25 June. And…. we’ve just crossed the border into Mongolia! Our train advances for a while till it stops in the middle of nowhere and starts going backwards, who knows why.
Finally the Mongolian custom authorities come in, distribute migration cards for us to fill in and take our passports away. About an hour later, or two, I honestly have no idea, after waiting for so long locked in this cage in the heat time doesn’t really have a meaning anymore.. Anyway, they finally hand our passports back to us and by 9 PM we can finally move forward, direction Ulaanbaatar.
We have dinner, noodles, again, while we watch the sunset over the Mongolian steppes and mountains. The view is breathtaking. It almost looks like the African savant at times, water specks here and there, interrupting the green fields.
Wait a minute, so Mongolian land is green? So like, the Baikal area is dry and brown and Mongolia is green? What?
There is no sign of any kind of village, the majesty of nature reigns uncontaminated. The blue sky mixes with the red of the burning sun, interrupted by the blue of the mountains in the distance, then again the green of the grass and trees and the orange light reflected in the ponds. Free-дом.
Cheers, P.
The Transsiberians 