I left Ulaanbaatar last week, Thursday afternoon. I made the bad assumption that I could find a cab to take me to the train station in under ten minutes, and after hailing for close to half an hour, I finally got a taxi and missed the train to Zamin-Uud by 30 seconds. A (who I later determined to be helpful) man kept trying to get my attention and yelling that awful phrase that I’ve come to utterly despise, “Machina!” He made hand gestures in the direction of the train and seemed to indicated something about cutting it off. “Oh, you’ll take me to the next station?!” He probably would have nodded regardless of what I said, but we jumped in the car and took off.

We got stuck on a pile of dirt. I had to help push his car loose to continue the chase. Unfortunately, my initial misunderstanding of his intent and the delay caused us to miss the first station connection. Again, hand signals and pens came to use as another option apparently existed: drive to the next station, 2 hours outside UB and make the connection there. Seeing as I had to make a flight in Beijing in a day or two, I said go and we went. We made a number of seemingly random stops and was finally put to ease when I say another driver escorting people of the same sort - those that miss their trains. We all arrived at Banachangan with time to spare. We paid our drivers ($70 was a deal considering the mess) and shared some treats before heading to the platform to wait.

I had purchased a sleeper ticket and a Chinese visa the day before, so I was delighted to find an empty bed waiting for me. By good fortune, I shared the cabin with Markus, a friendly German traveler who had made his way through Europe and across Siberia via train, staying with people through a service called hospitalityclub.org. He’d met up with a few other travelers in Moscow and they were all making their way to Beijing. I rejoiced at my good fortune and ended up traveling the rest of the way with them. It was a good choice, because the border crossing from Zamin-Uud, Mongolia to Erlian, China was a cluster of inconsideration and absolute rudeness. I feel confident in saying that I will never cross that border again in my life. I’ll even go so far to say that if that entire area was swallowed by the earth, humankind would be much better off, having rid itself of a festering pit of incorrigible humanity. To give you the gist of the situation, Mongolia passport control didn’t want to deal with my exit and refused to let me out of the country (wankers!), we were ripped off by a border taxi (you can’t cross on foot, so you have to pay colluded prices) who then dropped us off in the middle of nowhere in Erlian, I almost got into a fight with a Mongolian as he kept kneeing me from behind, and it took seven hours to complete the whole ordeal. Many thanks to Nicholas and Kelvin (I hope I got that right) for their language abilities, which saved us all from absolute madness.

Meandering the streets of Erlian while tired with a backpack full of dirty clothes was far from my ideal afternoon, but the company (thanks Markus, Eva, Lukasz, Nicholas, and Kelvin) made it worth it. We found a man who offered to drive us to Beijing for 1650 RMB, though first we had a feast of a meal for close to nothing. We left Erlian at 6:00 and arrived at a hostel in Beijing by 4:00, though not without the obligatory midnight dinner stop for the driver. Roads were crap, traffic was heavier than expected, and sharing a backseat with a stranger all contributed to very poor sleep. Once we arrived, sleep was imminent, and I spent most of Saturday morning just getting ready to leave. I was amazed at how little time it took to get to Capital Airport, through customs, and checked in (48 minutes in all) and further in awe of the service of China Southern Airline (we flew from Beijing to Manila via Xiamen, receiving meals on both legs - absolutely unheard of in the States).

Unfortunately, my arrival in Manila coincided with Stef coming into some illness, so I spent the night at Aquino. I’ll admit that I was briefly taken advantage of by a seemingly helpful man at the airport; though I was slightly ripped off, the whole ordeal did give me the chance to buy a sim card, which then allowed to get into direct contact with Stef and send a few texts to home and friends from the rally. Luckily, I was taken under the care of a helpful airport guard named Espinosa. She asked my situation, made sure that I wasn’t hassled by other guards or strangers, purchased me a coffee and something to eat, then watched over me as I slept until her shift expired in the morning. Upon waking, I made contact with Stef, and Espinosa stuck with. We parted by dropping her closer to home, at which point Stef and I both agreed that we need to report her kindness and hospitality to her supervisor, for treatment like that simply shouldn’t go unnoticed.

My first day in Manila consisted of a trip to Tagaytay and lunch at a fine establishment called Josephine’s. Stef and I split a small meal and then made a visit to Lake Taal, taking the afternoon to cross the lake and hike the Taal Volcano. Hot, humid, and more exercise than I’ve done in weeks, it was a fascinating experience, with lush views of the lake and the warm-water pool that has settled in the old volcano’s crater. At one point on the hike up, we passed fissures in the ground that allowed gas to escape, filling the air with sulfur fumes and causing an amplification of heat that only intensified our sweat.

Day two (today) was spent sleeping. I slept for 14 hours and woke for a much needed shower, shave, and toothbrushing. Shortly after eating lunch, I fell asleep again, this time for five hours, and woke to find Stef back from work and dinner shortly ready. With that, I find myself in this overly airconditioned internet cafe, reconnecting (though somewhat unwillingly) to the mechanic drone that will most likely seep back into my life upon my return. Plans to visit Hong Kong and Thailand (with some new friends) have been discussed and trips around the Philippines are forming at the moment as well.

I’m due for home within a few weeks, with felixibility being a major key to living right now. I’ve got a new sim card for the Philippines, though I don’t plan to post it. FYI, country code is +63, so if you see that coming through, it’s me, so respond dammit. Until then, salam.

Vaughn

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