Ulan Bator 2nd day, Mongolia
Walked to the train station with Goy this morning to enquire about trains to Beijing.
There are trains to Beijing 2 times a week, Thursday and Sunday morning. 200,000/130,000 Tugrug. The journey will start at 8am and arrive in Beijing 3pm one day later, around 31 hours train ride.
Train to HohHot (HuHeHaoTe) only goes on Friday and Monday. 120,760 Tugrug
Train to Erlian goes on Monday, Thursday and Friday. 50,000 or 83,000 Tugrug
Street View
Main department store in the city
Mongolia still has a big Russian influence.
Mongolian is sort of a Buddhist country. There were many temples but were razed because of communism.
Gandan Monastery
Took bus 21 to the Naran Tuul Market such as Black Market. The black market is huge and it’s very windy, super cold there.
Beatles
Circus
There are also some Korean influence in Mongolia because during the Soviet times, Stalin moved many Koreans to Mongolia. Currently, many Koreans and Chinese go to Mongolia to do business because the country is still lagging behind and there are more opportunities to make money. I noticed that there were quite a lot of Korean signboards.
UlaanBaatar Opera House
National University of Mongolia
Finally decided to take a flight to Beijing because flying will only take 2 hours, plus I get to stay another day in Ulan Bator and get to visit Beijing airport. Also I was worried that it might be hard to get train tickets in China because of school holidays. Winter time is low season for travel, a one way ticket by mongolian airways usually cost above USD$200 but now the tickets are selling for around 200,000 Tugruk~USD$136. Just for comparison purposes, the direct train from HohHot to Ulan Bator cost around USD$130, 24 hours and the train from Ulan Bator to Beijing cost around USD$110, 30 hours.
Trains departing from Mongolia to Beijing is also cheaper than the other way, I am not sure why.
Went to a local restaurant with 3 hostel mates, from America, Italy and Singapore. There are all around 40-60 years old but looked much younger than their age.
Rice with steak and Egg (2700 Tugruk~USD$2)
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