I have not been able to update my blog because of the situation I was dealing with. I am going to write about that in this entry.
May 12, 15 hours of train trip: Ulaanbaatar – Zamyn-Ud
In the morning, I woke up feeling a little better after sleeping for a long time. When I checked the health tracker on my wrist, it showed that I had slept for 10 hours. Even so, I still did not feel fully recovered.
My plan for the day was to go to Zamyn-Ud, the closest Mongolian city to the Chinese border, and then figure out how to get from Erenhot to Beijing in China.
The train I was taking departed at 16:40, so I headed to the station about an hour earlier. Whenever I go somewhere for the first time, I always make sure to arrive much earlier than scheduled.
After arriving at Ulaanbaatar Station, I was surprised by how many people were there. The last time I came to the station, there were only a few people, but this time it was extremely crowded. Almost every seat in the waiting room was taken.
Since I wanted to make sure I got on the correct train, I asked a couple of people using gestures. At this point, I had already given up on communicating in English.
I waited for the train doors to open while other passengers gathered around the same wagon. Most of them looked older, probably in their 40s, and many had children with them. I was surprised that they were taking a train ride of more than 10 hours with young kids.
After the station staff checked my ticket, I boarded the train. Right away, it did not feel comfortable. The space was much smaller than I expected. There were four beds: two regular bunk beds on one side and two smaller beds on the other side, with a very narrow aisle between them.
My ticket assigned me to the smaller upper bed.
As soon as I got on the train, I had a bad feeling. I immediately went to the bathroom, but it was closed. I looked at the sign on the door, and it explained that the bathroom closes 30 minutes before and after the train stops at a major station.
At that time, my stomach was already destroyed by something I had eaten at a ger in Mongolia, so I desperately needed to use the bathroom. I asked a train staff member to open the door, but she clearly refused.
Eventually, about 40 minutes after the train departed from Ulaanbaatar, I was finally able to use the bathroom.
The bathroom itself surprised me. It took me a minute to figure out how it worked. After using the toilet, I had to push a pedal below it so the bottom part would open and everything would drop directly onto the ground outside. My stomach was still completely upset.
When I returned to my seat, another passenger with a child was sitting on the lower small bed. She did not look very friendly, which intimidated me a little. On the other side were three middle-aged women and one man.
After the train departed, I suddenly started feeling extremely sick. Even though the temperature inside the train was very warm, I felt freezing cold.
I unfolded the bed, climbed up, and tried to sleep. It was the smallest bed I had ever slept on. I could barely fit, and I constantly felt like I might fall off whenever the train shook.
About 30 minutes later, I woke up because the three women and their children were talking loudly. At least the cold feeling had disappeared, but I gave up trying to sleep there.
Instead, I went to the small space at the end of the wagon where the window was open and stayed there for a while. Some kids wanted to play with me, which actually made me feel a little better.
However, my sickness was getting worse. I had a fever, headache, dizziness, and stomachache. I could barely stay awake, so I returned to the bed and slept for another 30 minutes. I still did not feel any better.
I woke up again and went back to the small space. At that point, I decided that I would stay awake until everyone else went to sleep because there was no chance of resting while the kids were running around and the adults were playing cards and talking loudly right next to my bed.
At one point, I seriously thought I was going to die.
Around 8 PM, people started eating dinner, which made me feel even worse. Around 9 PM, the lights became dimmer and some passengers finally started sleeping.
While sitting in the small space, I noticed an available larger upper bed. I asked the older man sleeping on the lower bed if I could use it, and he kindly agreed.
That completely changed everything.
The area was much quieter, and the bed was larger and far more comfortable.
May 13, Cross the border from Mongolia to China
I slept on that bed until around 6 AM, when everyone started preparing to get off the train by packing their belongings and folding their blankets and sheets.
After waking up, I felt somewhat better, although I still had a headache. Looking back, the experience would have been much worse if I had not found that more comfortable bed.
After spending around 15 hours on the train while fighting sickness, I was exhausted. My phone battery was also almost dead, so I headed to a coffee shop after arriving.
On the way, there were many drivers offering rides to passengers, mostly to China, I assume. Since I needed to get to Erenhot, I decided to rest and charge my phone first.
I stayed at the coffee shop for a couple of hours before going back outside to look for a driver.
While I was searching, an older man wearing a driver’s hat, probably in his 60s, approached me from behind. I confirmed the price with him and agreed to let him drive me to Erenhot.
The ride cost about $8.
Since I did not have enough cash, I withdrew money from a bank and paid him upfront. After that, he continued looking for more passengers. He stopped random people and asked if they wanted a ride. Before long, he found a Chinese group of three passengers. He looked very happy once the car was full.
Finally, we left Zamyn-Ud for Erenhot.
The driver smoked constantly, so I wore a mask during the ride. While we were driving, I had to fill out the immigration form required for entering China.
The driver was completely wild. He kept honking at other cars to move faster, which I found funny, although the other drivers looked very annoyed.
We first stopped at the Mongolian checkpoint and went through the procedures smoothly. Afterward, the old driver was waiting for us outside, and we quickly got back into the car.
The second checkpoint was Chinese immigration.
That was where I got stopped.
Since I did not have a plane ticket, hotel reservations, or a clear itinerary, I looked extremely suspicious. I was probably the only Japanese person going through immigration there at the time.
The officers took me aside and asked me many questions.
As they questioned me, I realized how unusual my situation sounded: no job, no reservations, no tickets, and no friends in China. Honestly, I could not blame them for being suspicious.
I answered all their questions and even showed them photos on my phone. After about an hour, they finally allowed me to enter China.
At that point, I had already assumed that the driver and the three Chinese passengers had left without me.
But when I walked outside, they were still waiting.
I was honestly very grateful to them, especially to the impatient driver. I quickly apologized and got back into the car.
From there, it only took about five minutes to reach the center of Erenhot. The driver dropped me off where I requested, and I said goodbye to everyone.
I do not know what other drivers transporting people between Mongolia and China are like, but I was glad that I trusted this old driver.
I walked toward a hotel I had planned to stay at, but I could not find it, so I entered another hotel instead.
Using gestures, I asked the receptionist if I could stay for one night, and she quickly handed me a room card in exchange for my passport.
The room had two beds. There was no air conditioner, even though the temperature outside was almost 100°F. Still, the room was decent for the price, which was about $25.
After checking in, I went to a nearby restaurant for lunch. I also bought some fruit and water before returning to the hotel.
For the rest of the day, I stayed in the room resting and hoping to recover completely.
May 14
In the morning, I felt much better. I think I was almost fully recovered.
I am now on a train heading to Jiningnan, where I will transfer to another train for Beijing.
This train departed at 9:40 AM and is supposed to arrive in Jiningnan at 4:00 PM.
Compared to the train from Ulaanbaatar to Zamyn-Ud, this one is far more comfortable. Even though the ride will take about six hours, I am no longer worried about feeling as terrible as I did on the previous train.
I am truly glad that I have recovered enough to finally feel almost normal again.
