First post was saved as draft. Posted it at the right time so now we have a new post below Jenny's. Feel free to check it out. Arrived in Ulaanbaatar yesterday, nice to get out of the Beijing smog. Both of us have a horrid cough that I call the Beijing Throat Ripper. Everyone we've run into that was coming from Beijing seems to have it. Just found out the Cadence Weapon show in Berlin was canceled, but Broken Social Scene will be playing in Moscow while we're there so we'll try to go.
The more time we spent in Beijing the more I realized the differences. The first, and to me the most jarring was the lack of wildlife. In Beijing proper I don't think I ever saw an animal larger than a pigeon, other than a few pet dogs and a lone cat that stalked Mao's mausoleum. Moreover, none of the birds ever landed on the ground, they always chose perches out of reach. Every sound in the city is human sound.
Generally the food was good, though I've come to realize I'm not very keen on Chinese food. Out of about 6 meals, two of them were at Korean restaurants and the last was at this excellent Modern-Chinese place run by a Malaysian super-chef (can be found here: http://cafesambal.com/ We went to Paper)
About the train ride. Infinitely more comfortable than the plane, better views and marginally better food. Full of tourists of every background, much less business travelers than I expected. We shared our cabin with a pair of incredibly generous, kind Dutch women who were going to administer a free school for underprivileged children outside UB. What most people will tell you as they travel is how nice everyone is, especially other travelers. Everyone shares what advice they have, what food they can give, any sympathy they can offer. I realized, at least on my part, that it stems from a vulnerability we all share. Traveling through Mongolia you realize that you really are in the wilderness. We've gotten by through gesticulation, finger counting and smiles but any futher means of communication with the great majority of the people around us is impossible.
Mongolia is such a beautiful country that it's a shame it is so hard for me to get to it. Once you leave the city you can just drive for miles and never seen anyone save a few herders. We met a Czech man who plans on just inflating his raft and just fishing and rowing till he reaches either the Chinese, Russian or Kazakh border.
That's all I can squeeze out for now. Will definitely post later, Internet cafes here are 50cents an hour.
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