Survival Guide on Trans-Mongolia Train

Trans Siberian Train, the pride of Russia and the longest train journey in the world crossing the vast Siberian land across 2 Continent of Asia & Europe. Heard so much about the Trans- Serbia train from Moscow to Vladivostok, 9300km train journey?

That can wait for now, as we explored on the Trans Mongolian Train, a sub branch out from the Siberian Train journey. What exactly is so great about this train journey?

Moscow to Beijing via Mongolia : 7,621 km long. 

This is considered by many to be the most interesting of the routes, yet there is only one train a week, taking total of six nights from Russia to China. Train #24, departing every Thursday once a week from Mongolia to China. 

The train I took from Ulaanbaator to Beijing takes 28 hours departing from Mongolia Capital at 8.30am in the morning.  I had hopped on this China Train expecting to marvel in sight of the famous Gobi Desert which the train will bring you through. Without suffering at the extreme temperature of what the Gobi Desert can bring you, yet at the same time enjoying  the scenery of this wonderful vast desert land with the occasional sighting of wild camels, horses,desert animals roaming in the comfort of your train cabin.

As I stayed near to the Genghis Khan Square which is located in downtown Ulaanbaatar, the hostel owner gave me a lift to the train station which is about 20 minutes car ride away.

A thing to note was that the male attendants assigned to each cabin are extremely helpful and patience in answering my endless of questions. Thumbs up for all the train attendants as I observed they had diligently clean the toilet at regular intervals while maintaining high level of friendly service.

How do you book these train tickets?   

This is commonly one of the question being asked. Definitely, a search on Goggle may bring you tonnes of websites offering their service to purchase these train tickets. Depending on which route you will be taking (Beijing to Mongolia or the other way round), the purchasing methods would differ slightly. If one is travelling from China into Mongolia (Northbound), one of the best way is to reserve the ticket and head to the office (In Beijing) to take your ticket which is one of the common way.

If you are heading Southbound (Mongolia- China) just like me and purchasing train tickets from operators in Ulaanbaatar, they will usually deliver the train tickets to your hotel/hostel address and you will pay them on the spot. Please note that some nationalities may need to apply Mongolian VISA. Singaporeans do not need visa as of now to Mongolia for visit of 14 days or less. You will need your train tickets to show as proof that you will be leaving Mongolia and as such, the travel operators will able to send you an email showing your train tickets leaving the country.

For me, I had visited Mongolia which was shared in previous post and uses the Trans-Mongolian train to travel into Beijing for my onward journey. There are many operators online which offered to sell train tickets. The prices differs a lot if you do a quick enquiry as some travel operators take these tickets through another land agent and it might lead to increase of prices when it reaches your hand, the end consumer. My humble suggestion is to book with Sunpath Mongolia  which provide competitive price and will delivered the train tickets to your hotel in Ulaanbaatar with quick reply received during email exchanges.

One have to choose soft or hard sleeper. You have to also choose if you want lower or higher berth. I had chose the Hard Sleeper (cheaper) and lower berth which is fairly comfortable for your 28 hours jourtney.

The Journey 

Toilets and washroom will be closed and locked when trains pull up to stations. So please do make sure to time your bathroom breaks around this. Basically, there are designated number of stops during the journey with each station allowing from as short as 3 minutes stop to as long as more than 3 hours at the border checkpoint stop. So a rule of thumb is when you board the Trans-Mongolian train, please do take a look at the number of stops with the duration of each stop. If unsure, before alighting at the station for a walk, do ask the friendly Chinese train attendants who will more than happy to let you know the duration of each stop.

A quick guide of the stops along the Mongolia-China train route:

Ulaanbaator   –(4 hour 15 min) —  Choir — (3 hour 45 min) — Sainshand– (3hour 20 min)– Zamyn-uud (Mongolian Boarder Checkpoint; 3 hours stop) — Erlian (Chinese border) — (4 hour 15 min)– Jining — (1hour 50 min)– Da Tong — (3 hour 10 min)– Zhang Jia Kou — (4 hour)– Beijing.

Please note Beijing is 1 hour behind Mongolia Time. When we crossed over to the Chinese land, we have to adjust our time and to follow Beijing time. The train was very accurate in its timing with us reaching Beijing exactly at 11.40am as scheduled.

