从北京到蒙古／From Beijing to Mongolia

从中国乘坐火车到蒙古，再从蒙古到俄罗斯，横跨整个西伯利亚，这是许多人梦想中的旅程，而我在告别了中国后，就展开了这段旅程。第一阶段，北京到蒙古首都乌兰巴托，就花了30个小时。
From China to Mongolia, from Mongolia to Russia, passing through the vast Siberia, the Trans-Siberia route (or the Trans-Mongolia/Trans-Manchuria route, depending on where you start) is the dreams of many. After saying goodbye to Beijing, I too, embarked on this fabulous route. The first leg of the trip, i.e. from Beijing to Mongolia alone, took 30 hours to complete.

乘坐的火车厢房是四个人一间，不过很幸运的，在旅程的前半段，我的那个厢房出了我之外，就什么人也没有，所以喜欢坐哪里就坐哪里，要怎么拍照都行。简直是爽呆了！
There was supposed to be four people in each cabin. Luckily for me, I had the whole cabin to myself for the first half of the journey. I was able to sit anywhere I liked, and take pictures from all angles. Shiok!

窗外的景色一直不停地在变。有时候累了，睡着了，起来之后，就会发现景色与之前的完全不一样。刚开始看到不少的山和小溪，之后就变成了田园。后来景色又换成了大片草原，这让我有机会看到美丽的日落。
The scenery outside the window was constantly changing. Every time I woke up from a nap or look up from my book, I will see a different view. The first part was mainly mountains and rivers. Then it was fields and farms. After that, it was vast lands of wilderness and a beautiful sunset. 经过了13个小时，终于达到了中国边境二连。这时移民局的人就上火车，向我们索取护照办手续。之后我们就下车活动活动，而这一等就是四个小时。后来到了蒙古的边境，也一样有蒙古移民局的人上来索取护照，再等个两个多小时，我们才终于可以安心入睡。
After 13 long hours, we finally reached the Chinese border city, Erlian. We had to stay on board till the Chinese immigration officers collected our passports for processing, before we could go down and stretch our legs. It turned out to be a four hours wait. Then at the Mongolian border, it was another 2 hours or so of waiting, before we finally continued on our journey. 一觉起来，就看到了迷人的景色。碧蓝的天空，浩瀚的草原，这就是蒙古。之前一天一直都是从自己厢房内照相，然后因为窗口肮脏，照出来的相都蒙蒙的。这一天就聪明一点，从走廊上被打开的窗口照相，才总算捕捉到蒙古天空和草原的真正颜色。而这些景物足以让我立刻爱上蒙古。　　～伟

The view that greeted us the next morning was breathtaking. Blue skies and acres and acres of green land, this is Mongolia. The pictures from the day before were taken from the inside of the cabin. With a dirty window in front of the camera, the pictures appeared misty. This time round, I took pictures from the open window along the corridor and was able to do justice to the beautiful sight in front of me. It is really hard not to fall in love with this place at first look. 　　～wei