the steward told us we had two hours, and the train toilets were locked, so we took it in turns to explore the station facilities. Use of the toilet was 8 roubles, but we didn't have any left so they took pity and let us in anyway; contrary to the info in the guidebook they were very clean....but basic! After two hours the traders returned and it was now the turn of the customs official to check us out. Some bags were removed for checking, they climbed up to check the space above the ceilings, but it was fairly tame in comparison with the checks which were to come! After 3 hours 40 minutes we were on our way. The traders relaxed and began to sing some Mongolian songs, then about half an hour later we arrived at the Mongolian border post.
First came a young female soldier who saluted us and told us to go into the corridor. Up she climbed checking the ceiling space and under the seats. Then the border police, another salute, checked our mugshots on our passports and collected them in. Next the Customs who took our customs declaration forms. Our friend had been in and out of the compartment during the journey, but had to sit in his allotted seat for these border crossings. By now I had knitted the whole of the front of an Aran sweater for Orlo and was into my book and a can of gin and tonic!!! (the last of the 6 I set off with ;) ) and it was well into the evening.
The Customs officials returned and returned our forms with a pleasant comment......not so for our friend and his mates in the rest of the carriage! She made a thorough search of our compartment, noting all the boxes of cheese, sausage and sweets under the seats and on one of the top bunks....our friend had put 'nothing to declare' in every space on his form! He was given the form back and told to fill it in, so he borrowed our biro and sat there looking very glum. The same thorough searches were going on all the way down the carriage, but the customs were not very organised so as they moved along, boxes were being moved too ....into different compartments!....... suddenly our friend came in and emptied a rucksack full of children's slippers into the under seat locker, pushing them in amongst the cheese, sweets etc......then he was running between the compartments to collaborate on how much to declare we think!
We sat there taking it all in, very amused, the Dutch couples were amazed I think, but as there were the four of them in their compartment the Customs had left them alone apart from a cursory glance.
The searching went on and we were getting very tired. Our friend was no where to be seen, one of the stewards seemed to have taken up position outside our door, not sure if that was to protect us, or her share in the eventual proceeds! Anyway we decided it was time for bed, so we made up our beds and tried to settle down. The steward gave a look of approval and closed our door. Mayhem continued outside, but we settled down to rest and wait for the welcome lurch as we got going again. After a total stop of about two and a half hours we heard the engine hoot and we were off!! No sign of our friend! We both made quick dash to the loo, once they were unlocked again and tried to settle to sleep.....in our clothes.....with a light on!!! Meanwhile the train went like the clappers over some rough track in places and I kept my fingers crossed that we would reach our destination without incident! Michael set is clock for 6.0am Irkutsk time as we were due in to Ulaanbaatar at 6.30am.
All through the night we could hear the noise of sellotape being wrapped round boxes as the traders repacked their wares. The woman next to us must have worked all night fortified by some vodka judging by her breath in the morning! We got up at 6.0am only to discover about an hour later that Mongolia is one hour different to Irkutsk and we could have had another hour in bed and time for a cup of tea!!! The female trader came to collect her goods from our compartment and reseal them, our friend was no longer on the train and we think she tried to tell us that he had gone to hospital, but maybe he had got off at Darhan even though he had told us he was going to UB.......maybe he thought it best to change to another train ?!
It was just light and we were travelling through Mongolia steppe with gers (yurts) in the distance form time to time, eventually the lights of UB could be seen in the distance, we passed the airport and swung round to the city...... One of the stewards came to retrieve the 'ingot'.....and the train pulled into the platform. Andrew, Amanda and Orlo were there on the station, along with a lot of men with big trolleys! I pulled and pushed my bags along the corridor to be confronted by Mongolian men rushing at me! ...... I was very firm ;o), one or two shoved past climbing over the big bag but fortunately the others stood back and one actually helped to lift the bag down. Michael and the Dutch couples were a little bit behind but also made it through the crush.
We had made it!!!! Lots of smiles and hugs and photos!! All around us the train was being unloaded!!!! we trundled off to the Land Cruiser and set off through the early morning quiet .......
This is a brief account of the goings-on on this train, but I hope it has given you an idea of the journey.........
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