We left from the Beijing train station about 9:00 AM. The country-side through China was beautiful. It was rugged mountains with beautiful valleys. By about 11:00 PM we had stopped at the Chinese/Mongolia border. We had been told that the border crossing could take up to five hours due to the fact that the wheels on each car had to be realigned to fit the Mongolian train tracks, plus the Chinese immigration officers were very particular.
About thirty minutes after we had come to a stop, the officers came to our booth and asked for our passports. They were very stern. They took each passport, carefully examining the photo with the person and asking questions about name, birth date, and spelling of name. Without another word, they kept our passports and went to the next car. I noticed that they had a stack of passports from the other passengers.
Outside our window was the Chinese immigration buildings with guards. After the officers took our passports, we began to notice people getting off the train and walking around. Greg and I got off to stretch our legs and look around. We noticed people walking into the building and coming out with soft drinks, chips, and souvenirs. We recognized a blond-headed lady who we had spoken to during the day from our car. She was from France. She came up to us eating an ice-cream bar. We asked where she got it and she told us inside. Greg and I both decided that an ice-cream bar would sure taste good. Only hours before we had skirted the Gobi desert and ice-cream seemed to be a wonderful idea.
We went in the building, found the store, which was full of train passengers, got our ice-cream bars and started back out. When I got to the glass doors they were chained shut! Like with a huge chain and lock. I said, “Greg, we are chained in and can’t get back on the train!” Greg was looking out the window and said, “What train? It’s gone!” Sure enough, the train was gone and we were locked inside a Chinese immigration building at 12:30 at night…with melting ice-cream bars.
We took comfort that we had not gotten left behind because there were so many other passengers locked in with us. Greg and I found a couple of chairs and for the next two hours shared mission trip stories and Bible insights together. We wondered how Terry and David were doing and wished we had stayed on the train with them. I told Greg, “Please hold me accountable never to follow a French girl with an ice-cream bar ever again.” He agreed as long as I would do the same for him.
About 3 AM we saw the train return and people started gathering at the locked doors. They soon unlocked the doors and we all got back on the train. Terry and David said that when the train started moving they worried about us for a moment but then prayed and committed us to the Lord and then rejoiced that they has stayed on. They said the train went about a mile or so down the track and then went through a long series of stops and starts changing out the wheels.
We all got back on the train. The Chinese officers came around with our passports, went through the drill again of asking us how we spelled our names, birthdates, looking us over to check our faces with the passport picture, and by about 3:30 AM we were on our way. We quickly got in to our bunks and were lulled to sleep by the rhythm of train on the tracks. It was a short night and by 3 PM we were rolling into the capital city of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar. Next blog I will explain what happened next.
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