So we approached the town of Kyakhta that is the Russian border town. I don’t know if it’s the case that all Russian border towns are military bases too – but this one certainly is. It instantly puts the bejesus into us…..just don’t do anything wrong!
So in army style here is the outline of what happened:
09:45 – approach border – guard looks at passports – signals us onwards.
09:50 – park up behind some cars – man in the car in front tells us to go second floor.
09:56 – someone mopping the floor – one manned counter.
10:02 – man says we need stamp first from car inspectors.
10:06 – 3 guards with 2 Alsatian dogs inspect the car and engine.
10:16 – back to second floor – form stamped.
10:22 – called over – passports handed over.
10:26 – drive car to X-ray machine.
10:38 – car has X-ray.
10:44 – back to second floor – form stamped.
10:48 – to passport control.
10:54 – through passport control – drive through no-mans land and into Mongolia side of border control.
11:00 – car is registered and we’re given a white slip of paper
11:22 – drive car to be inspected – white slip gets a stamp.
11:26 – queue up for Mongolian passport control.
11:38 – through Mongolian passport control.
11:44 – into customs room – officer prints off form.
11:52 – officer inspects car – officer stamps form – white slip gets another stamp.
12:01 – drive to next stop – passports inspected.
12:03 – through border and surrender white slip – enter cabin that sells car insurance.
12:15 – £44 later insurance form received and stamped.
12:17 – we’re in Mongolia
Time spent: 2 hours 32 minutes
Considering it’s a border crossing that caters for foreigners it offered no guidance on how to navigate the system. If it wasn’t for the numerous kind Mongolians, who obviously traverse the borders routinely, I imagine the process would have taken a lot longer. With no common language, they pointed at particular places and particular forms and we eventually got the gist that we needed that form stamped or needed to go over there.
So here we are: our second visit to the truly beautiful land of Mongolia.
Did you see the X-ray of Totty?
Unfortunately not! We both said at the time how cool it would’ve been to get a copy, but the Russian officer looked a bit too scary to ask.
Just heard the currency fallen 30 percent in a few weeks – enjoy the cheap food and drink! BTW, how do you pay for things on your route? Keep Dollars hidden somewhere?
The Mongolian currency fallen?! Nice 🙂 We have just accepted the fact that we will pay the charge when withdrawing from ATMs. So we’ve just been carrying cash with us in our wallets. Foolish maybe…..