Mongolian Border Crossings

[colebatch]

as many of you know, there are currently only 5 land border crossings open to foreigners entering or leaving Mongolia - they are:

Tsagaannuur - Tashanta in the west
Altanbulag - Kyakhya in the north
Dzamin Uud - Erlianhot in the south
Ereentsav - Solovyovsk in the east

and the rail only crossing between Sukhbaatar and Naushki.

I hear thru the grapevine that the Monti - Khalkh border adjacent to Khovsgul Lake will open to foreigners either 2011 or 2012, due to high tourist demand. But dont believe it until there is confirmation.

[scottw]

The unfortunate thing is that I think the Mongolians would be happy to open more land crossings to foreigners as they are trying hard to attract more tourists/traders. But Russia and China don't feel much incentive to open up crossings so they just say no.

[colebatch]

For what its worth, I went thru the Solovyovsk (Solovevsk) - Ereentsav (Chuluunkhoroot) crossing a week ago. There is almost no info out there on this crossing so I will add it here.

Its tiny ... very rarely used ... and the border town on the Russian side is really run down. Quite unusual. It's in the middle of nowhere.

I spoke to the border guys there, who had all been there since the crossing became an international one about 5 years ago. They said they get 5-10 "internationals" a year using that border ... most driving their own 4WDs. A handful of cyclists. Almost exclusively Europeans ... they mentioned Dutch, Italians, and a Finn from this year.

I asked about motorcyclists and they said I was the first "international" motorcyclist they could recall. The only other biker they could recall crossing there in the last dozen years was a Russian from Vladivostok. But its good to know the border works for bikers, both in theory and in practice.

Border hours are 10-19 daily, Zabaikalsky Krai (formerly Chita Oblast) time. (Irkutsk time +1 hour). Not sure if it is open on weekends or not.

There is very little on the Russian side village of Solovyovsk. No shops, no petrol, no accommodation. The nearest is at Borzya, about 90km away. The Mongolian side is a bit more lively with the twin villages of Ereentsav and Chuluunkhoroot. There are shops, there is 92 octane fuel. From Ereentsav to the first town of any substance, Choibalsan, is about 220 km down a narrow grassy track. There is almost nothing but a few tiny villages along the way.



From Choibalsan there is a good dirt / earthen series of tracks to Ondorkhaan, and from Ondorkhaan to UB is good asphalt.

There is currently a foot and mouth outbreak in the region and there are discussions at Mongolian prime minister level about closing the crossing temporarily. Movement is restricted at present, with many roadblocks and disinfection checkpoints.

[scottw]

Great information, thanks for contributing it!

I've been to the Mongolian side of that border crossing but you're the first international traveler I have heard from who actually did the crossing.

[bugsy]

Colebatch- could you pls check spelling of the towns you mention above? only 1 comes up in google earth
:confused1:=me! loadsa head scratching going on!

[MotoEdde]

Originally Posted by bugsy

Colebatch- could you pls check spelling of the towns you mention above? only 1 comes up in google earth
:confused1:=me! loadsa head scratching going on!

GE doesn't always have the spelling correctly...as spelling is not as relevant for the locals...

My guess is that this crossing is in the East...orver by Khaborovsk...
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to Irkutsk, Province of Irkutsk, Russian Federation - Google Maps

[colebatch]

There is no "correct" spelling in the latin alphabet as used by the English language. Mongolia does not use the latin alphabet, therefore there is no correct or official spelling in the latin alphabet. There is only correct spelling in the Mongolian variant of the cyrillic alphabet or in Mongol script. So I cannot help you. How google decides to transliterate names is not necessarily more or less accurate than my transliterations.

But to make it easier to locate Ereentsav / Solovyovsk (often very badly transliterated as Solovevsk), here is my track map for around that period.

[colebatch]

If it helps, I just had a look at google earth, and it seems to depict Ereentsav as "Ereentsay" ... which strikes me as quite a poor transliteration. I suspect whoever marked it on the Google maps misread another map and put a Y at the end where there should be a V.

Again, it reinforces the comments of myself and Edde above that because google has it one way does not mean that is the correct or even the best spelling / transliteration. To me that is just a silly error by Google.