How to survive the 28 hours train journey? 

Perhaps, the best way is to make some friends on board the train. Usually, they will put travellers/ tourist together or next to one cabin. In this way, to kill boredom, one of the suggested way is to make friends with each other. With so much time, you can understand the next cabin train mate what are their travel plans and they do usually have interesting stories like you do. Share and have a good laugh together.  I had used my time to teach the European travellers some basic Chinese as they were getting nervous but excited to explore the big Beijing city.

Some card games like how the Mongolians are enjoying themselves are most welcome too. Of course, since we are in the Russian countries region, Vodka can’t be missed out. Reject politely by giving reason that you are sick thus cannot drink too much alcohol drinks if you are being offered. The worst is to suffer a hangover in a foreign country in a moving train for hours.

One of a good way to survive long journey is to make friends with your train mate living in the same cabin! I was lucky to have met this Turkish guy who was on a month long travel plan from Russia to China. We shared our travel encounters and practically the DO&DON’T of many countries visited. Time passes fast when you chat and best thing we make a pact to have one of us to stay and look after our belongings and the other to explore the long train sections or when one went for toilet break.

After all, there are no locks and you need someone to look after your belongings just in case. Put your bags in the compartment underneath your bed.

Although I have to say with the train attendants patrolling, it was safe if you stored your bags and to practice usual precaution like having your wallets close to you at all time.

I had so much fun with my travel train buddy that he took a picture of me and say will  feature a picture of me in his book as he intend to write a travel book when he is back in Istanbul.

Of course, you can’t be bothering your buddy at all time. He needs a rest too and so I had prepared my music player and books to accompany me on this trip. I was busy preparing for my next destination reading up and the views of the Gobi Desert in Southern Mongolia region was something to keep me happily occupied too! It was such an amazing scenery with random Gers appearing in the vast barren land.

Purchasing food

In this Trans Mongolian route, there are restaurants at the end of the train. Depending on which country you are in (Mongolia or China), the restaurants are located at different ends. When travelling in Mongolia, the Mongolian restaurants are at the first section of the train with Mongolian currency being used offering Mongolian dishes. The restaurant is rather a nice place to chill out with its exotic Mongolian decoration.

Please  note that once we crosses the Chinese border at Erlian, the train will have Chinese restaurant instead offering the typical Chinese dishes. It is now located at the back of the train. Breakfast service starts from 8.30am only and food sell off fast, so be quick if you want to eat!

One of the best way to avoid overpaying the food on board the train is to stock up cup noodles and snacks before taking the train. Travellers usually buy cup noodles from the supermarket in the city before boarding. If you are short of time, fret not. One can still buy the cup noodles from the various train stations during the journey when the train make short stops at station. Many vendors will be selling snacks, drinks, noodles on the platform. Just ensure you have the Mongolian currency to purchase these items. As for the Chinese station, I do not see any of the vendors. So gentle reminder is to stock up on Mongolian soil.

There is hot water available at all time on board the train for your cup noodles! And only hot water unfortunately, so do prepare a cup to cool down the water before drinking if so.

Crossing the land border checkpoints 

We arrived into Mongolia checkpoint at 8pm and do note restaurant will close at this time too. Please do have your meals first as it will be a long wait once the train stops. After 1hour 40 mins at Mongolian border where your passports will be returned to you after it has been stamped, we travel for 25 minutes before arriving Chinese border.

The longest stop at a station would be the Erlian stop which is about 260 minutes duration. Please note, one cannot use the washroom during this period. So please use the bathroom before passport control when the train come to a stop at the station. We pull in at the stop around 9pm only for us to continue our journey at 1.20am after the Chinese officials comes into our train cabin to stamp our passports. There is no need to disembark at both countries checkpoint as immigration officers will board the train and directly to your train cabin to take your passport and check your bags.

An interesting fact that one is able to witness is the changing of the wheels from Mongolian to the Chinese wheel type, hence the long stop duration too. Wheels from each section will be changed which you can witness right from your train window.

It has overall been an interesting train ride and a cheaper alternative to travel between China & Mongolia while witnessing the Gobi Desert! Get going if you have not sit the Trans Mongolian Train!

Below is the video created on this amazing train journey!

Categories: Asia Region, Travel Tips