From Beijing to Ulaanbataar

Staying at the Jade hostel in Dongcheng district of Beijing, we spent a couple days trying to get train tickets to Erlian, the Chinese Border town with Mongolia. Learning we would have to wait until Tuesday, we instead bought bus tickets instead. So we rode the bus #2 to Musomthing district where we found our sleeper bus and meet our first Mongolian friends. TseTse and Tubo, Kim and Estelle. The sleeper bus was difficult to get comfortable in, I was sweating hard until after we passed the great wall and stopped for food and drinks for the only time. After this tho I was able to sleep well. We passed by the dinosaurs and spent the morning in Erlian. We crossed by bus but were unable to get the 9000 tukrig train ticket. Luckily it was Sat. the only day with a second train going to the capital. We had a sleeper car that we shared with 2 mongolians. When we arrived, we got a taxi and had him bring us to UB Guest House.
Their internet cafes are very cheap, and their movie theater was awesome. Thor 3D was sick, the Mongolians laughed more than typical Americans do. The adds before the film were hilarious, advertising for Flex City gym, I am surprised that in a Country of fewer than 3 million so much care and detail is put into their broadcasting. On our way back we found a shop (closed) called "Montana Jean Town". It better be open soon.
The weather has gone from hot sticky in bejing, to just hot in Erlian, and warm with bursts of rain in Ulaanbataar. I was worried about the nights being too cold when we camp, but I'll be able to handle anything Mongolia throws at us.
The only problem we've had so far is with drunk mongolians. In a landlocked country with horrible winters, I can easily understand how drinking becomes a pasttime. Waiting for the train in Zamin-uud, Conrad and I tried to make friends with these two drunkards. At first we didn't know, we could not communicate with them at all yet we still tried for far too long. After a while the dude I was talking with starts flexing his muscles so I challenge him to an arm wrestling match. I whoop his ass, and he decides we need to fight. I decide no, so I start to walk back, but he keeps pushing me and provoking me and starts saying money. OF course thats the only English he knows. He follows me back to Conrad at which point the police in front of the trainstation intervene. They push him into the court and literally drag him away, one grabbing his pants, the other grabbing his shirt.
It was at this time our Korean friend Kim came back, so we and 2 other mongolians joined him for dinner. We played some cards and drank some tea after our scuffle, but needless to say we were shook up from our encounter. We have now learned the folly of ours ways. In Mongolia looking someone in the eyes is provocative, and we stared these fools down the entire time. Also handshaking is not normal here.
One reason we left Beijing so quickly is we almost picked up a German clinger. WE invited him to go HouHai district for some drinks that night. He was fun to hang around and we had a good time telling off the girls you could buy for $1000 and wandering around the lake. We talked of how there are only really 3 continents; America, Europe, and Asia, which economically makes perfect sense, about how colloquialisms can replace proper usage as proper (i.e. over and out on the radios in Hollywood is wrong. Over means im done talking say what you say, out means entire session is over) and talked about Apocalypse Now. But he just starting shouting at the top of his lungs superbad quotes. Hilarious, buuut, he wanted to join us to mongolia and kept pressing the issue. So we just bought tickets and bid him adios amigo. He would have not been helping our cause at the border town, No Doubt.