Western Mongolia route works!
 

Geoff Kingsmill, his wife and a friend just successfully exited Mongolia overland at the new border post in North-west Mongolia. It's called Tsagaan Nuur and was just opened to foreigners a few weeks ago.

Geoff is in a Toyota Land Cruiser and his friend Tom is on a BMW F650 bike. They were the first foreigners to leave via that route. you can read about it, and their Mongolia travels, here:

http://dreamers1.com/russia/Tashanta/Tashanta.htm

Haven't heard of anyone coming IN to Mongolia that way yet, but it sounds like it should work smoothly.

-Scott

[This message has been edited by scottw (edited 27 February 2005).]

Thanks so much for that info! I was contemplating exiting Mongolia the same way in couple of weeks so now I am set. I love HU...

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Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius - William Blake

Hi Countpacman: I live in Ulaanbaatar, so if you need any help or advice on riding in Mongolia, drop me a line. I ride a BMW R100GS here.

Hope to see you soon.

-Scott

Hi Scott,

I will be on my way into Mongolia via Central Asia on my 80GS somewhere before winter.

I may have to stay ýn Mongolia the whole winter

-Scott

[/B][/QUOTE]



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Lodewijk

Hi Lodewijk: Staying for the winter here means staying a LONG time. It is usually below freezing at night by early October, and the ice is not off the streets until late March.

Anyway, keep in touch and let me know if you need any help or information about riding in Mongolia.

-Scott

I just crossed the border back into Russia at Tsagaan Nuur / Tashanta. Mongolian officials were totally incompetent and rude and I had to camp at the border as they took all day about processing me despite me being the only person that day who wanted to cross. Russia side was super friendly, quick, and easy.

Thanks Scott for posting that info!


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Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius - William Blake

As many of you may know by now, the Long Way duo got into Mong via this border (just before Geoff I think), coming from Semipalatinsk in Rus.
Although their money and assistance would not be that of an ordinary overlander, it might be considered a two-way border now and an interesting way of getting east to UB.

Chris S

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Author of Sahara Overland II hardback edition and the Adventure Motorcycling Handbook, among other things

http://www.sahara-overland.com and http://www.adventure-motorcycling.com

Isn't Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan?
It was last year when I was there...

Sorry to nitpick.

Yep sure is, nice restored medrassa school of the famous Kazak legend Abay. But its not far from Semey to Barnaul then Gorno Altask to Tsagganuur/Tashanta. This was the route I wanted to take when I was originally planning my trip, but couldnt get permission from the Russians to cross into Mongolia..the Mongolian honorary consul in Australia was very obliging with my request to enter at that border.

cheers alec

G'day Scott
Am currently doing some planning for a trip in 2006 with three others Aussies. Two of us have travelled before (London/ Tokyo in 2003). Two have not. We plan to reverse the trip and now we have more experience we plan to tackle some of the places we failed to complete/ did not have time for last time. One of them is Mongolia.
Hope to arrange the Mongolian visa here in Oz, if not then the consultant at Irkutsk.
Into Ulaanbaatar then cross to Tsagaan Nuur and back into Russia.
At this stage we are looking at two weeks from 12 June to 26 June.
Ok the questions.
1. Timing v’s weather. What type of weather can we expect. All reports indicate that it should be good. All three will be riding Triumph Tigers
2. All other riders appear to have had GPS and since neither of our star navigation is any good we are planning to use one as well. As it will be purposely for Mongolia do you have any suggestions on type?
3. Time allowed. Too little have a reasonable look around. All four are into camping and that type of stuff. Plan to have a 4/ 7 day rest at on the island in lake Baikal before we head off
4. Any suggested “must do” places to see, detour to around etc.

I know that is a long time away and a few others have discussed Mongolia on the site, but would appreciate yours or anybody else’s opinion on the subject.

If Chris in Tokyo is reading this, G’day and happy new year.

