Our route from Ulaanbaatar to Tsetserleg.
Litter Bugs
There is a really bad litter problem in Eastern Russia and Mongolia. Even in the most beautiful riverside and lake locations there are countless empty vodka bottles, plastic water bottles, millions of cigarette butts and general litter blanketing the ground. (Two litre bottles of Coca-cola seem to be the main suspect.) It’s widespread, utterly depressing and so unnecessary. Even by Lake Baikal, one of Russia’s most beautiful assets, and a UNESO site, there is litter everywhere.
Mongolia Photos Pt. 2
Mongolia Photos Pt. 1
Mongolia Pt. 1
So after having crossed over into Mongolia we drove south to the large town of Darkhan and stayed at a hotel to shower and use the internet. That evening we went to a local Korean restaurant and ordered way too much and then had an utterly sleepless night due to a party in the next door room. It was the morning after that we found the back window of the car open and nothing but our very dirty laundry stolen!
We then drove south towards to Ulaanbaatar. Having stopped off for lunch at a beautiful spot by the road we also took the opportunity to dry out the awning and Sir Lawrence of Arabia (the tent) that had both received a soaking at Lake Baikal. The view was breathtaking so we ended up driving further away from the main road on an old track and found a peaceful and utterly hidden spot. We have yet to camp anywhere quite as beautiful and, to be honest, I’ll be surprised if we find anywhere quite as gorgeous again.
Mongolia: Short time-lapse
A very short time-lapse movie from Sunday morning.
Mongolia Route: Stage 1
Our route from the Russian border to the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar.
Russia Stage 2: Khabarovsk -> Lake Baikal Video
This next video is a more contemplative affair – pretty much documenting my love affair with both Brian (our drone) and the Russian landscape 🙂
It covers our time on the road between Khabarovsk, Russia and the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, Russia.
Enjoy!
Toilet Yoga
Right let’s put this into perspective first. Japan is the KING of toilets. They make a noise to cover up any untoward noises; they have heated seats; they can wash front and back bottom areas with various modes of spray; they release deodoriser and they flush as you arise…..they no doubt do even more marvellous things if I could only read Japanese. So…yes….we’ve been spoilt:)
There are sit down toilets here that vary in degrees of cleanliness and hygiene. However, most of the toilets, particularly in the more rural areas, are squat toilets – not the ceramic flushing ones but the hand built ones. These consist of a pit dug into the earth and then a building, of wood or brick, built up to provide shelter. Some of these are utterly gross: with pooh splattered everywhere, discarded used loo roll and they stink as a lot of the pits are getting filled up. At a visit recently Captain was greeted by a big pooh that had literally been curled out at the entrance – he went no further.
Russia/Mongolia Border Crossing
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.
