Day 29 - 28 July Erdenet - Overnight train to UB

ODO 589km, rode 10km

I woke up with a head cold in the morning, sore throat, runny nose and a headache.  Luckily we were taking it easy today.  After buying our train tickets we tried and failed to find the museum.  Eliza and I wandered around the streets of Erdernet, visiting the friendship monument and admiring the plastic trees that grow on the footpath.  Whilst whiling away time in a coffee shop we saw another cycle tourist walk past.  We hailed him down and got him to come inside.  We met Damian, who had been hit by a car that morning.  He seemed pretty shaken up but physically ok.  We quickly compared notes before he went to check into his hotel.  

Soon after we grabbed our bikes and made our way to the train station - 10km out of town. We stopped on the way at a carpet shop/factory.  Eliza bought some nice cashmere.  The LP says you can get tours of the factory here.  After waiting around for an interpreter that wasted to know why (tourism, general interest) and waiting some more for someone to take us we got to go inside the factory.  It was actually quite interesting and very large.  The staff were wearing their safety sandals and had no ear protection either.  We finished the rest of the ride to the train with no mishaps and waited at the station for a couple hours.  

The train was quite empty and Eliza and I were very pleased to find that we had the cabin to ourselves.  After a dinner or ramen I decided that was enough for the day and tried to go to sleep.  This did not come easily as the train stopped and started a lot, with lots of banging (adding carriages?) and loud noises.

Fake plastic trees... 

Bulldozer

Erdernet's Slag Heap 

Carpet Factory