Hello to the anonymous in Barnaul. Yes we loved it very much. Thank you
Hello to the Canadian couple, it's a shame to hear you've had gearbox trouble. Can we help in some way?
Also, we crossed the KZ border with ease and are having lunch in Semey.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Yep
We're camped 10KM outside the Kazakhstan border, between a busy rail line and the highway. The noise is OK now but will no doubt result in fairly ordinary sleep.
Barnaul was completely awesome. Super clean, no traffic hasstles, never once heard a horn. We did a heap of grocery shopping this morning, but still unable to find cordial. I don't know the cost of fuel in Kazakhstan so way we filled up in Russia at around 70 cents a litre. How can you loose if you're paying 70 cents a litre?! We figure that with fuel and food we can get a long way in case there is problems with ATM's or banks etc.
We're not stressed about the border crossings any more, they are just a process after all. It seems to take the stress our of it for us by starting the border crossing first thing of a morning. The only thing we want to avoid is crossing on a Friday. That way if anything goes wrong, we should be free by the weekend one way or another. I've heard some of Kazakhstan's borders are 24 hours, but even after ten minutes research we were unable to determine which ones were. Hopefully the further we go west through europe, the more 24/7 they should become. We are a little bit surprised at how difficult it has been to find route's to the land borders. Most times we've stumbled on them. We just drove through a hovel of a town, and only through a few fluke turns we ended up on the main way to the border. It's mindblowing how you can bump through 10KM of potholes, what felt like 40 rail line crossings then bump up onto a brilliant tar highway without consideration that one sign to either
the border, or a town beyond it could be a huge help. I was 'chatting' with the fuel station lady and indicated we were heading to Kazakhstan (30KM away). I gestured a direction expecting a nod, but it was more like she'd never heard of it. Perhaps this is indicative of a bigger problem.
So far, the land border crossings have been chanced upon. The Russian side of the Altanbulag crossing into Mongolia, had a degree of confidence, provided by an incomplete but new multi-lanned highway. I guess they are holding off on signs until it's complete?. The Mongolian side we would never have found. Same with the other Tsagaannuur border, there was a main looking road, that disappeared into a fence that looks like it's been there for 60 years. Only goat tracks lead to the actual main road... WHY ARE THEY NOT LINKED? If you're going to build a compound in the middle of a road, surely you'd have to build a road around it?!
I'm quite excited at the prospect of entering another country. No doubt people from countries that have land borders are probably underwhelmed by this prospect, but as an Australian, we never get the opportunity to nip into another country before lunch.
We've been virtually mosquito free since Chita, but tonight there are little blighters which are transparent and full of blood - ugh gross.
Our rough route through Kazakhstan should be just shy of 5000KM and as follows:
Semey
Almatay
Turkistan
Atyrau
I'm torn between telling you what things we plan to do through the trip, or keeping surprises.
Anyway, night night.
Position: 12-08-15 21:06:48 +0700 +0000
http://maps.google.com/maps?&ll=51.35262,81.13089&q=51.35262,81.13089&z=16
#END
Barnaul was completely awesome. Super clean, no traffic hasstles, never once heard a horn. We did a heap of grocery shopping this morning, but still unable to find cordial. I don't know the cost of fuel in Kazakhstan so way we filled up in Russia at around 70 cents a litre. How can you loose if you're paying 70 cents a litre?! We figure that with fuel and food we can get a long way in case there is problems with ATM's or banks etc.
We're not stressed about the border crossings any more, they are just a process after all. It seems to take the stress our of it for us by starting the border crossing first thing of a morning. The only thing we want to avoid is crossing on a Friday. That way if anything goes wrong, we should be free by the weekend one way or another. I've heard some of Kazakhstan's borders are 24 hours, but even after ten minutes research we were unable to determine which ones were. Hopefully the further we go west through europe, the more 24/7 they should become. We are a little bit surprised at how difficult it has been to find route's to the land borders. Most times we've stumbled on them. We just drove through a hovel of a town, and only through a few fluke turns we ended up on the main way to the border. It's mindblowing how you can bump through 10KM of potholes, what felt like 40 rail line crossings then bump up onto a brilliant tar highway without consideration that one sign to either
the border, or a town beyond it could be a huge help. I was 'chatting' with the fuel station lady and indicated we were heading to Kazakhstan (30KM away). I gestured a direction expecting a nod, but it was more like she'd never heard of it. Perhaps this is indicative of a bigger problem.
