We had two days left in Mongolia in which to prepare ourselves for our train journey to China and to spend our remaining Togrogs (Mongolian currency). 

The first day we plodded around Ulaan Baatar sporting flipflops, t-shirts and sunglasses; buying much needed English novels for the train, writing our postcards, catching up on emails, and enjoying some 'normal' food.  The following morning we awoke to an unexpected sight which was shortly followed by Nikki's loud cry of "Oh My God!" which probably woke up the peacefully snoozing dormitory of fellow backpackers next door.... Ulaan Baatar was covered in almost a foot-deep blanket of snow!!!  Flipflops and shorts were quickly discarded for layers of t-shirts, jumpers, jeans, thick socks and snug hiking boots.

Eric and Nikki in the snow covered streets of Ulaan Baatar.

The snowfall continued at a steady pace all day long, making our last day in the Mongolian capital as memorable as the many sights we had seen over our 30-day stay.  We intended to spend our last day enjoying the tourists’sights of the capital.  Upon reaching Sukhbaatar Square, we discovered a ceremony celebrating Mongolian World War II veterans - 60th anniversary.  We paused to watch the colorful band play as the veterans and important officials paraded around the square and presented their memorial wreaths.

The Mongolian Army Band wait patiently for the veterans to arrive.

The war veterans arrived in traditional Mongolian attire.

The following morning we boarded our 35-hour train to China and watched as snow-covered mountains gradually transformed into the dry barren Gobi desert. 

Snow covered gers and mountain tops provided spectacular views from the train.

As we neared the Gobi desert the snow gradually melted away to a landscape of sand.

Our journey to the border was largely uneventful and was spent playing many hours of card games with our Swiss companions.  After 13 hours we reached the Chinese border, the immigration procedures themselves are of little interest but the "changing of the bogies" was a brand new experience.  Chinese train tracks are wider than those of Mongolian tracks and so require the entire train to be taken to a depot where each carriage is meticulously lifted 2 meters into the air whilst the Mongolian undercarriage is removed and replaced with its Chinese counterpart.  The whole procedure took about two hours during which we were imprisoned in our carriage closely monitored by stern-looking Chinese border guards.

We managed to take a quick picture of the carriage being lifted off the track through the train window whilst the guards weren't looking.