When I was planning this trip, I would dearly loved to have got off in Ulaan Batar and spent some time here, maybe not in a Ger Camp that so many of the other tourists on the train were heading off to do (it was like an exodus from the train this morning), but even just bumming about the city for a little while. Unfortunately the next train to Beijing isn't for another three days, so it would have extended the whole trip by three more days. Its hard enough being away from the kids for quite so long, without adding three more days to it to satisfy an extravagance like that.
So I settled myself with getting up out of bed at 0630 (the same as I did yesterday to see Lake Baikal) to get off and spent 45 minutes on platform, exploring the station and sticking my head out into the city for a few mins. The station is huge, a bustling metropolis compared to some of the places I've been recently. It has a restaurant, proper shop, currency exchange, public toilets - all things I haven't seen for days and days.
I would love to say that one day I'll be back in Ulaan Batar to stay over properly and do some exploring. I hope so, but I know that's a big ask. It seems such a shame to be here, somewhere I've always wanted to go, and noit be able to get off the train. Maybe one day.
6305km gone, 1551km to go. 80% of the way there. Only 31 more hours to go.....
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