Field NotesJanuary 19, 2026·8 min read·Ulaanbaatar → Beijing
Six days on a train, a small notebook
What the Trans-Mongolian teaches you about time, tea, and the specific weight of an unread book.
N
Nora Alviar
Writer & photographer
Cover: note thanun / Unsplash
The samovar at the end of the carriage runs day and night. Everything else on the train — conversation, sleep, dinner — organises itself around that fact.
Six days is exactly long enough to stop looking at your phone and start looking at your window.
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