Cheers and thanks

Brett

Hi Brett! I think I can help with (1) and (4)

1) Mongolia is pretty cold no matter what time of year. I was there in August 2004 and got a snowstorm right before crossing the Tsagaan Nuur border back into Russia. There is a really high mountain pass about 30 kms south of the border there, the border being on a mountain pass itself.

4) Just about anywhere in Mongolia is a must see in my opinion, but here are some highlights(purchase a good map in Ulaanbaatar - the "Road Map of Mongolia, Avto zamin zural" is as good as they come for Mongolia:

Coming west from Ulaanbaatar

1. Karakorum next to Harhorin is very touristy but worth it. Paved road to it. Make sure to check out the stone phallus across the road. Not that you can miss the very informational sign pointing the location...

2. "Shortcut" directly south from Harhorin to Arvayheer is excellent and a great warmup for whats to come. Great scenery, 2 river crossings, yaks, and a fantastic place to practice your navigation skills without putting yourselves in too much danger. You guys should do just fine on the Triumph Tigers. Use dirt oriented tires though, don't be a fool like me and run a dirt Pirelli MT21 and a street Pirelli Scorpion A/T on the rear. I crashed more than once in mud and sand because of that.

3. South to anywhere in the Govi

4. Fantastic mountain pass on the main "road" between Altay and Darvi. Its actually a dry river bed. You won't believe your eyes when you see all the tracks converge on that one point.

5. Ancient steles between Zereg and Hovd and all the way to Olgiy. They're all over the Altay mountain range.

6. A few river crossings and high mountain pass between Hovd and Tsaganuur.

Enjoy the exquisite cusine! Theres nothing in the world like that fantastic rock hard super sour yogurt blocks. Just ask Scott in UB! I think they're his favorites right behind the Choco Pies!


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Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius - William Blake

[This message has been edited by CountPacMan (edited 08 January 2005).]

Brett: Sorry to take so long to reply: I just got back to Ulaanbaatar after a month of home leave.

CountPacMan's advice above is all very good. He had a successful trip here last year.

The best GPS brand for Mongolia is Garmin, because the Garmin World Map CD-ROM for Mongolia is better than Magellan or any others that I know of. As for what type of Garmin, I would say get the Garmin GPS V at least. Anything older might give you problems with getting all the maps into the memory.

June is a pretty decent time to visit, though as CountPacMan notes, you have to be prepared for cold snaps anytime of the year. You should be able to catch some local Naadams (festivals) as people prepare and practice for the national Naadam in UB July 11-13.

Your time is adequate, but you will have to keep moving. 4-7 days in Baikal might be too much. It is very beautiful but not too much going on there. You might be ready to move on after a couple of days.

Let me know if you have more questions as the trip gets closer. I'll be here until July or August of 2006, so I might be able to ride with you a bit while you're in Mongolia.

Hope this helps.

-Scott



[This message has been edited by scottw (edited 24 January 2005).]

hello
i put some info on my website, i was in central asia russia mongolia iran pakistan in 2002, it may have changed a bit though :
http://vincent.danna.free.fr/infos/index.html

good luck, enjoy

Hi Scott,

I'm setting off to Mongolia in three weeks together with my friends from Czech republic and we will go through Russia and Kazakhstan, entering Mongolia through western crossing in Tashanta (hopefully).

Please could you contact me (ADDRESS IN PROFILE) I would like to ask you for a few tips about the country you live in so maybe you could help me.

Thanks a lot,

Vlada

[QUOTE]Originally posted by scottw:
[B]Brett: Sorry to take so long to reply: I just got back to Ulaanbaatar after a month of home leave.

Address removed to prevent spam.
Click on profile icon to see user's address


[This message has been edited by Chris in Tokyo (edited 02 June 2005).]

Great advice on Mongolia. I will be riding across Mongoolia in August this year (see www.users.bigpond.net.au/AdrianScott). One question though - I was planning on entering Mongolia at the Russian border at Mondy/Hanh (near Hovsgul Nuur). My advice is that this is now open to foreigners. Can anyone confirm
?