Entering China
As we approached the border to enter China, Dwayne realized he
had mistakenly thrown away his Mongolian customs clearance records. We had
visions of his being detained, pulled off the train in handcuffs and given a
perp walk to the Customs Office. Dwayne quickly devised a plan, he would plead
stupidity. Dwayne’s act would be to go through all this accessible luggage with
increasing frustration while the customs officer waited, and hopefully, the
customs official would said forget it.
When we rolled in to Dzamyn-Ude, we were
confronted again by a cute Mongolian immigration officer in full uniform regalia and a
deeply stern face. She saluted as she came to our doorway, looking like she
would use handcuffs on the slightest provocation. She collected our passports.
Behind her came the customs officer. She asked for our papers. We handed ours
over while Dwayne went into his act. She was patient, as Dwayne pulled all
sorts of stuff out of his backpack and hand luggage. Finally, she gave up
waiting and presented Dwayne some forms to compete confirming he and Carla had
nothing to declare. Paperwork in order
she quietly left leaving an Oscar-winning performance behind. So, with a sigh of relief, we were cleared by
Mongolian Customs.
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| Changing Out Bogies Due to Change in Railroad Gauge Entering China |
After clearance we stopped at the Chinese side for entry
formalities. We had no problems with our well-used Chinese visas. This was our
third time entering China in the past 18 months.
Then, the fun began with the changing of the train car bogies,
or wheel-trucks in Erlian, China. The train is brought into a large barn where
it is broken into segments. Each segment is brought down a track to a lift.
After the ice was broken off the train, the entire railcar body was lifted
about six feet and the Russian bogies removed.
The Russian track is six inches wider than the usual worldwide
standard. So, for the train to continue
on Chinese railways smaller bogies had to be installed.
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| Workshop Where Bogies Were Changed |
Ours was the first segment
completed, so we pulled down the track. A few minutes later the train reversed
to couple with the next segment. Engineer Joltin’ Joe hammered the coupling
home with a violent bang. Whiplash! He repeated the process three more times.
Four hours and 20 minutes after we started this process, we were on our way.
Approaching Beijing our
attendant decided to stop stoking the heat, preferring to clean up, and the
temperature plummeted as temps were in the low 20 degree Fahrenheit range. By
morning it was indeed cold in our compartment.
Colder than our collective body heat could ward off. The radiator was “warm”.
So, we wrapped in blankets and sheets to retain body heat. Stocking caps were in order.
Eventually, we arrived at
the Beijing Central Station. We followed the exit signs to the great square,
where we were immediately attacked by taxi touts. Brian tried to fend them off
with a firm “No.” We worked our way to
the official taxi queue, where all the rules are supposedly followed. Two
characters raced ahead of us, and first tried to force us to take two taxis…no,
we only needed one. Brian finally got the message across – one taxi. Then,
after the luggage was loaded and everyone was in the car, the taxi driver demanded
400 yuan (about $60) for the fare. He
and Brian haggled back and forth and finally settled on 300 yaun, which was
still waaaayyyy too much. The fare should have been no more than 100 yaun. But
things were getting testy, and the officials in charge were not interested in
intervening. 300 yuan was about $45 which
would have been the fare expected in the States but certainly not in
Beijing. The Chinese Mafia at work. Not much one can do other than accept their terms or walk and drag
baggage. We paid up and moved on.
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| Beijing Central Railway Terminal |
We got to our lodging in good order. Brian surprised us with a room that was
convenient and in a hutong which is one of the old, walled neighborhoods. The
Happy Dragon Courtyard Hostel fit the bill perfectly. It was an old courtyard
home converted into guest quarters. Our room came with private bath and was
only $40 a night. The rooms were cold since the small space heaters were
totally inadequate. Worse yet, the
heater in Brian and Janet’s room didn’t work at all. Our stay in China was to
be the coldest of the entire trip even though the temperature hovered near the
freezing point.
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| Our Hutang Quarters - Two Windows to the Left of the Door (Big Enough for a Chinese Family of 10) |
We got settled in our rooms
and went out to explore the surrounding neighborhood. We found a major shopping
street at the end of our hutong alley way. The avenue was lined with shops of
all types. Dwayne needed an ATM so we walked down to the Bank of Beijing. Across the street was a McDonald’s which we
had to check out. Then we saw there was a Wu Mart at the corner. Wu Mart is a
supermarket with very cheap prices and self-service to make buying a breeze at
the cash register. We bought some Snickers bars, milk, and Lay’s potato chips
(for which we got a free promotional tote bag).
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| Wumart |
As we came back up the street we saw a rotisserie at a take-out
restaurant. They offered fish, pork bits, and whole roast ducks (not to be
confused with the famous Peking duck) for 25 yuan…about $4! We came close to
buying a duck as they were so brown and dripping sweet fat. But, the ladies said nix, the food would get
cold before we got back to the hutong to eat and they had other excuses.
We ended up at a restaurant with pictures of their offerings on the wall and a
badly translated menu. The food was just okay, nothing special. Brian had the
noodles with chicken, and that turned out the second rip-off of the day…48 yuan
(almost $7). The picture menu said 23
(about $3). Perhaps they hoped we
believed that was the lunch menu and priced as such. Stiffed again. Still, it was less than we’d pay in the US
for such a meal.
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| Masters of the Chop Stix |
The dampness and wind made the cold weather
feel much colder than it was. The walls and doors to our hutong room were less
than 2 inches thick. A quilted mat covered the door to help block the
wind and retain some heat. Thank goodness, the down comforters were thick
and kept us warm for the night. At least we had comfortable beds.
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| Real Beds - Much Better Than The Train |
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