Eigenseiden Bloggen

So, we got in this morning on the train from Zamiin Uud to Ulaan Baatar. With the training now behind us, this trip was much more relaxed and enjoyable than the trip into the countryside a few days ago. It was good too, knowing better what to expect. After a celebratory toast with some amazing strawberry “adult beverage” called “Xuxu”, we settled in for the ride home. By the way, we were lucky – apparently it is not allowed to enjoy “adult beverages” on the train, as we were sternly lectured by a policeman who walked the length of the train and found us celebrating. We escaped a fine or confiscation!  Phew! My bad!

Theresa had a hard time of the trip, as her allergies bloomed into a full-bore sore throat. The rest of us had an easier time of it. The only difficult note for me was waking up from a dream at about 5 am. I dreamt that I was home sleeping in my own bed. It was very disorienting to wake up and realize I was still on the train! Well, we get on the plane tomorrow morning to come home, and then I will be sleeping in my own bed!

We left Ulaan Baatar on Wednesday afternoon for an overnight trip to our next training location in Zamiin Uud to the southwest. On the left is the train station in Ulaan Baatar, and on the right are Melody, Theresa, Tseegil, and Mogy waiting for our train to come.

The accommodations on board were surprisingly comfortable. Our keepers (thank you, Bob and Elena!) had reserved two whole compartments for us so that we didn’t have to share the limited space with random travelers. Once on the train, we saw young Mongolians in full modern jeans and boots, followed by Buddhist monks, and ancient Mongolians in the heavy felt robes of the herdsmen with their characteristic hats. You could opt for buying clean linens (thank you, Melody!) and each compartment had four pillows and amazingly heavy  wool blankets. So once we settled in, we were quite cozy!

We had a minor moveable feast in our two compartments from groceries bought at the Sky Department Store and from the shops at the train station. We had bought food because our predecessors had told us there was nothing to eat on board. That turned out not to be true in any case! A train attendant made her way the length of the train several times with meals and goodies for sale.

Theresa taught us a card game called “Spit” that managed to cross cultural language barriers readily. We played a small tournament that was won convincingly by our colleague Nyamdavaa who was on the same train. Here are pix. If they’re blurry it’s because we were moving so fast! Here is Theresa (hidden behind Tseegil) playing Nyamdavaa (left) and then Tseegil and Nyamadavaa (right).

While we were playing, Mogy was getting caught up on the news.

Not long after this, we all settled in for the night, rolling in to Zamiin Uud bright and early Thursday morning. We have just three more days of training and then HOME!