Trans-Siberian - China

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Revision as of 01:21, 2 September 2006 by Alan (talk | contribs)
Trans-Siberian Trip
St. Petersburg and Moscow
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The Trans-Siberian
Siberia
The Trans-Mongolian
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The Ger Camp
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China
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We arrived in Beijing by train in the afternoon and went for a walking tour of the city. The next day we travelled to the Great Wall and I toured the Forbidden City in the afternoon. The next morning I flew from Beijing back to Canada.


Train to Beijing

Having left Ulaanbaatar in the morning, we spent a day and a half on the train heading south and east to Beijing. The first day was spent crossing some low mountains and then the Gobi Desert.

Ulaanbaatar
Fancy compartment


Genghis Khan portrait
Ulaanbaatar suburb


Red locomotives
Playground kids


Climbing the hills
Remote camp


Crossing the Gobi Desert
Group trivia game


The border crossing between Mongolia and China took several hours but was broken up by the changing of the wheels. Russia and Mongolia use 5ft broad gauge track, while China uses 4'8.5" standard gauge. Rather than moving passengers between carriages, the Chinese left the carriages (and passengers) in the air and replace the wheels.

Dining car
Changing the bogies


When we woke up the next morning in China, the train was climbing up to cross the mountains about 100km from Beijing. We crossed under the Great Wall in a 2km tunnel and then begin the descent into Beijing.

Train and Great Wall
Descending through the mountains
Arrival in Beijing


Beijing

After freshening up at our hotel, we went for a walking tour of central Beijing, including the Tiananmen Square and some shopping streets and finishing with a delicious dinner.

Tiananmen Square
Night Market


...to be continued