Onward and upward to China. As we went south through Mongolia the landscape became even more flat and featureless and by the time we reached the Gobhi desert the desolation was rampant and forbidding. All of a sudden we spotted sporadic herds of small horses pawing through the snow at the ground in an effort to find something to graze on. On this train a new attendant was not very helpful. I tried to draw his attention to the lack of toilet paper but he just looked at me as if I had 2 heads. Unfortunately my gut problem was recurring and I was getting desperate. I suddenly remembered I had inadvertently packed some tissues which I tore up as necessary and thankfully just made it. However hot water was completely absent. There was evidence of the industry which will make Mongolia extremely rich i.e. mining. Apparently there are vast accumulations of every mineral, apart from diamonds, which have been recently found in Mongolia. The scenery was unrelentingly boring . The lack of stimulation led to wandering innermost thoughts which were similar to meditation. I suppose this goes hand in hand with the Buddhist religion. When we reached the Border again we were searched by the quasi military with the same deal of surrendering passports and waiting. Because the Chinese rail gauge is different from the previous gauge our carriage was lifted off the chassis and put on a new chassis. Quite strange being suspended in air during the process. This exercise took 6 hours at the dead of night. It would have been a lot easier just to change trains.
At daylight we could see the pollution of China’s critics with vapors steaming out of vast chimneys and multiple factories. The countryside eventually began to perk up a bit with undulating landscapes and even as we approached Beijing there were almost mountains.