We have a night-time departure from Ulaanbaatar to Irkutsk on the train tonight. That gave us a whole day to kill, starting with a leisurely breakfast.
We then walked to town to check out the museum. It had interesting displays of Mongolian culture and history, eg. costumes, the expanse of Chinggis Khan’s empire, the Communist Revolution and later, democracy.
We also had the time to go to an internet cafe to write our first email home. That took over 2h as the internet and hotmail was painfully slow.
By mid-afternoon I was having my second massage at Ulaanbaatar. It was a good neck and back massage followed by a foot massage. The foot treatment was interesting: I was given a foot bath to soak in; a couple of powders were added which turned the liquid into a slurry and finally a third powder rendered the slurry back into a liquid!
Back in the hotel room, we hurriedly showered and packed up. As there was no hot water, the shower was quick! We were out of the room by 1645, having arranged for a late check-out of 1700. The manager initially wanted to charge for the late check-out but relented when I promised we would eat in-house at their restaurant.
Dinner in-house proved to be a treat. Caviar and egg salad, and a dumpling soup as entree. And for mains, a deepfried crumbed burger with cheese grilled on the top, and a beef schnitzel. All that was washed down with a beer.
We settled our stomachs by resting at reception before taxiing to the railway station. Upon boarding, I noticed the samovar at the end of the carriage had a supply of firewood above it. I really didn’t expect wood-fired hot water for my coffee, tea and instant noodles.
Once in our cabin, we met our room-mates Sarah and Liz who had been working in Japan. They’re from Canada and Australia respectively. But Liz’s mother is from Kuching, my hometown, so we had plenty to talk about before settling in for our sleep.
Our wagon #1 was right behind the engine. So it was a little noisier than the previous trip. This leg on the train from Ulaanbaatar to Irkutsk spans a distance of 1113km over 36h29.
The fare this time was shown on the ticket as about NZD55 but we had paid about NZD170 purchased in New Zealand through the agent and their supply chain. [Edit: Travel before the internet revolution.]