So far, the land border crossings have been chanced upon. The Russian side of the Altanbulag crossing into Mongolia, had a degree of confidence, provided by an incomplete but new multi-lanned highway. I guess they are holding off on signs until it's complete?. The Mongolian side we would never have found. Same with the other Tsagaannuur border, there was a main looking road, that disappeared into a fence that looks like it's been there for 60 years. Only goat tracks lead to the actual main road... WHY ARE THEY NOT LINKED? If you're going to build a compound in the middle of a road, surely you'd have to build a road around it?!
I'm quite excited at the prospect of entering another country. No doubt people from countries that have land borders are probably underwhelmed by this prospect, but as an Australian, we never get the opportunity to nip into another country before lunch.
We've been virtually mosquito free since Chita, but tonight there are little blighters which are transparent and full of blood - ugh gross.
Our rough route through Kazakhstan should be just shy of 5000KM and as follows:
Semey
Almatay
Turkistan
Atyrau
I'm torn between telling you what things we plan to do through the trip, or keeping surprises.
Anyway, night night.
Position: 12-08-15 21:06:48 +0700 +0000
http://maps.google.com/maps?&ll=51.35262,81.13089&q=51.35262,81.13089&z=16
#END
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Barnaul Day 2
Our blog is lacking pictures, so I figured I’d pack it full this time ;-)
This was 30KM into Russia from Mongolia.
This was a cafe…
Abacus in use at grocery store in Altai – complete with EFTPOS
I thought I was struggling with the grass seeds at our last camp, but I think the dog came off worse
Town pride is back on the table – Barnaul
Our hotel
Complete with ‘Hookah Room’ which charges by the hour… Perhaps this was NOT lost in translation.
Everything gets a hiding on the roads we’ve been on. It’s nice to be going through our stock of spares. This should be our last service on this continent.
I made a point of grabbing this photo before I took it for a service. ‘256,700 Magadan’ is the kind of oil filter you want to hang on the wall of your garage! Sadly it’s gone now.
It’s less than a month since we were in Magadan – wow!
In the bath at the hotel, bleaching our water containers which no doubt have developed some gross contents. There are no outdoor taps here, so we will have to walk past reception twice trying to be inconspicuous with 20L water bottles.
Cassie:
On our walk down the main street of the city tonight, Lenina St (every Russian city we’ve been in has a Lenina St without fail) in search of dinner we came across a small group of teenage guys and heard one of them speaking english. We stopped and asked did we just hear them speaking english and sure enough, one of them said yes, that he was trying to teach his friends some english words. This guy was 18yo, heading to university in St Petersburg soon to study politics. He’s super interested in America and Australia and wants to live in Australia for a period of time after his studies. His english was perfect and he said our accent made it very easy for him to understand us. I told him his english is excellent and his accent is quite American. He was so happy to hear this because he loves America so much.
We asked him if he would recommend anywhere for us to have a bite to eat and he suggested a bar. So off we headed and ended up on the top floor of a modern building, took one step out of the elevator dressed in shorts, thongs and t-shirts and couldn’t get back in the elevator quickly enough! It was the most swankiest place I’ve ever set foot in and the hostess who greeted us as soon the elevator doors opened immediately looked at our clothing and footwear. I’m sure she was thinking how do I politely tell these idiots they can’t stay here!? We saved her (and us) the embarrassment and went down to the next floor to a restaurant/bar that was themed as a fire station. Cool! Call me corny, but I’m a sucker for themed restaurants. They’re a bit of harmless fun and a bit of a laugh. The waitress taking our order was dressed as a member of the emergency services personnel, our cutlery was delivered to our table in a miniature replica of an old school, timber water bucket as we sat near the front of an old fire engine truck. Yeah, you all know you secretly think that’s cool.
Anyway, it was actually one of the fanciest, tastiest meal we’ve had….ever! Seriously. There you go, don’t judge a corny themed restaurant by it’s cover.
We didn’t get a photo of our meal tonight, but here’s some culinary delights from Barnaul. Coffees, milkshake and apple strudel…all the healthy stuff really.
