Daily Life in China                  

Mongolian Train Station:

Train station south of Balinyouqi near Xilin, essentially no where except out on the grassland in an area of low mountains which seperate the low plain from the high plain.

Despite the looks this is not a high traffic area. There's nothing here, no close towns or cities, no small villages close by so what's the station for other than man the gates for mosquitoes. ??

The 7012 train that had been traveling along RT 303 stopped so I was a bit confused.  I then came across this station and stopped to see what it was.  The station master was great, very friendly and gave me a nice tour of the station and grounds.      He explained that 7012 stopped at a siding to let another train pass so I hung around to see both trains pass.

The larger building has a small cooking area, bed and sitting area.  The other section with the white door and window does not have an  entrance from the house.  There's a wind generator on the top of the house which charges a car battery inside the house.  Out front in the lower right the station master has some green beens drying. 

There is a type of stove outside the attached building, effectively a raised pit.  It's vented through the pipe going up but also somehow connects to a radiator in the other building.  The heat runs into the smaller building then through the common wall into a make shift radiator inside the main house, then out through a metal chimney. 

Kitchen counter pantry and stove.  What more could you need?  The stove hold a wok (guo) and vents through the wall which goes into the bed (literally) in the bedroom.  The light cord on the left runs from the battery in the bedroom.

The bedroom sitting area. Off to the lower right is the connection to the stove in the kitchen.  It provides the heat to the brick bed he's sitting on.  There's probably a vent at the far right all in back of him to vent the stove. 

The stove inside the other attached building runs to the rectangular radiator out through the metal chimney.  The extras in the room are a guest bed and table. 

Great view from the living room of a sea of corn.  It must be pretty cold here in the winter.  The glass is single glaze and leaky.  There's a glassed in porch but it also is very leaky so not very effective in high winds.

7012 finally pulled up hauling coal off to western Mongolia.  Mongolia has a bit of an energy problem, not enough.  There's coal in the ground but currently not many mines getting it out.