Having been granted your Mongolian visa, you are now free to head to the China-Mongolia border to cross from Erlian to Zamyn-Uud. The Chinese border crossing in Erlian opens at around 08:30 and closes around 18:00. It is no more than a ten minute drive from the centre of town. There are plenty of taxis buzzing about and it will only cost a few Yuan. Ask to go to the guómén (literally, nation door).
For those of you intending to cross the China-Mongolia border and travel from Erlian to Zamyn-Uud, the first thing to note is that, unless you are exempt, you will need a Mongolian visa in order to do so. I tried entering Mongolia without a visa in the mistaken belief that I didn’t need one. It didn’t work. Get one before you travel.
You can apply for a Mongolian visa before you reach the border, usually in Beijing or even in Hohhot. As of 2008, you can no longer apply for a Mongolian visa in Hong Kong. If it is not possible to get your visa before you travel, you should get one when you reach the China-Mongolia border in Erlian (Erenhot).
Getting a Russian Visa in Hong Kong for travelling the Trans-Siberian Railway shouldn’t be a problem. With the required documents correctly filled out, and assuming that your reason for visting Russia isn’t listed as espionage, terrorism or political assassination, you should be able to pay your fee and receive your visa within the allotted time.
As a UK passport holder, getting a Russian visa was a relatively painless affair. If you can negotiate the almost comically foul-tempered staff that work at the Russian consulate in Hong Kong, then whatever passport you carry, you should likewise have no problems getting everything in order for you Trans-Siberian trip.
What day is this? Is this our second or our third day? What time is it? Is that Moscow time, Beijing time or local time? It’s almost eight o’clock by my watch. Outside it’s as bright as if it were four. Maybe it is four. But it can’t be. In Moscow it’s four. And we’re still two Trans-Siberian days away. Maybe it’s six o’clock now, here, in Siberia, as we travel through what seems like the same forest of birch we’ve been travelling through for the past 2000 miles.
I’d stayed the night, or what was left of it, in a cheap hotel somewhere in town that the driver had found after our late night/early morning drive from Hohhot. It cost Y100 and I was too tired to haggle. Tomorrow I needed to get my Mongolian visa, negotiate the Erlian border crossing, and get on to Zamyn-Uud. I took a quick look at the directions I’d printed to get to the Mongolian consulate, and there, at the top, were the opening hours: M-F; 8-12. Today was Saturday. Tomorrow was Sunday. Shit!