We did actually eat proper meals during our stay here, these were just to fill in the gaps! In fact, I think we may have over eaten yesterday, it was all so good! It’s pleasing to note that neither of us have either lost or gained weight during the trip. We weighed ourselves on the baggage scales at the last Russian border (as you do!).
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Videos
These videos were huge, so it’s split into three. The first two are of the travel between Ulaanbaataar and Barnaul, which has been roughly split around Tsetserleg. The third video is more of a 4WD’ing video where Cassie crossed most of the Bokhmoron river. Some people have struggled to watch the videos because they keep stopping. Just a tip: Click play, then click pause. Go make a coffee while the little grey bar gets ahead of the circle down the bottom. Once it’s a good inch or so ahead, you should be able to hit play again without any trouble. For those who want a bigger screen video, click on the ‘YouTube’ button in the bottom right of the video to go watch it there.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Barnaul
Barnaul is quite the happening place. Very clean and no mayhem.
Cassie was first to have a shower, I’m about to go next, but we have to rush because the laundry lady will be arriving any second to pickup our bag of filthy laundry. Neither of us have had a hot shower since Chita – Seriously, I don’t normally smell, but I can’t stand even my own presence right now. In UB we only had a hobo bath which is never as good when it comes to cleanliness. Two and a bit weeks – very embarrassing. And a week since our river bath which again, doesn’t seem to break down the filth as well as hot water.
Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/twomagadan/UBToBarnaul?authkey=Gv1sRgCMKPpZvXp5247gE
The three videos should be uploaded tonight so stay tuned.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
100KM out of Barnaul
Drove for a bit today, good roads, beyond stupid drivers. So sick of them! Regardless of how high your spirits are in the morning, three wide on a two lane road gets you down by the end of the day. According to a book I just finished reading (ironically on Siberia):
-Russian man's average life expectancy is 59.
-Three and a half times as many people were dying in car accidents in Russia compared to Germany.
-Russian's consume twice the level of alcohol considered 'dangerous' by the World Health Organisation
-Russia's population is declining at a rate of 4% per year since 1993. In 8 years Russia's population will be below 100 Million
Spent all my time putting together video to share when we arrive at Barnaul tomorrow.
So far we have:
101 Cool photos ready to upload
10 minute video UB to Tes
~5 minute video Tes to Barnaul (Still compiling)
Altai is the Russian tourist mecca. It's nice to see tourism, the far eastern side of Russia sees no tourists it seemed.
-Russian man's average life expectancy is 59.
-Three and a half times as many people were dying in car accidents in Russia compared to Germany.
-Russian's consume twice the level of alcohol considered 'dangerous' by the World Health Organisation
-Russia's population is declining at a rate of 4% per year since 1993. In 8 years Russia's population will be below 100 Million
Spent all my time putting together video to share when we arrive at Barnaul tomorrow.
So far we have:
101 Cool photos ready to upload
10 minute video UB to Tes
~5 minute video Tes to Barnaul (Still compiling)
Altai is the Russian tourist mecca. It's nice to see tourism, the far eastern side of Russia sees no tourists it seemed.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
"Back in the USSR"
Cassie:
Ok, so it's not called the USSR anymore, but we were trying to be clever by referencing a song title. Neither of us know the name of the person/band who sings it - can anyone shed any light? We're in the Altai region after crossing the Mongolian/Russia border yesterday afternoon. All up we estimate the border crossing took about 6 hours. You essentially have to cross two borders with each crossing which eats up the time. You have to exit one country and go through their bureaucracy then go to the next country's border to enter and go through their bureaucracy, all the while smiling and profusely thanking them at every separate stage for making your day hellish. Border crossings aren't hard, they're just long, tedious and boring. And when you're trying to cross on a Friday, stressful. I ended up having to fill out four customs forms at the Russian side because we made a "mistake" on the first ones (you need to fill out two customs forms - one original for them and one for us).
