We got scammed... $7.44

Cassie:
We got scammed of a whole $AUD7.44 at the Mongolian border today. Certainly not a bank breaker but doesn't make for a very nice border experience. The Russian side of the border was painstaking but nevertheless a breeze in comparison to the Mongolian side of the border. The Russians scrutinized every piece of paper we had, particularly our customs declaration form for the car, we then had to fill out two new customs declaration forms for the exit of the car to Mongolia. Our car was then searched top to bottom including the engine bay, all the main storage containers in the car and the boxes on the roof, they tapped the sides of the car (presumably to make sure they were hollow, the joke is that they're stuffed full of insulation batts. Would've been a pain if they made us remove all of that for inspection!), they even went so far as to have a sniffer dog jump in the car. We then had to drive a few metres up the driveway, park again, stand at another window so that our passpor
ts could be processed. Cool, another stamp in the passports!

Then came the Mongolian border crossing. OMG. Bit of a mess really. There was absolutely no signage to let us know what was happening or where to go. We drove through a pit of water, presumably an agricultural dip to clean the tyres or something. Lucky I had my window open at the time because I heard someone insistently whistling. I poked my head out the window to see a guy whistling and gesturing at us to go into an office. Ok, so Graeme went in whilst I waited with the car. Then out of nowhere an official looking lady came up to me with a receipt and asking for 50 roubles. No problem, that was legit. Then a guy in camo ran up to me with an "Arrival Card". Cool, thanks for that. So I filled out that form while I waited for Graeme to finish in the office. Then we drove towards what looked like a main building, again, no signage. When we got to a covered parking area we thought it made sense to drive up to the line that said "STOP". But again, lucky I had my window down, becau
se a different guy (seemingly didn't even work there) whistled at us and gestured that we stop where we were. Ok. So we stopped and out of nowhere a lady in camo came up to us and inspected the car by repeating what the Russians did except this time we didn't have to open the bonnet or have a dog walk through the car. She then gave us a small slip of paper and gestured that we follow her into the customs building. In there we filled out the form surrounded by 4 staff whilst another staff member walked up to us wanting to see our passports (seemingly just to serve his curiosity). By now we had been given a total of 4 tiny pieces of paper, all serving a different purpose and some with official stamps on them. Then we lined up (we were the only ones in the line), got our passports stamped. Cool, that was easy. Then we were told to go to another desk, that guy then told us no, you need to go over to that desk over there first, then come back to me. Ok. So we trotted off over to
the other desk where a lady stamped one of the forms we already had and gave us yet another tiny piece of paper which turned out to be another form to fill out. As I'm standing there filling that out, some random guy gives me two more forms which were customs declaration forms and says they're for each of us individually. Ok, so by now I've lost count of how many little pieces of paper and forms have been handed to me and which form is for which person at which desk. OMG. Then as I'm filling out the customs declaration forms, the guy tells me to hand them over. But hang on mate, I haven't finished filling them out yet! Gees, pressure! Graeme then gets told that he has to go out to the car because it needs another inspection by the guy who stamps one of the forms. So while he's out there I told the customs guy that this is hard work. I couldn't help griping at someone, it was such a stupid, disorganised process. I quickly bit my tongue because we were beholden to these people
to let us into the country. Yikes, so after all that paper work was done and everyone had finished going nuts with the stamps we could drive out to Mongolia. Ummm, not quite. We get to a closed gate where a guy in camo jumps out of a little side office and tells us to pull over. Damn, so close! We had to buy compulsory insurance at that point. Cool, a very important piece of paper we were expecting to have but absolutely not obvious that this office was for that purpose. All through this process there was a lady who had been sticking to us like fly to....you know what, asking for money. Clearly a scam. We were trying to ignore her and walk away but her and a guy kept blocking our path. So we argued with them outside the car, managed to get in the car and drove towards the gate that the official had opened for us but the lady went up and closed the gate on us! Bitch! (excuse the language). We nudged up to the gate with the bullbar but everytime the official tried to open the
gate the lady held on to it so that he couldn't open it. Far out, it was so stupid it was like an episode of Mr Bean! What the hell is happening! In the end, after much arguing back and forth we paid her a total of 250 roubles, about $AUD7 and she handed over a scam yellow receipt that tries to look official but somehow misses the mark. I have to admit, the whole process was a bit stressful but I would've been cool with it in the end if it wasn't for that stupid woman. I jokingly said to Graeme afterwards that it would be hilarious if we got to the other side of Mongolia and they ask us for this yellow receipt as part of our exit. Totally not going to happen, but we'll keep it as a memento. Funnier still, we inadvertently caught most of the post-border scam on camera!

We met a European guy named Stefan at the Mongolian border who was on his way into Russia. He had some Mongolian Tugriks that he wanted to get rid of so we exchanged them for some Russian roubles we still had. Good outcome all round. He then told us that we would love Mongolia but he found it hard going. To be fair, he is travelling by bicylcle towing a little bike trailer. Kudos! Stefan is on his way to Vladivostok...lucky fella! On a side note, I think he sounded Swedish or something like that, but Graeme thinks he sounded Irish. With a name like Stefan, I'm sticking with European!

I can't believe that we woke up to a misty morning at Lake Baikal in Russia this morning, and have now setup camp in Mongolia. It's blown my mind! We had a celebratory borsh for lunch in Russia today. It was actually quite good and I think I'm going to miss borsh, particularly as we don't know what to expect in Mongolia but have been told on a couple of occasions that the food is nothing exciting. Ugh, hopefully it's not all boiled meat and canned fish here. Hello 2 minute noodles if it is! We've stocked up on "safe" food for this part of the trip, so we should have enough to see us through with the odd supplement from a cafe or supermarket. We're only ~300km from Ulaanbaatar so we'll definitely get there tomorrow on the tar highway. We plan to stay there at least one night, suss it out and see if we'll stay more or not. From then on, who knows how long it'll take us to get anywhere, because I'm not sure how far the tar roads extend past Ulaanbaatar.

Graeme's been a tad concerned that we haven't got a planned itinerary of where we'll be and when. I think he feels like that's a reflection that we haven't planned properly. Meh, I think it's great that we don't have that. It takes some of the stress out of it and means we can trot along at a more casual pace.

Graeme:
The drive out of our Baikal camp was uneventful, but the tricky bit took two stabs to get through. We drove all morning bar stopping for fuel and arrived at the border. Cassie said it all. She was somewhat nervous but I was as cool as a cucumber. We have some OK footage, but brilliant dialoge (mild coarse language) with the scammer. Before anyone jumps up and down about filming at a border, we re-installed and started the filming AFTER we'd left the border compound, the scammer was outside, but behind a traffic gate. I'd be surprised if we found it was legit, but after watching the video ref, the scam was revealed when the border guard didn't take part in her nonsense. Oh well, makes a good story to tell. We're parked in somewhat of a telly-tubby land, with quite tight steep rolling hills with light forest atop them. We're backed into some pines for shade which no doubt will litter all manor of bugs and pine cones on our roof in the night. Did I mention we are in MONGOLIA?!?
! wo00000p!

The rubber bush at the shock absorber mount we installed near Yakutsk is now missing! wow - what's going on?! It lasted a while considering it was the wrong part, but I did expect it to last the rest of the trip.
I've fitted no. 2 of 3 that we bought, and swapped the washers around. The other side doesn't have this configuration, but it's only got to last ~300KM of tar road to UB.

We're now two hours behind Canberra for those who are interested.
See you on the flip-side!