So what happened to yesterday?

I was a little surprised to see that I had apparently done nothing yesterday; no pictures, notes, memories, or whatever. I am reliably prompted by the ways of the world, and by past history, that yesterday did actually take place - it was not cancelled or if it was no-one told me. I just have a void there, with nothing to mark it distinct or special. This is the case even though we actually passed through the border into Mongolia. This inevitably took time; whilst immigration did its thing and customs searched our compartment. At least we were spared the hassle of luggage searches, an imposition reserved for the hard sleeper end of the train. Both the Russians and the Mongolians seem to work on the same principles for customs officers and immigration officials. A very large majority of them were women; in smart uniforms - all starch, knife edge creases, and impressive badges and decoration; many of them exceedingly attractive; trained extensively in sternness and the searching look; and generally very tough cookies. One gets the impression that they have been trained to deliver the same level of intimidation as that felt by Russian aviators in Afganistan - who prayed (sic) that if shot down and survived; they would not be handed over to the women.

I have taken very few pictures on, or from the train. I also realise that I have not really described the journey or the train. The causes are similar. It is a VERY long train journey - our 6th day so far and counting. There are all the normal limitations of photography from a train. The windows and doors are locked. The windows are all dirty. Reverse panning to counter the movement of the train is extremely difficult, especially in one wants to avoid the framing of the picture arbitarily curtailed by the frame of window or door. Yesterday and today we have been passing through Mongolian scenery (and now parts of the Gobi Desert). I love the Mongolian terrain, though I am not sure why. It is fairly monotonous; is a large terrain (though smaller than some); mostly rolling hills rather than mountains; very little scrubby, apparently dead vegetation; colour scheme, a limited palette of sandy gray and brown; an empty landscape; the most frequent sight, groups of bactrian camels - about three of four groups of around 15 animals per time, then lone horsemen, separated from each other by scores of kilometers; and very little else. But it is strangely attractive and has its own virtue. I would not count it in my top three terrains in the world, but it's certainly up there in the top ten.

The infamous samovar complete with engineering drawings.

The carriage I am in is a very well appointed carriage - a genuine first class, now the Chinese rather than the Russians are running the train. The compartment is two berthed, though since Ulaan Baator I have had it to myself. Wider than previous standard berths, with plenty of storage space under the bottom bunk, and over the door. The compartment has its own little shower room, which sounds a little grander than the reality - bathroom fittings in communal use do tend to get into, and stay in a rather manky condition. The whole carriage is fitted out in polished wood, carpeted throughout with high qualityy fitted carpet, with an attendant (as all the carriages do). It has a drop through toilet at either end, and next to the attendant's compartment is the world famous samovar. The carriages are heated by a coal fired boiler to produce either steam, or hot air (not sure which, though I think it the former). The samovar is just tacked on the back of the hot water boiler, thus ensuring (while the fires are in, which they are not for border crossings) a continual supply of boiling water.

Visa applications

Having decided to employ a specialist for the visa applications I need, I spent two solid hours yesterday, entering details in web based forms. I had all the information to hand, and was doing nothing but enter data. Plus half an hours specialist advice on points of the data entry process; payment of a very large sum of money for the visas; and nearly an hour processing them with a member of staff of the tourist agency.

Ah well, the outcome should be that over the course of this month, I should receive about 5/8 of the visas I need. Another task to be ticked off.

Travel Planning

I am currently looking at arranging an extended trip for myself for next year. The planning and preparation for such a trip is extensive and complicated. I am going to keep diary entries of what is involved.

I have started off trying to put together a skeleton itinerary - itself not an easy task. My initial sketch shows that I need visas for 14 different countries; train tickets and a detailed schedule to cover the first month of travel; having to keep track of times expressed in three different timezones (Zulu time; Delta time; and Hotel time - otherwise known as London, Moscow, and Beijing time); and accessing many web resources - visa sites, travel sites, train timetable sites, and software sites.

The software sites are needed because I need computer assistance to put together detailed plans. I have started using Evernote - a generalised notepad that allows collection of miscellaneous notes into a variety of notebooks, along with snippets from the web and other sources. I am also trialling a scheduling application ScheduleiT to assist in putting together a detailed schedule.

So far I have tentatively allocated a start date in February next year; and started to sort out the first two legs of the journey - from Aylesbury to Moscow, and from Moscow to Beijing.