I say "mistake" in quotation marks because I filled it out exactly how the last Russian border wanted it completed, but it wasn't what this Russian border officer wanted to see. It was absolutely freezing at the border, had to be well below 10 degrees celsius and raining. At one stage the rain actually started to fall like snow! The wind had an awful bite to it too. I think our altitude at that point was around 2500m. All the border officers were in nice, heated sheds while all us plebs were lined up outside in the freezing cold rain and wind. It was like we were prisoners being punished as we're lining up for a bit of paper that would let us out past the high wire fences on probation, into "freedom". At the last office we had to line up at just before leaving the "compound" the lady was kind and half jokingly we stuck our hands and forearms through her window so that we could warm them. Thankfully she saw this as funny, it would've looked like we were trying to reach in an
d grab something from her desk. We were just desperate for warmth!
Anyway, we got through without any issues and the Mongolian exiting procedure was just as silly as the dance we had to do to get into the country.
Interesting story from yesterday morning, we nearly didn't make it to the Mongolian border. We got to the town of Tsagaannuur and headed in what we thought was the direction and out of nowhere a guy on a motorbike comes up beside us on the road gesturing for us to stop. Ok, hello, what's this. We were expecting some trouble if I'm honest because the town of Tsagaannuur looks like a rough and tough, dust bowl of a border town and we clearly stuck out as tourists heading to the border. He then proceeded to tell us in broken english that this is not the road to the border and that we should follow him and he will show us the way. Hmmm, I was a bit scared if I'm honest with you. We hadn't even driven 10km and I sensed trouble in the air. In my defense, I think everyone reading this would've found the situation a bit suspect. But what choice did we have really, it's likely he was telling the truth and he wasn't going to leave without us so we had to follow him. Worst case we could
just turn the car around. So through this dust bowl town we drive and sure enough, he led us to a main road on the other side of the town. You beauty! He then stopped for a bit of a chat, wanted some money, smokes or vodka from us for his troubles. Ahhh, so that's the catch. Unfortunately for him, we had changed all our local currency back in Ulaangom and neither of us smoke or drink. He then poked his head into the car to see what else we had but couldn't see anything much because we had the solar shades up on the back windows. In the end he got on his mobile phone and "called" someone, told us, yep, you're right to go now and so we said our goodbyes and headed off expecting there to be a roadblock further up with his mates blocking our path. Hello bullbar if that was to be the case. But no, I checked our mobile phone just after we said bye to him thinking wow, do we have mobile service here? Because what a miracle that would be because I haven't seen any mobile towers (th
ey're very obvious in Mongolia - literally in a town and much lower than our ones in Australia). Nope, no mobile service which means he wasn't talking to anyone on his phone. I think the guy was just trying a last ditch effort to get something from us by making it look like he had done even more to help us. I would've given him something for his troubles, but we didn't have anything that he wanted. We did give him a bag of lollies but he handed them back.
We met a Dutch couple at the border who had entered Mongolia at the Tsagaannuur border and were exiting from the same border at the same time as us. They were traveling in a Mercedes Smart Car ForTwo (worth Googling it if you're unsure what it is). Needless to say, they got to Olgiy which is about 208km from the Tsagaannuur border and turned around. Their car couldn't cope with the roads. We were amazed that this was their choice of car but gave them the much deserved kudos for even trying it! They then proceeded to tell us that they originally set off on this adventure on a scooter, had an accident with a truck in Ukraine, headed home to recover, kitted up their Smart Car at home for the drive and headed off again. What the!? They were absolutely mad but really lovely people. Sad story was, we were with them the entire way through the Mongolian border, encouraging each other through each step - real border buddies. Got through the Mongolian border sweet, no problems. Got to
the halfway Russian checkpoint (yes, it's crazy but they have a halfway checkpoint not far after the Mongolian border where they check your visa and passport before you get to the actual border). We're lined up behind the gate, the Dutch couple go through first because they were about three cars ahead of us in the line up. Then about 5mins later, they swing their car around and come back through the gate! They pulled up alongside us with long faces and I said guys, what's going on, what's wrong, why are you heading back to Mongolia!? They explained that they thought they had a double entry visa into Russia but it turns out they only had a single entry. They had to go to Ulaanbaatar to the Russian embassy there and get another Russian visa. Our hearts sank for them. We offered them water and any other provisions they may need but they declined. Graeme suggested they drive to Olgiy and fly to Ulaanbaatar because the roads are just too rough for their little car. My mind keeps
going to them. I hope they're ok and are keeping their chins up.
