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About 40 km from Sukhbaatar it really starts to look a lot more like Russia and not Mongolia at all. This town is a “shit” town and the nicest looking hotel and restaurant are both shut down. We did find an ok place, but no hot water. There is a big Korean influence here and that improved our dinner selections!!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4338/...332f779b_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We heard a bike pull into the parking after 10 and it was Nicholas from Barcelona that we had met at the Oasis. He left 2 hours after we did and it took him 3 hours to cross the city in traffic. In the end we did not have a bad night and slept well. Another surprise is they actually served us breakfast (congee and friend dough). https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4400/...daf6f1ea_c.jpgUlaanbaatar to Russia Border-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We have 262 km to Ulan Ude and first thing we all gassed up ad set out the 24 km to the border. Nicholas decided he wanted to ride with us today even though he plans to go 719 km to Irkusk today. He says he rode all the way across Russia and never met any other riders and he is dying for some conversation.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4349/...5297d26c_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-22 at 23.18.03 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr It was a chilly 12 degrees when we set out and the sky is cloudy, but rain is not in the forecast. Driving up to the border we passed by a line of trucks and were whisked thru the first gate. We lined up at the second gate to wait to be let in. The border guard was young and friendly and spoke English well. Once you are inside the gate you go around the other side of the building an hand over you passport. Here they enter your data into the computer and stamp you out. That’s it you are out of Mongolia in 10 minutes. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4397/...64a87807_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/...589a4e1f_b.jpgUlaanbaatar to Russia Border-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
From here we were directed to the Russian check point gate. They are supposed to give you a scrap of paper with boxes printed on it to collect your stamps. (well actually they did not give them to us, but we did get them later at customs). We waited here a few minutes for it to open and then we had to squeeze by the trucks to get into the long line of cars.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4425/...5f60e620_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4441/...ae031090_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4406/...e9d5da55_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4403/...f15259be_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
They opened a second line and we moved up not that this would help time wise. You have to go to the first window to get your visa checked and entry stamp. They are very specific to blue light scan every page of your passport and spent a good few minutes inspecting each persons documents. Next you need to fill in your customs clearance forms. They are in Russian, but they have examples posted in English. This took forever and the woman who was doing the forms was a battle axe. A huge bus showed up and so Dan and Sara who were last were then sent to another office where a very pleasant woman did the last 2 forms very quickly. We also met up with the two Swiss riders here as well. It took 3 hours and almost all of this was the getting into Russia part. WOW.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/...46668bf1_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The road initially was new tarmac and then very bad pavement in need of repair for about 10 km, and then a dry mud road for 10 km. Then back to the good road.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4353/...c986914f_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4413/...7c8f62c4_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4359/...3323d1c5_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr There is no services after the border town for about 80 km where we finally found a restaurant for some lunch. ducky we had saved some Rubles from our last time in Russia. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4348/...951a1c20_c.jpgUlaanbaatar to Russia Border-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The weather held off but it was pretty cold and windy. We had booked into a nice hotel with all the comforts for 30 Euros!! Tried some Russian bubbles as well. There were several Mongol Rally cars here too.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4359/...bb5d11f5_c.jpgUlan Ude-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4358/...c2d39dfc_c.jpgUlan Ude by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4435/...ba043934_c.jpgUlan Ude Russia-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4427/...3578ce60_c.jpgUlan Ude Russia by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4381/...3066927b_c.jpgUlan Ude-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The next good thing was there is a launderette a few blocks away as well. The hotel wanted to charge by the piece and this would be about 100$ where the laundry mat was 6$. The very nice lady here did the wash, dry, and fold. You even pay at a kiosk.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4350/...db26b52f_c.jpgUlan Ude-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4369/...87391cb3_c.jpgUlan Ude-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4355/...e2165f40_c.jpgUlan Ude-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4428/...d3e7134f_c.jpgUlan Ude-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We also found a great Chinese restaurant close by! NO goat or mutton! https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4412/...fa4fca9a_c.jpgUlan Ude Russia-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4362/...569ed39c_c.jpgUlan Ude Russia-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The houses near the river are all old wood buildings with elaborate windows. They look like fire traps.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4411/...e391b676_c.jpgUlan Ude Russia-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4368/...c7e03296_c.jpgUlan Ude Russia-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4356/...68084fca_c.jpgUlan Ude Russia-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4352/...853af23c_c.jpgUlan Ude Russia-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4363/...6edcf3be_c.jpgUlan Ude Russia-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The original plan today was to head out to Lake Baikal and find a place to stay overnight. The options are ger camps or cabins. Since it is forecast for rain we are not too keen on tenting. The ride out is 169 km and getting out of the city was easy.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4343/...16bf16c0_z.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-26 at 15.45.55 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr About 25 km from town you head over a pass and it was raining foggy and 5 degrees. It improved quite a bit on the far side at least as far as the rain. