I have written, here on blogspot, the following words so many times that perhaps some of you may be tired of reading them:
Gullible is the reason, the one and the only reason, that I have this website here on blogspot. Gullible set it up for me on October the 22nd, 2011, when I was in Agra Cantt, India visiting the Taj Mahal.
Not only has Gullible been important to me, she has been a very important friend, advisor and confidant to Patti. The two of them 'go-back' fifty six (56) years.
I do not take-lightly suggestions and recommendations given to me by my close, innermost circle of friends.
A few weeks ago, either in an email, or in a comment to us on our other website, babakaps.net, Gullible (accurately) reminded me that I had never published a post about a train ride that Gullible, Patti and myself took on November the 4th, 2015, from Sukbaatar, Mongolia, South to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
This past Saturday, Gullible repeated this request in a comment on babakaps.net : And might I remind you that you have never shown us your photos from the train trip we took from up north back to Ulanbaatar….. I know you got some dandies in the snow.
I replied : When I find the time and the memory chip, I WILL post the photos of the trip from Sukbaatar South to Ulaanbaatar in the autumn of 2015. Maybe even a next priority. Does The Shadow Know Gullible?
Gullible and I have also have been back-and-forth recently about how we store the tens of thousands of photographs each of us have. Gullible, mirrors the penultimate professional and is light years ahead of me.
I simply put one memory chip into a small, 3-5/8 inch by 6-3/8 inch, envelope. I then, by hand, list the contents of the memory chip.
The below photo shows my method :
The envelope, the chip and my inventory thereof.
So, in order to put this post together, out and off I went to search our Condo in an attempt to find the memory chip that contained photographs of this memorable trip November 4th, 2015, that the three of us shared together.
Luckily I found it, and I began to download photos from it. The three photos immediately below show Gullible and Patti in our train compartment in Sukbaatar as we await for our trip to begin.
We were in a compartment for four so we had space for our items on the top two berths.
After downloading these three photos, I suddenly realized that there were no more photos on the memory chip and that these were the only three photographs that I had from our trip.
My heart sank right down to the floor. I was sick. I was beside myself.
"Patti I can't believe it! I don't believe it! I deleted all of the photos that I snapped during our train ride."
Then the thought occurred to me to check out the memory chip that had the above three photos at the very end of its memory.
There was my answer !! The above memory chip had only 273 kilobytes (enough for five, perhaps six photos!) remaining out of its 1.86 gigabyte total capacity.
After I snapped the above three photos, I probably got a message on my camera that its memory chip was full.
Assuming this was the case, I removed it and inserted a new memory chip. I carry extra memory chips as well as extra batteries in case this happens. I am even wondering if Gullible gave me a new memory chip as she too travels prepared.
Again! Out and off I went searching for another memory chip and!
VOILA! I found it!
And here we go Gullilble. My photo shoot from our long ago trip.
The below link will show you our route. From Sukbaatar at the extreme Northern Border with Russian Siberia, South to the capital City of Mongolia, Ulaanabaater.
On the above map, notice that South of Sukbaatar (located on the Northern Mongolia border with Russian Siberia) is a city named Darkhan. The train ride from Sukbaatar to Darkhan will be the first part of our journey to Ulaanbaatar.
SUKBAATAR TO ULAANBAATAR
Wednesday, November 4th, 2015
The total distance between the two cities is approximately 340KM (211 miles) by highway. The mileage differs by railway.
The estimated times to make the trip are :
By automobile 4-3/4 hours. By train (that makes stops en route) 8-1/4 hours.
There are seven (7) scheduled stops for the train between the two cities. Also there are innumerable 'flag' stops along the route where local people in small communities can signal the train to stop for them to board.
As you can see on the above map, the first major city going South from Sukbaatar is Darkhan.
SUKBAATAR TO DARKHAN
This first leg of our journey, Sukbaatar to Darkhan, is 100 KM (62 miles) by road. By automobile it takes about 1-1/2 hours and by train 2-1/2 hours.
It was a cold, snowy, early morning when we eased our way out of Sukbaatar at 6:30AM. Each fare on the train for first class accomodations was only U.S. $12.50. Amazing!
Our heat on the train was from a coal burning stove at the end of our train coach! It heated water that was then circulated through the coach in hot water pipes.
Several photos as we travelled from Sukbaatar South to Darkhan, Mongolia.
We are now about to arrive in Darkhan.
Darkhan is a city of approximately 100,000 people and it is (behind Ulaanbaatar and Erdenet) the third largest city in all of Mongolia. Russia, the leader of The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, played a big part in the construction of Darkhan beginning in the very early 1960's.
When you travel by automobile you see the below city limit sign that really makes a statement. DARKHAN !!
We have arrived in Darkhan!
Улаанбаатар (Ulaanbaatar) to Сүхбаатар (Sukbaatar)
We are on our way! South to Ulaanbaatar!
I am not the only one who enjoys looking out the doors of a train!
Of course! There is a big difference! They don't want to miss their stop!
"Cap?" .. "Are we getting close to Ulaanbaatar?"
Now we are coming into the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar!
And Gullible, there you have it! Our trip on the Mongolian Railway from Sukbaatar to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, back in November of 2015.
Smiling at the memories we have to share ..
Cap and Patti
Oh By The Way! IF you would like to read Gullible's post about this same train ride, please click onto the below link to her website.
Gullible replied as follows on our other website : Wonderful series of photos that bring back memories of a special train ride. I went back through the archives on my blog and found my photos of that trip were posted on Dec.15, 2015.
ReplyDeleteWe answered Gullible as follows : Thanks Gullible for your comment. My finally (at your suggestion!!) publishing the photos certainly brought back good memories of our train trip for us as well.
And? We two just went back-in-time to your DEC 15, 2015, blogspot post covering this same train ride South from Sukbaatar to Ulaanbaatar. We left a comment as well and then we re-visited the post you published on the ride up the highway to Sukbaatar from Ulaanbaater leaving a comment there as well. Can you believe over six years have passed since that trip? Cap and Patti