From the Dutch couple and another couple from Germany who were also our border buddies all the way through, we learnt that we had actually driven the difficult way through Mongolia. We went the northern route through Ulaangom on the A16 but all the tourists seem to go the more southern route and take the middle main road which is the A07 into Olgiy because it has a bridge across the massive river we had to cross. Doh! Oh well, I'm going to blow our own trumpet and say I think we deserve kudos for doing it the hard way. It was bloody hard on the car, body and spirit!
Mongolia was just amazing. A day would yield the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It's a tough country to traverse because many of the roads are rough and it's so darn difficult to navigate. But my goodness, you're rewarded with the beautifully warm smile of a local and stunning vistas. By far the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen in my life. At numerous points the beauty seriously moved me to tears.
In answer to your question Nora, I don't know if there's bears in Mongolia. I have read that there's wolves. I was so hoping to see one, or even hear one - how spooky and cool would that be! But alas, no. We were really keen to see a bear in Russia, and because of all the forest fires in the area we were in we thought for sure they would be forced out of the depths of the forest towards the edges where we were likely to see one. But again, no.
The Altai region in Russia is really beautiful. Today we've seen snow capped mountains, massive fast flowing rivers, huge rocky mountains, driven awesome mountainous roads and have finally camped alongside a river. Unfortunately we couldn't find a spot where we can access the water because it's holiday season in Russia and every Tom, Dick and Harry is out camping in this area. Damn tourists! Haha. I can see why the Russians flock here, it is a lovely place for a camping holiday and we would have our pick of amazing camp spots but they're all taken. It's actually nice to see the Russians holidaying and enjoying their country. The people who have recently pulled up and camped nearby to us occasionally pump up their car stereo to it's limit which is annoying but what can you do. Hope they bust their speakers?
We're 3 hours behind home time now. From here we're heading up to Barnaul over the next couple of days where we'll get a hotel, much needed shower and wifi hopefully. My hair is so gross it just stays in place when I take my hairband out of an evening. Ewwww. Thankfully we were able to bathe in a river in Mongolia and wash our hair on Monday. That feels like a lifetime ago as I type this on Saturday evening! You've just gotta roll with it and hope you don't stink too much when you pop into a town for lunch and some supplies. In Mongolia it was fine because we couldn't smell any worse than the nomadic farmers who stink to high heaven of cow poo, or sheep, yak, camel or goat poo - whichever you prefer.
The drive up to Barnaul is going to be a very slow, casual one because we can't enter Kazakhstan until the 15th because that's the entry date on our visas. We had to guess the date way back at the start of this year when we were applying for all of our visas. Thankfully we were fairly spot on with guessing the dates. We've been pretty tired these past two days so this will be some great forced "take it easy" time.
It's wonderful to be back on tar roads again before we hit the dirt again in Kazakhstan. I can't help but feel the toughest part of the trip is over. I do realise that the adventure will throw up different kinds of challenges as we go along, but hey, we've endured Siberia and Mongolia and we're still smiling and not ready to go home, surely that's readied us for anything else that is to come.
Graeme:
First things first - I need to clear up some confusion with the 'Altanbulag Border Scammer' Video. Just prior to leaving Mongolia, we were pulled over at an offical looking check point, with a very official looking man with MTA badge. He asked us to see our tax receipt. Cassie kept asking what he was after but I knew it all along. He was after our receipt that the 'scammer' provided. We showed him, he said, thanks very much and sent us on our way. IT WASN'T A SCAM!!! OMG I have been snickering about that for days now. I'll need to make the video private so we can all have a laugh about it, but it's not open to the world. A couple we met didn't pay on entry because they thought it was a scam and had to pay the exact same ammount (10,0000T) on exit.
Thanks to Dad and Warren for the suggestions on the dust. I think the problem is a result of a design modification I made when doing the fit out. In the back of these things, as with most cars, there are usually a pair of vents towards the back of the car that let air out when you put air in (like front windows open, closing a door or fan running on fresh air). When renewing the side panels in the back I deliberately covered these vents to stop a draft on cold nights. This is demonstrated when we have the fan on fast, a squeal, a bit like a baloon can be heard from the rear door seals as the air forces through them. I do agree, a little bit of positive pressure probably helps the dust senario, but I'll have to see what works best from your tips because our setup might be a little different from normal. Thank you.
