Last leg of Trans Siberian journey

Marie woke me at 0630hr for our train in an hour and half time. Had a terrible night as I had to visit the toilet on more than one occasion the moment I got back from the restaurant the night before. Also started to run a temperature and only felt slightly better after a dose of lemsip. The others were also struggling with the early hours as they were out partying till the wee hours and barely had more than 3 hours of sleep.

Bobby of UB Guesthouse had to chase us onto the waiting minibus to the train station as they had to be at the platform to pick up arriving guests as well. Dave wanted to spend more time in the country which meant only Marie and Paul travelled together with me on this journey. We all slumped into our respective berths the moment the train left the station, me with another dosage of lemsip, and slept through most of the day, not helped by the stuffy atmosphere in the compartment as the train slowly made its way south across the searing heat towards the Chinese border at Erlian.

It was quite a close shave at the border as the Chinese authorities have started to screen out any potential case that might have anything to do with the swine flu. Was lucky that my temperature has subsided when he pointed the infra red thermometer on my forehead, although Paul did get a 2nd check of his temperature using a mercury thermometer as they have assumed that he has come from USA where there have been reported cases. Won't be able to face everyone if I end up getting everyone on the train to be quarantined!

The train was held at the border for more than 5 hours as all the carriages were brought into the warehouse for bogie changing, with everyone onboard! I suspect they did not allow anyone to get off the train due to the swine flu checks and just wanted to reduce any chance of human contact. This meant that we were unable to get off to watch the entire bogie changing process as the carriages have to be put on a smaller set of bogies due to the narrower rails in China as compared to the wider ones used in Russia and Mongolia.

By morning, the train was speeding towards Beijing and I was quite disappointed to miss the section of the rail where it cuts through the Great Wall. Was even more disappointed to learn from the attendants that the Chinese have rerouted the train route to Beijing meaning that it no longer climbs up the mountains for a view of the Great Wall, but instead go through countless new holes that the Chinese have tunneled through the mountains.

As the train roll into Beijing Main train station, it also meant that we have come to the end of our Trans Siberian train adventure - all 7755 (thereabouts) kilometres in all (a little bit more for Paul and myself as we started from St Petersburg). I am just about halfway to my journey back home but was rather looking forward to my next adventures through Asia, starting from this huge capital housing 15 million people. Was immediately overwhelmed by the crowds coming off the trains heading for the exit, and Marie was immediately lost in the sea of bobbling heads...