As for what I called Solovyovsk, google earth has "Solov'evsk" with an apostrophy in the name. Whether or not you subscribe to the idea of transliterating cyrillic with the apostrophy or not, the "e" is definately a "yo" in this towns name. To illustrate my point that spelling can only be correct in any native alphabets, the only correct spelling of the town I have referred to as Solovyovsk is "Соловьёвск". Anything else is just someones interpretation of how it might be written in another alphabet. As I pointed out on another forum not long ago ... what is the correct spelling in our alphabet of Чайковский ... The Russian classical composer we often refer to as Chaikovsky. But the Germans have a tendency to transliterate his name as Tschaikowski ... a completely different spelling in the latin alphabet. The French use a different transliteration again. No-one is correct and no-one is wrong. It simply is not possible to define the correct spelling of a Cyrillic name in the latin alphabet.

[bugsy]

cool- got it- I tried a few spellings in the hope GE would recognise some-
thanks for explaining this Colebatch

[danielsprague]

Damn, we could have possible met. I was planning on crossing on the 16th, but was detained by police for 5 days in southern Sukhbaatar Aimag for travelling (unaware) during the ban. I got an escort to Barun Urt, then permits to go to UB and up to Altanbulag border. Very annoying. I was told there was no way to go to Choibalsan and on to this border. I am now in ULan Ude with a new visa, waiting to go to Chita and on to Solovyevsk.

How did you manage to get travel permits??

Cheers

Daniel

[colebatch]

Originally Posted by danielsprague

Damn, we could have possible met. I was planning on crossing on the 16th, but was detained by police for 5 days in southern Sukhbaatar Aimag for travelling (unaware) during the ban. I got an escort to Barun Urt, then permits to go to UB and up to Altanbulag border. Very annoying. I was told there was no way to go to Choibalsan and on to this border. I am now in ULan Ude with a new visa, waiting to go to Chita and on to Solovyevsk.

How did you manage to get travel permits??

Cheers

Daniel

When I was detained by quarantine officials / police in Ereentsav, I simply asked .... "so what are we going to do now?. I am not going back across the border to Russia"

I dont think they thought detaining me indefinately was an option, so the police in Ereentsav wrote me a piece of paper (the said "permit") which allowed me to travel on to Choibalsan - subject to me agreeing to an hour long fumigation of myself, my clothes and the bike - it was pretty thorough. There is a fair bit more detail on the Sibirsky Extreme website blog.

The question now is whether the Mongolians will even let anyone cross this Ereentsav border (and enter) while they have this quarantine issue. If they let a foreigner cross the border, then really they have to let them travel onwards.

The Russians have no problem with any of this.

[Heidi and Bernd]

good morning!


we are now at the oasis in ulan bator. we ask many people about the two border crossing points in the eastern mongolia, but nowbody know something...


it is one of them open for foreign peoples at this time?? and this on both side of the border...



thanks a lot for this!


cheers from mongolia,

heidi and bernd

[colebatch]

There is only one "international" border crossing point in the east ... its the Soloyovsk - Ereentsav crossing detailed above.

I have no information as to whether or not it is open at present. Last year they had quarantine issues because of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. That issue was dealt with.

So unless you have heard any other reasons, then that border should be open.

Originally Posted by Heidi and Bernd

good morning!


we are now at the oasis in ulan bator. we ask many people about the two border crossing points in the eastern mongolia, but nowbody know something...


it is one of them open for foreign peoples at this time?? and this on both side of the border...



thanks a lot for this!


cheers from mongolia,

heidi and bernd

[insignis]

Originally Posted by Heidi and Bernd

good morning!


we are now at the oasis in ulan bator. we ask many people about the two border crossing points in the eastern mongolia, but nowbody know something...


it is one of them open for foreign peoples at this time?? and this on both side of the border...






cheers from mongolia,

heidi and bernd

thanks a lot for this!

Thanks for all this info. Great to hear things are perhaps improving.
Do you have news on fuel supply in Mongolia? I've heard that Russia is putting the squeeze on supply.

[Heidi and Bernd]

hi,

there are no more big problems with petrol in mongolia. maybe some petrolstations dont have 92, but 80 is everywhere....

enjoy!

cheers,

bernd