I don't have much to add. Altai is beautiful, but oddly difficult to photograph. You just need to be here. We've seen so many overland travellers, all from europe coming down the highway today. In the realm of 50 cars? 40 of them would be landcruisers (2 troop carriers, 20 prados, 38 80/100 series) remaining few were land rovers or misc like F150's. Nothing entering Mongolia was 2WD.
It's been relaxing charging and cleaning all the camera gear.
This morning, 2 minutes into driving, there was an odd sound. Pulled over, it was the flapping of a rubber guard that keeps mud out of the engine bay against the drivers side wheel. The push clip had broken, so a cable tie and it was all good. Investigating this noise brought to my attention a few drops of coolant on the bottom radiator hose. Tightened them all up, all good now. As Cassie might have mentioned, last night was freezing, last time it was really cold at home I had the same issue. Damn new hoses. I should have just left the old ones on and carried new ones instead of replacing them ;-)
Oh, one thing that was staggeringly cool to me, was recreating one of the photos in the Long Way Round book! Do I sound obsessed much?! It was a pretty ordinary photo anyway, but I knew it had to be on this road. Sure enough, we looked for half the day using components of the photo such as the big power pole on the left hand side of the road, the 40kph sign, the funny trees etc. It turned out Cassie spotted it from a pattern on the fence. Inside I was adamant this couldn't be the place... one tree was about half the size, a whole new strip of street lights, different signage and fresh tar made for a different looking scene. She was right, and we got the photo. Niceeee!
Ok, so it's not called the USSR anymore, but we were trying to be clever by referencing a song title. Neither of us know the name of the person/band who sings it - can anyone shed any light? We're in the Altai region after crossing the Mongolian/Russia border yesterday afternoon. All up we estimate the border crossing took about 6 hours. You essentially have to cross two borders with each crossing which eats up the time. You have to exit one country and go through their bureaucracy then go to the next country's border to enter and go through their bureaucracy, all the while smiling and profusely thanking them at every separate stage for making your day hellish. Border crossings aren't hard, they're just long, tedious and boring. And when you're trying to cross on a Friday, stressful. I ended up having to fill out four customs forms at the Russian side because we made a "mistake" on the first ones (you need to fill out two customs forms - one original for them and one for us).
I say "mistake" in quotation marks because I filled it out exactly how the last Russian border wanted it completed, but it wasn't what this Russian border officer wanted to see. It was absolutely freezing at the border, had to be well below 10 degrees celsius and raining. At one stage the rain actually started to fall like snow! The wind had an awful bite to it too. I think our altitude at that point was around 2500m. All the border officers were in nice, heated sheds while all us plebs were lined up outside in the freezing cold rain and wind. It was like we were prisoners being punished as we're lining up for a bit of paper that would let us out past the high wire fences on probation, into "freedom". At the last office we had to line up at just before leaving the "compound" the lady was kind and half jokingly we stuck our hands and forearms through her window so that we could warm them. Thankfully she saw this as funny, it would've looked like we were trying to reach in an
d grab something from her desk. We were just desperate for warmth!
Anyway, we got through without any issues and the Mongolian exiting procedure was just as silly as the dance we had to do to get into the country.
