Changing the Bogeys.......

August 29th 2017

We arrived at the Chinese-Mongolian border just before 10pm. About an hour before, we were given a Chinese customs declaration form to fill out; this was a prompt to complete the exit Immigration form which we got as we passed through security at the airport on our way into China.

We came to a standstill at a place called Erlian where Chinese customs boarded the train and came to collect passports, customs forms and immigration forms.  They then left with everything.......

It was now around midnight when we start moving back and forth, going into and out of what looked like a huge warehouse; this is what they call "changing the wheel bogeys" or as we know it, switching the wheel bearings.  They have to do this as the gauge of the railway track changes - sometimes the distance between the two can be as much as 10cm. It is a noisy and jerking process which seems to go on forever so we decided to have a wee whisky to pass the time. For all you whisky enthusiasts, it is a 12 year old Aberfeldy which we bought in Manchester airport! 

It's now 2am and still no sign of our passports!

We decided to try and get some sleep and made our beds with the linen provided. Iain was brave and took the top bunk while I was happy to sleep on the converted sofa. 

I was in a haze of sleep when the knocking at the door began; it was now 4am. Chinese border police came back with our passports, ensured we were who we said we were and then did a security check of our berth. They lifted the long side chair/my bed and checked the toilet to see if there were any stowaways. Thankfully, no-one was to be found and they promptly left!

Finally we had our passports back, the train was just about to move and we could get some sleep.........or so we thought!

4.50am and the train comes to a halt...the knocking starts again! This time it is Mongolian passport control who take our passports for verification! We try to fall asleep again but 30 mins later ,what looks like a man in army uniform, comes in to security check our berth. About 10 minutes after that, we get our passports back...phew! 

Its been a long night and neither of us can sleep due to the disruption and the train noise (even though we are not moving). Earplugs are a must as they help to dull down the constant grinding! 

Iain checks his phone....its a miracle, it appears there is wifi at the border crossing - we connected to both ELZ wifi and TPLink (there was a number after it, but i cant remember it now!). We both caught up on the news and I was able to access Facebook for the first time in 3 days as it is blocked in China! 

I was even able to publish on my blog before the train started moving and I lost wifi....it was time to sleep anyway!

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