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4438/...6968c8d1_c.jpgLake Baikal-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4425/...2f31aab3_c.jpgLake Baikal-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The “beaches” along the lake south of the towns were covered in garbage! The wind is howling and the lake is white caps. We arrived to the Ger place in Gremiatchinsk, that we had seen on bookings and it was totally tragic. It is a few ratty gers in a sand parking lot with the full brunt of the wind. The next town Tourka is over is 6 km and they do have some other accommodation, but it is sketch and double the price of the comfy hotel we had last night. We did have a nice lunch with a view of the lake.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4399/...25685ab5_c.jpgRussia Lake Biakal by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4381/...3451f320_c.jpgLake Baikal-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4439/...441be0e4_c.jpgLake Baikal-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4433/...47d0e2da_b.jpgLake Baikal-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4421/...20217a23_c.jpgLake Baikal-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4392/...dcdab0d8_c.jpgLake Baikal-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/...52cbf41d_c.jpgLake Baikal-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4344/...79c3ee23_c.jpgLake Baikal by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
So back to Ulan Ude it is!!! The trip back was much nicer as the sun was shining. They thought it was very funny when we showed back up at the hotel.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4343/...16bf16c0_z.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-26 at 15.45.55 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4408/...9aba68d0_c.jpgLake Baikal-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr This small trip had also convinced us that we do not want to ride 1400 km thru more Siberian forrest to the eastern Mongolian border. This seems now a crazy waste of time and tire tread. We will wait out the bad weather here for a couple of days and then head back to Mongolia. We can then have 2 weeks to loops about as we like. We are basically hiding out the few days of rainy weather in a comfortable place with great wifi. This means we have all been able to catch up the last 6 weeks of the blogs. This also means we can avoid the 10 km of the road that turn to a mud pit in the rain (it took Nicholas 3 hours). |
There is Yamaha dealership here and we stocked up on Motul chain lube. Trevor also got some new winter gloves and Orvar bought some fork oil to change his out (you can not buy in UB).
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4394/...fba48acd_b.jpgUlan Ude Yamaha by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4331/...50d1683f_b.jpgUlan Ude Yamaha-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4354/...1191555c_b.jpgUlan Ude Yamaha-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4346/...50b01f98_b.jpgUlan Ude Yamaha-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We also ran into our Icelandic friend Gudmundur and his new riding partners Edouard and Mathilde from France. He had checked our SPOT and saw us across the tracks from them. We probably would have met anyway since their bikes were parked out front of their hotel and the guys walked by there and went in anyway. We made a plan to go out for Chinese tonight. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4390/...55c2e8ae_b.jpgRussia Ulan Ude by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4357/...bc76e317_b.jpgRussia Ulan Ude-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4411/...0cac839c_b.jpgRussia Ulan Ude-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The forecast is for no rain today, but it was still only 6 degrees when we set out the 230 km to the border. The plan is to get there and depending on the weather and the time for the border we will with stay at the border town of Altanbulag where there is 1 hotel or go 120 km to Darkhan where there are lots of hotels.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4382/...2d14c6c6_z.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-28 at 18.48.29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We stopped again at the same and only spot to have some coffee and soup to warm up and this is 80 km from the border. The road was dry and no issue with mud. There is a police check just before the border and they record your passport info. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4489/...237736af_b.jpgDarkan Contour by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4358/...d8ea94a3_b.jpgDarkan Contour-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We gassed up to get rid of some Rubles at the border. Then lined up at the exit gate. They kept letting all the trucks in and we had to wait over 45 minutes just to get access to the border area.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4484/...eb876fa6_b.jpgDarkan Contour-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr From here you ride 300 m to the customs clearance. You are directed to park outside and there are vehicles going in both directions here. This place is total chaos. You have to go up the stairs 2 flights (follow the pictures of cars and the arrows). There is a room with desks behind glass, a bunch of numbers are posted on the glass, and 50 people waving are passports and customs documents covered with dozens of stamps. After 15 min of no queuing going on and only 1 of the 3 agents seeming to be doing anything Trevor pushed his paper to the front and said CANADA. The agent took his paper immediately, scanned his QRS code, signed it and gave it right back. That was enough for all of us to then do the same and get served right away. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4407/...dd7956dd_b.jpgDarkan Contour-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Then you go outside and the same mean Russian lady as last week was there to check your paper and then 3 agents searched your luggage. They kept asking if we had weapons or drugs specifically Tramadol. 1.5 hours and we were finally done. Then you ride 300 m to the Mongolian entry gate. There is no agent there and we waited until a truck came and they opened the other gate. We were told to follow him thru the decontamination bath of spuge. Here you are supposed to then stop and return back to the guardhouse. The want your passport and moto paper and give you a paper with boxes on it for your stamps. They enter all your data into the computer. Then you ride down 400m and park under the covered area. Here the agent stamps your paper the first time. You go inside to passport control to get an entry stamp. Then you must pay for the decontamination. Here there is a bit of a scam as the local are paying 1000 T (.50$) but the woman asked us for 100R ($2) Trevor called her on it and she gave us the local price. Next you go to customs clearance for the bosses stamp. He enters your data also by chicken pecking on the key board. Then you go out to get a final stamp on the paper and you are done. 1.5 hours as well. Then you ride 300 m to the exit gate where they check you have all your stamps. There is again a fake insurance person and a tax office outside the border zone and we just rode by. It is cold an windy and now 4 pm, but we headed south. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4474/...8685be2c_b.jpgDarkan Contour-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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