Interesting story from yesterday morning, we nearly didn't make it to the Mongolian border. We got to the town of Tsagaannuur and headed in what we thought was the direction and out of nowhere a guy on a motorbike comes up beside us on the road gesturing for us to stop. Ok, hello, what's this. We were expecting some trouble if I'm honest because the town of Tsagaannuur looks like a rough and tough, dust bowl of a border town and we clearly stuck out as tourists heading to the border. He then proceeded to tell us in broken english that this is not the road to the border and that we should follow him and he will show us the way. Hmmm, I was a bit scared if I'm honest with you. We hadn't even driven 10km and I sensed trouble in the air. In my defense, I think everyone reading this would've found the situation a bit suspect. But what choice did we have really, it's likely he was telling the truth and he wasn't going to leave without us so we had to follow him. Worst case we could
just turn the car around. So through this dust bowl town we drive and sure enough, he led us to a main road on the other side of the town. You beauty! He then stopped for a bit of a chat, wanted some money, smokes or vodka from us for his troubles. Ahhh, so that's the catch. Unfortunately for him, we had changed all our local currency back in Ulaangom and neither of us smoke or drink. He then poked his head into the car to see what else we had but couldn't see anything much because we had the solar shades up on the back windows. In the end he got on his mobile phone and "called" someone, told us, yep, you're right to go now and so we said our goodbyes and headed off expecting there to be a roadblock further up with his mates blocking our path. Hello bullbar if that was to be the case. But no, I checked our mobile phone just after we said bye to him thinking wow, do we have mobile service here? Because what a miracle that would be because I haven't seen any mobile towers (th
ey're very obvious in Mongolia - literally in a town and much lower than our ones in Australia). Nope, no mobile service which means he wasn't talking to anyone on his phone. I think the guy was just trying a last ditch effort to get something from us by making it look like he had done even more to help us. I would've given him something for his troubles, but we didn't have anything that he wanted. We did give him a bag of lollies but he handed them back.
We met a Dutch couple at the border who had entered Mongolia at the Tsagaannuur border and were exiting from the same border at the same time as us. They were traveling in a Mercedes Smart Car ForTwo (worth Googling it if you're unsure what it is). Needless to say, they got to Olgiy which is about 208km from the Tsagaannuur border and turned around. Their car couldn't cope with the roads. We were amazed that this was their choice of car but gave them the much deserved kudos for even trying it! They then proceeded to tell us that they originally set off on this adventure on a scooter, had an accident with a truck in Ukraine, headed home to recover, kitted up their Smart Car at home for the drive and headed off again. What the!? They were absolutely mad but really lovely people. Sad story was, we were with them the entire way through the Mongolian border, encouraging each other through each step - real border buddies. Got through the Mongolian border sweet, no problems. Got to
the halfway Russian checkpoint (yes, it's crazy but they have a halfway checkpoint not far after the Mongolian border where they check your visa and passport before you get to the actual border). We're lined up behind the gate, the Dutch couple go through first because they were about three cars ahead of us in the line up. Then about 5mins later, they swing their car around and come back through the gate! They pulled up alongside us with long faces and I said guys, what's going on, what's wrong, why are you heading back to Mongolia!? They explained that they thought they had a double entry visa into Russia but it turns out they only had a single entry. They had to go to Ulaanbaatar to the Russian embassy there and get another Russian visa. Our hearts sank for them. We offered them water and any other provisions they may need but they declined. Graeme suggested they drive to Olgiy and fly to Ulaanbaatar because the roads are just too rough for their little car. My mind keeps
going to them. I hope they're ok and are keeping their chins up.
From the Dutch couple and another couple from Germany who were also our border buddies all the way through, we learnt that we had actually driven the difficult way through Mongolia. We went the northern route through Ulaangom on the A16 but all the tourists seem to go the more southern route and take the middle main road which is the A07 into Olgiy because it has a bridge across the massive river we had to cross. Doh! Oh well, I'm going to blow our own trumpet and say I think we deserve kudos for doing it the hard way. It was bloody hard on the car, body and spirit!
Mongolia was just amazing. A day would yield the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It's a tough country to traverse because many of the roads are rough and it's so darn difficult to navigate. But my goodness, you're rewarded with the beautifully warm smile of a local and stunning vistas. By far the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen in my life. At numerous points the beauty seriously moved me to tears.
In answer to your question Nora, I don't know if there's bears in Mongolia. I have read that there's wolves. I was so hoping to see one, or even hear one - how spooky and cool would that be! But alas, no. We were really keen to see a bear in Russia, and because of all the forest fires in the area we were in we thought for sure they would be forced out of the depths of the forest towards the edges where we were likely to see one. But again, no.
The Altai region in Russia is really beautiful. Today we've seen snow capped mountains, massive fast flowing rivers, huge rocky mountains, driven awesome mountainous roads and have finally camped alongside a river. Unfortunately we couldn't find a spot where we can access the water because it's holiday season in Russia and every Tom, Dick and Harry is out camping in this area. Damn tourists! Haha. I can see why the Russians flock here, it is a lovely place for a camping holiday and we would have our pick of amazing camp spots but they're all taken. It's actually nice to see the Russians holidaying and enjoying their country. The people who have recently pulled up and camped nearby to us occasionally pump up their car stereo to it's limit which is annoying but what can you do. Hope they bust their speakers?
We're 3 hours behind home time now. From here we're heading up to Barnaul over the next couple of days where we'll get a hotel, much needed shower and wifi hopefully. My hair is so gross it just stays in place when I take my hairband out of an evening. Ewwww. Thankfully we were able to bathe in a river in Mongolia and wash our hair on Monday. That feels like a lifetime ago as I type this on Saturday evening! You've just gotta roll with it and hope you don't stink too much when you pop into a town for lunch and some supplies. In Mongolia it was fine because we couldn't smell any worse than the nomadic farmers who stink to high heaven of cow poo, or sheep, yak, camel or goat poo - whichever you prefer.
The drive up to Barnaul is going to be a very slow, casual one because we can't enter Kazakhstan until the 15th because that's the entry date on our visas. We had to guess the date way back at the start of this year when we were applying for all of our visas. Thankfully we were fairly spot on with guessing the dates. We've been pretty tired these past two days so this will be some great forced "take it easy" time.
It's wonderful to be back on tar roads again before we hit the dirt again in Kazakhstan. I can't help but feel the toughest part of the trip is over. I do realise that the adventure will throw up different kinds of challenges as we go along, but hey, we've endured Siberia and Mongolia and we're still smiling and not ready to go home, surely that's readied us for anything else that is to come.
Graeme:
First things first - I need to clear up some confusion with the 'Altanbulag Border Scammer' Video. Just prior to leaving Mongolia, we were pulled over at an offical looking check point, with a very official looking man with MTA badge. He asked us to see our tax receipt. Cassie kept asking what he was after but I knew it all along. He was after our receipt that the 'scammer' provided. We showed him, he said, thanks very much and sent us on our way. IT WASN'T A SCAM!!! OMG I have been snickering about that for days now. I'll need to make the video private so we can all have a laugh about it, but it's not open to the world. A couple we met didn't pay on entry because they thought it was a scam and had to pay the exact same ammount (10,0000T) on exit.
Thanks to Dad and Warren for the suggestions on the dust. I think the problem is a result of a design modification I made when doing the fit out. In the back of these things, as with most cars, there are usually a pair of vents towards the back of the car that let air out when you put air in (like front windows open, closing a door or fan running on fresh air). When renewing the side panels in the back I deliberately covered these vents to stop a draft on cold nights. This is demonstrated when we have the fan on fast, a squeal, a bit like a baloon can be heard from the rear door seals as the air forces through them. I do agree, a little bit of positive pressure probably helps the dust senario, but I'll have to see what works best from your tips because our setup might be a little different from normal. Thank you.
I don't have much to add. Altai is beautiful, but oddly difficult to photograph. You just need to be here. We've seen so many overland travellers, all from europe coming down the highway today. In the realm of 50 cars? 40 of them would be landcruisers (2 troop carriers, 20 prados, 38 80/100 series) remaining few were land rovers or misc like F150's. Nothing entering Mongolia was 2WD.
It's been relaxing charging and cleaning all the camera gear.
This morning, 2 minutes into driving, there was an odd sound. Pulled over, it was the flapping of a rubber guard that keeps mud out of the engine bay against the drivers side wheel. The push clip had broken, so a cable tie and it was all good. Investigating this noise brought to my attention a few drops of coolant on the bottom radiator hose. Tightened them all up, all good now. As Cassie might have mentioned, last night was freezing, last time it was really cold at home I had the same issue. Damn new hoses. I should have just left the old ones on and carried new ones instead of replacing them ;-)
Oh, one thing that was staggeringly cool to me, was recreating one of the photos in the Long Way Round book! Do I sound obsessed much?! It was a pretty ordinary photo anyway, but I knew it had to be on this road. Sure enough, we looked for half the day using components of the photo such as the big power pole on the left hand side of the road, the 40kph sign, the funny trees etc. It turned out Cassie spotted it from a pattern on the fence. Inside I was adamant this couldn't be the place... one tree was about half the size, a whole new strip of street lights, different signage and fresh tar made for a different looking scene. She was right, and we got the photo. Niceeee!
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